Rocpool Restaurant in Highland

Fantastic food and service. Some would say expensive but you get what you pay. Long weekend in Inverness and Rocpool was defo a highlight.

THE best place to eat in Inverness. The quality of the wood was first class, staff were polite and smiley which is a thing not many places have tbh.

Excellent standards of cooking, great service and a really warm atmosphere. We stopped off for lunch here and had the 2 course lunch menu with wine. The food was outstanding.

Rocpool, The medium rare steak was beautifully cooked. The chips were golden and crispy sprinkled in crystallised salt. The staff were talkative and very friendly.It had a stunning atmosphere overlooking the river Ness. Molly 10 years old

What a find!! Stunning food, and delightful staff Best place that we have been to Scotland Good vibe, and full, so need to book

A lovely meal at the Rocpool. A very varied menu means you have plenty to choose from. Dishes were excellent. Highly recommended!

With so many good reviews and listed in the Michelin guide, we absolutely had to eat at this restaurant when we were in Inverness. The food was good but not exceptional as befitting a Michelin listing. In fact, the cod that we had was not as good as the cod we had at the River House Restaurant nearby the night before. Worse, I almost ate a rotten clam. When I asked the server to inform the chef, there was no response. I could have gotten sick but sadly, that was the attitude of the restaurant. Never before experienced a restaurant like that!

Heard great things over the years but never in my memory had I been to the Rocpool (several times to its sister establishment Rocpool Reserve, but that is quite different). Booked for an early evening table; carpaccio was lovely as was the Hake. The soup and the parmesan crusted parsnip fritters were well liked but the battered haddock didn't live up to expectations. Finished with creme brulee and pecan pie both fine. Service was attentive but perhaps a little slow, although have no idea how busy they were from where we were sat.

Fab-u-lous Tonight we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Rocpool. What a treat. Great welcome, amazing food, attentive friendly staff and a buzzing atmosphere. If you're in Inverness don't pass up the opportunity to dine here but book ahead. Steven and his brilliant, happy, motivated team are a breath of fresh air in a world where restaurants are really struggling to get staff and to retain them.

What a fabulous place and meal! We ordered from the early evening menu and both thoroughly enjoyed our meals. The staff were so nice and friendly, with one hero rushing to my aid with a hot towel when I had a little sauce mishap!

Perfect lunch Sure to return some time

They don’t serve lunch at 13:45pm. So if you arrive at this time ignore what the sign says as they won’t be serving you their 12-2pm lunch menu or anything else as the kitchen is closed.

A brilliant night out and the most delicious meal we could have. There were 7 of us, we had the best service from all the staff especially our sommelier, her suggestions were magnificent. The meal was delicious, the best in town. Cocktails, desserts, everything was perfect. A special night to remember.

Absolutely everything was superb. Everything.

Good food Staff friendly Had no issues Highly recommend

Fabulous food, delicious and well presented. Great friendly service. Definitely recommend.

Great food, wonderful service. Would definitely go again.

Every mouthful of our meal was delicious. Service was first class, friendly and non intrusive. The staff are a real credit to rocpool. We have been previously and will definitely return again. Thank you all.

Spicy crab soup was so disappointing. No spice and bland, beef cheeks were excellent.clams and cod was underwhelming. I'm still licking my fingers. Not the best. Id say disappointing at best. Service and staff lovely. For the price it was underwhelming.

Had crab and then halibut both were wonderful full of flavour and perfectly cooked The service was 1st class Our pary had a wonderful evening from start to finish Thank you all so much

Brilliant food and lovely staff! Had the chef's special spiced orange rum cocktail and the monkfish. Both were amazing.

Fantastic friendly service and delicious food. The cocktails were excellent too.

We went to this restaurant twice during the lunchtime. The food was amazing, especially tagliatelle with salmon and linguine with seafood. First time we went there, we've been served by a lovely Polish lady, who led us through the whole menu and gave us recommendations. She was attentive, sweet and she knew how to treat guests. The second time we went there, the next day, we've been served by a young waiter, who was just ok - not enough for such establishment. He has a lot to learn. Still, it was probably the best food we had in Scotland, so highly recommended.

Really high quality food! Must visit if in Inverness, and better to book in advance. I can totally recommend venison with haggis, it was extremely delicious. Linguine with prawns was good as well, though a bit too spicy for my liking.

Fabulous little restaurant 10/10 for food, variety, service and atmosphere- a delightful rare find.

Delicious meal! I had a monk fish and it was phenomenal.

Highly recommended, excellent food and impeccable presentation.

Very nice team, incredible food and really nice place to test in Inverness.

Just brilliant. Every bite was fantastic, service pleasant and always there, but not imposing

The food was delicious, and the waiters who served us were very friendly. It was a shame that we couldn't tip by credit card. I would definitely come back to this restaurant next time I visit Inverness.

By far the best restaurant in Inverness.

After 1 week in Scotland I can say that it was the best restaurant where we have dined. We started with some fabulous scallops just right, we continued with the crab, which was spectacular in both its presentation and flavor, and we finished with the “tagliata” which was a spectacle. The chocolate dessert as always, you never fail there, delicious

Great place. Very relaxed. Fantastic menu. Great wines and whiskeys. Good service, very welcoming. Book early, can be tough to get a table.

Exceptional. If I could use only word to describe our experience at Rocpool, that would be it. [For anyone who reads my reviews, you know that single-word entries aren't my norm. :)] I'll start with a "warning": the warm, sunflower seed-crusted bread is so delicious that you need to stop yourself or you'll not be able to eat dinner. That would be very sad because this food is phenomenal. I love that a carnivore and a vegetarian can sit at the same table and both feel like they had one of the best meals of their lives at the end of the evening. I didn't want to disturb other diners by taking photos, but this is a beautiful place by any standards. The service is warm and personal, from the greeting at the door to the final good evening going out the door. The restaurant was booked solid the night we visited, and several walk-ins were turned away. You definitely want to plan ahead. Bravo, Rocpool!

Excellent service, atmosphere and out standing food, and wonderful company, thank you.

I recently visited Rocpool and was extremely disappointed with the experience. After dining there, I became severely ill around midnight, experiencing intense vomiting and discomfort. I had to seek medical attention, where the doctor confirmed I had acute gastroenteritis, likely due to mussels that were not fresh and may have been dead before cooking. Considering the price of the dishes is not low, the restaurant should pay more attention to food safety!

Scallops to die for and the venison- oh baby! A must - will be back for sure

Excellent food and service in very comfortable surroundings. Great central location

The place was fully booked, but the team promissed to call if a vacancy would come up - and they did! It turned out to be a great evening: The food was delicious, fresh and perfectly seasoned; and the service was excellent. The only „problem“ was that there were so many tasty and interesting options on the menu it was tough to decide - Ordering another starter instead of desert helped a lot :) Rocpool can be highly recommended; looking forward to return next time.

This place is absolutely incredible. My wife and I grabbed dinner here our first night in town after a marathon travel day, and it was the perfect way to save the day. Plenty of time between courses, which is a breath of fresh air coming from the states, as it seems like they get you in, get your money, and try to get you out as quick as possible. Our service was fantastic, everyone was extremely friendly, and ready with a recommendation. The food was out of this world - we had the beef carpaccio and scallops with chorizo to start, along with a cider from Thistly Cross, which was the best cider I’ve ever had in my life by a very wide margin. We had the monkfish and venison entrees. Creme brûlée with whiskey and an espresso to finish. We didn’t have a bite that was less than incredible the whole meal. Would recommend this place to anyone looking for an upscale dining experience in Inverness where you’ll taste flavors that you’ve never experienced before.

We stopped for dinner here. The city was very full, but they managed to get us a table without waiting. We ordered the mushroom soup as a starter and the main course was pasta with seafood, and the dish of the day was duck. They were great! The service was also very good. It has a wide menu of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

had lunch menu rissoto for starters and then roast chicken for main. Staff were flexible and helpful, we had a party of 6 and our original booking was in the evening and my Dad turned up last minute and they fitted him in no problem

Great modern Scottish cuisine within sight of the River Ness. The meal at Rocpool was an absolute delight. In the chic restaurant we were served real delights in the, admittedly somewhat narrow, table bays. The seared scallops, the linguine with king prawns and the sensational halibut are definitely worth highlighting. Plus excellent service and a top sommelier. The visit there was the culinary highlight of our holiday in Scotland.

Absolutely delicious food. Upmarket. Service excellent Only downside intrusive music playing quite loudly.

Consistently excellent. The best place to eat in Inverness.

Absolutely amazing meal, everything was fabulous Service was great Highly recommended 5 🌟

Incredible food beautiful restaurant lovely staff (more like friends) Thankyou All at Rocpool

2023 July:The steak was wonderful and Sarah is absolutely divine! 2024 September:Absolutely the best restaurant, hands down! Sarah is magnificent and always provides the best recommendations, from drinks to food to wine to dessert, she is simply the best and the reason to return!!

Where do I start, we were visiting friends and they booked Rocpool and boy this restaurant doesn't disappoint. Our food was fantastic, the wine selection another level but the service and staff elevated our evening and ment with were the last to leave 😂 If you're in Inverness then this restaurant should be on your list of places to dine 👌

Fresh seafood and other local ingredients. Friendly staff, good service, nice ambience.

A delicious meal, beautiful seasonal produce. The staff were lovely and attentive at all times.

Quaint wee place for this beautiful city always seems to be fully booked due to size tables too close for my liking food lovely though over generous feel bad leaving their food ! Service great

Lovely quaint place always full needs booked in advance though only issue we have is that tables are too close to each other it's a small place in a beautiful city service great food nice very generous so much feel bad leaving it the amount you see on menu don't expect that much when arrive ..have to wait a while in between meals

The presence of this place in the Michelin guide is no coincidence: good, well-finished and, I would say, appetizing food. The welcome is friendly. No delay. Positive experience and to be recommended

Wonderful dinner experience in Inverness. The atmosphere, menu and food were all fantastic. A fun, hip and classy vibe all at once. In addition to the delicious food, I'd like to also say thank you to Sarah (seemed like a sommelier, but I'm not sure of her title) who single-handedly elevated the experience from very good to exceptional. Her extensive knowledge of the wine list, including specifics about each wine, and her ability to describe them so well I felt I knew exactly what I'd be getting before tasting them, was exemplary. We're from Napa, CA, USA and have a bit of experience with wine, but had never tried two of the varietals she suggested. The perfect pairings she suggested (4 different wines between the two of us to go with our various dishes), made the evening very special.

Just had an excellent meal at Rocpool with friends. The food was absolutely delicious. Staff very professional and friendly. The loos are amazing too!!!. Thank you.

Small classy & quaint food good service very nice prices ok

First timers. From the moment we walked in it was great! Friendly, good seating, professional wait staff. Had Woodford Manhattan, halibut, salad, onion rings. Wife had sweet potato soup, lamb, crème brûlée, cosmo.Everything perfect. Onions rings killer. Aggie makes the best cocktails. Steven the owner is on top of everything. No is not in his vocabulary. Not loud, comfortable seating. We’ve been traveling for 3 weeks in Ireland and Scotland and this place is head and shoulders above any restaurant we’ve been to.

Superb food. Great service. Boyant atmosphere.

Myself and family were staying in inverness and we came here for food and drinks ,what a brilliant night we had .we will be back agin next year for sure

Fantastic lunch. Delicious food and delightful staff. Would highly recommend.

A very pleasant surprise…. Tasty and well presented food. After a long and cold day at least for us it was a pleasure to be able to taste the dishes of this restaurant which conquered our palate. Obviously mine is a personal opinion, based on personal tastes, but if you like the cuisine, revisit it and are prepared to try everything, I highly recommend it.

What a great place! If you are visiting Loch Ness you gotta stop here for dinner! Great food and amazing service!

Food and Service absolutely outstanding, came through from Forres, will be back again.

This place is absolutely wonderful. I had the seafood stew which was terrific. There were 8 of us and everyone was really happy. It's also right on the river in Inverness. They tend to get booked so call in advance.

I rated this restaurant as an overall 3 for the following reasons: We arrived at 8:30pm for our reservation which was at 8:30pm. We were welcomed and seated promptly. However it took ages for them to take our order, we were served our starter at 9:25pm & main course was served at 9:55pm. The food was very good but not worth the wait. The bill arrived with the sentence “service is not included”, 114GFB for two people, with no drinks. Although the staff serving us were very nice to us, I wasn’t going to tip the very slow service.

Food was good but no surprise, maybe because we ordered the set menu. The music was too loud if you want to have some whisper talks.

Always brilliant, from the outstanding service to the outstanding food

I’ve been twice to the Rocpool and although it is a nice restaurant for what you pay to dine there I felt let down on these two occasions by different things. The first time the service was slow and a drinks order was miscommunicated between servers which led to it being missed completely until we asked. On the second occasion around a year later and recently, my two friends ordered steaks which were I’m told chewy and poor quality. I would like to add that on both occasions we were booked in for 9pm which is the last sitting of the day due to being last minute reservations so I can understand that people are fatigued after all evening working but on the other hand the price I feel is deserving of a better standard even at that hour. I’d be hard pushed to try and give this restaurant a third chance as there are many other great places to eat in Inverness who charge less for what they offer customers.

Lovely setting with great ambience however let down by the quality of ingredients . I ordered the special steak, and whilst the scallop accompianiant was nice , the steak itself was very tough which made for a challenging eat . I expected better for North of forty pounds.

Best food I had in Scotland. Excellent local produce such as venison , fish etc. Desserts also really superb. Highly recommended. Staff also excellent especially the Sommelier Sarah who had a superb knowledge of wines

Fantastic meal!! The tempura squash blossoms, burrata & peach salad with mint and pistachios, and the bass with nectarine, peach, tomato salad were absolutely heavenly! The fresh pappardelle with duck ragu also had great flavor and texture. The duck entree with risotto was also cooked wonderfully and had incredibly flavors. Every dish was a winner. Great service as well.

Lovely dinner place in Inverness. Super busy on a weekday evening, an a very vibrant atmosphere. We ordered ala carte. The tuna ceviche was delicate and well balanced, while the beef carpaccio with artichoke was quite yum. The prawn and cheese risotto was really light and creamy. My favourite of the meal was the soy and ginger glazed duck, on a mushroom risotto bed. Great find!

Wow. The whole experience was fantastic. The menu was really varied with a lot of choice. The staff were so attentive and worked so well together. Multiple members of staff played a different role in our experience and no one clashed with each others role. The food was excellent and very tasty. The staff ensured that we had all we needed for a lovely experience. The food was full of flavour. Well done to everyone

Fab-u-lous as always. Been several times and always very very good.

My absolute favourite place to go for a treat. The food is perfection every time. They are so accommodating, I swap my scallops for king praws, as shown in the picture. Always have a lovely strawberry bellini when I arrive. Excellent wine list, staff very knowledgeable, and not pushy. Worth every penny!!

Excellent restaurant, very good food and service! I would make reaervations

We had an excellent dinner at Rocpool. After 10 days of travel around Scotland, we were all very tired of the heavy brown food and rocpool was a perfect counterpoint. Beautifully presented and expertly prepared, every dish from starters to dessert was outstanding, flavorful and fresh. Just lovely!

An incredible restaurant, and a must visit to anyone who is in Inverness. Probably the best fish and chips I've ever had, and truly outstanding cocktails too. Loved it and will be back.

I'll admit I didn't look into the type of food they serve here before going as I was very hungry and everywhere else nearby didn't seem to take walk ins. I'm not much for small foods. I believe that a meal should have plenty of protein and shouldn't consist primarily of mayo. I felt as though I was going to be sick. The waitress was wonderful and offered to get me something else but I couldn't find anything on the menu that would be any better. It didn't help that the wording confused me. Her attention and kindness is the only reason this place isn't getting a three.

We came here with a group of eight. The ambiance of the restaurant was very inviting and the service was excellent. Every single bite of food was delectable. I had the tomato bisque soup and the lamb special and both were exquisite. Easily the finest meal I had in Scotland.

Lovely lunch as always at rocpool with my husband. Food and service was amazing. Highly recommend if you are thinking of visiting Inverness

Wow. Came from milton ontario and had the greatest 2 nights on Thursday and Friday in June. Steven the owner and Sarah our amazing server blew our minds. Food was outstanding and Sarah was the best of the best. Thanks so much from Canada. Kevin 😉 scot, Chris and Gary from Halifax. Don't miss out on this absolute gem in Inverness. Thanks hope to see you guys again

Back to our favourite restaurant in Inverness, from the moment you walk in you know you are in the best hands, staff are great. Beautiful wine, cocktails & the food is exceptional. Seafood starters followed by amazing venison & fillet steak. Finished with the best cheesecake & strawberry bellinies😍 The cherry on the cake was a birthday surprise laid on be the best restaurant staff you will find anywhere. Thank you all for an amazing evening, will be back soon!

Food is amazing Service is amazing Staffs are amazing Cutlery needs to be changed because they are too old.

My girlfriend and I happened to be in Inverness and saw that this restaurant was on the Michelin Star guide. We got a reservation 2 days before, which was super lucky! Overall, this restaurant was fantastic and I would absolutely come back. The service was on point. Fast and efficient. They provided good insights as to what starters paired with what main meals. The drinks we had received were very good. If you’re looking for a fresh drink, I recommend the passionate laddie. For the starters, we had the king scallops w/ chorizo, and the duck ragu. These were both really good and did actually pair well with our main meals. As for the main meals, we had the Speyside venison and the scotch filet of beef. Both were incredible and would highly recommend. For dessert we had the lemon meringue and ordered an espresso martini on the side (ask for with whisky)

The food and service go a long way to overcoming the somewhat diner-ish layout of this place. One of my go-to restaurants in Inverness.

Excellent food and delicious drinks , we came from the US for my birthday to Inverness, and this is one of the places that was recommended to us, everything was great, I wished they did something special for my birthday , no one even said Happy Birthday or a candle , but would recommended for everyone visiting Inverness

Very good dishes, a little expensive. Lots of people and therefore very noisy. But very friendly staff available and fast. A very good restaurant in Inverness.

Our group of six adults had made reservations for dinner after our Speyside Tour. The food was well one of the best meals that we had in Inverness during our stay. Staff was attentive and efficient and the deserts that we all chose were yummy! Highly recommend a visit.

Food was fantastic but Steven, the sommelier was a complete snob - turned a great meal into a bad night out. After buying an expensive bottle of wine, enjoying dinner, and after letting him know I wasn't much for whisky, I added water to a dessert whisky and he literally told me I was dead to him and this was not in jest. What a disappointment.

Good food, the dish of the day was outstanding. Very crowded and noisy, more reminding a pub on a Friday night.

First visit to Inverness & chose to have lunch at Rocpool. Had a fantastic time, staff really friendly and attentive, food delicious. Would definitely recommend and will be visiting again in the future. Recommend booking in advance as it gets busy.

Very good cuisine. The only complaint is a little too noisy

Other than to endorse the writers of the many other 5 star reviews, I have not much to say. For me what sets this restaurant apart as being outstanding rather than simply good, is that the chef and the team know how to bring exquisite flavour to their sauces. Well done team for continuing to make us happy year in year out.

Food and service were amazing. Scallop starter is definitely one to get.

My husband and I visit Inverness 4 or more times a year and no visit is complete without dinner at Rocpool. The food is delicious and worth every penny spent. From appetisers to desserts, this restaurant exceeded all our expectations. The staff are amazing, friendly and very attentive. Our waiter was excellent and very funny. Cannot wait to return, as always.

Truly first class, highly recommended.

Beautiful food, every mouthful a delight. The joy at seeing your friend light up with sensual ecstasy, so darned sweet! The service was perfect, these guys read the diner and caress your soul. One of the most wonderful dinners I have ever had.

Top of the range. Real gourmet.