Oban Restaurant Guide

John McNutty & David Lapsley’s understated venture is named after the loch where it started life – and its cuisine, celebrating the Scottish lochs and land, “never disappoints” by absolutely all accounts. The “wonderful” tasting menu (the only option) and presentation “worthy of pictures” elicit real raves – indeed, for one reporter, it was “the best meal I have ever had!” Top Tip – “if you book on the whisky and wine pairing evenings, you are in for a treat”.

“An incredible find” for seafood lovers – a modern, glass-fronted pierside outfit with views across the waters from which the menu is sourced. Run by the MacLeod family for more than 25 years, it is “exceptionally good and very busy” – the sort of place you “have to keep on going back to”.

2021 Review: A take-away and 40-seater restaurant lauded by Rick Stein that “goes way beyond what you might expect from a chip shop”; there’s “some great cooking on display – no wines but for a first-class fish supper you can’t go wrong”.

2021 Review: A Relais & Châteaux property – “a wonderful hotel in a beautiful lochside location” (a former ferry inn) whose “very fine restaurant” has been “a top-notch destination for many, many years” thanks to its “first-class, French-inspired” food, including seafood and game – “long may it continue!”

“The best view in the world” – over Loch Linnhe and the island of Lismore – elevate a visit to this “lovely” hotel-restaurant in the “fantastic setting” of an ex-piermaster’s house. “Seafood is king here”, with “generous platters of local produce” amongst the “simple and brilliant” offering (none of which will dent your wallet as much as a trip to its famed Skye sibling, the Three Chimneys).

2023 Review: “Lovely small restaurant” in an old bank building that’s carved a niche for itself over the past two decades with “great cooking” that makes good use of Argyll’s “local and seasonal produce” – with seafood, meat and game all featured. Chef-patron Richard Fowler and his wife Nicola are “lovely people” and offer “great service” – “we dropped in for an impromptu lunch and it massively exceeded our expectations”. It’s “good value too”.

2023 Review: “A beautiful and romantic setting” – this small hotel and golf resort has an idyllic, away-from-it-all location on a small tidal island at the entrance to Loch Creran. Still too few reports for a rating, although such feedback as we have on Ernst Van Zyl’s cuisine is upbeat.