Balmoral Arms Reviews Summary

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Friendly staff."
• "The staff at Balmoral Arms went above and beyond our highest expectations."
• "Very friendly and international staff."
• "Really lovely staff, very attentive, very professional and friendly."
• "We were greeted each day with such kindness."
• "The staff are really friendly and helpful, especially with our allergies, they really went above and beyond!"
• "Service was top notch."

Cons:

• "People on reception were not so welcoming and didn't help us."
• "The staff attitude was not at its best."
• "Staff is mostly new and untrained, sometimes not friendly."
• "The staff need a few lessons in customer service!"
• "Head of staff looked a bit scary with her expressions and was quite abrupt."
• "The hotel manager Joanne was rude and unwelcoming."
• "The manager needs to up his game drastically."

Rooms and Comfort

Pros:

• "Our room was beautiful and spacious."
• "The rooms are gorgeous, looks like a hunting lodge but with all the modern comfort."
• "The room was lovely and the bed was comfy."
• "Booked a family room....beautiful room...amazing bed."
• "The room was cosy, clean and equipped with everything you need."
• "Our room (a junior suite) was beautiful, definitely worth the upgrade."
• "The rooms were large and clean."

Cons:

• "Traditional hotel, no lift and no view from windows."
• "The room was tiny and the smallest bathroom ever!"
• "No phone in bedroom, hotel does not include a lift so if you're an OAP or have heavy luggage you may struggle up the stairs."
• "A very small room paid £175 shower was intermittent and over a bath which was very slippery."
• "Room was in a poor state."
• "Rooms are basic, bathrooms are quite old."
• "The rooms upstairs very dated I don't think our room had been decorated in 40 years and the bathroom reminded me of a hospital bathroom."

Food and Dining

Pros:

• "One of the best fish and chips I have experienced in a pub."
• "The food was excellent."
• "Best meal we have had in Scotland so far. The soup and Wellington were absolutely perfect."
• "The food choices were really good and of high quality."
• "All courses where beautifully presented and not a crumb was left on our plates."
• "We had the venison and salmon from the restaurant and they were both delicious!"
• "The food was delicious!"

Cons:

• "The venison was quite dry."
• "Food was only OK."
• "One of the meals was inedible and the other was cold."
• "The quality of the food wasn't great."
• "Meal was very average."
• "Food quality is basic as well."
• "I took away one star for the dinner menu, which was for the most part mediocre."

Value and Pricing

Pros:

• "Make use of this hotel, bar and restaurant or lose it."
• "The food for breakfast is good and the evening meals are top class."
• "Great taste large portions."
• "Total cost with drinks was £72. Certainly recommend."
• "We had dinner when we arrive, we were surprised to see that the prices were cheaper than indicated online."
• "Always stay at the deeside hotel, feel at home, fantastic staff, evening meals, breakfast all the best quality, looking forward to our next stay before Xmas."
• "Choose basic room, nothing to complain there. All in all a very satisfying stay. Recommend!"

Cons:

• "Definitely not value for money."
• "£25 pounds for the dog and the room rate it did seem over valued."
• "We were quoted £89 per night and even that was too much."
• "For the expensive cost per night, we were quite disappointed with the quality of our stay."
• "Room very poor and expensive for what you get, website pictures very deceiving."
• "For price the room was a good size."
• "Misleading and disappointing as we were looking forward to it. We enjoyed great food down the road at The Bothy."

Location and Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Ballater is a lovely village and a great location for Balmoral and some fantastic walks."
• "Location is great, central to Ballater but not too noisy."
• "The location is beautiful and the staff/service is impeccable."
• "Regular live music from local musicians and a broad range of whisky for visitor and connoisseur alike."
• "A lovely atmosphere with logfires and live music some evening's. Very cosy."
• "Really enjoyed the decor and atmosphere in the pub especially since we could bring in our dog in."
• "This is a beautiful place."

Cons:

• "Stay somewhere else."
• "The double billing should not have happened and, when it did, you should have fixed it the first time."
• "To call this hotel tired would be overgenerous!"
• "Our outlook from our room was the back to staff smoking area and it was a bit grim really as you could see the disrepair of the building with rotten windows."
• "One Star minus for the Trash bin in front of our window."
• "Although the Inn looked lovely and the staff were polite we were unable to get an afternoon tea without booking."
• "The upstairs rooms are outdated and uncomfortable."

Additional Facilities

Pros:

• "The lobby lounge has a real fireplace with games and books, which is a nice place to relax."
• "Due to an inconvenience in our initial room, we were given a better suite."
• "A pleasantly renovated hotel with comfortable, modern furnishing."
• "They have a bike storage place in the back, making this a super cycle friendly place!"
• "Free parking lot across the street."
• "Well stocked tea and coffee."
• "The towel warmer in the bathroom is the best touch."

Cons:

• "This hotel is not dog friendly."
• "They double-charged us for our stay."
• "Bathrooms have baths with shower attached to taps really difficult to regulate temperature."
• "The bartender did not feel comfortable making an after-dinner martini because he didn’t know how to make one."
• "We waited almost 1.5 hours for our dinner to be served after ordering and it was cold."
• "It was generally chaotic I suspect due to inadequate number of staff and possibly lack of training."
• "Poor service resulting in one of our party not receiving a meal as the never sent it to the kitchen."