Restaurant at Loch Kinord Hotel in Aberdeenshire

Have tried to visit here on three separate occasions and unfortunately still not able to get through the door. Having driven past and seen scones and coffee advertised we stopped but were greeted with a multitude of signs saying it was residents only and you had to call in advance . Driving past a week later we thought we would stop again having seen the sign out the day before. Again we weren’t able to cross the threshold . It’s a shame it’s a nice looking place and it ihas outdoor space that literally in a year I have seen one couple sitting at . I’m not sure what’s going on - perhaps staffing issues but I’m not sure I’ve gone to a stranger place that advertises on a public raid that it has refreshments but then doesn’t let you in

Stayed at the Loch Kinord Hotel for 3 nights and to avoid the faff of finding somewhere in the current situation, we decided to eat there each night. We could not have made a better decision! The owner sent the menu to us in advance to allow us to pre-order for our first night and we ordered in the morning for each evening. There were 2 menus rotated, each with a choice of 4 starters, 4 mains, 3 deserts and cheese. We got our choice across both menus for our third night. I can highly recommend the fishcakes for starter and the duck main was so good I had it twice. The piece de resistance for me was the orange cheesecake closely followed by the local cheeses, my husband the trio of chocolate deserts. In the current Covid situation we felt safe and welcomed. The hotel are working with limited staff, this in no way affected the level of service or quality. The manager had superb whisky knowledge. Only one wee thing was my husband would have liked a bigger range of lager though the Innes and Gunn went down well.

So, we live in strange times. Limited menu, drinks and scones only, understandable given the situation. Very welcome after a lovely wander round loch kinord. Reassuring covid safety measures in place. Very friendly staff. Beautiful scone freshly made, sat socially distanced in the garden. Excellent.

Efter en herlig vandre- og cykeltur var det oplagt at træde indenfor hos Loch Kinord Hotel, som annoncerede med friskbagte scones. Vi var ganske vist de eneste denne eftermiddag, men til gengæld hyggede vi os i de gamle gemakker, som alene var en oplevelse værd.

This hotel, close to Aboyne is a class act. Privately owned , its restaurant has a lovely choice of dishes and an excellent wine list. Food invariably is very good. Has a loyal following.

We stopped at this hotel after getting lost on a bike ride with our three children where we endured all of the elements. We were welcomed in to the warmth (even though we were quite muddy) and ordered coffees, hot chocolate and the most amazing scones. Me and my husband are already planning our return trip.

We took my parents to visit Balmoral and spent two night at this hotel. It was very comfortable. The food was excellent!!

After a 5 hour long drive, myself and my husband dined here for the convenience. I had the duck orange noodles, which was rather tough to cut through and even burnt as you will see from the pictures. My husband had the chicken and haggis mash for which he found there was not enough chicken and wasn't too fond of the haggis.

We had mixed expectations of the restaurant here mainly due to the reaction of locals when we said we were dining here. Bemusement. Astonishment. Sincerest best wishes. This could be a cracking little hotel if it wasn't for the funereal atmosphere and the sense that one of the guests had recently passed away - but nobody wanted to talk about the elephant (or body) in the room. The service was suitably somber, (we were one of a handful of guests at dinner), yet somehow the food provided a remarkable resurrection in fortunes. Surprisingly well prepared and cooked, with decent efficient service, even if the eyes in the painting of a Lord behind us seemed to follow us around the room. Yes the atmosphere was like an Adams Family reunion (but without the laughs), but with a little extra love and a defibrillator, this hotel could become a fabulous spot.

Fabulous food. We had starter and mains for £27.per head. Well presented and delicious . Service was top notch considering there had been a power cut due to the hurricane.

In het hotel is een prima restaurant waar de kaart niet heel uitgebreid is maar wat er wordt geboden is uitstekend bereid en mooi gepresenteerd voor een keurige prijs.

Lovely food, well prepared. The staff were friendly but a little inattentive, I think they were over worked. Also, to be charged £1.50 each for a bread roll is mean. Quality establishments should not charge for these little extras especially as the food is not cheap.

The menu looks great and should be but it lacked that quality that one expects at these prices. The manager accepted our booking but made us feel rushed and passed his stress on to us because he had a large party in soon. I asked for some bread and was told, brusquely, I would have to wait. He then came back and said it would be 5 minutes. It was obviously frozen - a great shame when there are great bakeries in the area providing interesting bread rather than white bread rolls. Overall, quite pretentious. Very different experience in our next hotel in Aboyne, than goodness.

Comfortable dining room and great nicely presented and cooked food. Can definitely recommend for home comforts.

We stopped here as we walked form Aboyne to Ballater and were very happy with the coffee and with the service. Our waiter was Romanian and he could not have been more friendly and helpful.

We had been before so knew what to expect. We were not disappointed! There were 5 of us celebrating a 97th birthday. The guest of honour was especially well looked after and as it was quiet we had the staff to ourselves. Our food was lovely and beautifully presented. There was no problem serving the birthday cake we brought with us. Hopefully we can all meet up again next year and celebrate the next birthday!

Ate at this restaurant with family and they all had starters, which they enjoyed, I'd recommend the haggis truffles after stealing some from my partner. I had a steak for my main, which on first taste was extremely buttery and quite sickly, but after adding the peppercorn sauce was much better. Sticky toffee pudding for dessert which was very nice.

This place had a pretty standard interior but a slightly more interesting than standard menu. The starters were good and a bit more interesting than the mains. Not an inexpensive meal and somehow atmosphere was sadly lacking😐

Tijdens onze rond reis door schotland hier gegeten. Dit was voor ons het beste restaurant waar we hebben gegeten. Echt helemaal top. Daarnaast vriendelijk personeel.

Very welcoming lunch time service. Tables inside or out in the garden area. Close to Loch Kinord and inside the Cairngorm National park. Right beside the Deeside Way

Food was nice, selection on menu good but prices a bit of a confusion as it's all individual for different courses and individual items,,, strange,, service good though

Tuvimos una excelente cena esta noche. Si quieres probar buena comida escocesa calidad no busques más. Usted no será decepcionado. Calidad de la carne y el pescado era muy alto. Sabores estaban bien equilibrados. No tienen espacio para el postre. ! El servicio era excelente.

Vi que otros han comentado este lugar así que quizás nos impactó en una mala noche. La comida aquí era de muy mala calidad, y la camarera no ayudó a conseguir mi orden equivocada. Mi comida parecía que habían cocinado en un horno de microondas y el costo, no es barato, era mala relación. Todo el lugar tenía un aspecto cansado y una sensación de Fawlty Towers. Es un lugar precioso con la competencia muy poco, así que no es un montón de opciones para los viajeros.

The cook does have very good ideas and the food were all the time fresh. Definately the best food wich we have eat in Scottland.

Nos alojamos 2 noches y cenamos dos noches. Comida de primera categoría y muy bien presentado Directora de guardia fue genial. Bromas era excelente, pero medidos. Hotel siendo hechas, pero no dejes que eso te desanime ya que las habitaciones son hecho. Es una base...

Tous les plats choisis étaient absolument parfaits. Le cadre est confortable et cosy. Le personnel est chaleureux et à l'écoute du client.

Following the GPS towards Inverness from Aberdeen through the highlands close to Cairngorms national park, we found this little Hotel where we stopped for lunch. We did not expect much but were overwhelmed by the food and the presentation.Clearly a hidden gem, as it did not show up on our GPS, which showed us to a restaurant no longer open instead. But within a 100 meters we found the Loch Kinord Hotel and was blown away.Superb food, great service, nice locale.

We've been there several times in the last six months and have never been disappointed. Great food, nicely presented.Highly recommended.

We went here for a meal on the last night of our 4 night stay in Aberdeenshire. Surroundings were very comfortable, staff pleasant and attentive. Food was delicious. This restaurant is somewhere to go on a special occasion. Good choice on the menu, but beware of supplements. Langoustines had a £3.95 supplement each, my husband's steak had a suppliment as did his cheeseboard. Our total bill came to over £109 for 2x3course meals £31 each plus supplements, one glass of wine, one bottle of wine and 2xsoft drinks. The food WAS excellent if a little pricey.

I have eaten at the Loch Kinord a few times in the last 6 months and have found the standard of food and service very inconsistent. I have had 2 really superb meals and 2 very poor ones. They always seem to be training new staff.

Very disappointing and as special occasion for us, made it worse. Very bland meal. Would not return.

Very good food, small but OK wine list. Try the angus beef steak or the lamb chops. Both quite nice. Good sides. Nice atmosphere, thoughtful server. A surprise to find such a good dinner attached to our B&B.

Unfriendly, unhelpful and way overpriced. Whole place looked as if it needed steam cleaning. I did not eat there.

We've been there several times in the last six months and have never been disappointed. Great food, nicely presented.Highly recommended.

We stayed at Loch Kinord Hotel for a valentine's and chose to have a dinner in hotel's restaurant. More less to say we've been eating out in many places throughout Brittish Isles but this restaurant has the best food we ever had. Shame I can only give 5 star rating on tripadvisor cos that restaurant deserves much more than that.

Given the smart location we found the food very reasonable. My rump steak was only £9, slightly spoilt because I think it needed a little more age or the knives were blunt. The other four in the group spoke very highly of their meals. Fine dining location and helpful staff.

Unaufgeregt, aber schön und lecker präsentiert die Küchencrew ihre Speisen. Und wer lokal gejagtes Wild bestellt, wird nicht enttäuscht. Es ist kein Gourmet-Tempel, aber es wird gutes, ehrliches Essen serviert.

As a hotel guest we tried restaurant on first night. Were not disappointed. The food was lovely and cooked to order, piping hot. Good selection of courses. Sad to say we couldn't manage a pud but they looked great.

I used to live about 5 miles from this hotel 40 years ago. Lots of "gentry" frequent this place so mind your "Ps' and Qs'. I visited here on my way back from vacationing on the west coast with family. The place is still a bit "posh" but the service excellent. Prices are amazingly good. If passing by it's definitely worth stopping. The Haggis Truffle was so good we all ordered a second plate each, greedy buggers. Wash it down with a nice pint of "Bellhaven" draught then finalize with a wee dram (or two) of malt whisky and be on yer way. Take note of the fly rod in my picture. This is first Salmon then Trout territory. Not far from Balmoral castle, Queen Lizzie's estate and the royals fish these waters close by. Shhh, I've seen em.

Extremely friendly welcome when we dropped in for a cuppa and a snack. Warm, large scones with home made jam and lashings of fresh cream. We would love to have made a return visit but sadly ran out of time this holiday. The restaurant is high on the agenda for next time...

Booked a table here thinking it was in Ballater centre, based on its map location. Walked from our hotel to the map location to find it's not there, but actually in Dinnet several miles away. When we finally got there we found the food was tasty (the lamb in particular was nice), but not very comfy chairs and peculiar decor. Menu not as extensive as we would have liked. Felt a little pricey for what we had.

we really loved having dinner there.The staff is very friendly and the chef is a seal artist.The food tasts lovely and looks wonderfull.Ther are possibilities for meat- fish- and vegalovers.

£25 for a two course menu made us think we would get something special.We were a party of five and given three rolls. Asked for a fourth roll and was charged £1.50.It was actually still frozen inside.Starters were three tiny, microscopic pieces of gravlax.My wife had the venison terrine. Extremely thin slice and again too cold. Tasteless.My main course was grilled salmon with crayfish linguini.Rarely can I not finish a dish.Pasta was all in a ball and initially I thought the crayfish had been deepfrozen since this again was full of water,cold and tasteless.The staff explained that this is not the case and the crayfish arrives in brine.My wife had a dry piece of chicken and again lukewarm gratin.The staff was very apologetic and kind.They deducted one menu but our bill still came to £ 125.-for five with no bottle of wine.Maybe they had a bad night but it was our poorest meal in Scotland.

Posto caldo accogliente.. sono stato al ristorante ed é accessibile a tutti come prezzi ma il cibo é di qualitá,ben presentato e molto buono ma soprattutto fatto in casa!!da provare

Was have stop in the hotel for a lunch with the family and the food was excellent.Everybody was very happy and surprised about the large and testy portion of meal!So we will come back soon to this place!

Had a quick lunch!The food was lovely,very well presented and tasted amazing .Very pleasant service..I highly recommend it.

Dined in the restaurant after passing on 27th June 2015. Were seated in the lounge, hotel was very quiet. I am gluten free so was slightly worried that I wouldn't have much choice, but the waitress went off and checked with the chef and I enjoyed a Rocket, Blue Cheese and Walnut Salad, and a portion of chunky chips. The salad was lovely, loads of walnuts and cheese and none of it overpowering. My mum had the haggis neeps and tatties stack and said it was lovely also. Chips were crunchy but not greasy. Overall very impressed, chef is clearly very good, and no fuss made about me requesting gluten free.

The present chef at this hotel's restaurant really knows his craft. The food is so well presented, and the taste is just as good. We were amazed that the restaurant was not buzzing with people to take advantage of this great food; maybe we went on a particularly quiet night. What was surprising was that the car park was full, so I have to presume the owners of these vehicles were elsewhere in the hotel. Parking is quite tight, as an addition is being built at the rear of the hotel. If I were passing this way again, I would certainly choose to dine here at the Loch Kinord.

The Loch Kinnord restaurant is a fine place to go for a meal that's a little special. You can chill in the comfy lounge before or after and enjoy the highland atmosphere of this slightly upmarket hotel.

In May 2015 I stayed at your hotel for three nights during a grouptrip inScotland.I appreciated very much the beautiful and comfortable rooms, the excellentmeals and, last but not least, the heartwarming welcome and care from ourhost.In the midst of this splendid part of Scotland, Loch Kinord is a great placeto have dinner

Food delicious, beautifully presented, service excellent. Cosy restaurant, would be wonderful in the depths of winter with the log stove burning

Eaten here more than once and always enjoyable . Scottish fare sourced locally and well cooked and presented. Short but comprehensive wine list providing a surprisingly wide choice of wines. Pleasant service. Dining room decor is very Scottish. Owner most welcoming.

Warm welcome on entry, the staff were well organised and the food beautifully presented and "moreish!" A quaint Hotel with some of the best food within a 30 mile radius. Some people may say a tad expensive but I'm happy to pay for quality! Have not stayed in the Hotel but highly recommend the dining experience!

We had lunch there - sat in lounge - lovely area and then we were booked for dinner. Great meal - lovely choice - good food.

Service was very good. Price was a trifle expensive, and the fixed price menu unexpected. But we were staying at the hotel and it was convenient.

Six of us dined here while staying at the hotel and it was a great experience. We started with drinks in the comfortable lounge and were escorted to our table by our personable host. Service was impeccable and the delicious food was beautifully and inventively presented. Wonderful sticky toffee pudding!

We had a lovely dinner here during our stay. We started with Stornoway black pudding followed by a venison dish and a sea bass dish both of which were delicious. The cheese board has a selection of excellent cheeses and the dining room is very nice. The restaurant has AA rosette for food quality. Recommended.

The hotel specialises in using as many local fresh ingredients as possible and this is reflected in the choices on the menu. If you have an Aberdeen Angus steak as I had and you are interested, visits can be arranged to the local farm where they rear the cattle. The quality of the food and the presentation were excellent and the waiting staff were friendly and efficient, they coped admirably with the arrival of a large party of 20 plus. The decor and ambiance of the dining room serves to enhance the experience. A truly enjoyable experience!

9 of us for 3 nights at the restaurant and we had no complaints on any of the meals only praise to the chef

We stopped for lunch and it was very tasty. My wife had the duck and I took the chicken curry. Both dishes were excellent. Stuff was very friendly. I can only recommend this restaurant to everybody.

A purely by chance stop on a trip round Deeside.All we required was a coffee and perhaps a scone or a biscuit,nothing was too much trouble,served by a very nice Lady,just two very nice coffees served in the sunshine on a lovely area of decking,facing the afternoon sun sheltered and very nice.Deserves to be known throughout the region.Going back shortly to test the Bar lunch option if available.Very impressed with our first visit,well done Loch Kinord.

Outstanding meal. Staff were friendly and welcoming. Decor is tartan! We were in a party of 4 and we all had a lovely meal. Set price for 2/3 courses. You pay extra for the steak and tea/coffee. Salmon with crayfish linguine recommended. We will most certainly be back.

Dined for the first time here on a recommendation and not disappointed. Refurbished hotel and restaurant run personally by a couple. Excellent Scottish fare all sourced locally with interesting descriptions of the farms/businesses supplying the food. Very good wine list, cleverly constructed with a good choice of wines in differing price categories. The dining room is dark with tartan wallpaper but that did not distract from the friendly and efficient service

We found ourselves at the Loch Kinord Hotel Restaurant one evening because our first option had unexpectedly closed due to staff issues and we had to find plan B. I have to say, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food.I was a little concerned with our first impression. We arrived around 6:30 and no one was in the dining room. They didn't have any tables set up for 4 (must not get many families) but they were able to fit us in. The decor is a little on the stereotypically "inn-ish" and perhaps a little dated / stuffy. Most of the clientele were older couples and dressed a little nicer than us.All that aside, the food was really good. A had a creamy mushroom starter and the lamb main. The lamb came with a black pudding mash (more potato than black pudding, which was good). Afraid I don't recall what the others had, but all were happy.Glad we stumbled into it.

Wouldn't hesitate to recommend this place. Superb food (especially the cheese board, yum yum). Great service, nice ambience

We ate here for three nights on the run and the food was consistantly excellent and well presented. Locally sourced produce is perfectly cooked and well presented and service can't be faulted. Well done.

Stayed here for the weekend. The food was exceptional. Had 2 meals and both were wonderful. Loved the lamb with red cabbage and black pudding mash followed by sticky toffee pudding. Yummy. My husband had cheeseboard with 6 different local cheeses.Next night I tried breast of duck followed by cranberry creme brûlée . Also delicious.Well worth a visit to the restaurant even if you are not staying at the hotel. The friendly staff completes a lovely evening.

The Quality of the food , the presentation & the taste! I loved the Salmon Fillet with crayfish limguine so much I had it two nights out of three.

My wife and I have been here more than once. The hotel is an old established Deeside landmark. The menu is varied and the standard of food is high. We felt it just a touch on the expensive side for the portions - but this place will not let you down.

Food was lovely, good choices for vegetarians and the desserts were all magnificent! :-) we would come again if in the area in the future!

Having had a fairly poor experience a few years ago we decided to give Loch Kinord another try. After looking up some details on the web site including restaurant details headed ‘ONE OF THE FINEST RESTAURANTS IN ROYAL DEESIDE’ Copied from the site today, a new chef Neil Keevil had started 2 years before, or perhaps 3 years before as it seems to be this page related to 2011. He did not seem to be on duty when we visited and the food was more pub than a starred restaurant. More queries with serving staff indicated that there was possibly another new chef from January 2012 but he was not on duty on Mondays. No problem with having time off but the basic lack of attention to detail and things like the web site seemed to pervade our experience which overall was rather disappointing.

Excellent smoked salmon, tasty saddle of rabbit and a good Sticky Toffee Pudding. Very pleasant room with lighted candles on each table. Nice wine list with a good sauvignon blanc at a reasonable price. Service was attentive with a smile. Well done!

Amazed to find such a high quality restaurant in such a quiet spot. All our food was prepared and presented to a really high standard. Kinglass salmon really good, rabbit excellent and chocolate dessert superb. Good wine list reasonably priced. Only request is to see some more Bordeaux to choose from please!

Tall candles, white table linen,good selection of dishes and wines.great local produce we had venison and sea bass both beautifully cooked and served.Coffice in lounge with great mix of guest from all over the world a great evening ending with a stroll to the River Dee at dusk.

I have been at the Loch Kinord for the last few months through work. I have never been to a small family run hotel before that is so welcoming and homely with such fine dining. The owners are a real pleasure and as helpful as possible. The staff are all curteous and friendly and the cooking is out of this world. The locals are all very friendly and I have never felt uncomfortable or out of place.I would recommend a stay at the loch kinord if you want a complete break with great food or a home from home if you are working away.

We had a three course meal which was very good, can recommend the salmon risotto which was extremely tasty.

Went for a meal, hearing that the restaurant had a new chef. The food was magic- just like the chef ( that really is his name !!) Great variety ,sympathetically cooked and beautifully presented. Well worth a visit . -( The ice cream and balsamic vinegar was a masterpiece of ingenuity !)

My husband brought the complaint to the owners attention as we checked out on Sunday as he was not in on Friday after we dined or on Saturday when we returned to the hotel around 7. Yes we did receive a £25 discount but a discount after the fact does not make up for a disappointing meal. My husband had pea and ham soup - the soup of the day on Friday (and Saturday), it tasted hamless and when we told the waitress she came back and said the chef said the soup has been blended - blending does not compromise taste so I was a bit dismayed with this response and the consistency was very thin. Quite frankly I can make a better soup than the chef's and was dissapointed.I had pigeon and lardons to start - brown is cooked black is burnt - my lardons had a strong charcoal taste but as I was starving and the portions are tiny I finished most of it.My husband was more than happy with his main - rmp steak and chips and havig tasted his chips I agreed they were fab. My sweet onion tarte tartin was awful. The pastry was soaking wet and onions on top not at all appetising. Whilst I appreciate the quality of the local produce £22.50 per head for 2 course was way over priced. The chef needs to brush up on basic soup making skills and learn to walk before he runs.I'm sure Andrew will be quite dismayed to read this but at the end of the day I have left an honest review for a meal I was very much looking forward to and found really quite disappointing and not delivering.As an end note I must say the decor is extremely dark dull and depressing and more suited for a wake than a relaxing meal.

better than most, not the cheapest but you only get what you pay for. Some wines available by the half bottle if you are not sure.

Had no idea when we booked a room at Loch Kinord Hotel that we would find a hidden gem of a restaurant on Royal Deeside. Lovely well lit and furnished room with very attentative waiting staff.Food strong on locally sourced ingredients.Dinner was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and good value at £28.95 for 3 courses excluding wine.The starter of local mushrooms in a filo basket was very tasty could have been a bit larger whilst the pigeon sweet and succulent. The Aberdeen Angus steak was melt in the mouth and the lamb served two ways was also very good albeit that the loin for my taste should have been slighly pinker. The selection of Scottish cheeses were varied and the trio of whisky desserts were a delight for both eye and stomach!The wine list is compact but vartied with some interesting highlights - and well priced.This is a restaurant to watch as its menu, style and cooking ascend to even better hights.We will be back and would thoroughly recommend that you give it a try.

Didnt stay here as hired a cottage nearby, but ate here twice. Sunday lunch okay, but beef very tough and chewy. Thought we would give it another go as nowhere else open and there was a party of 12 of us. Pre-ordered "home cooked" venison burgers and lasagne. Burgers arrived on a soggy sesame bread bun, no garnish and soggy chips. Tasted decidedly "iffy" so left mine. My daughters lasagne was cold in the middle as were some of the others. We had a starter of mushrooms in garlic batter (frozen) and were charged £18.95 a head. They ran out of all the cheaper priced wines very quickly as they did on Sunday. Ended up with a £300 bill and plates of left food. Didnt complain as one of our party needed to go back the next day to send some e mails.I would not normally write a review of a restaurant but as we had been twice and it went from bad to very bad I would warn people not to bother. I do not understand why in Scotland food appears to be of a very poor quality and grossly overpriced. Will stick to the self catering in future.