Strathearn At The Gleneagles

This is not the restaurant it was. It used to be a special experience dining here. Not any more. Now you can actually feel it 's your wallet that is the priority. Over recent years in particular, (maybe since it came under new ownership the prices have gone steadily up while the portion sizes have gone steadily down. It is now over priced. They 're trying to have their cake and eat it by trying to accommodate families with children (of ANY age, at any time in the evening , couples trying to have a romantic dinner and everyone in between. That 's a recipe for some unhappy guests. The service standard has fallen (too many trainees and not enough experienced staff around. It 's a glorious room but don 't be suckered in you won 't see it if you 're going for dinner during the darker months because the lighting is now kept very low. On top of all that, the hotel has introduced a discretionary service charge of 12.5%. that is automatically added to your bill. They know what they 're doing; they know that too many people will be embarrassed to have it removed. All of the above point to one thing greed. (The financial kind. I 'm not anti profit btw; I 'm a capitalist. But a restaurant such as this should make 'value ' the priority and as a result, the guests and their money will come. Shame. Having dined in this restaurant many times over the last 25 years, it was the first time that we chose to dine elsewhere on 6 of the 7 nights we stayed. 4 of those nights were away from the hotel. Until we can hear or read of an improvement, we won 't ever return.

We visted yesterday for Sunday Lunch, the whole experience was almost faultless. We arrived early, greeted as usuall by the fantastic valet parking team. Heading through to the bar for pre-drinks which we loved, the service was attentive! Heading through to lunch the host greeted us and sat us in a windo seat which was lovelty. The sommelier was knowledgebale and provided my wife with alcohol free options, I jumped straight into the Californian reds! The food was exceptional from start to finish, the trolley service provides that classic joy of hotel dinning! We had a slight issue with overcooked roast beef on our main course it was delat with immediately, our server quickly replaced both meals in full and the maitre d poped over to aplogise and advise we whould have our meals shortly, which arrived within 5 minutes perfectly pink, this is how to deal with an issue! To be honest we were so relaxed by the whole enviroment, service and quaility of our pre-starters, starters and inter course we were happy to wait. There was wonderful live piano to listen to and beautiful decor. It's not cheap at circa £350 for 2 with an entry level bottle of wine and service charge, however, it is value for money and I can't recomend enough!

This is a fine dining experience with fine dining prices. Sadly, the service was inconsistent with either too many staff or no one to be seen. The food was delicious. The smoked salmon and scallops starters were fresh and tasty. The roast from the trolley was cooked to perfection. The sweet was a bit of a letdown, and the £13 supplement for cheese seemed a bit of a rip-off

My Wife and I booked a night in the Hotel, with a dinner booking in the Strathern Restaurant on the evening that we stayed. We were disappointed that the earliest time available for dinner was 20.45pm at night and were told that an earlier time could be available and to ask at reception when we checked in. I also phoned reception twice prior to our stay to see if we could eat earlier and was told “there were no earlier times available”. When we checked in to the Hotel we were given a time of 18.30pm which was probably a good deal earlier than we wanted, but we took the reservation at 18.30pm. We were also told to produce my golf membership card when we went down to dinner to have the members discount applied to the bill, which we did. My wife and I duly arrived at the designated time of 18.30pm and sat for about two and a half hours having our meal. We were horrified that when we first went in there were over 75 tables vacant and by 8/8.30pm there were at least 40/50 tables free, which meant we could quite easily have come in to dine at 7.30pm, which would have been our preferred option! When the bill arrived, needless to say the members discount had not been applied (which is also the “norm” for the Dormy House) and in addition to that, there was no charge at all on the account for the food! We had only been charged for the drinks maybe I should have said nothing at the time, but I decided to let the waiter know of their error! Whilst I understand the problems that a five star Hotel have in trying to get inconsiderate people settled in to dine at the correct time, perhaps you should allow these people 15 minutes “grace” on their table reservation? This would allow other diners the opportunity of eating when they want?

Very slow and inattentive waitstaff. 45 minutes without water and by the time our dinner plates were cleared, not a single person wanted to stay for desert within our party of 13. If you have 4+ hours and don’t care about enjoying the beautiful hotel, then this is the place for you! Boo!!!!