Haar Restaurant & Rooms

‘Please sir can I have some more?’ The immortal line from Oliver, when the workhouse boys are fed tiny portions of gruel is how we felt after a 5 course tasting menu at Haar. 9 of us were booked for lunch. Restaurant called the day before to cancel as they were short staffed. Could we do dinner instead? After lots of re-arranged plans we agreed. What did the restaurant have waiting for us as an apology…..a big fat nothing! Now surely if you cancel on your customer at the last minute the way to make it up would be a free bottle of wine or round of drinks? Not at Haar. We were told by the manager that she knew nothing about it so got nothing to compensate our hastily rearranged plans. She was the rudest member of the hospitality industry I have ever come across. Anyway back to the food. For £105 I ate: 1 oyster 1 tiny tin of fish pate with an odd jelly on top 1 over cooked scallop 30g of cod with 3 cold skinned cherry tomatoes 50g of tough, under seasoned sirloin steak with half a baby courgette 1 strawberry with foam 1 tiny spoon of ice cream & a mini banana parfait. I know food costs are rising but seriously?? And if you are going to serve tiny portions guys at least make sure they are AMAZING. This fell way short! My pescatarian friend was served one baby courgette and some cabbage leaves as an alternative to the beef course 😂😂😂 We all laughed when it came to the table. But they were serious. And shocked I tell you shocked that we dared to complain!! I know we are just lowly locals and not American golfers visiting the town for a couple of nights that will never be back but surely you should treat paying customers better than this?? Please avoid dining here, there are lots of better places to spend your hard earned money. Ps. don’t ask for the gluten free bread (unless you need something to do some dry stone walling with)

We got the Haar At Home during lockdown and really enjoyed it, so was looking forward to visiting the restaurant for the full restaurant experience (as let's face it, takeaway is nothing like sitting in a restaurant) Haar did not disappoint, in fact it is one of my favourite meals to date. We opted for the 4 course taster menu and added the half lobster and seaweed potatoes. The oyster, lobster and olive starter was delicious, this was followed by the chef's take on Thai cod, the signature lobster, pork belly and their take on banoffee (glazed banana, banana ice cream and banana granache) The chef's also catered for coeliac and tweaked my dishes to make them gluten free, which didn't alter the dish too much to the normal, so I didn't feel like I was missing out. Due to recent government restrictions, no alcohol was allowed to be served with lunch, however the restaurant cleverly had a non-alcoholic wine pairings available. This was also a nice touch to lunch, as the drinks were very nice and went well with the courses. The staff were very friendly and knowledgeable, with descriptions accompanying each "non-alcoholic" drink paired with the description of our dishes was very professional and brilliantly timed. We will definitely be back and I would definitely recommend Haar for food if you find yourselves in St Andrews