Hootananny Inverness

I loved this place, be aware you will have to book to eat don't think you won't! I saw people being turned away and it seemed pretty standard to do so. But I da say it's worth the planning as the food, service, and entertainment was all excellent. My pictures show empty bowls as I was so hungry and it was so good I just ate it! Started with soup the a burger all with a great pint, or two, of cider.

Great food and awesome live music, even on a weeknight.

We booked ahead for food and were glad we did so as it quickly filled up. Sundays are for lovely live Scottish music so highly recommend to go then. Cozy atmosphere and the food came fast, and was good (although the venison was on the small side). Great for a genuine Scottish experience. No kids menu but fish and chips was loved by our 7 year old.

Great place and atmosphere. A perfect to corner to eat good pub's food and deep yourself in the Scottish mood. Nice live music and great vibe close to the stage.

Apart from the waitress being incredibly rude, heading here was a great night out. I had the sweet potato salad, butternut squash risotto, and brownie. All of which were vegan and clearly labeled on the menu. The brownie with ice cream was not very good but vegan brownies are hard to accomplish and it's nice to even see it on the menu. The ambiance was great fun and there were tourists and locals inside so you know it's good. Thanks for a fun night, Hootananny!

Really good night in Inverness, good beer, great atmosphere and music, what more can you ask for. This is a brilliant bar in Inverness center.

After a long journey up from Newcastle, and a quick Google of bars to visit, I decided on Hootananny, greay little bar with good selection of drinks. Busy little bar Live music was great. Will definatly pop back here before I head home.

Our favorite place for dinner in Inverness. Excellent food, good local beer and great music. Glad we made a reservation well ahead of our visit, this place is popular and can get very busy. We had the steak and ale pie, the haggis and the sticky toffee pie. Delicious choice. Stephen went out of his way to make everyone happy. Nothing escaped his attention, best service so far in Scotland. Thanks a lot for an unforgettable evening!

An lovely pub-y place with traditional food. The atmosphere is quite chill and the staff very friendly. When we arrived all the tables were reserved yet the staff found a nice table for us and squeezed us in before another reservation! The food was excellent. We ordered a burger and a pie, both delicious. A very small nitpick: the salad on the side of the burger had a strong mustard dressing, I wish that would have been on the side or advertised in the menu. Everything else was perfect. Expect to spend about £20 per person for a meal and a drink, at least. Overall excellent spot!

Delicious food, great music and atmosphere!!

My party of 4 booked a reservation online and was seated right away. All four of our dishes were absolutely delicious, including the sticky toffee pudding and both the beef and chicken pies! Would recommend if you're looking for some good food and a good atmosphere!

We finished up our Scottish holiday here, looking for Scottish live music, beer & cider and good food on a Sunday evening. We were soundly pleased! I booked us a table a few days in advance (very necessary!) and we were seated under the stairs (had to duck and I’m petite) and up against the large window. I could see the jam band, pick up performers who were excellent and kept coming all evening and joining in. As someone mentioned, people were turned away for no reservations. I’m gluten and dairy free and they had a few menu items listed in my diet which I easily ordered without need for accommodation. Thank goodness! The squash risotto was excellent and my husband loved his chicken leek and bacon pie. My Somersby and his McEwans Export were excellent new additions to our favorites. Our waiter was attentive despite the full night.

Just a great Scottish pub to hang out in, grab a great bite to eat, and enjoy a drink. We traveled 4000 miles to get here and would definitely have this on our list of places to come back to when we return again. PS Bailey is the best pub dog! Be sure to give her a pet and say hi!

Make reservations even on week nights. There are some self service tables infront of the stage. We were given an amount of time we could be at a table for dinner which was odd but really seemed to work to get people out. It was plenty of time for the 3 of us to have a drink, eat and have dessert without rushing. A little bit if a trek to the bathrooms but it is completely worth it. Such a neat place with a history and I loved the photos in the stairway. The live music was great.

Great beer, good food and fantastic live music. We were lucky to have a group of 4 violins, 1 bag pipe and 1 acordeon playing beautiful Scottish music.

The place was packed on a Thursday evening, and for good reason. The live music was incredible! On top of that, the food was delicious. Try the Mac & Cheese with Haggis. You will NOT be disappointed!

Lively pub w/ excellent food and spirited traditional Scottish music. We had salmon, a veggie pie, and a delicious toffee/ rum pudding for dessert. Fresh hard cider to drink-

My wife and I had the pleasure of going to this fine establishment last night! The food and the drinks were great, music was awesome! Got to know the owner Nick. Great guy and his customer service was top notch! We will definitely be back! Thanks for helping a us out Nick!

We booked a table because of the advertisement of live Scottish music. We were blown away by the quality of the food. The fish & chips, the pies - fantastic. The music was wonderful. Calum McPhail performed. Book a table....the restaurant fills up fast.

If going for evening music, be sure to make a booking! They serve the best chicken pie I’ve ever had! Live music was wonderful. We went twice because we enjoyed it so much. Decent whiskey selection as well.

After arriving in Inverness and getting checked into our room late in the evening, we ventured out in search of food. One of the places I’d researched for Inverness was Hootananny. We stepped inside and found that not only was it a cute and cozy pub, but they also had live music! When we first arrived, it appeared to be a music teacher with a few students. We were impressed with the skill of the young girls. They sounded quite nice. After they finished up, a group of men took up their places. This group had a wide variety of instruments among them and we listened to them for over an hour. Enjoying Scottish whiskey, we listened to Scottish folk music on pipes, strings, and various other instruments. It was a truly wonderful experience. Now let’s get to the food. Um, it was excellent. We started with an appetizer of the Cajun Prawns with Chorizo, and it was SO good. So much flavor, and the spice of the chorizo blended together beautifully with the prawns. For our main dishes, I ordered the Chicken Balmoral. As it was our first day in Scotland, so this was my very first experience trying haggis. And it was really good! My wife was a little less adventurous and ordered the Homemade Cottage Pie. Mouth. Watering. Just layers of delishness, one after the other, and all those flavors just blended perfectly together. After all that food, we were stuffed. But then our wonderfully friendly and helpful server said the magic words: “Homemade Sticky Toffee Pudding”. Now,… I had no idea what that was exactly, but I DID know, that there was NO way I wasn’t gonna find out. So I persevered. I found a way to eat ALL of it. Minus the couple small (sensible) bites my wife tried. When all was said and done, we left the Hootananny 100% satisfied. We received several recommendations for Hootananny from locals during our stay in Inverness, and were pleased to tell them we had already enjoyed a visit. So if you ever find yourself in Inverness (and you absolutely should), you really must visit Hootananny!

Our dinner was delicious, we really enjoyed the food. The cranachan cheesecake was good aswell. They have live music which brings a good atmosphere. There was one server for the upstairs dinning area, I think they struggled to keep everyone happy. We heard the people near us make a couple of complaints due to not having the attention of the server. I would come in with the mind set of needing some patience for the staff.

We were lucky enough to get a table when it got rejected with the online booking system. We didn't have to wait long. The atmosphere was banging. The local folk music was beautiful and made the night! The mains were great. Lots of flavour. The fish and chips were ok. The sticky toffee pudding was a little dry and needed more syrup but the whiskey recommend matched perfectly. Will highly recommend!

Loved the music and the haggis starter was great. Main meals were a bit small for the price and the chicken just tasted of pancetta. Only got half a carrot with the salmon for £22! Lots of people standing around waiting for second sitting which was a shame as we couldn’t really see the musicians because of them. Maybe the second sitting is a better time to go.

Fun place for music, food was alright but nothing special. Come for the music and drink, find supper elsewhere.

First night in Inverness and we booked this place ages back. This was great because the 6 of us got a table up front near the band for the night, Tartan Paint. Excellent atmosphere. Food was ok.

good experience, good food, kind service and great music. The atmosphere could perhaps be made a bit more cozy, it sort of looks more like a night club than a cozy pub, but regardless we had a very lovely time. Would recommend if in Inverness and looking for a nice evening experience.

Great location to listen to live music! Busy atmosphere, very lively. Food was good, my husband got the steak and ale pie, it was amazing! I kept stealing bites. I got the fish and chips, it was pretty good, needed tartar sauce which they only had prepackaged, a fresh tartar would have given that extra star on the food. We had a blast and would go back for the steak and ale pie, live music and whisky selection.

Hootananny’s in Inverness has a really warm and inviting atmosphere. The live music and friendly vibe make it a great spot to relax and enjoy an evening out. That said, the interior could use a bit more attention when it comes to cleanliness, as some areas felt quite dirty. Overall, it’s a fun place to visit, especially for the lively ambiance, but hopefully the hygiene can be improved in the future.

We stayed in Room #7...top floor at the back so no noise from the pub. It's a unique stay. A bit rustic but clean. Be prepared to carry ypur bags up stairs, there is no lift. Don't expect to get special service for being a hotel guest - it's every man for him/herself. Tip: book a table for dinner (food is decent) after 8pm... that way you can stay at your table and enjoy the fabulous music. Otherwise, you will be related to scrambling for one of the few stools available for people who are wanting to just watch the wonderful musicians. They will hopefully get the wee bugs out of the accommodation issues (suggestion: priority for hotel guests) but over all a lovely, unique and oh-so-Inverness stay.

The food was typical pub food. The music was fun, but be prepared to sit in a place wheee you can’t see the stage if you book for dinner as they don’t have many. They have a huge screen that shows stunning Scottish scenery, which helped to make up for that.

I loved it here - the music, ambience and food. The young gentleman that served me food was great. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for some of the female staff behind the bar. Overall, excellent place and I highly recommend.

Okay so I am not a critical person, but while this place was lively and had some great live music, you end up feeling a bit unwelcome here. While the people at the bar were nice, the server wad a bit or rather pretty weird and pushed us to order. You feel like they want you to keep ordering something and are not okay with you enjoying your drink. The food wasn't that great and was downright average. Would recommend that you can instead visit Black Ile Bar and enjoy some great beer and amazing pizza.

Music, when they’re playing is good. It’s crowded! We had reservations but were at a back table behind others listening/drinking. Food - simply OK (fish and chips as well as bangers and mash) I wouldn’t book to eat here. Rather to drink/listen to the music. If you’re eating/sitting at a table they say everyone must order a main

My wife and I went on a Monday night at 6:45. We had to make a reservation and each order an entree, then we were allotted 1 1/2 hours for the table. The food was mediocre, nothing terrible but nothing to recommend. Our server was the same. No personality, just did a job. I've been in Scotland almost 2 weeks and it's the first time I've not felt welcome at a business. The musician was okay. We didn't expect a top notch performance at that time. He played mostly Scottish music and played the guitar. No complaints about him. I would not recommend this place. It apparently was a great place at one time but seems like now its business model is just to run as many tourists as possible through without providing anything of quality to them.

⭐️⭐️⭐☆☆ — Great atmosphere, uneven service We had an 8 PM reservation and arrived a bit early around 7:40. We were seated right away, which was nice. The place itself has a great vibe — lively crowd, fun bar, and a fantastic band. We ordered plain still water and water with ice on the side, but no ice ever came. My fiancée ordered a beer she really enjoyed. For food, the fish and chips were great (crispy fish, good chips), though the mushy peas were a bit too sweet for her taste. My salmon was good but on the smaller side, and the burger was more like a meatloaf-style patty than a typical American burger. Dessert — sticky toffee pudding — had good flavor but a gritty texture. Service was the weak point. Our waiter, Stephen, started off friendly but became inattentive as the night went on. We asked for ice twice (with water and again with whisky) and were denied both times, even though nearby tables got it. When we requested ice with the scotch, he told us to “try it neat first” and never followed up. As a former server, I understand busy nights, but it still felt dismissive. Credit to the female food runner, though — she noticed we didn’t have spoons for dessert and brought them right away without being asked. Overall, the atmosphere and some dishes were great, but the service left us disappointed. We’re only in town for one night, so unfortunately we won’t get the chance to give it another try.

Was looking for some live music dinner place and this showed up on Google. They were super busy! We got reservations for 6:45pm and got in earlier to grab a drink before dinner. We got seated around 6:30 and gave our orders immediately as we were hungry. It took almost an hour for the food to come. When we asked around 45 minutes and if our server could check on our food , he just responded that the kitchen was super backed up so it could still take a lot longer. No apologies. No, offer to go check on it. For a while, we noticed none of the tables were getting any food. Maybe they had an off night. My wife had salmon which she said was good, my burger was ok. The good part was the live music, had fun listening to some Scottish tunes.

Food is okay. On line everyone says the food is so good? It's okay? Music is great! They demanded me to pay for another drink that sucked the first time. Better places in town.

We were recommended to come here, so booked in advance, which is wise if you aim to get a table. The only table I could get was early evening. The server who greeted and seated us was very cross and unhappy, she reprimanded our waitress twice during the course of our visit at the table, failed to make any eye contact with us or anyone else she was seating or serving. The impression was of rudeness and impatience with the whole business. The singer who was performing when we arrived was very loud and intense, he was singing to a backing track which went wrong on 3 occasions, causing him to start over. The music choices were very odd for the occasion and time of day (including the Nessun Dorma aria) we didn’t enjoy this at all. I was anticipating Scottish folk music and was disappointed. The food was substandard compared to the pub food we had been enjoying for the week in this part of Scotland. The pie came with just 2 small new potatoes and lacked any seasoning, the promised roasted veg were some very limp over cooked sliver of carrot and green beans. The sausage and mash was poor quality, the sausage seemed very cheap and not tasty. All 4 of us were dissatisfied. The atmosphere around us was a bit leaden. I would recommend if you visit, don’t eat, have a few drinks with friends and go later when the Scottish musicians are playing. It’s probably fun then. We left pretty quickly with a large bill and were dissatisfied. We were fortunate to find a friendly welcome elsewhere in the city to enjoy the rest of the evening.

This used to be a great spot and a must‑visit when in Inverness, but it’s really gone downhill. The place felt unclean and quite rundown, and the drink prices were surprisingly high for the quality of the experience. One member of staff was also unnecessarily provocative in his manner, which didn’t help. There are far better places in Inverness now. Avoid at all costs.