Shieldaig Lodge Hotel

A really comfortable hotel, however the room we were in, whilst pleasantly decorated was actually up a steep flight of stairs. Anyone with any infirmity would have found it a struggle. The making of the experience was the quality of the food in the restaurant, it was excellent. Also the barman. His knowledge of both the whisky and gin selections was first rate.

We had booked the suite with loch view for one night. If you like the time-honoured hunting lodge flair - you can do that. The accommodation is definitely too expensive for what you get. We can't judge the dinner - as we stayed at the Badachro Inn, which we can highly recommend.

The location and views here are idyllic, right on the loch. The furnishings and general ambience are stately and elegant, with lots of antiques. The restaurant kitchen is very good too. So take it as read that everything here is pretty much spot on in both hotel and restaurant, apart from a few ******* that just take the edge off an otherwise excellent hotel: - The window sash cord in their best suite (room 4) is broken, so the window onto that lovely panoramic view can't be opened, and no ventilation is therefore available. - The suite itself is nicely and recently decorated, so why not the windows? Why not the bathroom?Here the ceiling is cracked and mouldy, and the doorframe has no architrave but a nasty, cheap bit of poorly-mitred and joined timber left in dirty undercoat. Also the mirror element and LEDs are either not connected or faulty. - The restaurant service is efficient and friendly, but given the target clientele, the menu, and the aspirational pricing, training needs to be better prioritised: Dinner guests kept waiting to be greeted and seated on arrival for nearly 5 minutes; Gentleman served before lady (3 times); Wine not opened at the table and not poured correctly. This is definitely not the fault of the individual staff members who are friendly and conscientious, but the fault lies with management who simply need to ensure proper training in the rules of correct service. All in all this is a lovely hotel with a good restaurant, and in such a perfect location. It's just in need of a few tweaks.

First member of staff ignored us. And then reluctantly served us a drink. We finished our drink and waited to pay. In the end we looked for staff. And when we found them they thought we wanted to order and were about to say not open. Reality was the four of us were about to spend quite a lot of money on an expensive evening meal for four. Guess what we went to local pub and it was fantastic. Hey ho

Well this is the first poor review I’ve ever written. The room rate is reasonable based on the overall hotel but our room and the bed was very small room compared with all our other experiences in the highlands this week. Our bathroom looked clean but smell of faeces was disgusting, We had pre-booked dinner and stayed for breakfast it was very expensive and poor value. I agree with other travellers that the dining experience is awkward and the dinner staff exacerbated this. We ate late due to availability of spaces and the staff reset tables for breakfast whilst we were eating our main course. This made us feel rushed and burdensome. One staff member serving drinks etc wasn’t welcoming and his manner aloof (maybe he was just having a bad day!) Again stark contrast to the other hotels we’d stayed during our week in the Highlands. Having said all that this is a stunning house, the views from the hotel and the main communal rooms are beautiful. We were able to watch seals from the lawns. Overall though, disappointing I’m afraid

A lovely lodge hotel in a beautiful setting. Plentiful parking and spacious rooms. Nice lounge and snooker room to relax if you didn’t want to stay in your room. If arriving by night, it’s hard to spot the hotel sign at the side of the road so it’s easy to drive straight past. The hotel restaurant serves nicely presented and beautifully cooked local produce. The menu is a little limited and pricey but the staff were friendly.

Thank you for the wonderful hospitality, the host was very welcoming and was very considerate of our 7 year old, he arranged for a special meal for him after we arrived. Also, thank you Allister for the great drinks and banter!