Restaurant at The Dunnikier House Hotel

J Williams (21 November 2004)

Pleasant surroundings and a cosy setting in the dining room. Limited no. of dishes on menu but appeared to be a good choice of meat, fish and vegetarian. Good wine list and not too overpriced. Unfortunately there was a smell of stale cooking oil in the dining room. We all had smoked veal with salad and horseradish croutons as a starter. Veal was good but the croutons had been cooked in oil not fully up to temp and the taste reinforced the smell of stale oil. Main courses were salmon and Aberdeen Angus sirloin steak served with a whisky based sauce. The salmon was fine but the steaks were of no better standard than the local supermarket: thin, tough, overcooked and had been given no time to sit before serving. Boiled potatoes and vegetables were served. Towards the end of the meal a dead fly was discovered stuck to the baby corn which brought the meal to an abrupt end. We were compensated with a free bottle of wine but the damage was already done. With hindsight, if only two parties are present in a hotel restaurant at 8pm on a Sat night then alarm bells should probably be ringing. A disappointing experience.