Cromlix

I have been to Cromlix over the last few years and enjoyed afternoon tea, however after visiting on 4/4/25 I have felt let down by the normally high standards. What has made this worse is that I emailed last week as I didn’t want to make a fuss whilst there as it was busy and although I was told it would be passed to the restaurant manager to contact me I’m still waiting on a reply 4 days later. The afternoon tea menu has just recently changed, the savouries on my last visit in December were exceptional, flavours fantastic and great variety however this time from 6 down to 5 and not the usual flare. What disappointed me more though was the sweet selection this is always a favourite as they are always intricate, yet one of the cakes were 2 tiny madeleines, it just lacked the Cromlix flare, now I don’t know why but having seen a recent post of their new menu by another guest the madeleines were missing was it maybe an off day? As said previously I’ve been lucky enough to visit on a number of occasions for afternoon tea and each time it’s been amazing but I feel let down on the lack of response.

Our first visit to Cromlix for Afternoon tea served in the Glasshouse If your looking for a traditional serving you will be disappointed this was on a different level. No finger sandwiches but instead a fabulous plate of savouries to start followed by the most exquisite scones with cream and red ruby jam,finally an array of sweet treats prepared by the pastry chef.Accompanying this spread a wonderful choice of teas and coffee which you are able to mix and match. Attentive staff add to the ambience of the glasshouse experience. We hope to return.

We were passing through the area on business, where we decided to pop into the hotel with a view of booking for an upcoming golf break. The manager was absolutely vile and obnoxious as we were "Not Guests". Cromlix, you certainly won't be getting our custom now unfortunately. As for the manager/ staff, learn to speak to people with respect. Manners cost nothing, right!?!

We (four adults) had the tasting menu and wine accompaniment - a July birthday treat. The staff are always welcoming and the meals just get better and better. The first course - Cromlix garden salad pea panna cotta exceeded all our expectations and remained one of our favourite dishes of the entire meal. To be fair, though, we were hard-pressed to choose. Every dish from salmon, duck, cheese and dessert was full of wonderful, well-balanced flavours! We appreciated the well-chosen accompanying wines. We visit Cromlix a few times a year, so when we were choosing a pre-dinner drink, we asked for our usual champagne cocktails without consulting the menu. Sadly for me, but not for my other half, the champagne cocktail now has a 'Scottish' twist - whisky! Despite being Scottish, I am not a fan of whisky. I hope, next time, that the old champagne cocktail is back on the menu .... along with the Scottish version for whisky lovers. But that is personal taste ... the whole evening felt very special and, as I said at the start, the meals just keep getting better....

We were a party of four that arrived for a meal at 7.40pm for a booking at 8.15pm and sat in the cocktail bar until exactly 8.15pm before being offered a pre dinner drink - not a good start we thought. It was pretty obvious that they were pretty busy, but there were plenty of staff on! As soon as our pre dinner drinks were brought into the bar area we were ushered in to sit down for our meal, which was ok but extremely small portions of everything and we thought pretty expensive for what was served.

06JUN - Cromlix afternoon tea For those who don’t know, this is Andy Murray’s hotel. I was really looking forward to this, but I was ultimately disappointed. We’ve done a few afternoon teas, but given the price, it just didn’t stand up. Things didn’t get off to the best start, when we walked in and it wasn’t clear where to go. We literally stood looking around in front of three members of staff. They carried on chatting and then walked off. We went sat down in reception and someone at last came and took us to where we needed to go. The food itself was ok. The pistachio cakes were lovely, the coronation chicken brioche was a bit dry and had no currants in. The rest was good, but didn’t justify the price. Did the service make the difference? No. Our main waiter was ok, but seemed confused by the fact that we didn’t want one option (although we had already told them this in advance and they had confirmed this in a call the previous day). We also had multiple occasions where we were asked a question and the answer was then ignored, or I was. “Do you want more water?” “No thanks.” Waiter pours water. Sam was asked what her favourite was. I wasn’t. Left the feeeling that they didn’t really care. Overall, it was ok. If we’d have paid less, than it would have been easier to swallow. Get the basic service right and improve the coronation chicken brioche and it would have been better.