Kerrie B.
Google
I purchased a Black Friday “deal” which, I must admit, was a masterclass in clever marketing, fair play to the team, it certainly worked on me. £147 for two people for a five-course tasting menu initially sounds like a bargain, until you realise the menu is £75 per person at full price, meaning the grand saving comes to a rather impressive £3. Nevertheless, I kept an open mind when we finally sat down for our meal.
The chef serving the starters was incredibly friendly and welcoming, and the food at this stage was genuinely tasty — no complaints there at all. Unfortunately, from that point onwards the experience went downhill. I should note that I’ve dined at many fine-dining restaurants, so I feel reasonably qualified to offer an informed and unbiased opinion.
Personally, I would expect to feel comfortably full after five courses and spending £75 per person (or £73.50, thanks to the exceptional Black Friday “saving”). However, both my husband and I left still feeling hungry. We both felt as though the restaurant was trying to extract as much value as possible while providing the smallest portions they could reasonably get away with.
In many fine-dining establishments, bread isn’t even counted as a course, yet here it was the only reasonably sized offering which felt like a very transparent attempt to fill us up while the remaining portions were extremely small.
The décor is lovely and the staff were friendly throughout, but ultimately we left hungry and frustrated, which rather overshadows those positives. We’ve previously visited other Dean Banks restaurants, Dulse and Pompadour, both of which were far better experiences from both a food and value for money perspective.
Unfortunately, we won’t be returning, and I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant to friends visiting St Andrews.
