Balbirnie House Hotel

We recently returned to Balbirnie House for an evening meal, having last visited around ten years ago when the bistro was genuinely outstanding. It was difficult not to compare the two experiences. There is still much to admire. Balbirnie is a beautiful and impressive building in a lovely setting, and the service was generally good, with friendly and helpful staff. Our room was comfortable and had most of the facilities you would expect, although it was beginning to look a little tired, and the Wi-Fi was rather unreliable. The food was perfectly OK, but sadly not the same as we remembered from ten years ago. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was the restaurant itself. It is now in the Orangery, which is a pleasant room and would probably be lovely for weddings, but somehow doesn't feel quite right as a restaurant. The intimate, characterful bistro we remembered has been lost, and with it some of the atmosphere that once made dining here feel special. It would be unfair to be too critical, as there was nothing seriously wrong with our stay. The room rates were also quite reasonable. Rather, there was a sense that somewhere which was once exceptional is now having to make do with less. We hope Balbirnie can rediscover some of its former sparkle. It remains a wonderful building with enormous potential, but our visit was tinged with a little sadness at seeing somewhere we remembered so fondly no longer quite what it was.

This hotel sadly did not live up to the hype on its advertising or 4star ratings,we arrived checked in and went to our room, there was a stain on the carpet as we opened the door and bits of confetti on the floor, TV had no signal, light bulb out, strange smell (windows were all open), husband went in the bathroom and encountered a surprise (not in a good way). My husband who usually leaves any problems to me was horrified and went to reception. The very pleasant lady on reception told him that a manager would come up to our room and within minutes she appeared, she took a look, apologised and said it was totally unexcepable and showed me another room which was a lot better although the longer we spent in it the more we could smell a strong scent of dog. The manager sent us a bottle of prossecco to the room which was a nice gesture. I'm sad to be writing this review as we were really looking forward to something a bit more special, but the staff that we encountered were nothing but helpful.

Lovely setting, lovely hotel and very helpful staff. Plus our dog thoroughly enjoyed as well

Enjoyed an overnight stay after a birthday party, the Ballroom was a good size, great food provided and staff friendly, room (307) was huge with comfortable bed and shower in bath, had all you would need in room, had full Scottish breakfast served at table, really tasty, would recommend this hotel

Very helpful and efficient staff The evening meals were really excellent