Hootananny Inverness in Highland

Very noisy and incredibly expensive for what we ate. The musicians' sound is very poor and depending on where you sit you can't see the stage or what's on your plate! Tourist trap...

I was travelling Scotland & it's islands for months & in Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, (between travelling the islands of Harris and Lewis & North & South Uist & Eriskay) I met a man who highly recommended that when in Inverness, Hootenanny is pretty much a must try experience for Scottish music and dancing so after that when I was visiting in Inverness for sometime, I did go in there on a Friday night & then subsequently as a result, Saturday + more nights in June & July & met some very friendly local folk who who embraced me into their lives & added massively to the rest of my tour of Inverness, Loch Ness, Mount Ben Nevis, Fort William, Fort Augustus, Glen Coe, Applecross, Tomintoul, Aviemore, the Cairngorms, Cullen, ... the whole of Scotland, the NC North Coast 500 miles route, Beauly, Bora, Wick, John O'Groats, Thurso, Orkney and the Shetland Islands, Lairg, Durness, Scourie, Ardvreck Castle, Achiltibuie & The Summer Isles + more of its islands of Mull, Tobermory, Iona, Staffa, Isle of Aran, Oban, Mull of Kintyre, Cambletown, Loch Lomond, Dumbarton, Glasgow, Paisley, Moffat, ... making more rich & magnificent memories. Thanks to all

Good food and good music. A bit expensive though.

Great place to visit, drink, and listen to live music!

Very touristic and average age 60+ - not the place to go if you are looking for a young crowd. Mostly old men who are recording videos as soon as somebody enters the dance floor. Music was very good and the staff was also friendly. Probably the best place however to go on a Friday night in Inverness - I haven’t seen another place that evening which was as packed with people as this shop. So, in the light of options in the city, I would probably come back again.

Fantastic night. Brilliant music

Excellent session on Sunday and the meat pie was delicious. Good selection of whisky. The best thing was the service.

This place was awesome! Loved the live music and the food was just as good!

Best Balmoral Chicken I've ever had, and the live music only added to the fun evening. I would recommend sitting down to eat dinner 30-40 minutes before the music starts if you want a good seat. Also, receiving "Loch Ness Water" cracked me up. It tasted good though.

Best value for money in the area. The ale is £5.80 and there's live music from 8pm daily. I've been there twice and both times were great.

The soup was perfect. The food was delicious. I love local places like this. Music and atmosphere take you to other places. 🥳🫶🏻

Great bar with live local music! Fantastic atmosphere and a great selection of drinks / drams available. If only it was bigger!

Great bar, live music almost every night

Good place to grab a pint and listen to music.

Great spot to listen to music and have a nibble or a pint. Loved that they had the ceilidh music so people could dance. Great fun watching that!

Great music and bar service, highly recommended

Went into hootanannys for a meal as heard the food in the place was great, went with my dad my girlfriend, my nana and 16 year old sister. We went in as two separate groups, as soon as I walked in myself and my girlfriend were pressured, with quite a horrible attitude for ID without ordering anything by who I can only assume was the manager, Lynn. My dad and little sister then walked in and came up the stairs to sit with us and yet again pressured by this horrible woman asking for my 16 year old sisters ID, we then asked what for as were only in for food, to which she responded with “you need ID to consume alcohol” which we explained to her we weren’t, she then stormed away whilst rolling her eyes and scoffing as she turned around. Safe to say that we won’t be back any time soon. I do hope this review is seen by Kit Fraser and a conversation is had with Lynn as the hostility we experienced was shocking.

Enjoyed the traditional music here. A good whisky selection and knowledgeable staff.

A great dinner with live music such an amazing experience!

Okay so I am not a critical person, but while this place was lively and had some great live music, you end up feeling a bit unwelcome here. While the people at the bar were nice, the server wad a bit or rather pretty weird and pushed us to order. You feel like they want you to keep ordering something and are not okay with you enjoying your drink. The food wasn't that great and was downright average. Would recommend that you can instead visit Black Ile Bar and enjoy some great beer and amazing pizza.

I recommend booking in advance, but when we arrived there was no place but since they had a reserved table that didn't show up they gave it to us. The place is very nice, the service is 10, the food is very delicious and live bands play which makes it more pleasant. It is not to go and chat very loudly but to enjoy delicious food and good music.

Very nice place with good selection of single malt whisky.

We visited this place on a Friday night to have a drink ordering at the bar. I was served by a girl who was rude from the start when I asked for a cider and water. She offered me bottled water, I said no (12 pounds the bottle) and she got angry. I asked her if she could make me something similar to a mulled wine and she said they don't make hot drinks. I spoke to another girl who was more attentive and she said she would check, then another bartender came and he told me that if I wanted something hot I should go find a Starbucks. I honestly don't know if the management knows the type of staff they hire because it is a bad experience for a tourist. In our case it is a place we will not visit again when we go again to Inverness.

We popped in for beers and live music, awesome place! It gets crowded during music, so prepare to stand or be very close to other. We loved this spot!

Maybe on an evening with a crowd this place would have all the craic. Midday, midweek it was a sleepy pub with a lounge singer. But the food and service were great

We booked ahead for food and were glad we did so as it quickly filled up. Sundays are for lovely live Scottish music so highly recommend to go then. Cozy atmosphere and the food came fast, and was good (although the venison was on the small side). Great for a genuine Scottish experience. No kids menu but fish and chips was loved by our 7 year old.

The things we ordered from the menu was tasty but not worth the price. 4 small slices of venison is not worth £18. The Camembert starter was dire it was like cheese sauce with 4 tiny bits of bread. £160 for 4 people and we were all still hungry

This place is an awesome spot to have a fun night with trad live music and great scotch. The bartendress was super nice, took the time to explain origins of whiskey/scotch and let me smell a few before I made my choice. Highly recommend this place.

Fantastic afternoon spent while visiting Inverness, we will be back.

Hootananny in downtown Inverness is a great Scottish bar that still plays real live, handmade music. The music and atmosphere were great and the food and beer were delicious, so we had a lovely evening. There was a friendly bouncer at the entrance who carried out ID and age checks.

Great entertainment, wonderful staff, yummy food and a convenient location.

Great wee pit stop to recharge tge batteries.

Simply perfect! Succulent haggis… local beer, great atmosphere. I had a great time

Musicians try their best. The rest is for alcoholics and tourists. Too bad

We went there twice, to enjoy live bands playing scottish music, with violins, bagpipes, it was wonderful. First day we had dinner as well, haggis and scampi. They were both great. Really fun place, nice live music, nice people!

Friendly helpful staff, brilliant music, nice guests, great atmosphere, interesting location. Will visit again!!

Good beer and traditional music

Stayed here for a night away... How were your hosts 10/10 How clean was Hootenanny 10/10 How were the facilities 10/10 How did you sleep 10/10 Would stay here again ? Absolutely! What a fantastic establishment in the heart of Inverness, highly recommend .

We've been to the Sunday traditional Scottish session. A bit disappointing.

Found this place randomly as it was quite noisy on the way past with the sounds of music and people laughing. Popped in for a quick drink and ended up staying for hours. Great place

A very nice restaurant, the haggis was very good, but it's especially the atmosphere that makes this restaurant great!

Awful service and terribly rude bar service /staff ,place was empty for a reason ,will not return .

The food is outstanding, with live music in the background. Drinks are good, though still no Porter! Def recommended. Enjoy. S

The food was some of the best we’ve had in Scotland and the music was fantastic. However, the bartender and waitstaff were incredibly unfriendly and unhelpful from start to finish. I understand that it’s a busy restaurant that probably gets a lot of tourists but it’s no reason for them to be short and rude with the customers.

Great beers and fab live music... Very happy to stumble across this place on a wild and stormy night!

We both stayed here and ate here! The room was lovely and updated. The bed was very comfortable and the towels were soft and luxurious. Our room was very quiet without noise from the pub. Staff at check in were so helpful too. We had a great dinner on our last night (booked ahead of time), complimented by lovely live music. We were walking distance to the train station, which was very convenient for our way home.

As good as it gets, for Pub Entertainment. Good beer, loads of Scotch Whisky and a Fiddler and Guitarist, in the form of Neil Ewart and Callum McPhail who were worth speaking to after, that's how I know their name! Absolutely virtuoso level although Neil suggested: "there are loads like me". There aren't! A MUST, if you're in Inverness. We were there, in October 2024, it was still packed and had a great atmosphere!

Great place- great food, good beer selection. Live music, great Scottish feel

It's a real Scottish pub with live music and great beer! Recommended to everyone, and if we go back to Inverness we buy a kilt and sing along with the trio on stage! An unforgettable experience two nights in a row! Well done!

Great everything! Went there 3 times during a 4 day stay! Steak and Ale pie is delish!

Never had food. I went to a gig, which was Ace.

Booking is better! Welcoming environment and live music🔝

Had a wonderful night there recently. Great atmosphere & music. However the best part was the following morning when I realised I’d dropped my wallet there the night before. Nick was super friendly & helpful in arranging for me to pick it up from Lynn even though the place wasn’t officially open. Made my onward journey possible - goodness knows what I’d have done if he hadn’t been so helpful. Thank you Nick & Lynn!!

Cool place, very cool to watch traditional music being played... How ever, the staff were rude, straight off the bat, the door man started yelling at me for trying to sneak past him or something when I was onlh trying to get out of the crowded doorway, calm down bro... Ur forced into buying main meals if u booked a table ahead, so I wasted money on food I didn't want or eat because my wife was so excited to take me to this 'wonderful' bar she had visited years prior, food and drinks took forever.... By the time we got said food, we had half n hour of our 2hr slot left n were promptly moved on 4 the next ppl. But it was the doorman who was really the worst... I've never experienced service like that, AND I'VE BEEN TO FRANCE! 😂 Would not recommend.

Great live music. Grab some drinks and do a jig. You won't regret it.

Great place to eat and drink while in Inverness!

Good drinks and live music. Didn't try the food.

Amazing experience at Hootananny , the vibes here are amazing go ahead for a pint or two 🙃

A lot of hype that didn’t deliver. Can’t get a table without a reservation and you can only stay for 2 hours. We planned our reservation around the music that was supposed to play. The musician was an hour late, our waiter told us he forgot. Who forgets a Friday night gig?! Needless to say we were only able to listen to the music for 15 minutes before we were told to leave because the next reservation was due for the table. Waiter was a bit of a snit as well. We were all really disappointed.

Great live music, didn't eat there

Basic bar food. Live Scottish music was great. This is why we went there.

Good bar for live music. Very good guitar/accordion duo. No reserved seating w/o dinner. No mixed drinks when busy. Bartenders tended to the folks at the bar and the wait staff kept an eye on their tables. Did not eat here.

Unbelievable rude floor staff. They must know they get so many tourists they don’t need to be polite or even human yelling at customers. Don’t go here.

Tourist trap. The music is way too loud. Due to the volume, you can only order by pointing your finger at the card. Service is extremely unfriendly, our friends arrived five minutes late and we were already warned when we would finally order food. We had already ordered drinks. The food is okay, but very bland even by British standards.

Love this place. The music is amazing. My cousins & I had a blast.

Make no mistake, the place is definitely a tourist trap. Live music every evening, unfortunately it was too loud for me (I would have preferred acoustic, personal preference). I think it's okay to go out for a drink with friends and listen to live music, but to go out for dinner and chat is way too loud. The food (for me steak & ale pie) was bland and quite expensive for what it was. The service was only nice at the beginning, when our friends were 5 minutes late and we hadn't ordered any food yet (we had ordered drinks), the service became sloppy.

Great place to listen to local live music

Live music is brilliant but the food and service are sub par. Nothing wrong with the food but in such a vibrant city you would expect better. The server is attentive but very young and just not up to scratch

Superb place for a lively night out in Inverness.

My chicken, bacon, and leak pie was delicious! My wife said the same for her salmon. Service was great. Atmosphere with live music was a lot of fun. A must do in Inverness!

We went here to the pub for music on a Wednesday. It was very typical Scottish music and we really liked it.

Great place, the atmosphere is nice, local beers available

One of the best pubs I've ever been in the UK (and Scotland!). It has a really decent menu and beers selection at reasonable prices. They algo have gluten and vegan options. It is recommended to make a reservation (online available). But, above all, we could enjoy an amazing atmosphere and lovely love music. We probably could not forget Callum MacPhail ;)

We were recommended to come here, so booked in advance, which is wise if you aim to get a table. The only table I could get was early evening. The server who greeted and seated us was very cross and unhappy, she reprimanded our waitress twice during the course of our visit at the table, failed to make any eye contact with us or anyone else she was seating or serving. The impression was of rudeness and impatience with the whole business. The singer who was performing when we arrived was very loud and intense, he was singing to a backing track which went wrong on 3 occasions, causing him to start over. The music choices were very odd for the occasion and time of day (including the Nessun Dorma aria) we didn’t enjoy this at all. I was anticipating Scottish folk music and was disappointed. The food was substandard compared to the pub food we had been enjoying for the week in this part of Scotland. The pie came with just 2 small new potatoes and lacked any seasoning, the promised roasted veg were some very limp over cooked sliver of carrot and green beans. The sausage and mash was poor quality, the sausage seemed very cheap and not tasty. All 4 of us were dissatisfied. The atmosphere around us was a bit leaden. I would recommend if you visit, don’t eat, have a few drinks with friends and go later when the Scottish musicians are playing. It’s probably fun then. We left pretty quickly with a large bill and were dissatisfied. We were fortunate to find a friendly welcome elsewhere in the city to enjoy the rest of the evening.

Atmospheric pub, very cool atmosphere!

This place was pretty crowded I was there as an outsider looking in really. Catching some of the local scene. It was far beyond my expectations and was so glad to catch some of the live acts of the day. Would highly recommend.

Bit pricey but the live music and vibe is awesome!

Came here after hearing great things about the trad music and food, kinda disappointed. We got the steak and ale pie and the chicken, leek, and bacon pie. The steak pie was on par with others in the area and pretty good. The chicken pie was good, but it did not have bacon in it and didn’t have many rings of leeks; the chicken pie tasted like a chicken pot pie. They did not come with the advertised roasted vegetables but steamed. We also got the sticky toffee pudding for dessert to share. It was a very light date cake with a very small scoop of vanilla ice cream, not really enough to share, but pretty tasty. Service wise, not once did a server come to the table in the hour we were there without flagging them down, and even then sometimes they still didn’t come. It seemed that they were having people just find their reserved tables at one point too. Bummed about a service surcharge when there wasn’t much of it going on. If you’re coming for the music, coming later is better. Music was scheduled for 6pm, sound check didn’t happen until 6:10 with music really starting at 6:15. Players were wonderful though, couple of young guys. For £53 for one cider, two meals, and a small dessert it’s slightly overpriced if you’re not getting the whole trad music experience with it.

Went for live music and was not disappointed. Hope to make it back again soon and will be recommending to all my friends!

This is fun place to visit with live music - beware that it gets crowded & somewhat rowdy and space is limited. Service is mixed depending on who you get - wide range of friendly vs. unfriendly encounters.

Food bland, service variable with one particularly grumpy team member, Friday evening music at 7pm was a karaoke belter at full volume, venue tatty.

Came for drinks and live music! The place was packed and the music was stupendous!!! Didn’t eat here but food looked good. Just had pints from the bar, bar service was great.

Typical Scottish tourist trap, the food was awful and overpriced and the place had a fake aura about it. The only redeeming feature was the beer selection. If you are from the uk I would avoid at all costs, if from abroad you may like it but you wallet won’t!

Nice, but no live music for a while

The city of Inverness has an amazing atmosphere in general. And this place couldn't be any other way, also with live Scottish folk music. In addition to several typical beers (Calsberg, San Miguel, etc.) they have the local Black Isle craft beer in all its forms. The Hootanani Lagger beer is also spectacular. Highly recommended to go. We went thanks to the recommendation of the Scotland Without Limits podcast.

Live music (which we are looking for, being in Scotland) every day, today Wednesday... we are having a great time. And here we continue based on Guiness and Black Isle! 🍻

The evening my friends and I went to Hootananny there performed two quite well known Scottish musicians on the violins, one of whom was presenting the song from his recently published album. The atmosfere there was joyful and relaxed, I felt pretty well there. The drinks were fine and cold; this was awesome since the weather had been pretty warm in the late spring. As a tourist in Scotland I would probably gladly visit this music club again.

There were four of us including the dog for dinner in the evening. Thank God we were there at 5 p.m. when the restaurant opened - because we didn't have a reservation and the restaurant was fully booked. The somewhat rude service still led us to a table. The food was good - the portions were rather small. The waiter who finally served us was very friendly - even brought water for the dog without being asked! From 7 p.m. there was even live music - that was really great!!!

Fantastic food, beautiful atmosphere!

Awesome live music place. With food and drink!

Well done in everything 👍 it was very difficult to stay here because it is always full of people, but you can also enjoy the artists. Thank you

Excellent venue with live music from 6pm, reservations required and reserved table for 1 and a half hours. Typical Scottish food with a strong but authentic flavour, an experience you absolutely must do if you happen to be in Inverness! Friendly and smiling staff.

I stopped in on a Saturday night to listen to the 7:30pm set. There's a different performer every few hours. It was very busy, and I didn't make it to the bar or a table. I stood for a few songs and then departed because I was hungry. It was pretty chilly inside, despite so many people.

Really bad experience. The staff were very cold and rude right from the entrance, I asked for advice on whiskey and they couldn't tell me and when I asked for something similar to Tallisker they responded badly and said that they don't drink it (we are in the homeland of whisky...) and giving me a whiskey that tasted the same as the £10 one you get in the supermarket and they sold it to me for £9 a shot (yes and no it was a pinch of whiskey and I swear it tasted the same as a cheap whisky, they must have filled the bottle with another whiskey because I know the one they gave me and it tastes completely different). The worst comes when we sat listening to the music (drinking) as soon as we finished they threw a menu at us saying we had to drink or leave, we had just finished drinking!!! Eventually the waiter came back and without even asking if we wanted to drink he told us to go out immediately that he needed the chairs.A unique disgust and rudeness that ruins such a beautiful town.

Among the dishes I recommend the salmon! The environment is very nice and engaging with traditional live music.

Toilets are a let down everything else is top notch.

A very charming place. Very good food

Good drinks, good music, good location.

Quaint pub with very good live music!

We stopped in for a pint and enjoyed the live music. Good crowd and positive energy.