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Family dinner on a Tuesday evening. Had visited on a couple of previous occasions when visiting Islay and it seems that service has gone downhill slightly recently. Food was excellent as normal. No qualms about that whatsoever. Service was the issue. Seated in the restaurant and after menus were handed out and after a short while before any drinks orders were taken, one of the waitresses started collecting wine glasses off the table. Had to tell her that we were going to be ordering wine and the glasses were replaced. The main waiter in the restaurant was very softly spoken and so was difficult to understand at times. Seemed awkward when serving. I honestly think the evening was missing Lorna - the times we were there before she was managing the restaurant. When I asked at the end if Lorna still worked here, got a very vague reply that was ”sometimes”. The Lorna equivalent that evening (didn't get her name, assume she would be the restaurant manager for the evening) made one appearance at the start, seemed quite brusque and wasn't seen again throughout the evening. Total contrast to previous experience.

We love Islay and had heard so much about The Machrie after its makeover and so, when my wife was given a voucher to stay there on her retirement we booked up. The booking process was a bit ‘clunky’ as we were trying to book dinner as well as golf and a two night stay. It seemed that none of the departments spoke to each other, and when we followed up we were always answered by a sister hotel in Wales! On arrival, we had a great experience of check in and the room was lovely with modern appliances and nice toiletries….very relaxing. Dinner on the first night was really tasty and was served (very quickly) by a really nice young recruit from Glasgow who was loving his time on Islay. All good, if rather pacey instead of leisurely. Up the next day for breakfast…..and this is where the hotel, charging £450 a night for B&B really let itself down. It took ages for a surly staff member to notice us at the ‘wait to be seated’ sign and allocate us a table. The self-serve buffet was always empty, needing more fresh fruit to be laid out. Staff were not friendly, orders were mixed up and service was slow. We were not the only guests experiencing this. Truly awful……and we were to have breakfast there again the next day! We golfed at The Machrie and what a joy that was. Delightful course in immaculate condition with wonderful views. Absolutely excellent. We decided to dine out the second night and after a super comfortable sleep, faced the same nightmare for breakfast. We raised this at the time and believe poor attitude coupled with poor training leads to high turnover of staff (most were new) and a dreadful reputation (which we later discovered is known throughout the island). Having completed my survey on the ferry home in which I said I wouldn’t be back and would not recommend it to friends, I got an e mail back saying thanks for doing the survey and look forward to you coming back! I have delayed this review to see if the survey was picked up but it hasn’t been and so I’m now giving my views. I can only say to the owners (ex BBC Chairman Glyn Davies and his Baroness wife) thank you for the investment and improvement to this hotel, thank you for the improvements on the golf course but don’t expect staff to stay if they are not trained….and with that, don’t expect customers to return