The Boathouse in Dumfries & Galloway

Family lunch with 2 kids, called midweek and reserved boat table as kids love it, was told all booked for 12.40. Arrived on the sat to be told it wasn't available, kids obviously disappointed so not a great start. Service was slow, drinks took at least 10 minutes. Food was small, average and overpriced. Overall very disappointing as have been before and much better, unfortunately won't be hurrying back.

Came here for breakfast at the weekend.Lovely food very tasty . Service really fast and efficient. All staff very pleasant and cheerful . . Great way to spend a Sunday morning

I keep going back because i love the location ! (make sure you book as too far out to risk ) but unfortunately every time im dissapointed with the food, overpriced for quantity, quality and tasteless (iv had breakfasts, soups and platters) . Will just visit for coffee and cake in future

Visited The Boathouse in Glencaple yesterday and decided that we would pop in for a light lunch. I wasnt particualrly hungry so opted for the Creamy Leek & Potato Soup. It was absolutlely amazing, top class, creamy and velvety worthy of being served in a top restaurant. The atmosphere and surroundings are great and the view outstanding. The rest of the menu looked great and is the type of fare that would be expected from a trendy bistro in a major city. Many Thanks, we shall be visiting again

Called several times and no one answered; drove across town and was told they are too busy to serve us food despite the place being half empty. I’ve phoned in the past and they were largely short and unapologetic for their lack of flexibility and availability. If this is an issue, as it has been every time I have tried to visit, the establishment needs to make it clear that they are by booking only. Would advise booking FAR in advance if you ever wish to go here. Food and location are lovely, but we’re probably done trying with these guys, sadly.

Take a trip out of Dumfries down just a few miles to Glencapel. There you'll find The Boathouse. It's worth the trip. Sat right on the riverbank this bistro restaurant serves lovely food, good coffee and wonderful cake! The views across and down the river are stunning. Car parking is free and it's easy to get to. Would recommend!

Worth a trip out of Dumfries to this very good bistro restaurant. We stopped for coffee and cakes and loved it. Fabulous views of the river, free car parking and it's easy to get to.

Love the Boathouse lovely, staff and food is great. Worth a visit.

We stopped here for Sunday Brunch, great experience, fabulous full Scottish breakfast, food hot and extremely tasty, lovely cosy building overlooking the Solway, we can't wait to return.

Stumbled upon this gem of a place to eat. The food was gorgeous and the setting is amazing. What else can I say, you'd really need to visit and find out.

Nice helpful staff. Good customer service. Nice menu, bottled beer, wine menu and sweet treats. Serve brunch, lunch and afternoon tea.

Really lovely place for breakfast lovely food and friendly staff .dogs wecome and a lovely view of river .

Lovely cafe and little shop with a patio overlooking the estuary. Friendly, helpful staff, great coffee. Amazing views. 5* all round.

I went to this restaurant with my girlfriend. We had the mushroom soup and Camembert to share for starters. The starter was incredibly tasty and a very good size for the price. We both had the venison burger for our mains, and it was fantastic. The burger was cooked well and was a nice hefty size. We had sides of sweet potato fries and garlic sourdough which were to die for. The waitresses were so kind and generous and always tended to our needs. The wait time was good also, we were not waiting long periods of time in between servings. All in all this is a great spot to dine out!

Boathouse was recommended to us by a couple of people. We went on a Sunday and it was quite quiet. The food wasn't bad but it certainly was nowhere near the price point on the menu. Came away quite disappointed. Won't be going back and wouldn't recommend it.

A lovely location and with good service. Food was good but not outstanding. Incomprehensible allergies information.

Beautiful food enjoyed with stunning scenery. Fresh produce, perfectly poached eggs and non greasy fry ups, followed by freshly baked scones, still warm from the oven! Delicious. All the staff were warm and friendly, it was so refreshing to see a happy work force.

We stayed in the car park last night and wanted breakfast this morning but they don't open till 10am when most folk have eaten well before then, anyway we waited and I ordered pancakes and maple syrup with bacon,I supposed what arrived resemble such,but the 3 pancakes were quite undercooked and why only 2 small slices of bacon, £10 well next time we will just eat our own food, when we want it and how we want it, we don't mind paying for quality as we did in the Nith pub the night before, it wasn't cheap but it was very nice.

We had a lovely lunch. The food was superb and the portions generous. The view from our table was just great. Over and above this was the service. The young lady who served us could not have been nicer. Efficient, friendly and helpful with my garlic hatred/intolerance. We will definitely be back.

Arrived at 2pm our food did not arrive for one hour . It was rather long to expect a 2 and 4 year old to wait but they were well behaved . My son had a venison burger which was too raw for him . He was not asked how he would like it cooked . Considering the order was pancakes french toast beans this should have been on our table quickly . Such a shame it was a birthday treat for me .

Beautiful lunch spot! Service always friendly and food has always been great

What a great find. Lovely setting. We chose to sit outside as we had our two dogs. (Little suntrap on the glass surround balcony) we chose to have a coffee & scones,fruit & cheese & chuckney. Both very fresh. The coffee was very nice. All the ladies serving were very nice,pleasant. Would recommend highly. Very dog friendly too. (Lady serving said we could go inside if we wanted) We'll be back.

We arrived at 1pm for lunch .. the girls were slow at taking our order. We ordered a sharing Fish Platter which was lovely ! It arrived after 30 mins ! We sat another 30 mins for our next course . My husband had a Venison Burger , which he said was good I ordered Smkd Salmon and scrambled eggs !! I have no idea how they managed it the scrambled egg was tepid and the salmon was hot !

Fantastic coffee and smoothies. The views alone are worth stopping in for. Staff are always friendly too.

Just for marshmallow chocolate this place is great. Quality service, quality product, quality location. Thanks to the team.

I had Eggs Benedict but with haggis instead of ham. Very impressed that the eggs were runny! Quite delicious.

Nice place to stop for something to eat.

Lovely spot on a beautiful day. Food very good and service unobtrusive.

A good stop for lunch with lovely views

I visited this establishment with my father on a quiet Saturday morning at around 1030am. The place was empty, save for a party of six who were already being attended to. Point to note: my father is 82 years-old, disabled, walks with a stick, and loses his breath very easily. Having negotiated the long slope up from the disabled parking bay, he was understandably quite keen to get a seat as soon as possible. On arrival we were greeted by a waitress who told us to wait before being seated - an odd request given the place was 80% empty, but we nonetheless complied. A period of time elapsed and - after watching aforementioned waitress walk past us again on several occasions - my increasingly out-of-breath father took it upon himself to sit down at a table. In an instant, a second waitress appeared, reminding us not to allocate ourselves a berth without authorisation. I explained to her that my father was disabled and needed to sit down as soon as possible. She did not respond and left the scene. She reappeared a few moments later, informing us that the table my father was sitting at was reserved - again, quite a surprise given that no 'reserved' signs appeared to be visible. He would now have to get up again and move to another empty table before being served. Again, we duly complied, although at this point I was becoming concerned with both my father's physical health and the complete lack of basic hospitality being shown towards us both. After a quick discussion with my father at our new table, we both concluded that it would be best to leave the establishment without ordering. On leaving, one of the waitresses remarked "come again soon". I assured her that this would not happen.

Fantastic place to visit with great views. The food was faultless and the staff were so friendly!!

They closed too early for us, everyone in our group loved the look and feel of the place

I recently visited in a large group for afternoon tea and the food was terrible. I eat here a few times a year and the food is usually average but in a lovely setting with good service. I'd had an afternoon tea a few years back and it stood out as really delicious with lots of fresh Savoury pieces. This time around the service was slow but it was very busy, however the food was shockingly bad. The sandwiches were so overloaded with Mayonnaise they were falling apart and wet with crusty edges. They looked like they had been cut with a spoon. We asked for more as the portion was very meagre and these were even more haphazardly thrown together and presented. The rests of the savouries were obviously cooked from frozen and included mini sausage rolls and macaroni cheese bites. The sweets also looked to be defrosted and included macaroons and small Iced donuts. The pastel del natas tasted like they'd been cooked next to the sausage rolls. The whole meal seemed to be sourced from a cash and carry or Iceland and was well below expectations.

My best chai latte in Scotland (so far!) First visited here a couple of years ago so brought friends along for brunch. Didn't book but a table was available for our group of 8. I chose the veggie breakfast, whilst my husband went for the Huevos Barqueros and the children each had the french toast. All was delicious and my chai latte was the perfect blend of spice, creaminess and sweetness. Great views over the river and there is outdoor seating too.

Arrived on a beautiful day at the amazing setting for a business meeting. Then that was it. We met with staff who were uninterested and frankly rude. I never understand this lackadaisical attitude as it will cost the business eventually. The worse of Scottish hospitality

Lovely place, lovely food, and friendly staff.

Disappointing visit, scone was very small and dry with no flavour it disintegrated before I could eat it. Have had previous great food here, however our last visit before this was not great either which is a shame as it used to be a firm favourite. On the upside the coffee was excellent, views stunning and the staff that served us were lovely.

Stopped for lunch today, nice and sunny and we sat on the balcony with our dog enjoying the view, however we were told that we were welcome to sit inside with our dog if we preferred. We had 2 bowls of honey roasted carrot soup served with a cheese scone, it was delicious 😋

We popped in to the Boathouse for lunch without a booking so we had to sit outside which was fine as it was a lovely day and had lovely views over the river, it all went wrong when we ordered two simple dishes I had Mackerel pate with a request for an extra roll and the wife ordered poached eggs and haggis on sour dough bread but without the hollandaise sauce, we waited for over 40 minutes I mentioned to a member of staff that we had been waiting for 30 minutes at that point and when it did come my wife’s eggs had hollandaise sauce all over it which she had to return plus they didn’t bring the extra bread I had asked for. We won’t be going back to the Boathouse

Lovely friendly staff, our little dog loved her sausage & bacon. Snooze time for her now.

In contrast to our previous visit to The Boathouse in October 2023, on this occasion my wife and I were given a warm welcome, and most importantly a table and chairs. We didn’t have a booking on either this or the previous visit but there were many free tables on both occasions. Whether they were reserved we have no notion. Last time we were brusquely offered a coffee table for lunch and decided to forgo that in favour of The Nith Hotel opposite. The café has a modern design, is nicely decorated and is in a lovely setting overlooking the River Nith about 5 miles from Dumfries town centre. There is an outside terrace to take best advantage of the view if the weather is favourable. Everything suggests there has been a sizeable investment. There is also a small shop and a free public car park at the site. The menu remains “quirky” so best to have a look online in advance to see if you’re tempted... and if so, book a table in advance. We opted for paninis - Chorizo and Brie for my wife and Gammon & Cheddar for myself (£10.50 each). These were a nice crisp texture and served with salad with a tasty dressing, creamy coleslaw and some tortilla chips. Altogether very enjoyable. I’d already had tea (£2.95) and my wife an Americano coffee (£3) with our paninis but we ordered a couple more of the coffees to go along with a slice of Carrot Cake (£6.50) and a piece of Caramel Shortbread (£3.50). These were very good, as was the coffee. The carrot cake was surprisingly moist for a gluten free version. Overall cost for lunch for two was £42.95. The toilets were literally sparkling clean. Service was friendly and food tasty so full marks in that respect however if we have one reservation we felt the menu was restricting for our personal tastes.

It's a beautiful venue with spectacular views and friendly staff however it is not good value for money. My friend had a cheese scone that was a generous size but was raw in the middle and tasted more like mustard than cheese. My meal was very pretty, coming with a sprinkling of pansies but the portion size was mean for the price.

Lovely friendly staff. Service time and wait time for food and drinks was spot on. The decoration and style of the entire place, including the spotless toilets is cosy, clean and welcoming. They are dog friendly and welcome friendly, well behaved dogs indoors. In South West Scotland, that was a massive refreshing change as we found very very few places that are accepting. Some of the customers were not impressed with having a dog near them and a rude comment and a few disapproving stares making us feel uncomfortable had to be contended with during our visit, but other than them, we enjoyed our visit and would recommend. The menu offer was great and the prices far more reasonable than some. Good quality ingredients and produce were used too, which is also a pleasant find!

Breakfast @Theboathouse One of my favourite places to drive to and indulge in food, I have never been disappointed #wouldrecommend Feb 27th, and a return to The Boathouse for lunch, Sharing the fish platter #delish

Beautiful views . Waited while for a mediocre breakfast ( cold beans , haggis just cooked ) 2 full breakfast & kids breakfast , two orange juice & a coffee £46.10 . Overrated & overpriced .

Called in for breakfast after having used the motorhome stop overnight. Food and service great.

Fantastic for breakfast (fry-up) - Veggie option available. Delicious coffee. Great views and friendly staff. Can buy coffee to go and newspapers. Small farm style shop inside with a range of products.

Great food and service, will use again.

Firstly I think this place is refreshingly original and has a superb ambiance. I had soup which was really good, right balance of flavour and heat. Fab. However, I chose to have a cheese scone with it. BAD MOVE instead of bread. The cheese scone was about 1 to 1.5 inch square. In other words Tiny. So disappointed as if I’d known that I’d obviously have had a rustic roll. Wee shame. As the rest of the lunch was lovely and the service superb. Seemed a bit penny pinching for no gain.

Another trip on such a beautiful cold and frosty day. Had a bit of a walk followed by a meal .

We booked a table here for Sunday brunch recently. The food was excellent and the staff were friendly and efficient. We had a seat by the window, and the views of the Nith and surrounding area were lovely. We would definitely return for either brunch or lunch again.

The food was lovely and the service excellent. Highly recommend.

I have review this venue before and.loved it but now you can take your well behaved dog inside as well. We did not have a meal but enjoyed our coffees and a delicious cherry tart. Stunning views across the River Nith. No otter this time but loads of wild fowl and we did catch the tidal bore which was awesome.

Stopped for a coffee staff were excellent very polite

Food was nice staff friendly but a bit over priced in our opinion For a burger sweet potato fries and a full breakfast with 2 drinks was near £50 this was for 2 people

Lovely end to our trip to the area. Definitely worth a visit, dog friend also have motorhome parking/to stay. The food was lovely and the view stunning

Hi folks. Your website says you're open 0900 to 1700 Monday to Sunday. We arrived at the cafe around 1300 on Monday, 20th of November and saw a winter opening times notice on the door that says open 1000 to 1600 Monday to Friday and different again over the weekend. It's fair enough, I appreciate the different schedule over winter period. However, doors were locked and somebody from inside shouted 'we are closed' and walked away. I understand things may happen but how hard would it be to update your opening hours on your website and put up a notice there that you're closed today or whenever it may be to save people the trip? Please correct me if I'm wrong but surely I'm not the only one who only checks opening times on the website and doesn't phone every place I plan to visit to see if they're open or not. Actually I know I'm not as we spent about 10 minutes there looking over the water and during that time we counted 3 groups of people come and being turned away.

Found this little gem of a place when we were on holiday, we loved it so much we returned again the next day. Lovely location, stunning views, beautiful food, friendly and cosy atmosphere and helpful staff. I wish we had some place like this back home! P.s what teabags do you use as the tea was delicious 😋

Very slow taking our order. Even though we'd booked. Long wait for food. Disappointing service. Overpriced and some things not available. Can't understand why everyone raves about it.

A lovely cafe servicing great home made local meals. Fish cakes with poached eggs and the venison burger are great. Meat and cheese sharing platter could have been bigger with more diverse cheeses. Try the wedges or sweet potato fries, they are too die for. Dog friendly and a great place to catch the today bore or flocks of migratory birds

Probably not the best day to call in for brunch …. Wet, windy and a very high tide had the broken banked Nith lapping at the edges of the car park …. but we’ll worth it for the delicious food . Never seen it so wet here and many of the usually cow filled fields on the far bank were completely immersed . Still a great visit.

The best Brie and chorizo panini I have ever eaten. Just fantastic. Definitely worth a visit.

We had our wedding ceremony and meal here. It was perfect. The team were great and really put me at ease.

Visited yesterday..unfortunately we did not enjoy our visit. My husband’s first choice of venison burger was unavailable and there were no specials on offer. We ordered steak sandwiches. Presentation looked good but the steak was very tough and chewy even though it was cooked medium rare.. we had to use a knife to cut it into bite size pieces.. we were not offered any sweet or coffee after our lunch and no one around to ask, so we payed our bill and left.. The actual cafe looked clean and the views were lovely. The main area was cluttered with goods to purchase but no price tags visible.. The staff were pleasant but lacking in customer service..not sure we would return.

Dropped in for lunch and wasn't in any way disappointed. Lovely food and a great service from the very friendly staff. Great views and dog friendly

The perfect venue I chose The Boathouse for an intimate wedding reception of 15 or so people, and the staff there delivered in spades with a delicious, high-quality buffet, carefully-considered playlist, and a beautifully lit and decorated atmosphere—with candles and fairy lights adorning seemingly every surface. The staff—who were on hand the entire time—were absolutely delightful, and were more than happy to pack the buffet into paper bags for us. They also decorated the wedding cake beautifully for me with the items we brought. I couldn’t recommend The Boathouse highly enough—thank you!

Very nice place to eat fantastic food and views and dog friendly thsnk for a nice afternoon 2 dog couple

I absolutely love it when my travels take me to the boathouse the staff are helpful and the things they sell are lovely and fresh. I will return I'm sure.

I went for a birthday brunch, it was very good, the views from the restaurant are quite something 👌

Expensive paid £13 for 2 slices ok cake

Have always loved this place and found the food excellent but this time it was let down by hard poached eggs and unfortunately a yapping dog. But I will look forward to another visit as the view is stunning

Stopped off on the off-chance. Glad I did. Really enjoyed the food. Excellent service. Well done 👏

Treated my mum and dad for a high tea special at Boathouse for their 63 anniversary but they got charged for having a top up....Almost all other places would have done this as matter of course. Talk about being stingy and greedy. Have been there several times but doubt we'll be going baxpck

We paid £40 for Afternoon tea for my mum and dad's 63r.d anniversary .....but they were charged for an extra top up of the tea. What a stingy greedy lot, 2 teabags We used to frequent this place quite often. l don't think so any more

Didn't stop to eat, but looked very nice

Lovely views. Food good .menu that bit nicer than your usual eatery/ cafe.. Service friendly. Can accommodate wheelchairs .

Lovely views, Great Food and very friendly and helpful staff.

Tried the breakfast but the vegan bacon was badly burnt and everything else was cold. I’d asked for the small breakfast but large came and charged for. No veg sausages were available. It took a very long time to arrive …..over 25 minutes. They did deduct the price of the coffee. Not a great experience

Absolutely gorgeous restaurant with a great choice of dishes. I had the chilli halloumi wrap and sweet potato fries (big enough to be shared between 4). Service was excellent and the view of the estuary with the migrating geese was stunning.

Great selection of food for lunch, good value for money too

Lovely views to enjoy with your meal. There were a few veg / vegan options. I had the vegan breakfast. Wasn't sure what to expect from the vegan haggis but I thought it was okay. Vegan bacon was a massive let down. It was burnt and inedible. I mentioned it to staff and they said they would do another and it was exactly the same. I did suggest to the staff member that either they or the chef should try it themselves but they never came back to me about that. Lovely they make an effort but please only offer it if it's edible!

Stunning location. We have found service slightly slower on our last couple of visits but it is always busy. Excellent menu and food is always amazing. Views are magnificent.

Soup and cheese scone excellent food.found this place by accident defo worth a visit

Sat outside on a lovely warm day, protected from the breeze by the excellent glass screen. Chose the second day of the "Nith bore" which passed us as we were eating. Altogether a great lunch with wonderful food and wine. Very well worth a visit and we will be back.

We had a lovely brunch and were very happy to find somewhere dog friendly that had great vegan and gluten free options. Gorgeous views even in the rain! We will be back

We have eaten breakfast & lunch both excellent good choices. Staff very friendly & helpful excellent service. Highly recommend

Coffee and cake. Enjoyed both and the view

Lovely food and gluten free options on the menu. Great view of the River Nith from your dinning table.

Really good food here and a shop with many high quality local produce and souvenirs. The place has an excellent view over the estuary and is right next to a local pub and places to park your motorhome overnight. I will definitely return for an overnighter with pint, then go here for brekkie or lunch. Delicious

Great location just outside of Dumfries at Glecaple it's a different world at this restaurant by the river Nith, you got to see it to believe it. Food is delicious it can be very busy at times.

The best breakfasts ever, the view is incredible and the food superb!

Best sausage sandwich to date, really lovely restaurant/cafe, staff were lovely and good chat. Prices are high, but it's good quality food and drinks. Toilets are immaculate. Only detractor is they have multiple individual loos, but have separated these into single-gender signs. Could easily all be marked as gender neutral as each is self-contained/single-person use. Some power sockets and free WiFi.

Great food and service. Highly recommended.

Lovely setting, delicious food and friendly staff

I absolutely love this restaurant, we have dined here several times and would highly recommend it. The staff are friendly and helpful, the service is excellent and the food is always fantastic!

Great location and nice food. A shame about the very, very sticky tables. Lady said it was the cleaning spray they used. Errr, change the spray! Really not very nice having to peel your arm off the table.

This place is just brilliant with great food and staff.

The food was good. However after I booked over two weeks before and they appeared not to have the booking I was a bit disappointed how I was treated. However we were eventually seated and served good was good.

A great location in a very friendly and clean restaurant - the staff were very polite and attentive. The menu options are wide and we loved our dishes. Plenty of parking available and overall a great dining experience....👌

Fantástico para disfrutar de unas maravillosas vistas mientras tomas algo. El afternoon tea es delicioso y muy completo. En la entrada tienen una tienda muy bonita (tazas, jabones, ambientadores, etc) y un supermercado pequeño con delicias de UK.