The Balavoulin Restaurant in Highland

Don't waste your money on this place, far better places to eat.

Loved it service was fast food good atmosphere good dog friendly most important

We went here for lunch.The food was all good apart from the cheese and ham toasties.There could have been more filling inside.The fish was beautiful and the pizza was also very good.Drinks were good.

Had an amazing night out with a group of friends. We only had drinks. It was a Monday and was surprisingly packed out but atmosphere was great. Staff were all exceptional..thank you so much.

Only went for a meal as we were staying elsewhere but the food and service were amazing. We will definitely be back.

Lovely breakfast, great location, friendly people. The hotel part is a set of rooms above the pub, but we didn’t hear the pub patrons. Coffee is pretty good. It is right along the main road, so shops, cafes, and restaurants are close, but also has good access to various walks and attractions either by foot, bus, or train. We came by train from Edinburgh, and it is a short and easy walk from the train station. We enjoyed our stay and would use again

Delicious food and very friendly staff, cosy atmosphere

Not much to say, stopped in for a drink.. staff were great and had a nice pint near to closing time. Didn't eat so can't comment on food, but a nice atmosphere and staff..

We came here for dinner for our first night in Aviemore. We had some free time so arrived half an hr prior to our booking hoping to grab a drink. The staff were so kind and got us settled right away. An excellent menu with great food. We had the fish and chips and nachos. The nachos is absolutely massive! We tried some local gins recommended to us by the waiter and they were also amazing. Overall great food with even better service.

Very busy and friendly pub on a Friday evening, where we ate well, with good size portions, of modern pub-type food served at table. Didn't stay.

We had a great evening, ate well and drank a few pints. The staff is adorable and very cheerful despite the busy restaurant. Thank you for your kindness 😊

What a gem, beautiful pub for a rest stop. Food is amazing and the staff are superb a definite must if your in the area

Great pub to watch the footie or rugby. Food was excellent as well as the staff! Family and dog friendly too.

Cracking pub with good atmosphere, properly friendly staff and decent options for watching sport, with some screens for Rugby and Footy. Food good too, fresh pizza for me and wife had fish and chips, massive portion though. A good find in Aviemore (other venues checked out didn't come up to standard).

Came here with my wife for my 40th birthday. We were a bit early, but staff were more than happy to seat us and offer drinks, tea & coffee till our booked time for food was ready. Menu was a good selection of meals and VG meals. We have a great 2 ½ experience while here

A warm and friendly welcome from staff. Nothing too much trouble for them, including replacing chips for ones without salt for our wee one. We ate here two nights in a row whilst on holiday in Aviemore- food was delicious and we loved the relaxed atmosphere. Pizza, burgers and chicken and chorizo pie were all amazing!

Food and service were great. Reasonably priced.

We ate some delicious sandwiches with the soup of the day, good atmosphere. We didn't visit the hotel, only the pub. A good place to rest

What a brilliant family restaurant. Managed by the delightful Christine. She really knows how to make you feel welcome.

Got a nice soup and sandwich here but waited an awful long time to get our order taken then after waiting for someone to take our plates away and give us the bill we just got up to pay which I don't mind but was under the impression that they come to you

We stayed in Aviemore this past weekend and went to the Bally for drinks on the Saturday night where we were pleasantly surprised by the great atmosphere of the place. It was a busy pub which is beautifully decorated and giving a modern yet characteristic feel. The staff were beyond welcoming and friendly and made it easily to sit and enjoy some drinks. On the Sunday we returned for our even meal having booked knowing the day before was fully booked for meals. The staff again were super attentive and the atmosphere was busy but not overly loud and off putting. The food was excellent and staff went above and beyond the ensure our meal was perfect for us. As we finished up we were inviting into joining the weekly pub quiz accessible on your smart phone but we declined and hope to return in the near future to join in. The restaurant was clean, service was fast and the food was excellent I could not recommend the restaurant more.

The Avie-Mhor pizza is one of the best pizzas there is felt like a meat pizza was giving me a lap dance it was class

Went for an afternoon drink and decided to book a table for dinner. Staff members were all great and food- when we returned- was good quality and value. Thank you 😊

Visited a Friday night didn’t have a booking but was told to wait at bar and will get a table once available, ordered a drink and table was ready! Great food for a great price! Wish we tried here last time. Ordered the Bally Burger and the Fish and Chips there were no faults staff very friendly and great that it is dog friendly!

Just had food & drinks at this bar. So good! Lovely staff, great food. Super dog friendly! Staff bringing over water for our dogs a lovely touch. Great drinks too. Definitely recommend. Thank you x

Cosy. Dog friendly. Open fire. Great soup and sandwich lunch options - particularly the hot smoked salmon.

This place is dog friendly very helpful friendly staff a lovely warm welcome plus a nice atmosphere

Stopped for a quick lunch, one of the best soups and sandwiches I've ever had. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Lovely pub/ restaurant with really friendly staff

Great place to eat or meet friends for drinks

Wow, this place was buzzing on Saturday afternoon. Popped in for a drink and we got the last available table. Service was a bit slow, but as it was full, I can appreciate how. Good choice of drinks available at reasonable prices. Only downside, they stop serving food between 3-5, really!!!!, especially on weekends. We therefore only stayed for 1 drink and found somewhere else to eat.

My husband and I had a one ngt stay here in December on our way to Inverness. We had a fantastic experience from start to finish. We arrived on a wet windy afternoon and received a warm welcome from the friendly barman. We were shown to our room by a lovely girl who went over a few things in room, which was so nice. Rooms are basic but spotlessly clean, tea tray & biscuits provided and the beds are extremely comfortable, we had a great ngts sleep. The shower isn’t the most powerful in the world but you expect that in an older property and it did the job. We ate in the restaurant and food was amazing. I had the terrine to start , followed by the nachos with pulled pork, all delicious. We spent the rest of the evening in the bar as there was a band on, a special thank you for the most amazing Negroni and other cocktails. A negroni is my favourite drink and it is rarely made so well! Every single member of staff was polite, friendly and made us feel so welcome. We will definitely be back. Oh and lastly the breakfast was just what we needed after too many festive drinks! Thank you again.

Another visit to Balavoulin during our annual trip to Aviemore. Excellent bar and restaurant. Popped in a few times this visit with family and friends from England and Australia. Food is excellent and staff service first class. Would highly recommend.

Brilliant customer service, every person me and my wife delt with there was absolutely lovely and it felt like they genuinely cared about our stay there. Even when we checked out they were happy to keep our bags there while we explored for a while before we left Avimore. The food is on the more pricey end but for the quality of the food it was worth every penny. Especially given the portion size, its more than worth the money. The room was well kept and the bed gave us a comfy sleep. Would definitely stay again when we are lucky enough to be back in Avimore, 10/10.

Absolutely lovely experience, wish we had a longer stay and will be recommending it to friends. Room was incredibly cozy, warm, and even had a view. Excellent comforter! Not only that, but the good was fantastic. Breakfast is included with room booking, and the pub downstairs for the evening is delicious. Staff is incredibly friendly and kind. You will not regret coming here. And only minutes away from Cairngorms and other fun activities.

Great location and nice place, the food can be hit or miss and is expensive but when it’s good it’s great. Unfortunately the service is absolutely abysmal, staff are coarse and rude, very slow and stand around chatting most of the time. Several times I’ve tried to get served at the bar to be completely ignored and had others served ahead of me or been given attitude, or food orders wrong and they act like it’s a massive issue to get it correct. I’ve given them a chance to redeem themselves a couple of times as it’s handy location for us and good to have the football and dog friendly but we won’t go back again now.

We visited here, as a family of 3 and our dog. Gorgeous food, and staff were friendly and helpful. Dog friendly. Would definitely recommend.

Great atmosphere and drinks choice

The food was incredible, the staff couldnt have been better, highly recommended if youre ever visiting Aviemore!

Food 8s great and staff are too the place has a great atmosphere.

Superb hot chocolate. Alert staff.

Always excelent cooking. And amazing service.

What a lovely place this is. We went in for dinner and were not disappointed. great food and great service. Dog friendly too, although our wee guy was not with us but good to know he would have been welcome. We will definitely be back.

Great bar and restaurant in the heart of Aviemore, please if eating book, it can get very busy! I was lucky enough to be squeezed in on a Wednesday night! Lovely food and a good selection of drinks. Great atmosphere to go with whatever you're having and surrounded by like-minded outdoorsy people! 😁

Rude and abrupt bar staff apart from young guy who was very helpful. Unfortunately didn't get his name.

Great cozy pub. Loved the toastie. Excellent snack selection.

Food was amazing great atmosphere

Did not stay over, but popped in for Sunday lunch. Great food in nice surroundings.

Excellent pint Belhaven, sadly no Dark Rum! or ameretto!

Excellent staff. Good room size. Lively breakfast and food

Warm cosy atmosphere with comfortable seating and stove fire. Highly recommended.

Food was average at best, male drinks server Cound not get the order 100% right even after 2 attempts then he starts moaning at the bar, was only driving passed and thought it looked nice so took a chance, not local so won't be visiting again

Overall a good experience at the Balavoulin. It's a place for someone who would like to experience a townhouse in Europe. The best thing about the hotel is the staff, we met a lady who showed us the room before check-in and she explained/guided us the usage of facilities. A manager introduced himself and asked us personally if our stay was fine or if we needed anything. Location with close access to retail park and shops is a plus point. They do not offer a buffet breakfast but a variety of options to be served made freshly with good taste, especially the veg. sausage and scone. They have a free car parking area as well. Since the place is not a big building the access to the rooms is through the staircase. The only turning point for me was despite informing the staff to make our room it was not done. Overall good value for money.

Kept waiting at bar for 10 minutes for no reason atall. Ordered 2 gin and lemonade, however bar person decided to put tonic water in glass instead so drinks were rank rotten. Bar staff really need to listen to customer and give them what they want and not what they feel like giving customer.

Always enjoy a fab meal here when in Aviemore (have eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner there). Book in advance as very popular (option to do so online). Big platefuls of fresh food. Friendly staff and great atmosphere. Give it a go - you won’t be disappointed.

Had booked this restaurant for our final night in Aviemore after checking the website which stated the restaurant is dog friendly i booked for a table of 6. When we arrived we were told they couldn’t accommodate us as the table they had reserved for us was on carpet and dogs are not allowed on carpet! So not dog friendly then? We were told we were to tell them we had a dog when booking but there is no option to do this and when somewhere says dog friendly i assume they allow dogs misleading! They were not very accommodating in moving us to one of the tables where dogs were allowed (their were some without reserved signs) they had no solutions offered to us so we left with very upset children to the neighbouring winking owl who welcomed us and our dog!

Great food and fantastic service. Friendly welcoming staff. They looked after us and our two staffies Skye and Nanook

I went for dinner and a few beers during a business trip and found the staff pleasant and my meal really good. I had fish and chips and my colleague had the steak pie, both were large portions and very tasty.

Visited Twice while in Aviemore having Visited on a previous trip last year . The Bar staff were on top of things providing a good pint of the Big T and provided great Customer Service, Especially during the Scotland vs. Tonga Match on Sunday the...

Great place to eat out, food and drink has always been very good when we have been. Large portions and friendly staff. Would’ve been 5 stars but they have changed from pretzel buns to brioche, they don’t taste as good and the bottom of the...

Food was decent enough, however when ordering we were told that the nachos and pizza were not available even though they are on the menu and do not have specific timing. Only for our food to arrive and another table to order nachos and pizza...

Bottom line: we would return next year, but I’ll be keeping an eye on reviews before booking to see if improvements are made… It’s been nicely done inside (especially when you know how it looked before!). The menu is good in my opinion, with a...

Went in to see if they had a table free with my wife and my son, we got ignored and had to ask about a table one of the staff who abruptly had a go at my wife when she asked and were got told...

Google is ok but the service is terrible. Starters not arriving. Continually having to prompt the staff for meals/ service of any sort. Ordered drinks which took so long to arrive that meals were finished.

Excellent food. We had prawns and smoked salmon to start, burger and fish for mains. The kids loved their pizzas and ice cream! Welcoming, attentive staff and a great family friendly atmosphere. We’ll definitely be back!

Great place to stay. Very convenient for town and local attractions. Staff were lovely and friendly, especially the young guy who checked us in. Food also good. Good value for money, would definitely stay again.

We booked in for dinner during one of our nights staying in Aviemore. The staff were lovely and welcoming, especially with us dining with our baby. The menu had good variety and reasonably priced for the area. We ordered pulled pork nachos and they were...

I stayed here two nights. As with many hotels a few tweaks could make it far better. Greeting on arrival was lovely. Bedroom was pretty good but there were Maksad on the bed linen. Also the shower was rubbish due to poor water pressure. There...

Great place. Very friendly staff, food was lovely. We had the burger which was very good. Kids menu was nice as well.

If you're looking for good food with a great ambiance then The Balavoulin in Aviemore is the place to go. I was recommended by a few work colleagues to go but highly recommend booking ahead of time as they book up really quickly. It almost...

Had the burger which was ok - tasted better than it looked. My husband had their fish and chips which he felt was quite good. Otherwise there were sandwiches, pizza and nacho options for lunch. The bar opens at 12, food is only served at...

Excellent beer battered haddock and chips for GBP 14.80. Food is served from 12.30 pm, not noon. Service was fast and efficient.

So got my pint of beer and took it outside into the pleasant sunny garden. One look in the sunshine and it was obviously off with a consistency of soup. So took it back to the bar, waited 5 minutes for the server to appear,...

Really disappointed with this place. The bar staff couldn't be bothered to attend us and when the young man came over to us, he asked if we had booked. They clearly had available tables. Very arrogant. Definitely avoid.

Had a lovely meal here,I had the chicken burger, which was chicken breast, yummy homemade coleslaw, chips,others had pizza 🍕 😋

We popped in for lunch on the way through. We had our dog with us, and they were very dog friendly, and very helpful and generally friendly. We had a toastie and a mug of soup, very reasonably priced and the tomato soup was home...

Although we live locally this was the first time we had eaten in the Balavulin . We both had fish and chips which were excellent . The fish was so fresh and great to hear it’s from a local supplier “Profish “ Ice cream also...

Great quick and friendly service especially given that it was very busy. We had a starter nachos with pulled pork to share which was really good, nachos were still crispy throughout despite toppings. Burgers were very tasty, would definitely return.

Catered for a large group, provided orders prior to arrival. Good service and good value. Tomato soup, steak pie & sticky toffee pudding all good.

Love this restaurant usually. Arrived a couple mins before 3 with our dogs for a bite to eat at one of our fav local restaurants, sign says food served all day. Actually they stop serving at 3 (Easter Sunday) I think it would be good...

Fantastic good fish was excellent and as big as whale grandson managed sticky toffee pudding best ever he said !! Good service very busy dog friendly must book

Burnt vegetables, bland steak pie, generally mediocre food. Poor value, very disappointed. Young waiter reported to kitchen, but no response. Paid bill, unusually without any gratuity and left.

Excellent, tasty food. Service was friendly and the food was delicious, some could have done with a bit more salt but that was an easy fix. Best vegetarian burger I’ve had in a while. Cocktails were also tasty and very nice atmosphere. A bit on...

Service good and food came quite quickly. However, the steak and ale pie totally lacked any flavour. Came with puff pastry top which was cooked separately which I think is a cheat. Probably the worst Steak and Ale pie, I have ever had,

Over cooked burger, to the point of being crispy. Watery and tastes steak and ale pie. Staff were very friendly and the service was quick

Stopped in at The Balavoulin for an early evening meal. Friendly service and really good pub food - the burgers and steak and ale pie were particularly good. Would recommend and go back if in the area again.

We were taken last min just before food service was due to finish but the food was still delicious, the place had a lovely vibe we didnt feel rushed and bar staff helpful on where else to go in the area

We were told that this restaurant had a nice selection of Scottish food but the menu was clearly more geared to generic pub food. As we pondered our food choice, we selected a couple of beers from the nice selection of taps. We settled on...