The Canny Crow in North Ayrshire

Firstly, I did try to make these comments privately to the venue, but have had no reply to my request for a contact (sent nine days ago). This is what I planned to send. "We were guests for a lovely evening out with friends last night, which is why the evening should have been memorable. You were busy, we were happy to wait for our table. Orders were taken for drinks, but one drink was forgotten and instead of two Slimline tonics and one regular, we were brought two regular tonics and one Slimline. We made do with one of each. In a top class establishment, I’d expect wait staff to operate a ‘silent service’ method where they adopt an easy method of marking their orders pad to enable drinks to be delivered without interrupting conversation. Obviously you don’t train staff to do this, or it appears, to train staff at all. When the waitress came with the missing soft drink, she put it on the table when the person’s hand was outstretched to take it. She did this without making eye contact with the customer. If it’s your policy to do this, she should have said. We were taken into the dining room and seated. Only some time later, when asked “Are youse ready to order?" did the waitress realise we had not been given menus. Incidentally, I’ve yet to come to The Canny Crow and not be addressed as “youse”. One guest asked for bread to be served with starters (he wasn’t asked if he wanted brown or white bread, maybe you don’t have both?) It didn’t come without a reminder. When it did it was supermarket white bread. More bread would have been handy with the pâté which came with approximately a quarter of a slice of toast.“It was nice, but when you eat pâté on its own like that it’s like eating lard.” Why did you skimp on the cheapest thing on the plate? Four out of six mains were served. We couldn’t start eating as we had no cutlery. After some time we had to ask for the other two mains. One of our guests went to the bar and asked for “knives and forks” the waitress brought knives only. We had to ask for vinegar, we weren’t offered it. We helped ourselves to mayonnaise. Service was so slow that by the time we ordered Irish coffee it was after “last orders”. It had been announced (at 10 pm), but this meant that you lost revenue. To top it all, someone started to vacuum when we were still in the room. I had no idea you closed so early, but a polite word to the person who booked would have prevented the ignominy of being virtually thrown out. Throughout the evening, it appeared that unlike previous managers, the person in charge stayed at the corner of the bar, and appeared to be a barman, rather than the person making sure the place was running smoothly. Staff were pleasant, perhaps not exactly friendly, but the blame would appear to lie with management who have failed to train them in the basics. If you want to incentivise them, remind them that you have plenty of American guests and they will benefit from high tippers if service improves. I’m telling you all this because I want The Canny Crow to succeed. I love the venue - it’s a bit out of the way and an expensive taxi ride home, but it would be worth it to bring guests to a world class venue with a stunning view. It is NOT worth risking bringing guests who I want to showcase the best of Ayrshire to when the service is so appalling. Frankly, you should be ashamed of embarrassing your guests. "

Hier tijdens het verblijf bij Dundonald links gegeten. Type eten is iets luxer dan het doorsnee pub food. Kwaliteit was ok (niet heel goed en niet heel slecht) en de bediening vriendelijk. De bediening zou wat meer aandacht voor de gasten mogen hebben.

We attended for a couples special night out Recommendations were high for my 50th birthday. Place was around 50% full. Appeared to be only 4 waiting staff, mainly young All staff were really nice and friendly and polite White wine bottle was ordered and came unchilled/warm. We asked for a replacement and were offered ice cubes!!! We again said a chilled replacement or an alternative. Manager came and got us same wine, chilled. Starters we both had scallops, cooked perfectly with a butternut squash purée, was really good, however seasoning was off, but still very good. Mains - Sea Bass was very good, tagliatelle with smoked fish and leeks etc. Was tasty, when it eventually cooled down; was cooked or plated ridiculously hot; was too salty but still a nice plate of food. After we were offered desert menu; we waited 45 minutes with no staff attention; eventually we had to ask a member of staff for desert menus; they came and then after another 15 minutes, no-one had came to take our order. We got up and went to the bar to try and get some service; orders the Cranchan, poor, very band with almost no oats or whisky. Setting is lovely, but not up to the hype on this occasion and disappointed for such a special occasion and the trip to get there. Staff are lovely, just poorly trained. Not sure if I’d go back and many alternatives nearby that have outscored last night by a distance

Came here for dinner whilst staying at Dundonald Links lodges. Lovely friendly staff. The food was fantastic. I can highly recommend the Thai mussels to start. It comes with bread to soak up the tasty sauce. All mains were so good. Great selection of beers and wine with fabulous views over the course.

We were staying at Dundonald Links and ate several meals here. Dinner has the best menu, and we would recommend dinner over lunch. Food is very good quality, as are the drinks from the bar. Service was usually quite good, and the views over the Links course toward the Ayrshire shore are lovely. I can recommend the venison burger especially -- beautifully spiced and very rich, it made for an excellent meal.