Oban Restaurant Guide

“Very fresh fish and seafood” – much of it caught in the waters it overlooks – is the USP of this long-running operation from the MacLeod family, set in a “modern building on Oban’s North Pier” with epic loch and mountain views.

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!”

“Remote, yes, but well worth finding” – this harbourside hotel with 12 rooms has a “stunning view” over Loch Linnhe and is set right beside the pier where the ferry ventures forth to the isle of Lismore. Sustainably caught seafood (served in towering platters) is the star here, including “the best langoustines” ever – and it all comes for a more humble price tag than at its pricier and more famous sibling The Three Chimneys, on Skye.

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.