Crannagh Bistro

Went to the Crannagh with my parents for an evening meal. Firstly the menu seems to more suited to wedding party catering. Very, very basic as can be seen from the choice of sides (5 of which 2 are either chips or fries . Having ordered 2 x burgers and 1 x cod and chips, at £13, £12 and £12, I expected something a bit more than the fare that was produced. The plate with the burger and fries is exactly that, and all the normal accoutrements on a burger are designed to sit inside the medium sized bun. The chips come in a mini fry type basket. That was it. No garnish, a medium 6oz burger at most and the little basket of fries. The cod must 've been just within the legal limit for catch and release, batter soft, tartar sauce bland, mushy peas looked tinned. If I 'd got it at a chip shop for £7 I 'd be disappointed. This place will get mostly one off customers as I would suspect locals will just visit the plethora of other restaurants who provide far superior menus and food at a cheaper cost and visitors will choke on their bill! You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time. Giving a basic eatery a fancy name makes it even more ridiculous.

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I love coming to NI for the quality of restaurants. This is the only time I have ever left a review. The starter, billed as a liver parfait, was a very thin slice of cheap pate, half toasted piece of bread and a blob of equally low quality onion relish. The main, billed as a 10 ounce sirloin, I would judge to be a low, supermarket quality 8 ounce steak. I asked for it to be medium rare and for the first time in my life, I had to send it back as it was so overcooked. The next steak was also overdone but I just wanted to get out of the place by this point. The price of the meal for myself and my partner was more than £70. This included two of the strangest Gin Brambles we have ever tasted and were a struggle to get down. Folks, avoid the Arbutus at Crannagh. They have read a menu from a decent restaurant and offer the same fayre, but the food and drinks served here are woeful. I wish them all the best for the future, but they need a new chef.

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Usually a visit to the Crannagh for an ‘Ulster Fry’ is one of the highlights of my visits home to N.I. I recently visited for the first time in 18 months (due to lockdowns) . What a disappointment! I requested no black pudding but asked if I might substitute it for mushrooms or baked beans instead. They said they had neither baked beans are part of their children’s menu. The sausages were thin and watery, the fried egg was massively over cooked. No choice of fried or scrambled egg and £2.70 for a small glass of orange juice from concentrate. At £8 for the breakfast I felt it was very poor value for money.

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A very sub-standard 3-course meal. The one star is only for the goats cheese starter. The mushroom risotto main was an over cooked plate of mushy rice and some mushrooms, with no flavour whatsoever. I’d have gotten a nicer brownie from a supermarket own brand range. Service was appalling. Hospitality is a tough business but a smile costs nothing. Drinks selection was very limited. To finish, we were seated in a marquee/conservatory area. The drapes from the ceiling were mouldy. This place is in a great location but they do nothing to make it a great place to eat.

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Very friendly helpful service, coffee and Tea were both of good quality as was the scone and cream. We will definitely be back as we have been here before and found similar. Some other coffee stops at Whitepark Bay are always out of scones although their coffee is very nice but not much point in a coffee and nothing to eat with it. The Crannagh always have a good selection of scones. An improvement suggestion would be to carry Sweeteners for Diabetics.

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