This is a MUST VISIT if you're in Inverness. I was lucky enough to get to chat with Bruce…read moreMacGregor, one of the owners, and listen to him play. His passion, talent, and story telling is unmatched! The roast dinner was delicious and the cocktails were so fun! They take great care with the details around the pub, giving nods to history while pushing forward progress within the re-adoption of traditional Scottish music. Come for a drink or a meal, and stay for the vibes, history, and immense talent on stage.

Re: Delicious Sticky Toffee Pudding…read more To the Greek couple we met in Inverness, with great apologies, we suffered confusion of which delicious desserts we had at various restaurants around the city, inadvertently directing you towards a place that did not serve sticky toffee pudding. We should have pointed you towards MacGregor's as having the most delicious sticky toffee pudding, now verified after having several others that did not perfectly balance sweet with salt as that of the sticky toffee pudding at MacGregor's. If the pub is full, please find your way to the end of the bar and the small door to the left that takes you to the cosy table service room where Jess and other wait staff, including little Nala, will take the best care of you. We also highly recommend the steak & ale pie and fish & chips, should you require something a bit more than the sticky toffee pudding. Again, apologies, and we are certain you will have a fantastic experience at MacGregor's!

We had a reservation at Rocpool on the evening of our wedding anniversary and our first night in…read moreInverness in the middle of our 12 night Scotland adventure. The place was packed when we arrived for our early evening slot so doubling down on anyone's recommendation to make dinner reservations if you want to go to nice places in the North of Scotland. We were seated immediately. Everything about the experience was beautiful and delicious. I started with a Passionate Laddie Cocktail made with a peated whiskey and egg white. The texture reminded me of the Ramos Gin Fizz drink I had in New Orleans. It was well mixed but I didn't taste smoke from the whiskey, The tomatoes in the "Green Salad with Cherry Tomato and Parmesan" we're amazing and, truly, the star of the salad which had a generous amount of shaved parmesan on top satisfying my cheese-mongering sensibility. I had the Cornage Cheddar and Feta Cheese puffs for my main. They were fried but delicate, served over mango with cooked pear. It was quite indulgent - like dessert for dinner My wife enjoyed the prawns dish she got, and the salmon as well served with perfectly cooked asparagus and really good mashed potatoes. Everything was beautifully plated and tasted great. Inverness is not huge and there are a finite number of finer dining restaurants. We ultimately chose this one as I'm a vegetarian and they had the most abundant options to choose from (including a separate vegan menu which I didn't end up ordering from as the options on the main menu served my desires for the evening. The tiniest disappointment - It was our wedding anniversary and I had put that on the reservation (as well as emailed in advance about it) and we didn't get a "happy anniversary" or any kind of acknowledgment of it. I mean we were perfectly happy to just be with each other, but it would have been nice. :) Otherwise this is undoubtedly one of, if not the nicest restaurant in Inverness.

My group had a most amazing meal with perfect service and great ambiance…read more Thank you soooo much

The food is delicious. The service is excellent. The…read morerestaurant is small but with plenty of room between tables. It is in a converted residence, which gives the place a warm and cozy atmosphere.

Quintessential Scottish dinner! We had the cauliflower and cheese soup and then Haggis Neeps…read moreTatties! Wonderful food & great service!!

Fig & Thistle is a cozy friendly old style bistro inside with a limited menu and some interesting…read moreinstagram friendly outside "pods" with neon wording and heaters which is an odd pairing of seating options. I suspect my review would have been more glowing if my partner and I had ordered the salmon with aromatic rice and the burger which were both recommended. Instead we got: - wild mushroom linguine with chicken breast and pancetta - 3/5 since the dish arrived with only two visible mushrooms and no pancetta. It was a bit too cream forward for my taste and they did deliver some crisp pancetta when I asked but I definitely would not call it a mushroom linguine. If my vegetarian friends had ordered this dish they would have faced linguine in cream sauce. Tasty but missing the mark. - duck breast - 4/5 this was prepared well but nothing super amazing - bread and butter - 4/5, the bread had a little peppery quality to it which made the soft white bread more interesting

What a sweet bistro! John, Amy, and Maya were very…read moreaccommodating and sweet on a busy night. Business is good and rightly so! Our group really enjoyed everything. Try the haggis - a bite of all the components on the plate was delicious. Don't skip the bread, you will have room and regret not having some of the best we have tasted in Inverness. The table ordered the burger, Venison, lamb, and mushrooom linguini. We all left full and content.

Food was great. Service was a little slow. If you get a table close to the windows, there's a…read morelovely view. Would go back for sure.

Overall an okay deal for when we stopped by. Party of two on an Easter weekend lunch. We ordered a…read moresteak baguette and soup combination, a lamb steak (T-bone) with a soup entree. The overall presentation is fair, with some effort put in. The butternut and squash soup of the day was good, but was not memorable. My baguette came out with really soft steak pieces (well prepared), and my partner's lamb pieces were juicy. However, the proportions are not very large. We would give it 3.5 or so - perhaps other items on the menu would have been much better. This place also sells Cairngorms' ales - if you're looking for something award winning and won't be stopping by their brewery, here is a substitute.

I almost never leave 1 star reviews but this place earned it. First, the service was so incredibly…read morerude. Sophia was just plain awful and honestly abusive with her mind games. I joined my family after parking the car who all warned me that the server was not even remotely friendly. They weren't kidding. She was awful, just plain rude and should not be in hospitality. She was aggressive, moody, unpredictable. It was like an old ex who played mind games just to be mean. She honestly was that bad. How is she working at this place? Upon sitting down, she told me we had only 2 hours at the table so I better order immediately. I asked if they had wifi, and she said yes. Then immediately walked away from me. Umm... Really??? The table next to us tried to flag down the same server and she yelled at them. At least, we weren't them! We actually bonded over the trauma of this woman since we weren't the only ones. I quickly ordered the halibut for my main course. I have to say, it was the worst meal I've had in a very long time. It was not only dry but completely lacked flavor. My kids also disliked their food. My daughter's mashed potatoes tasted like it was from the box. She didn't even touch them (and typically cleans her plate). And my son didn't eat half of his pizza. I tried it. And have to agree, it was really bad. No flavor. Finally my partner ordered the steak medium rare. It came out charred, burned and fatty. The meal was honestly awful. The service was even worse. I booked this meal months ago. We all laughed since it felt like one of those meals you're abused and you're all in on the gag. Except that wasn't the case here. Just rude service and terrible food. My kids ordered the brownie sundae for dessert. Surely, that couldn't be bad? Wrong. The brownies were dry and stale. But the kids at least enjoyed the ice cream. Overall, this was probably the worst dining experience I've had probably in years. It was definitely the worst meal and service in Scotland. I was shocked at just how bad the food was. How rude the service was and how expensive it was. The one upside is the restaurant space is beautiful. I rarely, almost never, give 1 star reviews. As an elite all star, I pride myself on trying to see the positive especially for small businesses. And focus on the positive. But I'm not going to promote a place that is truly not good, rips off the consumer and is rude. If it's not clear by this point. My recommendation? Run from this place!

This food was really quite good although a little pricey for what you get. The bread bowl that came…read moreout before our entree was delicious! I could not get enough of the bread and butter on this trip. It was warm and flaky bread and worth every carb! My main entree of chicken curry was mild but flavorful. The portion was small. It came with a side of naan that was okay I was hoping for a little bit of spice but to no avail. The building is beautiful. The vibe is solid. The staff was a little bit indifferent to us. I felt like we were bothering them every time we asked for something. I would come back though.

Good place to come for music any night of the week. They post that schedule a week out, so plan…read morearound that. Sound quality could be a bit clearer. The food was decent standard pub food. Considering their reputation is on the music, it was perhaps better than I expected. Several good local beer choices on draft, though I wish they had something on cask. And of course many whisky choices, with good navigation. Service was friendly and not rushed, perfectly timed with the 1.5-hour table max.

An evening in Inverness is not complete without music and whisky. (Unless you don't like one of…read morethose things, in which case one or the other will do...for us, it was both!) We spent one of our 4 nights in town at Hootananny...It's a lively spot with a full restaurant and bar and good whiskey recommendations from the bartender. On this night, it was a jam, as opposed to a frontal performance...these jams you'll find throughout Scotland are really not performances, but musicians who gather together in the front of the venue, sitting in a circle, typically with a group of them with their backs to the audience, who play for each other, for the sheer and obvious love of the collaborative music. They ran through all kinds of traditional Scottish tunes, occasionally with instruments put aside to let a couple of them sing a cappella. It was a beautiful experience to watch "performers" immersing themselves in each other's music, with us, the audience, grateful, if not incidental, receivers of it. They've got a decent whisky selection too, and, as I found throughout Scotland, every bartender seemed knowledgeable in what was offered and willing to have a conversation to help guide you to what you might want to drink that night. (I had a Bunnahabain dram.) If you've got a few nights in town, this is one of the main 3 venues you should check out...the other two we experienced were more direct performances, also good, but to experience a musician's jam circle like this, is truly a wonderful and unique experience to have when in town.

Amazing experience. Went because suggested in Rick Steves guide. His description is spot on…read more Went for lunch on a weekday - fantastic deal of side and main for under 20 pounds! Had the fish soup - surprisingly large - a meal on its own!!! Loaded with fish!!!! Had a cheesesteak sandwich - well presented! Tasty as well. The service was amazing! Attentive and friendly. There's a beautiful bar with all kinds of beer on tap. Saw some people day drinking! A place I would definitely return to close to the castle in the main part of town

This place is a "must do" if you're visiting the area. Why?…read more Food - Went with a party of 4. We all had something different. The Scottish salmon and Fish & Chips delivered, as expected. The balmoral chicken with haggis was top notch! We could have drank whisky sauce. The steak pie was fantastic! The gravy was deep and rich with the flakiest puff pastry on the planet. If you like sticky toffee pudding, this is the place to get it as it's to die for! Service - Our server was 16 years old and already a pro, aside from recommending liquor. She left that up to the bartender, Ryan, who was well-versed, friendly and entertaining. He totally enhanced our wonderful dining experience. Ambiance - The vibe is both classy and casual. Whether you're there in your fancy-wear or trail gear, you're welcomed. One of the people in our party (from Michigan/USA) said he'd make the trip all over again just for this meal experience. That speaks for itself and I agree! Just be sure to make a reservation.

This is a solid four star place. Service was slightly slow due to a high volume of customers. The…read morefood was wonderful! We both had the shepherds pie. Servers know some of their local brews but unable to answer some questions.

We stopped in one night, not as part of a tour or experience, during our time in Inverness. You can…read moreget whisky and good recommendations at almost all of the venues and bars in town, but The Malt Room is supremely whisky-focused...no entertainment or food...just whisky with bartenders who are experts in what they serve. We had a Kilchoman dram which we liked, but we especially liked the ability to have a conversation with the server about what we might want and the no-pressure offer to smell the corks and make a good choice. There is quite a lot to choose from, and they offer flights as well. It's an intimate space...a few comfortable chairs, and you can stand at the bar as well. It may be a destination for whisky tourists, but plenty of locals seemed to be there as well. The address is on Church Street, but the entrance itself is off a small passageway off Church Street on the way to the food court entrance of the Victorian Market indoor mall...but there is a sign on Church Street pointing the way. If Whisky is your thing, and you don't want the liveliness and noise that comes with the nearby music bars, The Malt Room is the place to go!

Quiet space with knowledgeable staff and a great selection of whiskeys. We shall return.read more