Lochside Inn - Argyll Bute

In Islay for the week.Eaten here twice, both excellent meals and reasonably priced.Starters: Brioche Mushroom recommended, as well as retro Prawn Cocktail.Mains: Fish Chips tasty and generous, as was the Chicken Schnitzel.Friendly, efficient service, and Covid safe unlike a couple of other restaurants in town.Highly recommend.

As a restaurant the food is average but pricey. The menus did cater for Gluten Free but it was not very exciting. The chicken breast with sundries tomatoes was OK but nothing to shout about. The cider offering was poor and only had a cheap brand on draft. My wife’s meal was catch of the day that was excellent but none GF selections are more plentiful. Pleasant place to eat and busy with good atmosphere.

We recently ate dinner at this restaurant. They have a few tables where you can overlook the ocean which is nice. The service was good but the server was super busy so she couldn't be exceptional. The food was okay but nothing to write home about. We ordered the soup of the day, the Tobermory Hot Smoked Salmon, the Falafel burger and the Islay Ale Battered Haddock with chips. We wouldn't go back.

The Lochside Hotel is in a great spot, overlooking Loch Indaal. We booked for dinner about a week in advance and were given a window table with a nice view. The food was good I chose two starters and a side of sweet potato fries, which was plenty for me. My husband's burger seemed a little over processed for a fresh burger, but everything was tasty enough. Reasonable wine list and service was friendly throughout.

We had a quick dinner of crab claws (catch of the day) and fried haddock. Service was almost too fast—as in the food was served about 1 minute after our pre-dinner cocktails arrived. Two people were serving the restaurant, so it’s a plus that they were able to serve the tables so quickly. We would have cozied up in the bar for our beverage first, the next go around. The haddock and fries were good. The crab was ok, not great only due to the fact that the crab “crackers” provided were flimsy and insufficient to do the job (you need heavier duty crackers for these claws, so despite my experienced best efforts, some was wasted). The view is nice, overlooking the ocean. We had better food elsewhere in Bowmore, but this was a nice third option for our last night there.