Brea - Stirling

Absolutely stunning food and very friendly service. I highly recommend the balmoral turkey. Should I ever be back to Stirling, I’d be happy to eat there again. Price per person: £30–40 Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 4

Lovely cosy vibe beautiful food Dietary restrictions: Several GF options clearly indicated on menus Meal type: Dinner Price per person: £30–40 Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5

Great food, great servuce. Gem of a restaurant. Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: £60–70 Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5

Food was excellent and the service was impeccable. Was expensive but worth the money, would recommend it to anyone Service: Dine in Meal type: Lunch Price per person: £40–50 Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5 Recommended dishes: Salmon Stuffed Haddock, Sticky Toffee Pudding Toffee, Scallops

Poor Service Average “Gourmet” After having seen the menu and positive reviews, my partner and I decided to dine at Brea. We wanted somewhere for a special occasion meal as it was my birthday and they were advertising “gourmet” food. Upon first impression, we were greeted by staff who were welcoming and offered us a choice of table. We were asked if we would like water for the table, then disappeared for a while before taking our drinks order. After our drinks order was taken and brought to the table, our food order was taken; the serving staff was again friendly. They reassured me that my venison could be refired should it be too rare for my liking. The starters took approx 20 mins to arrive (partner had scallops and I had the smoked duck). My partner’s scallop dish was salty partnered with bacon which is also salty. My duck was thinly sliced smoked duck which was cold it tasted nice but I suppose I would have appreciated a better menu description. The starters were collected and believed to be asked if they were okay although I just heard a mumble as the plates were picked up. The mains arrived in good time (partner had haggis neeps tatties and I had the venison), my partner rated his meal as average and my venison dish was described to have a red wine and thyme jus. Upon looking at the dish, there didn’t appear to be any jus of this description on the plate but rather a very small amount of clear light brown specked watery liquid. This is where things really started to go downhill for us I waited for approx 5 10 minutes for someone to check on how our food was, bearing in mind I’d had the reassurance beforehand about me needing anything changed. I could see 2 staff members walking up and down the bar, one occasionally looking into the kitchen or polishing glasses. Then, when I thought I’d got someone’s attention and waved over at someone looking in my vague direction, turns out they had come over to sit another customer, and then returned back to the bar area. They continued not to look in our direction and so, I then had to walk to the bar and explain. The staff member asked if I had any jus at all and if I had the berries on my plate, I explained that I had berries, however, there wasn’t any jus on the plate. They said that the jus had probably been absorbed by the food, and that they’d send me some more. I was provided with some jus, and I’ll fail to believe that it’s the same that was on the plate this time around it smelt like red wine and had a thicker consistency. For £29, I don’t appreciate not being served an appropriate sauce (or a sauce at all for that matter) and then having to chase someone for it. I would have really understood if they were busy doing something. So, as we are waiting for our plates to be cleared, the couple next to us (who were seated after us and eating their starters and mains after us) had their plates cleared first and asked if they would like anything else. We waited at least 20 minutes to receive the bill staff were again difficult to obtain attention from. I couldn’t keep track of the whole restaurant, although it did seem that it was very much pick and choose as to who was getting what. So to summarise, I’m so disappointed. The food has a fancy presentation, tastes alright, that’s probably why people like it. But alright/average tasting food accompanied with extremely poor service? No thanks