The Duke in East Ayrshire

Been a few times and is always amazing food is great and staff are all so friendly. Service is quick we love it here. The cocktails are also very very good and lovely wine selection. Immaculate vibes

I came here a couple weeks back on a Sunday excited to try the place. First impressions seemed lovely and so did the staff. However I did encounter a few issues which is disappointing as I wouldn’t return off the basis of this. I order the beer pulled tacos for starters and to my horror, it was loaded nachos which arrived. Now if you Google what a taco is, it’s a white wrap that appears and that’s what me and everyone else I’ve spoken with would assume that, that’s what the starter would have been. I have really bad anxiety so did not feel comfortable in questioning as for 1 I felt it was my fault for reading it wrong, but upon reflection it really is down to the fact the wrong item is advertised on the menu. I really struggle with textures with foods and did try force myself to eat the starter never my partner ended up having it and I only ate the toppings which were delightful! The second issue we came across was with my main, I decided to go for the seabass as this came with chunky chips and then meant me and my partner could share his side of fries. However when my main arrived, I was shocked to see it was only fries given with my seabass. Now if they had run of our homemade chips that’s okay but I feel like as a customer, you should be informed of this. The only reason I took the seabass was for the chunky chips so I was disappointed as I would have choose something else and my partner wouldn’t have had to order fries on the side. The 3rd issue is was dissatisfied about was it was a Sunday when we had our food. We have never been here before and was pleasantly seated to our table with 2 menus. However, once we were half way through our starters, other customers were being seated and informed of a Sunday roast option. I felt like they maybe didn’t want us there or we didn’t look the part of their vibe and that we don’t get that “special treatment” everyone else did. My partner was actually looking to order a Sunday roast if it was an option but for some apparent reason, it wasn’t offered to us but only everyone else. Apart from that, the food we did have was nice and we most likely would have returned to try other things but from our above issues we won’t be back. Trying to bougie up a menu has just simply not worked. Many people love loaded nachos, my partner being one of them and had that been stated on the starters he would have ordered them instead. Your almost losing potential customers who often take loaded nachos as a starter away from them as it isn’t clear what so ever that, that is what your offering. It’s not considerate to people with autism, ocd or anxiety as it can be a challenge just trying to get out for a meal nevermind your safe foods being different to what the menu says.

Had a great time there. The staff was friendly, the food was nice, the atmosphere was very chill. The chicken pâté was something else!

Greeted with a happy smile from Danielle who also took our order and was really friendly. Food was very tasty and piping hot as usual.

Great meal excellent value and great service from all staff special mention to Danielle fir her great service and happy attitude left us with a smile

This was an amazing find, food was absolutely delicious, staff were welcoming and service was prompt. Will definitely come back when I'm next in the area.

Had a lovely dinner here before , and just had a delicious lunch served by Danielle who was amazing and left us smiling. Would come again and also great value for our money

Just popped in for a drink, had eaten elsewhere. I got a Long Pornstar cocktail, it was lovely. My new favourite! Staff were all helpful and friendly.

Went last night to the Duke, managed to get the last table available. The food and service was the usual high standard

Ate off the lunch menu. Really small portions, forgot part of the order and didn’t have gas for soda. Nice surroundings but that’s about it.

Went for lunch with my two year old during the week so was quiet but food was great and staff were great with the wee one.

Lovely staff who looked after us well. Food was delicious and such a cosy atmosphere

Happened upon this place and we weren’t disappointed. We went for a drink and ended up eating there. Food was delicious! Staff lovely and friendly . Recommend.

Great venue and meets standards of other buzzworks locations. Food could have been slightly better as the chicken tinga dish I ordered wasn't very... "tinga-y", it was pretty much unseasoned shredded chicken. It was still nice though! Service and staff were great.

Always had a great experience here! Staff are so down to earth and easy to talk to, food is amazing! The atmosphere is so chill and I love the quirky decor :)

I never have high expectations for vegan options in Kilmarnock but I was satisfied with the options this restaurant offered for lunch. Had the ratatouille and applewood cheese bagel with chips and it was filling and tasty ! Lovely staff and good cocktail deals for during the week. Would be five stars if there were more options, however.

Had lunch here today. Food wasn't great. Chicken starter was the driest chicken I have ever had. Steak main would have been great if the fries were cooked properly. Was excited for the chocolate bomb desert but had to leave it as plates took a long time to get cleared.was only 3 tables in. Wasn't worth almost £80

Fish tacos and a pink paloma. Very nice! Staff were very helpful and attentive. Good suggestion on beer for my husband. A lovely lady noticed I was cold and turned up the heat. Thank you for a lovely dinner

We have tried The Duke on a few occasions for breakfast and dinner and to be perfectly honest we are always left feeling disappointed with our visit. Often leaving feeling hungry, dissatisfied and annoyed that there is a few things not available on a very limited menu. Some staff are trying their best however more often than not we always feel the staff aren’t really bothered. We have left food on a few occasions - from average macaroni to untoasted sourdough at breakfast (when it states toasted on the menu), a surprisingly poor effort from Buzzworks. We feel that there are much better venues in Killie with better value, service and quality food.

For a first visit, it was very good. Staff friendly and helpful. Meal was excellent and the ambience with background music was relaxing. It's a definite visit again place. Buzzworks establishment, register for there reward card but not in establishment as you need a tablet or PC to use the activation email.

Visited the Duke for a family dinner recently- this is a vegan review. I doubt there are many vegans in Kilmarnock to be honest but if someone was visiting as a vegan I’m afraid there are not a lot of options here. There is a dedicated Vegetarian/ Vegan menu and on it there are 2 options for a vegan main course meal. I chose the ratatouille and applewood cheese bagel with chips. The other option was a bao bun with cauliflower. There is one option for a vegan starter-vegetable Tempura. The Bao bun I though would be messy so I chose the bagel even though I’d not ever class a bagel as a dinner option myself. The bagel was not toasted so that wasn’t good and the filling was minimal and, as far as I could tell by taste, the applewood cheese was not in existence. The chips were nice and there was a tiny bit of salad leaves with dressing on the side. I am often very disappointed with vegan options anywhere in the Ayrshire area when it comes to eating out. I understand vegans are a minority group of diners in Ayrshire but it would be really nice to have more options available, after all everyone can eat Vegan food. It is not hard to make a pasta dish, a decent salad or pizza for example. There are thousands of social media accounts dedicated to vegan food preparation. Vegan food in not hard to prepare-the ingredients are not hard to come by and it's delicious and healthy food for everyone so why are options provided so strange and also limited? Please, can a leaf be taken from Glasgow restaurants? Can Ayrshire dining establishments, (and Buzzworks in particular who monopolise Ayrshire dining) please start providing more Vegan options? It would be a breath of fresh air to be able to choose from a variety of options and actually feel the meal paid for was worth the high cost.

Food was really good, what you would expect from a Buzzworks venue, although a different menu option than most of the others that we have been to which we liked. Staff were very friendly and the atmosphere was really good. Only complaint was the courses took a very long time to come out after ordering.

Had a fantastic lunch with excellent service off a girl with pink hair sorry to not get her name, will definitely be back.

This place is not dog friendly!!!! It tolerates at best by making u a 2nd class citizen sitting out doors

Perfect meal as usual compliments to the chef first class always a most first class excellent value for money can't wait to return

There food was delicious and fresh. 😋

Not dog friendly. Don't come here if you're out with your dog.

Danielle was our server. She was brilliant and attended to everyone's needs. Even though we were a wee bit long in making up our minds, it was ALWAYS service with a smile and friendly attitude. If you happen to go to The Duke - hope for Danielle as your server.🙏✨👌

Had the beef pie. At first you think you are getting a huge pie until you get into it and find it's all pastry and mash potato with very little beef. In fact I think I've had more beef in a killie mini pie. Not worth the money.

good service ,good food,good atmosphere, reasonable price.not the largest of menus more bistro type .but have visited several times

Couldn't fault the place first time there .we will be back soon

The food was fantastic and really well presented. We had the bagels and they were great value for money too.The service team were all really polite and friendly. Lisa and Junior were both very attentive and the speed of service was fantastic.

Popped in for breakfast. Very polite staff, the food was great. Cosy place. Just visited again this week for lunch and it's really good food. Worth trying out

I enjoyed a ham and Swiss cheese benidict. It was delicious accompanied with a pot of tea 😋

Absolutely love The Duke. Had a great night with lovely food, attentive and engaging staff and an atmosphere that will definitely have us returning. Lighting, service, comfort and level of music all spot on. Other restaurants - take note….. Cocktails properly made with care. One small thing would be that the wine list, for us, is a wee bit restrictive but this is a minor point. Well done to all at the Duke. By the way, the coffee and cakes served during the day are excellent too!

Good food and service,decor unusual. Generally a nice place to visit.

Pleasant and helpful staff. Food OK.

Only stopped for a coffee and cake while out for a stroll around town. Carrot cake and coffees were excellent, however the fruit scone was very nice but a tad dry for the wife's liking.

Really good lunch option, food was well presented and flavoursome, The staff we encountered were friendly and very good

Went to the Duke for some lunch a couple of Saturdays ago. They had a separate gluten-free menu so that's a massive plus for this place. The waitress messed up our order. That's not a good thing when 1 person is wheat intolerant. Am sure she had a pad to write down the things that we ordered but instead tried to memorise the order. The walk ways were far too tight, almost had someone sit on my food as they were trying to pass by.

Honestly food is great and service is great, just always feel like they're understaffed.

Another great Buzzworks establishment. Love it

Bagel ordered and not edible as hard and chewy. Waiter (?Manager) shrugged shoulders and told me it is as they don't toast them. Didn't offer to replace with something else and basically meal not eaten. I won't be back as this is appalling customer service especially at these prices. No toilet roll in the toilets isn't great either and you seemed to have plenty of staff so this is just poor stuff.

Shared toilet dukes& duchess for a place as large as that, !!! I was underwhelmed.

Came for lunch with friends , staff seemed friendly enough , menu if vegetarian don’t bother going nit much to choose from . Waited abt 20 mins for order to be taken and then further 30 mins for food , did come over and say food would be a minute 30 mins later it arrived I had prawn tempura which tasted like battered fish greasy and tasteless , told waiter didn’t seem interested . On whole nit a great experience , would expect better from Buzzworks .

Wasn't too impressed with the.menu

Music was a little loud and had to raise voice to be heard.

Great service. Staff were so nice and understanding and the food was beyond amazing!!

Great tasting breakfast and good choice of food/drinks. Service was good, would definately recommend for a morning breakfast. Also looked like they had a decent selection of beers too.

Could have been excellent but it wasnt

First time visit, food good. Service quite quick although it was busy.

Steak as tough as old boots. Could have spent a week trying to chew my way through it! Three quarters of it left. No acknowledgement of this by waiting staff.

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. This place has a nice feel with friendly staff. Attended on a busy Saturday night, the restaurant itself was cold and I didn't take my jacket off. Service was slow, most of the food wasn't warm, not just one meal, had tacos, they were nearly cold. Had chicken and rice soup, nearly cold. I had fogato for dessert, it was a standard vanilla ice cream with a peice of what was definitely tesco's or paterson's shortbread. Not worth the money at all. Macaroni cheese was runny with about 20 peices of pasta. For these prices it fell far below what would expected. At no point did the staff check on us and they didn't ask how our meal was when we were paying. I didn't leave a tip. Very disappointed, I won't be back.

Lovely food served by very friendly staff. Service was a bit slow when we were in but I'm sure normally it's good.

What a great wee nite I had here with a few great friends,I'll deffo be back ...Thanks to the brillant staff .

Great meal, great service. Love this place!

The Sunday Roast (we all had beef) was superb, all of the food was cooked to perfection. What really gets my wick up and spoils the experience is the rampant profiteering on soft drinks. £3.25 for a 250ml bottle of soft drinks? Really? I’d much rather pay more for the wonderful food than feel I’m being extorted when it comes to drinking with my meal. Every restaurant I choose to eat thinks it’s okay to ramp up the profit on drinks hoping the customer will not notice. Rant over!

Terrible bland food. Chicken dish I ordered was so cold water was running out it from being frozen,Sent it back and second one was so overcooked I couldn't cut it and burnt on the top,I left the lot,all I received was an apology,won't be back.

First time visit for late lunch. Friendly welcoming staff. Good food at reasonable prices

On arrival, we were welcomed and shown to our seat. We were asked for our drinks, which when they came were not cold, although I never asked for I still expected it to be from a refrigerated source. Ok, now to the meals, they were great, no problems at all, couldn't fault them. What brought it down was the service. Unfortunately, after the main meal, it was slow, and it wasn't that busy. It was all made to order, starters were great, long time between that and the main( possibly being cooked to order), but for desserts the wait took even longer. We started at 2 pm and didn't get out till near 4.30 pm. Would have been 5 stars if it hadn't been so long in service

We went there as we hadn’t been for a while . My wife and I sister and my mum for her birthday. Well we were really disappointed the food portions we got were a joke . We had the fish coujions three little bits of fish and little chips which looked like macdonalds chips . For the price it was a total joke. The service was poor as well. We had sweets as well . My wife had a kids burger. I’m sorry but you must treat customers with a bit of respect. We won’t be back there really bad from buzzworks come on get your act together.

Lovely food and atmosphere. Good service and music. 0

Good food, friendly staff and good atmosphere.

We had a lovely lunch, served by friendly staff. We were able to walk in without a reservation which was handy.

Made an online reservation for this restaurant which was so easy to do. Met Lewis and Junior who are great personalities. So friendly and attentive during our visit. They are wonderful ambassadors for the company. The place was busy and this provided an atmosphere. Big shout to the kitchen brigade for the very high standard of food. Menu is varied and caters for all tastes. Well worth a visit when in the area. Will be back for sure.

Great food, good atmosphere for a Wednesday night, can't fault it. Would recommend

My burger was poor value for money, also sticky toffee pudding was chewy. Shame nice place!!

We were here for my birthday lunch on the 5th June, the meal was outstanding, we went tonight Wed 21 st june, the lemon garlic chicken was overcooked and my husband's fish was very greasy and tasteless very, very disappointed in buzzworks

Love the place, looking forward to going back with family on Tuesday, food amazing service great thank you xxx

Starters and desserts well above Main¹¹ course could be courses or main courses poor compared to starters and desserts. Staff service very poor

super Personal und schmackhaftes Essen

Cant review food we never got served got seated with menu and forgot about

This restaurant is where I had my last dinner in town with my cousin & his wife the night prior to returning home to the US and I'm glad we did. We ordered 2 fish and chips dinners, salmon dinner, starters & drinks. Everything was excellent, the waitress was very pleasant & timely with our orders and the decor is very warm & well appointed. My cousin had booked a reservation & for a Tues eve the restaurant was almost full. Thanks!

Had two quite tasty sandwiches to go and an americano but at £18 was a bit steep for what we got and only a small 9 oz coffee cup. It's definitely a place to sit and relax rather than takeaway as the decor is very impressive!

Last minute lunch, didn't book. Apparently, there were no tables available. Girl at reception was very rude, never been before never be back.

Brilliant service as always here. Another regular eating place for us.

Food and drinks are nice but pricey for what you actually get. Nice atmosphere but service was shockingly slow.

Good variety and choices on Menu price of food and alcohol reasonable hard working friendly staff food is first class

Food was amazing. Drinks a bit expensive. We were a table of 5 and booked a table for mid afternoon, they were very strict on the 90 minutes and the table needs to be vacated rule. The restaurant was pretty quiet and they still asked us for the table back! Surprising since we were still interested in ordering desserts & cocktails, but we were over our time limit.

Love this place ,so highly recommend it . Food is excellent, staff attentive ( special mention to Danielle 👍🏻 who always has a smile on her face. The atmosphere in here makes you want to stay awhile & come back again. Located in the heart of the town so buses & trains within easy reach

Love this place. Food is amazing. Place itself is lovely and in a great location for transport. The staff are pretty friendly and service is good. Prices are as expected. Not cheap but not overpriced. Been a few times now and looking forward to my next visit!

Lovely and welcoming nice lassie serving laila top marks

We were walk ins for this our first visit to the Duke. We were sat at a small but well placed window table which was great for a bit of people watching. We chose from the cheaper set menu which is decent value but a bit limited for me, I would struggle to choose a different option if I go back. The food was very nice and there was plenty of choice of drinks however as with most restaurants the drinks are overpriced. Not much to complain about but also no real reason to rush back.

Fabulous place to dine and have a bottle of wine. The servers are ALL so professional and attentive. Love coming here.

Working away from Manchester, Last night in Scotland. Came across this place and WOW. Taste buds have never felt better. Excellent service and stupendous food, 100% recommended.

After eating In a premier inn week I just couldn’t take it anymore so ventured out. Unbelievable what you can get for practically the same price. 10/10 for quality, price and vibes

Didnt have food but lovely place and excellent bar staff

It's a great place to stop and eat amazing service and lovely food It is really worth the drive for food and it isn't expensive either 😉

Great Saturday night with good service. Waitress Cat is very friendly, helpful and a great asset to the restaurant.

Food was nice, atmosphere is nice, my only complaints were the daiquiri cocktails were tasteless and I had to ask multiple times for my discount despite booking in advance and the staff being aware of the discount.

Visited here with my girlfriend and it was absolutely amazing. Food was great and service was even better. Didn’t catch the girls name, she had tattoos and glasses. Her service was the best I had ever received, she was attentive and made sure our drinks were never empty. Would definitely return again for the 5 star service.

Went for a meal with family ,at The Duke,John Finnie Street,Kilmarnock,East Ayrshire,from the time we entered the venue I was very impressed ,it was tastefully decorated and we were greeted by friendly staff and taken to our seats ,the ambiance with background music was magic,the service was excellent, the food was amazing ,very good value ,highly recommended

Fantastic breakfast / drink of coffee.. Great price for the quality of food.. Staff is very friendly and helpful... I recommend this place very highly...

Looking forward to returning again for lunch or dinner menu

Super dinner tonight at The Duke. Food was delicious as always. Service from Leila and her team was exceptional. Thank you for being so accommodating with the menu given that one of us recently had surgery and has to be really careful what they eat, your kindness and understanding was really appreciated.

Thursday 27th Jan. lunchtime Hadn't booked, they were very busy, but we were seated by the bar in the window...it was lovely. Service was quick and cheerful, food was the same and delicious. Will be back

Didn't have our first choice from specials menu, offered similar which was much more expensive. Picked something else which was ok but not what I was looking forward to. Staff were nice but seemed harrased with only two or three tables occupied.

Lovely place to eat and the staff are great and remember us from our last time

Lovely place a for a good breakfast

Great dinner here tonight. Staff where first class and do a lot for the customers considering how busy it was Will be back