July 2023 by David Paterson
Went here for Father's day lunch with my 2 daughters.Service was good, friendly and polite.Food was cooked fresh and tasted great. Pasta dish and 2 crepè dishes with sides of fries hit the spot with all of us, even had a complimentary father's day drink, just unfortunate I was driving ??Will definitely be back ????
July 2023 by Douglas
Popped in with my mate Craig recently after a mates funeral (Benny Harvey RIP). Brilliant wee place for a bit of banter. Only odd thing was went to open toilet cubicle and it was booted shut as someone was already on the toilet muttering about his ?Twitch chat?. Checked it afterward and the locks were working completely fine on the doors. Didn?t detract from it one bit.Great place. Will be back. ?
July 2023 by S.1959
Restaurant converted from pub lounge.Under new management and plans underway for buffet in previous bar area and also to menu.Service from Erin exceptional, busy but good at her job, give the girl a raise...Order quickly taken and drinks provided. Food was good homely fair and value for money.No starters but mains portions were good. Husband had the Chilli Ombre fajitas and Highlander chicken, with potatoes and veg, peppercorn sauce for me. Persuaded by Erin to have desserts, 3 scoops of ice cream for husband and caramel apple pie/ice cream for me.On the whole would recommend and visit again but don't know how the changes will pan out. Will revisit again in a couple of months time to find out more.
June 2023 by LC1266
Although still labelled in Trip Advisor as "Velvet Bar & Grill", this venue is now known as "Grill & Banter". It has recently moved under new ownership/management, and I understand they're opening a second restaurant at the same site. I've got to say that their lunch options are very good value (either £6.95 or £7.95 for three courses, although £1.95 extra for pakora on the cheaper option). And for us, the food was great. Veg and haggis pakoras both went down well (chilli sauce dip is superb). The mains of steak pie and roast turkey were also very good. Good portion size too, considering the price. The bad new, and what totally soured the experience for us, was the very poor service. This was a Monday lunchtime visit, with less than 25% of the tables occupied, so a quiet-ish day. Shown to our table on arrival, and given menus, great so far. After 10 minutes, I had to stop a waitress and ask for the dish of the day details (soup, roast, curry). Another few minutes before order taken. A few minutes again to collect starter plates, then brought the mains. Mains plates collected, no mention of dessert. Staff then seemed to be non-existent for a while. After about 20 minutes, with the restaurant even quieter than when we went in, a waiter (possibly the owner) appeared, so I asked for the bill, deciding I didn't want to wait any longer and willing to forget about my dessert. He seemed a bit surprised we didn't want our ie-cream, but wasn't too fussed when we said we'd been waiting too long. He didn't ask if everything had been okay or if we'd enjoyed our meal, which I expect to be asked every time, so that was disappointing. I'd go back for the food, but only if I had nothing to do and could afford to be kept waiting.
June 2023 by William
Place was empty other than us and a few folk at the bar. The lady that served us was the only good thing we can talk of, polite and couldn't be nicer or more helpful. The food however was rubbish. Fish was tasteless and solid as if it was from the freezer, the burger was much like the fish tasteless and like a rubber boot! Sadly will be first and last time at the grill and banter, we loved the velvet bar as food was always great but under new management it wasn't up to much. The polite member of staff is the only saving grace.
June 2023 by Nancy Durham
We came here for our third visit on Thursday. The previous visits have been lunch/dinner with friends, this time it was just the two of us. Sammy went straight for the steaks, made his choice, sorted. I opted for the three-course business lunch, dithered over choices for a short time, then decided.Unfortunately, no tomato soup on today ?, so my starter was Beer Battered Mushrooms with Garlic Dip. I'd had the steak pie before and thoroughly enjoyed it, so had that for main. Gorgeous flaky pastry andmelt-in-the-mouth beef with gravy? It's the only time I eat - and enjoy - my veggies al dente? although I was a wee bit disappointed with the boiled potatoes. I finished with G&B's gorgeous ice cream with strawberry sauce.The Grill & Banter is exactly the type of dining experience the Halfway needs. The prices are extremely reasonable, especially for the Business Lunch menus. The bonus is always the staff and I'm happy to say our server, Erin, was very professional but friendly and attentive too.We're looking forward to our next visit already.
June 2023 by Daniel Struthers
Was in 28th May won't be back .steak pie was nice but as it was put inside puff pastry it was very dry plus 2 roast potatoes small piece cauliflower broccoli carrot .wife had fish chips ..not nice ..pudding was a laugh ..asked for warm caramel cake with ice cream and 1 with whipped cream they microwaved it so whipped cream had turned into a puddle as did half ice cream ..2 cokes 35 quid absolutely won't be back
June 2023 by Blackalw
Came with a party of 11 for dinner. Food was amazing, service was perfect by phoebe, would definitely recommend and will be attending again!
May 2023 by luke fulton
First and foremost it took 45 minutes for them to take the drinks order, it then took an additional 20 minutes to take the food order. After having eventually waited a total of an hour and a half we still don?t have our food as I?m typing this, honestly the worst restaurant experience I?ve had. Can?t speak for the food quality never got served in the end.
April 2023 by Nancy D
We had lunch here last Wednesday (05/04/2) and can't praise it enough! There were five adults and two kids in the party. Four adults had the three-course Business Lunch with tomato soup for our starter. I've never tasted such fantastic tomato soup in a LONG while; we all couldn't get over how good it was. Two of us had the fish and chips and cleared our plates the others had the curry which I think was the South Indian that day. That was scoffed too. My husband had the steak with a whisky sauce which he said was fantastic and done to a "T". The childen had Mac n Cheese and Pizza from the kiddies menu. We all finished with ice cream with various sauces. YUM! All-in-all, a most enjoyable lunch. Great atmosphere, fantastic food at brvery competitive prices and our wonderful server, Shannon, couldn't have been more helpful and accommodating. This was me and the hubby's second visit to the restaurant. First time was for dinner, which was also thoroughly enjoyed and was our reason for heading back to the G&B last week. We'll certainly be back again, either for lunch or dinner. Who knows? What I DO know is that we can be sure of excellent food and service.
March 2023 by Anne-Marie O'Neill
Food is great value for lunch service is good
February 2023 by 969lils
Had a lovely meal Sunday evening, we had never been here before, but will definitely be going back, food was lovely, and staff carnt do enough for you, so friendly a lovely place to dine
January 2023 by Lina Orbino
They delivered my husband's starter, nothing for me.They delivered the main meals, mine was wrong, charged me for a bowl of chips while I waited for my meal ( still with no starter so I was starving.)However, food was lovely once it all arrived.
November 2022 by Mags
Great food and excellent staff friendly and professional
November 2022 by Eddie McGeough
Good food , great service and great staff at reasonable prices
