The Deeside Inn - Aberdeenshire

I am a very picky 5 star type of girl lol and this restaurant made me entire time in ballater. It was the entire Scottish experience I cannot even explain! These 3 men sat and drank beers while playing Scottish music. Which I never knew I loved! I listen to rap and country lol! It was incredible I don’t know if they were hired or playing for beer or just for fun! I’m still desiring to find out! I love the culture here it is so friendly our waiter was so kind and bar tented. You can tell it’s a casual small town vibe so don’t expect fast service anywhere in this city! Usually two ppl are running the whole restaurant because it’s not that busy! Which I got the hang of expecting that and it’s just fine! This Los Angeles girl adapted! And I truly felt like I was on the titanic listening to that Scottish music and wanted to get up and dance sooo bad!!!!! Which I’m sure they probably wouldn’t have minded lol my daughters 7 and 9 years old left with a real Scottish experience we will never forget! Seriously thank you! Food was amazing we loved everything! Kids loved the mag and cheese and burger and we got the venison pie, risotto, and chichien all amazing!

Fairly average food for what it pitches itself as. Very odd mix of people dressed up, causal couples and families with babies. Service was friendly but inept. Had the feeling that a lot of the staff were new. Probably won’t bother again.

We stopped off at The Balmoral Arms for a quick lunch today. We are a husband and Wife with a 7 year old and a 4 year old. Very friendly and fantastic service from the Waiter Sean, I think his name was. He was great with the kids and explained the food options. Nothing seemed a bother at all. My Wofe and I had open sandwiches. I went for the Roast Beef and Horseradish and she had the Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese. Both sandwiches were exceptional and came with some lovely crisps and a side salad. The Kids had burgers (had to be plain for our fussy little ones) and they came exactly as requested. The Food was fantastic and along with the exceptional service, I can’t rate the Balmoral Arms for a lunch highly enough.

Ballater is a beautiful gem of a town tucked in the Cairngorms and well worth a visit. We stayed at the Balmoral Inn which is styled like a hunting fishing lodge with beautiful decor and comfy furniture. The rooms are sumptuous and the bathrooms spacious. Parking is free on the street outside. Reception staff were welcoming and friendly and as soon as we arrived we wished we booked for 2 nights not just 1. The tea coffee making facilities in the rooms included 2 Tunnocks tea cakes and 2 Tunnocks wafers very generous and authentically Scottish. We dined in the restaurant and the meal was delicious, however the young staff could benefit from a bit more training. One of us ordered a starter but the waitress didn’t note this so our mains arrived after 45mins but they offered to bring it as a salad alongside mains which wasn’t ideal. When we ordered a bottle of red wine the waiter brought it and just plonked it on the table leaving the screw cap on, and we requested the bill be split across the 2 rooms but this never happened. Fantastic live music played through dinner and breakfasts were delicious and staff at breakfast were excellent and very efficient and helpful (one of which was waitress from night before so excellent improvement). We played twilight golf at Ballater GC just a few minutes walk up the same road and the course was stunning with incredible views.

Ghillies Pub service defines poor. On Thursday June 8 we arrived before 5:00 pm. We had to obtain the meal menu on our own. The server was occupying a table until about 5:10 when the attentive bar tender sent her our way. At about 5:45 we were wondering where our order was. It appeared to us that our server had not sent our order to the kitchen. The bar keeper found the order and let us know that it would be about 10 minutes. The server asked us if she could be of service, oblivious to the fact that she took our order. At about 6:10 we asked for our drink tab and that the food order is cancelled. Amazingly, our tab had a charge for a different wine and an obligatory 10% service gratuity added on. There were at most three tables occupied while we were there so it was not a matter of the staff being inundated by a large group of patrons.