The Waterside Hotel

The Waterside used to be my favourite hotel in this area. The food was fantastic and I always enjoyed my three course. I loved the rooms with their Juliet balconies and the stunning views. But oh my, how it has all changed now. When I stay at the Waterside, I always request a 'Sea view Classic' room for the wonderful views out to Arran. On my last visit, I was given room 314. This room did not quite have the vistas promised, but instead I had the wonderful view of a building site complete with scaffolding all around it. I do understand that the hotel has an expansion program under way at the moment, but the hotel should have informed us of that and the room should have, in my opinion, a subsidised room rate. After all, I paid extra for the view, so now that they have ruined that, it should not be the same as the other Sea view classic room rates. Makes sense to me? If I had known this before I booked, I would not have made the booking. Why pay extra for a view of a building site? However, on to dinner. As I mentioned I always enjoyed my three courses in the Waterside restaurant, but unfortunately this visit would change that opinion. My partner and I were given a booth to sit in as we looked over the menu. We were handed one piece of paper from the waiter and when I pointed out that we were not 'voucher' clients, he brought us the ala carte menu explaining there would be a £30 per head allowance against our order from this menu. To be honest, there was not much more choices between the voucher menu and the ala carte! For starters, I ordered the chicken parfait and my partner ordered the prawn cocktail. We both ordered the fillet steak but we were informed by the waiter that the Kitchen had ran out of fillet steaks earlier. The time was 19:45hrs and we were both surprised. How can a kitchen manage to run out of the leading dish on the menu at a quarter to eight on a Saturday night? Surely this is a kitchen disaster? The supplement for a Fillet steak was £5. How much did the kitchen loose that night? Moving on I settled for Fajitas and my partner had the spicy chicken breast. The starters arrived and were really pretty poor. The prawns in the cocktail were perhaps the smallest prawns I have ever seen. It was as if they came from a frozen food bag from Iceland. My chicken parfait was also suspiciously looking like it was store bought too. Not very impressive for the prices charged. Next up was my fajitas. Store bought tortillas, store bought crème fraiche, store bough guacamole. The chicken was prepared in a tasteless sauce and yet this was the only part of it that was down to the 'chef'?? My partner’s spicy chicken was also equally uneventful. We were offered the sweet menu, but we declined because after two awful courses, we didn't want to risk (or waste any more money on) another course. Over all, my partner give dinner a 3/10 and I gave mine a 4/10. Poor show Waterside. Do you not have any Chefs in the kitchen anymore? That standard of food s

Had a fantastic weekend at this hotel! The hotel and surroundings are absolutely beautiful! Staff are very helpful, the food and drinks were delicious! Spa at the sister hotel was great, new, clean and luxurious. Hotel is clean and fresh in all areas, very well looked after. Will definitely be back!

Cannot understand the complaints on here. I feel as if we visited a different place. We dined here 3 nights in a row and have nothing but praise for The Waterside. The food was outstanding - well done chef 👨‍🍳 The staff were very friendly. A special mention to Kaitlin who couldn’t do enough for us. The young lads who were on duty were also very pleasant and attentive. Thanks to all. We will definitely be returning. Point to note is we were staying at Seamill Hydro B&B for 3 nights but chose to walk along to The Waterside for dinner for our stay.

Large comfortable room, good view of the sea and excellent food in the restaurant (with more-than-ample portions). Staff friendly and attentive. Special mention to the Night porter who also served the early breakfasts - nothing seemed to be too much trouble for him (despite the early hour), helpful and friendly. Much appreciated. This was a business trip (3 nights) but I'd be very happy to stay for leisure as well.

Give it a miss My room was meant to be a deluxe room with side sea view. Ripped and stained curtains do not say deluxe. View of the workmen doing the building works and woken by them at 7am is not deluxe. A shocking breakfast with such a poor selection is also not deluxe. I complained when I checked out, male manager approached me without introducing himself as the hotel manager, I had to ask Sorry who are you for him to then introduce himself. I showed him the curtains and discussed my complaint and that it was not worth what I had paid. I mentioned a local competitor who has bought a hotel close by and that their all over standards were so much better. He replied that he had been there recently and service was awful. Again not a professional reply. He apologised profusely and agreed with my complaints. I again reiterated the cost of the room, his way of compensating is giving me his email and to email him when I’m next in the area. In hindsight I should have pushed further for some kind of refund. I drove past last week and the ongoing works at the hotel certainly don’t make me want to rush back, they make the hotel look rundown. Shame, previous stay was great but I will continue on the road next time to its competitor up the road.

Lovely hotel for our overnight stay, staff very friendly. Restaurant was very good for our evening meal with a comprehensive menu. Only slight downside was they were doing some groundwork at the rear and side of the property so it was a little noisy early in the morning.