Marine Bistro in Argyll & Bute

Myself and my husband were on holiday in Tarbert over the weekend. We had a lovely day and got a bit peckish so decided to try this place. We ordered a mixed tikka dish and to say we were disappointed is mild. The meat in the dish was vile (chicken and I think beef?) both were tough/rubbery. The rice, chips and sauce/spices were nice but the meat let it down, and to top it off we were served warm cans of cola (didn’t offer us a glass) just gave us straws. We did let them know that we were not satisfied with the quality of the meat in the dish, the chef also came over to us and apologised and they did deduct (£2.80) from our bill. Sorry to say, but we will definitely not be returning customers 😟

The menu outside on the window,was never offered inside. So we sat down and where given an Indian menu. Didn't look like an Indian restaurant from outside, so to play it safe we went for pakora and chips on side. My wife mentioned she heard "PING" several times like a microwave going on. The food came out, it was shocking pakora was brick hard and the chips weren't much better.Pls save your money and do not visit this place, poor food and no atmosphere.

We visited early Sunday evening for a curry. Service could not have been better - friendly, cheerful and quick but unhurried. We had chicken tikka bahar (like a masala) and my partner had a jalfrezi style curry. The sag aloo was also yummy. Poppadums came with homemade unusual chutneys which were great, very tasty indeed. Cobra Lager nicely chilled - we would happily return again. Bill was extremely reasonable, too. Highly recommend!

Half the items on the menu weren't available, and the chicken Kiev was quite dry.

Best part: rice is available Worst part: butter chicken tastes sweet, like coconut, like a pumpkin soup. With pieces of chicken floating in watery broth. As an asian tourist, i recommend you come here only if you need some rice in your system

Very tasty food, super friendly service! Price/quality top!

Left before we ordered. Put on a cramped table for four (there were five of us), left with menus for so long we ended up leaving as got a bad feeling. Another customer said she couldn’t eat her food as it was too crispy. Waiter made absolutely no effort to serve us and didn’t care when we left.

Ordered Indian so wun go wrong. Food is average, portion is small, Six prawns, and can see that it's one small chicken fillet that cut up into eight little bites. Best to ask beer bottle sizes else might have a big bottle to finish. Friendly service.

We had a full Scottish breakfast. Great value for money and served quickly. They have really nice coffee. Very comfortable seating, clean and cozy restaurant. Haven’t tried any other foods so can’t comment but would recommend the breakfast.

I have experienced many Indian meal in many places and this was probably the worst I've ever had!

Just don't bother waited a hr for food then told us they were just dishing it up after another 30 minutes we got up and left just rubbish went to the co op and got some microwave food it was quicker

Went here on a Friday in June because everywhere else in town was fully booked. This place only had one customer and 12 tables. Ominous. We ordered some pakora two curries a rice and a nan. The pakora had thick batter round a sliver of chicken, like the worst Chinese sweet and sour. Never had anything like it. Five pounds for three pieces. The chicken makhani was sweet like jam but without much other flavour. The chicken sag was better but still really poor. Each delivery was preceded by a ping indicating the microwave had finished. Nothing was made on the premises. All either fried or microwaved. By the time we had finished the pakora the other customer had left in disgust saying it was the worst Indian he had ever had. Wish we had done the same. It was also quite dear at 12 quid for a curry and 3.5 for rice. Truly awful.

Myself & 3 colleagues went for a meal when we were here working for a few days. I can honestly say that this is one of the worst dining experiences any of us have ever had. It was so bad, I actually caught them taking my supposed Deluxe Tandoori Prawn meal out of the microwave, it was that deluxe there were 6 prawns & the sauce was inedible . One of our friends had to wait half an hour for his accompanying sauce for his main & when it eventually arrived he couldn't eat it as his main had went cold. The glasses, tables & cutlery were dirty. The staff were unhelpful & untidy. They ran out of beer so we're only serving Tennents Lager in cans. Nothing was homemade, from the nan to the curries. You could hear the microwave constantly pinging. I also unfortunately tried the fish & chips. Frozen cremated dry rubbish.

Very unfriendly and slow service. 2 pieces of chicken and 2 pieces of sweet potato in the dish, the rest was sauce. Lukewarm Coca-Cola. Paid a lot for little. Please go eat somewhere else. There were people who came in for a moment, but then left. They were right!

Very gentle service. However, the food takes long to be served and isn’t remarkable, by far the worst indi food I had at the UK or Ireland. They are lucky that there aren’t many other dining options around the city

This is an Indian restaurant, at least in the evenings. Three of us (in our 70s and 80s) ate at the Bistro in the evenings on the way to Islay and again on return some days later. We chose 5 different Indian dishes and found them all excellent. There were few customers, it being 'out of season' and we had to wait. It was clear the food was being freshly cooked for us. We complimented the chef when he came to speak to us. It was obvious he was familiar in cooking his national type of food. I cannot vouch for other non-Indian dishes served at other times of day.

Nice spot with a view of Talbert harbour. The food is very ordinary. The service is slow, noisy and not very friendly

The lasagna was warmed up a bit in the microwave but still cold. The service was rude and the bill was incorrect. Crook!

Avoid at all costs. If you must go, check your bill

Very friendly and helpful staff. Curry was very tasty. 👌

Only people in there, waiter took 30 mins to come to the table and the food took 2 hours. The food was also very average.

Popped in for an Indian meal on the way home. The food was very tasty and the service was good. We would visit again :)

Our food was closer to confectionary than dinner. We could hardly eat it. Our coconut rice was like it had been defrosted and then coated in sugar. Honestly never had worse Indian my life. Unfortunate as there aren’t many options in the area. Wish we tried out the Anchorage Bistro instead.

Lovely tea and cake. And a lovely view.

Loveĺy meal lovely setting in Tabert

Popped in for a quick takeaway on drive to Campbeltown and soon wished i hadn't. This place had a very strong smell of the aromas normally found in an Indian restaurant yet it's supposed to be a cafe/bistro. A roll on cheap square sausage with uncooked onions, and a scone which was probably a week old and as hard as concrete, and they had the cheek to charge £5, no wonder there wasn't a soul sitting at any of the tables !. If i could give a zero I would. Never again.

I had the Lamb Tikka Joypuri my wife had Chicken Tikka Bahar nice but a bit Pricey...

Passing through and stopped for a brew. Average drinks and service, and didn't have food so can't comment on food. Toilets need tlc.

Visited on 20/8/23 & the food was terrible. What a shame as you should expect a lot better from a cafe/bistro situated on the harbour.

I didn't mind the really really sweet coconut rice food overall was fine IMHO. The service was shockingly bad, rude I would say and the to be overcharged then ignored when asking for a breakdown of the bill. Outrageous.

Very rude and rushed staff. Ordered the BLT, photo shows the result. Asked about the amount of material on the bread, answer was basically, that’s it. BEWARE!

Vrij lekker eten het duurde even maar het was heel lekker. Zitten goed vol en kregen zeker waard voor ons geld.

The excessive amount of sugar in the coconut rice and chicken Korma was very unexpected. They both were gritty in texture and felt like they were afraid to let the coconut carry any of its own flavor by covering it with sweetness. My wife and I shared a single order of both and we were unable to finish because of the sugar overload. The naan bread was decent but they burned of the two we ordered and we didn’t finish that either. We possibly just ordered bad options because they seemed nice enough but they missed our expectations by far.

Busy little place. Only stopped for coffee and cake

Sorry to say but not a great experience here supported by the lack of customers at what should be a busy time. Service was extremely slow on a very quiet evening. Food was disappointing with small servings drowned in sauce

Really good local Indian.. bit of a wait but fresh cooked and varied dishes well worth it. Good price too

An absolute health hazard!! I'm very surprised that environmental health have not closed this place down. We were greeted ok and sat a a table. Looking up to the window which you could just about see through we were shocked to see flies buzzing around. A rough estimate would be 20 to 30, maybe slightly more. Leaning on the table whilst perusing the menu, I felt my arms sticking to it. That was enough. Before the waiter returned we made a rather hasty exit out of the door. To sum up in a single word. D I S G U S T I N G........

We got stranded in Tarbert as the ferry service isn't ferry good just now this was the only food place open so we went it filled a hole but I wouldn't rush back not ferry good not ferry nice

We called in at the harbour tandoori restaurant and takeaway about 8pm. No friendly welcome. Small, basic but ok. Half the items we asked for were not available including, unbelievably, poppadoms and chutneys, so we ordered second and third choices, 4 vegetable side dishes, rice and naan. Nothing fancy or special. They didn't come. We waited 45 minutes. When we asked we were told it would be another 15-20 minutes! We left.

Really disappointing. Ordered a buttered Scone with jam as a takeaway. While it was made I used the loos. They needed a fresh lick of bright paint (walls were dark red) but at least didn't smell bad. Scone was waiting in a bag so I paid (£2.50)and left. Turned out the Scone was stale & dry with slight spots of mould on top. Two pats of butter and jam portion in bag! A DIY buttered scone! Didn't find out it was as bad til I was few miles up the road or I would've gone back. Couple were served their curry meal while I was waiting to be served. Sounded like half of their ordered food was wrong! I wouldn't eat from there again, waste of time & money for wrotten food.

Strange place. Most of menu seemingly unavailable, told toasties only. No apology or explanation.

Warm milk served with tea .cakes warm as cooler not on staff not very friendly. No toilet paper in toilets

Reluctantly, because it's not a naturally appealing looking place from the kerb, we stopped here for a meal and oh my, weren't we for a surprise. What a delicious freshly cooked Indian meal. And I can be quite fussy. Totally 5 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟. Will come back. Thank you. 😊

Fresh food friendlly staff and dog friendly.

After a long drive. I decided on a cooked breakfast to set up for the longer day ahead. However this was very disappointing at the marine bistro. The breakfast was of poor quality, part cooked bread, apparently toast, 1 cheap sausage, a scattered piece of haggis on a tattie Scone. Half a tomato, which was just cooked. Bacon. Microwaved beans. The fried egg was partly raw. I pointed this out to the server, who apparently cooked it also, and told me it how Scottish breakfast are served, only cook it one way up. No offer of an apology and still charged me full price. I paid and thought this review will deter others of a similar experience.

We bought 2 burgers and 2 curries and has to send back both the burgers because they were completely raw in the middle

An excellent meal, so glad we came in.

Very poor all round. Chips barely blanched, very white, potatoes hard, sauces dried out. On top of that it was a quiet Monday, informed would take 30 mins, 46 mins later got the substandard meal. Dropped in standards big time in last 2 years. I'm local but won't buy anything from here again. Shocking service

Lovely curry there last night. Good sized portions

Only one person serving/cooking. Long wait but worth it. Fresh morning roll and delicious back bacon. Good mocca as well.

Very tasty Indien Food and the Staff very friendly. If you like Indien Food, I recommend them.

Awfull experience, food from frozen good, even the haddock they claimed it's locally sourced. No toilet paper, no sanitizer.

My worst food experience in Scotland so far

Well worth a visit if you ever go to tarbert.

We stopped here for a quick bite over lunch. Only reason we chose them was because nothing else was open or had seating. The view is lovely, but so it is from any place along this street overlooking the harbour. We ordered Fish 'n Chips and Carrot cake. The carrot cake was way too sweet but otherwise reasonable. The Fish 'n chips had plenty of chips which was OK but the fish was really not great.

Passing through and stopped for a break and decided on Scottish breakfast to keep us going. Really friendly place, Indian restaurant at night. Breakfast was lovely, thank you. Dog friendly too. Would definitely call in again.

I have to say that the Indian Food was really really good but the service could be better. We waited 50 instead of 30 minutes as promised and they tried to charge us more and then tried to give us less change even through we gave them 15% tip.

This is most likely the least tasting food I've had in my life. We went in to get some lunch and apparently you cant have Indian food for lunch so we got another menu with a bunch of generic dishes on it. So I got a microwaved (most likely) bolognese and my friend got a burger with nothing on it except cheese (he did not ask for this it was like that by default). The guy who worked there was quite overworked so it was hard to get service. It seems from other reviews that the indian food is pretty decent so get that you end up here and they have it available.

Fabulous breakfast with plenty of delicious coffee

Really good, one of the better Chicken Sags I've had. Great nan bread. Good service and decent speed of delivery even with a bigger group in.

Friendly staff, dog friendly, lovely scones, bit too hot cappuccino but nice,

Steak pie was like dog food the gravy was a watery the puff pastery had not even risen would not recommend

Big pot of tea, a good hot coffee and some cake to accompany, nice wee cafe

Lovely food, lovely staff, and what a great town tarbert is.

Should not be called a bistro. Food was not good

Great value for money and the food was amazing! Great service everything made fresh highly recommended

Great wee bistro with amazing views of the harbour and further down the water the food is great to

Staff has no idea what scampi nor pickles are. Very average food.

Low quality microwave burgers which came out cold. Terrible soup. Charged us twice for our bill, knowing someone in our party had already paid. Had to asked to be refunded! Wouldn’t recommend.

Best coffee I tasted in Scotland

Service was dreadful meal was OK. Its a shame as we had eaten here few years ago and it was great but this time it felt like we were in an episode of faulty towers.

Excellent coffee and bacon rolls.

Excellent value for money. Member of staff was very attentive. Gave us exactly what we requested it. Extra hot coffee and the bacon was beautiful. Thank you.

Nice for coffee and cake , staff friendly.

Lovely coffee and friendly staff!

This place is only in buisness because they are the only ones with open tables. Everything we had was not worth eating and way too expensive. The tandoori chicken had 6 1 inch sized pieces for 14 pounds. Avoid.

Great service great food just what I needed after a long journey...

Wir haben im Restaurant zu Abend gegessen und dort wirklich sehr leckeres Essen serviert bekommen. Anders als auf den bisherigen Bildern handelt es sich allerdings um ein INDISCHES Restaurant! Wir hatten 4 verschiedene Gerichte von süß bis scharf und die Schärfegrade sind hier "ernst" zu nehmen! Lamm, Huhn, vegetarisch, mild oder scharf, große Portion oder vorspeise - es ist für jeden etwas dabei. Es hat zwar ein wenig gedauert und der Platz war für 4 Personen auch etwas eng, aber sonst definitiv zu empfehlen.

Marine Bistro seems to be the Indian at night. I posted on their site. Not good at lunchtime. Coffee good but food terrible. Worst toastie I have ever had in the UK. Tables greasy. Only stayed as empty and my husband liked the view.

Good food quick and great cakes, friendly staff

Excellente cuisine indienne. Le personnel est hyper aimable et en cuisine on adapte le piquant selon vos goûts. Plus, ils sont ouvert tard !

Lovely view across the bay and the fish n chips weren't half bad either. 😁

The food was the only plus point. Inexperienced staff, taking our order they seemed more interested in telling us how to handle our children than writing anything down. Two empty tables left uncleared for our entire stay though there was only one other customer present at the time. Our drinks were split and arrived separately- the wait caused by one take away customer ordering apparently, though why that affected our drinks order I don't know. Poor service, redeemed only slightly by reasonably good food. Don't buy the "Milk" shakes though - it's just ground ice mixed with flavour and milk. Not appetising at all.

It's OK, nothing more. OK value.

Good place in Tarbert to enjoy a lunch and break from the car. Food selection is varied and well prepared, and welcome after a long drive. Service prompt, efficient and kindly. Would visit again.

Terrible place cant even pay with card and on the other hand it's disgusting unclean and dirty looking staff

A very disappointing experience. The food served was not what was described on the menu. The dishes were very basic and overpriced.

Worst fish and chips I've ever had. Cannot believe what was served up, bearing in mind its location with a local fishing fleet, to be served frozen fish that I could not identify was a joke. Wasn't cheap either. Absolutely shocking.

Food was OK. Very expensive for what we got. This is more of traditional seaside cafe than a bistro.

Love taking out food and sitting at the habour friendly staff and tasty food.

Avoid at all costs! They have different prices on different brochures and tha food is absolut rubish. I had a gammon steak which was ultrathin , dry and salty in the middle.

Do yourself a favour and give this place a miss ! never seen customer service like it ! the guy literally dumped our plates of food onto our table ! food was edible but a pot noodle and a can of coke would have been better, you have been warned 👎

This is a bad choice of restaurant. Poor service, bad food. Don’t go.

Decent enough before 5pm however the menu is too extensive for the size of the establishment. Dinner time they are overwhelmed as they are one of the few places serving dinner in Tarbert. One member of the staff gives the impression he would rather be somewhere else. Again the evening “Indian “ menu is too extensive for them especially when they are doing takeaway fish and chips when the local chippie is closed. Be prepared to wait.

Basic toastie. Cheap and chearful

Lovely breakfast and big portions

Good food friendly staff very clean inside

Very good service, nice staff good food.

Nice place, good food , friendly staff,

Bistro by day and excellent Indian by night.