The best restaurants serving British food in West Mainland Orkney Islands Highlands and Islands

This small community is to drive through, and not a destination. Because of the hour, we elected to stop here for dinner. The small restaurant was cozy, the service friendly and helpful and the food, surprisingly very good, beyond our expectations. The scallops were outstanding and the steaks were nothing less than perfect. A selection of food items for kids simplified our stop, and the selection of beers and ales made it even more interesting.

There were four of us and we all rated The Merkister highly! Indeed it shared top place of our many dining places during a two week stay in Orkney. The welcome was warm, the service excellent, quiet and gentle and venue pretty amazing. We all ate different dishes and were all 'wowed' by what we selected. The Westray Seafood Parcel for starter was simply amazing and the seafood salad exquisite - as was the monkfish curry! Hopefully the Merkister will be at the top of the dining out list when we return to Orkney - twice - in 2025. Top marks all around.

Great meal last Friday. Menu has plenty of varied choices and when the plates arrived the food was excellently presented. Really nice and friendly staff made it a lovely evening.