The Harbour Inn and Restaurant, Bowmore

I was very surprised at just how poor this restaurant was.
My girlfriends Duck starter was grey and dry as a bone. I was actually surprised that a "chef" would serve this as it was so obviously poor. Sent starter back didn�t and she didn�t have another one. However, my own starter of mussels had the potential to be a real treat. It was basically moules marnier but under a different name. The mussels at the bottom of the bowl were tasty and moist; the ones above the soup i.e.2/3 of them were dry and looked as if the had made good friends with a heat lamp.

My girlfriend�s main course was Venison. Again grey right through and tasted like liver it was so dry and badly cooked again by a supposed "chef". This dish was sent back, so that was 2 out of 2 for her. I had the fillet stake medium rare and going for the theme of the night it turned out medium to well done now going by the standard of the "chef" I can understand this and possibly forgive him as I realise sometimes with 4!! Tables in, an inexperienced chef can end up with problems. However at 22 quid for a steak id expect perfection.
Desert again had the potential to be good. Basil ice cream was one of the items on our plate and to be honest was not awful but not that great either. Our other dessert was crepes which to be honest were the same medium standard we had came to expect.
We then (not learning our lesson) ordered 2 liqueur coffees. Both were so sweet i.e. you could actually scrape the sugar out the glass that we couldn�t drink them.
As you can imagine we complained and received the following reply.
For the starter- A full refund.
For the main course I stuck with my steak but my girlfriend�s food was re-cooked.
The coffee � �sorry would you like another one�.

Over all a very poor restaurant and not even an apology from the chef. Cost of meal with 2 pints of lager and a small bottle of wine. 80 quid, come on Islay we had a great holiday there but is this the best restaurant you have to offer.
For real good value food go to the Ardbeg distillery, it was really tasty and a nice setting

22 May 2006 16:13