Scalloway Hotel

I booked a table for Sunday lunch for five people. I had seen the restaurant menu online and thought it sounded great. When we arrived, we were taken to the bar and I was told that the restaurant wasn’t open. Our drinks arrived promptly and we were given time to look at the menus. I was very disappointed that it was all very basic pub food, not really what I had been looking forward to! We were told there would be a wait because the regular chef wasn’t there and there was only one stand in chef in the kitchen. We had quite a long wait and because we were near the door and the back door was open I was freezing. The food eventually arrived and it was edible, mostly. However I thought for what you actually got it was overpriced. Sorry but I wouldn’t come back. Such a shame because I arrived with high hopes that it would be like it used to be! The young waitresses were pleasant but not very knowledgeable about the food.

This is a tricky review to write, and I suspect I could visit again and have a different experience. First off, my room was rather basic, the toilet roll holder was loose, and on arriving, there was no soap in the bathroom. I was eventually supplied with one tiny bar of soap. The room was very noisy and seemed to have no sound proofing, the main problem being the adjacent room's bathroom extractor fan! The food was hit and miss, ranging from very good to decidedly average. The menu is also expensive and not good value for money IMO. For the £120 B&B an adequate continental breakfast was provided

This was our first visit to Shetland and we were not disappointed. The Hotel was in a beautiful historical location in the centre of Scalloway with Parking facilities and was exactly what we wanted. The staff were very friendly and helpful making us feel welcome on arrival and throughout the duration of our stay, making our experience the best. Nicky in particular did everything possible to make our stay comfortable and memorable. Nothing was too much trouble for her and she gave us a lot of information about the area and places of interest to visit. As a party of 5, we had three rooms booked One sea view, one double and one single Our Sea View room was spacious and very comfortable. All rooms were spotless with en-suite facilities, internet access, TV, and complimentary Tea and Coffee. A comfortable and peaceful nights sleep was enjoyed by us all. Breakfast was a choice of Continental or freshly cooked Full English. The Continental had a really good selection of cereals, fruit, pastries, yoghurt and toast along with fruit juices and Tea and coffee which was more than enough for us. The restaurant and bar on the ground floor offered a great selection of drinks and food Menu offering very generous portions of delicious, freshly cooked food, prepared by the hotel Chef Mark. We will definitely return and would certainly recommend it. Good value for money. Thank you all.

I was here last when peter and caroline ran the hotel, was fantastic! Came back with family/friends who wanted to see Shetland. Came in for lunch this week, what a lovely refreshing change the new owners have made, menu is fantastic! The only let down is the bartender I'm afraid to say, not only did he tell us,when we enquired as the specials desserts, that is was and I quote ' sh*t do not bother ordering' he also told other tables the same about various menu choices. As for ordering coffees after, we were told 'I'm a bartender, not a barista so you'll get what your given' "Luckily" my family has a great sense of humor and didnt let it dampen the afternoon but I genuinely feel, given how brilliant the new owners obviously are, they are being let down by this employee who may or may not have been inebriated?!

The restaurant is humorously poor: avoid.. Booking times inaccurate, waitress knew nothing about the food or drink in the bar. Restaurant room plain and forbidding. No condiments or ornamentation. My main course - a large yorkshire pudding filled with unidentifiable shredded vegetables, a few slices of turkey (the waitress again did not know what meat it would be) and lots off gelatinous saline gravy. Cost of they plateful: £17.00. Needs management and a new start. Ged to be great a few years ago.

Unexperienced very young waitresses (Highschoolers?) have no idea what kind of alcohol is served. Instead of checking on guests and asking for refills they started to clean the restaurant. We’ve waited over 1 hour to get our starters, but the young owner couple who came in later got their food served after only 10 minutes. They came in, ate and left before we even got our starters! Some of our scallops were raw in the middle. The pea purée tasted awfully salty. We advised the staff but only got a sorry. When the main course was finally served 40 minutes later we were in disbelief! The tuna was so dry that we couldn’t eat it. Fries were burnt. The meaty part of the pork belly was so dry that it was inedible and the top was not crispy just fatty! And the best part the waitresses were hiding! We finally found them in the bar part of the hotel. Even though we were only able to eat 1 or 2 scallops out of the 3 on our plates and had only 3 bites of our main course they charged us full price! We paid over £100 for a very terrible evening. There’s a reason why this restaurant is empty and only the owners eat there. It should’ve been a warning for us to see no locals inside. We’ll definitely not return!