Emma
We purchased a deal for the Anchorage Hotel in Troon thinking it would make a great wee seaside getaway from Glasgow, we should have taken our own advice and read the reviews first! We arrived early evening to a very very cold room, considering Scotland is going through it’s coldest spring ever, putting some heating on in advance should have been welcoming but in this case it was necessary! But although the bedroom was cold, the en-suite bathroom was worse, like stepping into a freezer, even the cupboard was “baltic”. To switch the heater on we had to pull the desk forward, unplug the lamp (so we could boil a kettle at the same time as the heating for a cup of…PG Tips…) and fumble around with cables and sockets.
Then there was the dust, the broken toilet roll holder, the uneven lino in the bathroom… gah!
A 2 course dinner each on the first came included in the deal so we sauntered down to the bar area for warmth. The bar is actually quite nice in an olde worldy nautical themed way and Tam Cowan’s review from 2010 was displayed with pride.
A drink each was also provided as part of the deal, we opted for 2 glasses of red wine, no idea what it was but it wasn’t too bad (usual price for 2 glasses was £7.40). A separate food menu came for the deal, the usual suspects for a bar menu were offered.
An a la carte menu no less!
Broccoli and bacon soup, good news was that the bacon smell was strong, very thin soup otherwise with no lumps of bacon or broccoli. However it was served at a hot temperature, which is good as we often find soup served lukewarm.
Pâté One slice of garlic bread, red onion salad – cooked onion with no taste and a basic salad. Thick slice of tasty, garlicky pâté. Too much for one slice of bread.
Tam Cowan’s review mentions real fires for winter, we could see no such thing (March in Scotland still counts as Winter right?) instead logs and light bulbs sit in the fireplaces 🙁
Steak Pie Huge puff pastry but quite simply too much puff and not enough pastry! Once the fork popped it open it deflated like a puff pastry zeppelin. We’d had a steak pie the night before so deliberately opted for this to compare and it simply wasn’t as good as the previous night’s steak pie (from a butchers in Glasgow). Basically cheap steak in gravy which was too salty. The mash, cauliflower, carrots and broccoli were all cooked nicely though.
Penne cheese and chive with garlic bread
Not penne but macaroni in a watery sauce,! Dried chive…….
Not surprisingly we decided that the next night, we’d eat out 😉
Next morning breakfast, now usually this is the easy bit, toast, juice, some fried stuff.
The orange juice was watered down/diluted juice and tasted a bit strange, so after one sip it was left. Coffee was just topped up with hot boiling water so was also very watery, tea tasted good as it was stewed with the one tea bag that was in the pot!
Toast was good, as you did it yourself, i dont understand why the enders of the bread was getting thrown out (love that bit!).
Waitress came out, “full fry?”, no options for additions/subtractions or how we wanted our eggs done. We uttered a “yes?” and off she went to the kitchen…
Wish I hadn’t, poor lorne sausage, cremated bacon and poor black pudding.
The next morning I asked for poached egg, which was much better.
On night 2 the bathroom still felt like a freezer. At least hot water came out the shower!
In summary: cold, understaffed, WIFI only works in the stairwell and bar and not in the rooms, average bar grub, meh is a word that comes to mind. If staying here don’t forget to bring a couple of water bottles and your own tea!
