The Grog & Gruel in Highland

Popped in to warm my freezing hands after a great boat trip on the nearby Loch. The pot of tea was delicious (and also a welcome handwarmer!) and the food the rest of our group had (soup) went down very well indeed. Although happy with tea this time, the rea ale bore in me just had to have a nose at the beer on offer and I was very impressed. Several handpulls all serving local ale and cider on tap too. Definitely a pub I hope to visit again some day.

A Scottish pub...here or next door rhe Tavern...Really awesome...black goat beer...better than Guinness. Really good.

We were a walk in party of 11, seated immediately on a Saturday night, across 2 separate tables, but we kind of liked that. The service was speedy, the food hot and delicious and the overall experience very satisfying. Would visit again.

Nice high street bar. Classic style alehouse with food and some really good ales on tap. Decent selection and nice service too.

An old fashioned bar in the middle of Fort William pedestrian street.

I just revisited after a couple of years andvit looks like the G&G has found back to its former glory. Top Pub in Fort William

Very cosy pub with great food! The service team was really kind. We loved it!

Lovely pub with friendly and helpful staff. Food is excellent.

Google says they open at 12. The doors didn't open until at least 12:30 and when they did, we were unaware that only the bar opens at 12 so we went upstairs and sat down. About 10 minutes later a woman was very very rude to us in telling us the restaurant part was closed and then CONTINUED to tell us as we were packing up our things to leave. Overall very disappointing experience with the very rude staff. We will not be returning. We instead had a wonderful pleasant experience with kind friendly staff a few restaurants down the road.

A warm and cosy pub/restaurant with delicious food and wonderful staff. We found this delightful pub/restaurant on the High Street in Fort William. The staff were extremely kindly and friendly, especially the lovely Beth, who looked after us for the 2 nights we visited. My toddler absolutely adored her! The vegetarian pizzas were crisp and covered in fresh vegetables and the garlic bread was utterly yummy. We were very worried as we walked into restaurant after restaurant with a hungry toddler and struggled to find a decent vegetarian dinner option. But Beth’s kindness allayed our fears, as Grog & Gruel’s pizza kept an energetic toddler (and parents) well fed. We are very grateful! Highly recommend visiting this place, particularly if you are vegetarian.

We only popped in for the whiskey cask Thistly Cross cider on draft and it was gorgeous. Staff wanted us to go upstairs to eat but we wanted to eat in the bar (and we did). I think they would prefer the American tourists upstairs! The stag pie was ok but for £18 real potatoes would have been nice for the chips. Not the greatest bar staff,passable.

Loved this pub had my wee dog with me & she was welcomed you can even get your dog a wee snack for a small cost, lots of Scottish Beers to choose from & ciders I had the strawberry thistley cider brewed in Scotland was lovely. I had fish & chip which was delicious. Service was good. Staff so friendly & welcoming. Pub itself has nice decor & has a lovely welcoming feel to it when you enter. Highly recommended when you head to fort William high street.

Restaurant was closed but the bar was open. Super friendly staff. Interesting menu but also lots of standards. My husband had a bison burger and i had pizza.

Had a lovely time. The staff is very friendly and the food and drinks are tasty and very reasonably priced.

Amazing pub! During our stay in Scotland, this might have been the best pub food we've had! Can totally recommend the Chestnut & Seeds Salad for lactose intolerant people like me, as well as the onion rings - best ones I've had in my life! You can see they're homemade, really amazing! And if you like Guinness, try out their black gold stout. It's much better than the original Guinness, surprisingly! Totally enjoyed this place and will recommend it to everyone coming to Fort William.

Quesadilla was bang average. Some of the young male staff just seem to muck about. Annoyed with myself for eating here.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS! Worst burger I’ve ever eaten. Grey on one side, burnt on the other. Tasted like it was purchased from a local supermarket and frozen for months before being cooked. Service was also not good enough, didn’t once come and ask how the food was during the course of our meal and gave us main meals even with plates from starters left on the table. Extremely expensive for the quality of food.

The food was not good. The service was not good. The prices were way too high for what we got.

Cracking local boozer with quality food on top

Location centralissima, nella via dei ristoranti solitamente strapieni in questo periodo, siamo riusciti a trovare riparo in questo ristopub. Aldilà dell’incomprensione secondo cui siamo rimasti un quarto d’ora in attesa che qualcuno venisse a prendere l’ordinazione mentre invece è il cliente che deve recarsi al bancone…. Aldilà di questo la cena è stata buona, veloce e di buona fattura. Un ++ va alla qualità delle birre. Ottimo rapporto qualità prezzo.

I thought it was fine but nothing to write home about.

Non-touristy place to eat in Fort William.

I highly recommend, simple and good lunch or dinners in the center of Fort Williams, a good option among all the other less economical ones.

I sat down upstairs on a table for 2 just before 6pm on a Saturday and ordered a chilli hot dog and fries. The sausage was placed on top of a section of French stick and tasted like I would expect a sausage to taste like if I bought a really cheap one from an Iceland store. The fries were oven chips and there weren't many. It was accompanied by a meagre and boring little salad lettuce, tomato, cucumber all cut up really small (probably about a serving spoons worth). The food and service screamed busy (surprisingly) tourist turnover. Why oh why did I not choose to eat at the Spice Tandori restaurant or Sonas restaurant, which my fellow travellers had much praise for. Advice for the Grog and Gruel......hire a decent chef and some staff who have respect for the customers and who actually don't see the job as an inconvenience in their lives!!

I wasn't really convinced to eat there however as all other places been already full, we have stayed and I have to say I was really pleasantly surprised! I have ordered cajun chicken burger and it was very tasteful, my dad had a venison burger also good, my hubby ordered venison hot dog it was big and good, fries were nice too as they weren't oily at all, the only let down regarding food I would say from what we have ordered were chicken nuggets from kids menu as this weren't fresh made sadly. Service very good. I would give 5 stars if interior itself would be more pleasant for the eye.

Unfortunately, my experience was disappointing. The table we sat at was too dirty and sticky, which made for a really unpleasant start to the evening. The staff seemed inattentive and did nothing to improve the situation. Even the food, which I hoped would redeem the evening, definitely failed.

The restaurant itself is really nice and cozy. The food is so-so, but the price-performance ratio is not right. The staff is a disgrace. We had a waitress who was incredibly unfriendly, rolled her eyes when we asked her to take a little more time to choose the food, didn't know any please or thank you and didn't speak to you at all and just threw the food and drinks at you. I would definitely not recommend the restaurant!!!

het restaurant zag er vrij authentiek uit aan de buitenkant, dus we dachten het een kans te geven. We kregen vrijwel meteen spijt, want we kwamen terecht in een overvol en ongezellig zaaltje. Ik bestelde een soep en gerookte zalm. De soep 'van de chef' was niet vers en niet warm, er werd een slecht bake-off broodje bij geserveerd. De zalm en het slaatje waren wel lekker. Mijn man hed fish and fries en werd er nog koud noch warm van. Hij was gewoon blij dat hij geen honger meer had. Mijn advies: zoek iets anders in Fort William.

Outstanding service and super dog friendly, staff made us all feel very welcome. (Dogs only allowed in bar area downstairs but there's a restaurant upstairs, you can eat in the bar area as well) food was excellent. Recommend the venison burger and haggis taster. Good local beers.

All the beers had an odd sweet taste which definitely wasn't right. Service wasn't great and prices shocking.

Great food, service plus very helpful staff.

The place is quite good. They do not reserve, nor do they allow you to wait in order of arrival. Honestly, we realized that the same thing happens in the rest: more than 4 diners is complicated...

Great food. Steak pie/ stag pie delicious! The service, friendly and efficient!

Great place for having a beer and some whisky in the centre of Fořt William

Very nice food, friendly staff and reasonably priced. What's not to like??

Typical food, at a good price and good atmosphere.

Place was packed! Try making reservations or arrive early or wait till a little after 7pm so the first set of patrons leave. If you're patient and wait, spot an open table and ask for it. The wait staff was very kind to my family.

I thoroughly recommend the Grog and Gruel. Very good service, the food was great and the beer was cold 🍺

Special experience... At first happy to find a restaurant that still accepts us after 7 p.m., I wonder if we wouldn't have had better time to move on. The restaurant is well decorated and makes you want to go back, the food is ok, but apart from that.. nothing positive to come from it. The quality of service clearly leaves something to be desired with waitresses exhibiting inappropriate or even inappropriate behavior. Very bad experience because of this very cold and disrespectful attitude, especially for the restaurant world. We had to ask for the desserts ourselves at the bar, the dish towels were hung on the partition separating our table and the bar, no polite words were spoken to us until we left. In short, you have gone your way in my opinion..

By far, the worst service i ve had in any part of the globe. A bunch of careless girls so rude who were clearly more interested in scolling on mobiles and checking their manicure. The restaurent was supposed to close at ten but at 8h30 we were clearly disturbing those majesties. They even hung dirty towels on a glass panel on top of our heads. This kind of people should never be put in front of a costumer and would probably of a better use in a factory of some kind. And in the end having the audacity to ask for tips. No chance girls.

I loved the experience of being kicked out at 8:15 p.m. when this so-called restaurant closes at 10 p.m. No desserts offered, while the waitresses scrolled on their phones all 4. The bathroom napkins were placed above our heads while we ate. Finally, if you don't want to work closed directly, it will be easier for everyone. Ps: the dishes are tasteless but that's only a detail apparently.

Very typical Scottish pub with a bar and live music

Great food drink and service. Dogs welcome too Recommended

Very bad service. We were a group of 7 people and they wouldn't let us sit at the same table just because placing a chair at the end of the table would obstruct the passing area to one other client. The truth is that it did not obstruct that much, and even that client from the next table said it was not a problem for him. After being splitted into two tables, it took them more than 30 minutes to serve our dinner. They even served before us two other tables that came to the restaurant 20 minutes after us. We asked and their excuse was that they were smaller groups. Makes no sense. Food quality was average, too expensive for the taste and quality. Definitely not recommended.

To begin with, they have not allowed us to sit 7 at a table, with one of 6 free and being able to put one more chair without disturbing the traffic of the waiters. In addition, they have taken a long time to serve the food, even serving other tables before ours, using the excuse that there were fewer of them. The food is also very expensive for the quantity.

The food is good and the staff is friendly and helpful. Booking is highly recommended

Typical pub feel. Visited around 1-2pm without reservation and got a table no problem (it was a Wednesday in May) - is a seat yourself place. Order at the bar - they were very nice. Kids menu available. Food was typical pub food but with some other interesting options. We got: salmon with a bean salad; bbq chicken pizza; kids chicken goujons. All pretty good.

Food was good. A bit overpriced maybe. Our point of critique was the atmosphere and the staff. They did not seem to enjoy working there and were not as friendly as we would have liked

Overall I was very satisfied and suggest this restaurant for a casual lunch. The restaurant is located in the center of Fort William and is characteristic of the area. The menu is extensive: the soup of the day I ordered was excellent. If I may allow myself, the only discordant note, the two girls did not smile...

Loved it. Reasonable prices and excellent food. Small and busy so go early to avoid disappointment. Haggis nachos on special were amazing 🙂 dog friendly 👍

A busy place with new owners and their management was noted. In the best way. This is a rarity in most hospitality venues so it was refreshing to see. The food was good, generous portions and the staff were friendly and helpful. Dog friendly to boot! Really nice vibe and great to be a in a “traditional style” pub (thoughtfully modernised to cope with busy times of years) with no TVs and no fruity machine!! There’s a time and place for those but nice to be in a venue where these weren’t dominating the room. We will definitely be back. Support local independents!

Restaurant room on the first floor, quieter atmosphere than its neighbor The tavern. Fast order and service, staff ok. Dish ordered: Stag Pie, which is deer meat in sauce. Quite strong in taste. Sufficient quantity.

Hands down the best haggis I have ever had in all my years of going to Scotland. It's too bad it's not a full dish anymore but an appetizer. No matter, I am always delighted to come to the Gruel and have my haggis. They have quite a few local ales and whiskies too. I always appreciate that.

Delicious food, good beer, nice atmosphere

Liked the food friendly atmosphere.

yeah, we had a nice dinner here. the food was super tasty but as always.. i wanted more of it hehe. (bigger serving) the atmosphere in the pub was pretty great. same menu upstairs and down so no worries if you don’t get a seat in the upstairs restaurant.

Amazing little pub with top notch service. Katie is wonderful! The meat pies are some of the best I have ever had.

The pub is okay but we felt that it was manned Inexperienced serving personnel who sort of hung about and didn't actively do their job without us initiating the interaction. Maybe this was due to the actual restaurant side being closed. The pub side where we sat down to eat was nearly empty. The word that came to mind was "sticky", but maybe that was just the table surface. We ordered burgers which were rather average and meh for their price. Since other people have rated this place rather well, I'd say we were possibly just unlucky. Based on our experience I'd never recommend the establishment to a friend even though there was nothing terribly bad about it, just, meh.

The Grog and Gruel is one of the more obvious tourist traps i have ever had the displeasure of dining at. The waitresses while friendly on arrival, were not attentove to the needs of any table in the resteraunt, to futher add to this when my party and i attempted to order from the bar we were told that a waitress would be iver to take our order soon and that we should stay at the table. Please bear in mind we had been seated for around 10 minutes at this point and prior to approaching the bar no drink or starter order had been taken. The food was mediocre at best with a member of my group being served what appeared to be a store bought pizza. On top of this the price point was set at a ridiculous level for what was presented at nearly 20 pounds for a very average meal. Would highly recommend visiting the Ben Nevis opposite which i had the pleasure of eating at the night before where i indulged in a steak for less than what i paid for a hotdog at the Grog and Gruel. Please head my warning and avoid.

Staff was friendly, good food and drink choices. Toilets were clean but on lower pub level.

Had a fabulous lunch at the Grog and Gruel! The food was delicious, and the staff were so friendly and accommodating! Would recommend!

Great experience, food was great and the staff very friendly and accommodating, highly recommended and the best place to eat in fort william

We arrived by chance and because it was one of the few places that served food outside of British hours (3:00 p.m.) the beers were very good but the food is provided by Manolo's bar at quite exorbitant prices. If you go for the beer, go ahead but I don't recommend going to eat at all. Just 200m away you have the Geographer where eating is an experience at an even lower price.

The area's best bar for decent beer, and good food too. This is my go-to bar when I visit the Fort, just for the beer, and this was the first time I've eathen here. It's pretty much a standard bar menu, but if the pies are anything to go by, a cut above the rest. There is a restaurant upstairs and the whole place was very busy, so booking recommneded. Good friendly service too.

We ate smoked salmon and fairly dry burgers...no more.... We went there because it was said that it was the pub where we had to eat... I don't understand why it is recommended

Westherspoons quality for for twice the price. Sadly very disappointed, chicken was very small and genuinely tasted just like weatherspoons food

The selection of beer was ok, the food was a bit disappointing. The angus burger was good, the fish and fries was below average. There was no sauce/dip served with it and when we asked, we got pre-packed tartar sauce (no comparison to the home made tartare dip in many pubs!). The service was ok, not very friendly. There are definitely better places to eat in the same street, but a nice place to have a beer.

Great Whiskey and fire flamed pizza. This was my 1st haggis experience and I was delightfully impressed! The "TexMex" chili and nachos needed some work, but I'm from South Texas and have had some of the best in the world (biased & blessed). Overall, the staff and experience was lovely.

Go somewhere else. Staff was unfriendly, the food was average at best (DON'T take the Fish'n Chips!).

Decent pub food, but small portions. Quite expensive for what it is, but I wouldn’t mind paying more if the service was good but it is far from it. We were completely ignored by three young servers in the upstairs bit 20 minutes before we could even make a drinks order, then waited a full hour for our food to arrive after that, would have walked out if it weren’t so hungry. 3 tables that ordered after us were served before us, no one checked to see if we were enjoying our food, no one apologised for the ridiculous wait, but I really don’t think they even noticed , these girls didn’t care at all. We heard them being rude to some other tourists who were struggling to understand them. Staff downstairs weren’t much better, one stoned ape behind the bar with a thousand yard stare. Left as soon as we could.

Good beer and excellent selection. Bang average overpriced food. Staff and service woeful . Felt like we were doing them a massive favour. Overated . ..could be so much better with a bit of direction

Drinks, great. Food, ok, but overpriced and overcooked. Service, abysmal. Which is a shame as we had put in a fair amount of research in to where to head in Fort William and were confident this would provide a great evening, sadly not, as we were made to feel like we were inconveniencing them. If you can't accommodate, or don't want to accommodate, just say no. Staff so unorganised it was unreal, would be far better perhaps with a proper FOH leader.

Nice little pub, pity we only had time for a quick drink. Looks like it would be fun on an evening.

Drinks, great. Food, ok, but overpriced and overcooked. Service, abysmal. Which is a shame as we had put in a fair amount of research in to where to head in Fort William and were confident this would provide a great evening, sadly not, as we were made to feel like we were inconveniencing them. If you can't accommodate, or don't want to accommodate, just say no. Staff so unorganised it was unreal, would be far better perhaps with a proper FOH leader.

Didnt eat but fine for a drink or 2.

Drop in here for a drink. Good atmosphere. And stay for food as well. Worth a stop if you are visiting the area

Nice atmosphere cider was very nice . Lovely pub .

it costs too much, prices shown without VAT and you have to leave a tip at the end

Very tasty burgers and a large beer selection

The food and until it was brought was excellent. When we wanted to order dessert we were forgotten so we left. When there were more people the service was better. I would still recommend the restaurant. It is very well located and for another stop the bar is downstairs ;-)

Very busy restaurant, so went downstairs to the pub area. Same menu. Very nice food. Staff friendly. Great value for money. Went for the venison / chorizo burger (special)and stag pie.

Came here a couple of times with my girlfriend on a five day camping trip, atmosphere was great, the Lassie's behind bar were so nice and really friendly and polite and good was amazing and beers too, great place will definitely be back next time, cheers guys your place is amazing 😍👌👌😁

We had Vegetarian Pizza, Vegetarian burger (beetroot and Soya Base) , Vegetarian Hallumi cheese burger and a fresh tomato soup with Basil. All the dishes were sumptuous. Also they were quick in serving less than 10mins

Very busy during evening, fills up quickly. Normal pub food.

We stopped by for a quick snack, and it was quite busy at the time. Overall, it was okay.

I've always had a pint at the grog and gruel after the west highland way as it was my 9th time but one of the staff members was inpatient as I was looking for a place to sit and raised her voice a second time .as you could imagine I almost walked out... not nice 😕

Came here for dinner, excellent service, and good food. Would recommend this place.

Taken all the pubs in Scotland into account that I visited, this was ok. Plain and not very exciting, with a selection of Cairngorm beers and Thistly Cross cider. Worth a visit when you are in Fort William, but nothing very special

Authentic Pub with a great selection of Beers. Come after 9pm, when the kitchen has closed!

Absolutely amazing burgers, so many to choose from, the portion size, thickness of the meat, and general taste was 10 out of 10. We had burgers in 3 different places during the week but this place was undoubtedly the best. We have regretted we didn't go back there again.

The food is poor, but the prices are high. So what if the crowds are pouring in anyway because there are very few pubs in all of Fort William...

Great little bar and restaurant in town. Everything we had were good apart from nachos. The service was great. There is some parking on the street. The place is usually packed with tourists. There is enough seating but at busy hours you might have to wait to get seated.

We have been here every time we visit Fort William, our favourite pub. Always have friendly and helpful staff. Large selection of texmex style food along with burgers and such. Dining room/restaurant upstairs and "old man" style pub downstairs.

The girl who served us (long dark hair) was incredibly rude. As soon as we arrive at the counter he rudely tells us where to sit without almost looking us in the face. Apart from the wait (he didn't tell us that we should have ordered at the counter), when he brought us the cutlery and the sauces he almost slammed them on us, always without even looking at us. Of disgusting arrogance and arrogance. Someone like that should be fired immediately unless you like being treated like a fish in your face by people. How disgusting. I'm only sorry for the other guys who were kind, but the arrogance and disgusting rudeness of the girl who served us dominates everything else, ruining the experience. Absolutely avoid, poor quality food and unnecessarily crazy and very high prices for what they offer. I would have eaten much better at McDonald's or anywhere else.

Experience not to be repeated. We went in and sat at the table waiting for someone to come and ask us what we wanted to eat. At our request they told us to order and pay immediately at the bar. The girl who brought us the dishes was probably having an "off" day. It seemed like we were doing her a pleasure by having dinner with them. Lazy and unmotivated. Terrible service. We had to ask the bar for napkins because they didn't arrive with the plates. Mediocre food. A sandwich with melted cheese and 2 plates of chicken and chips with bacon £48. Let it go

We took the Burger but frankly it was disappointing, the meat wasn't great and overcooked. The decor in the upstairs room is rather dated. The price is reasonable but the food isn't crazy.

It was a bit annoying that we had to explain for a long time that our friends with 2 children were coming 30 minutes later because they wanted to give away the table. Then we simply ordered drinks for 10 people and food for the 6 adults who were already there. My starter was pretty good. Fish and chips were a little underseasoned.

#RoadTripJ9 We decided to visit The Grog & Gruel after finding it recommended in our guidebook. The place is very touristy, so make sure to reserve a table in advance or you may not get a seat. The local beer is excellent, with a variety similar to Guinness. The food was good and the service was pleasant. I tried chicken/cheese/bacon, it was atypical but good. However, the atmosphere was very noisy, making it difficult to have a peaceful conversation. Price wise, we found it to be a bit expensive for what it was.

Upstairs needs a bit of work. A bit jaded. A shame because the staff are great, warm and friendly and the food is excellent

I was really looking forward to checking this place out but was very disappointed. The staff could really careless whether we were there or not, the food was meh and nothing special. Better places in Fort William to enjoy a cold beer