Lynnfield Hotel

I dined here in May and the menu was the reason for choosing this restaurant. The menu is fairly expensive but there is a great choice of local meat and seafood. The food was good but not great which was slightly disappointing and the background music is truly awful but would appear to have been chosen for overseas tourists. The restaurant is very comfortable and there is a good choice of wine and whiskies. The overall experience could be so much better.

Almost there, with just one caveat. A lovely, friendly welcome from the cheerful and very enthusiastic owner, who is justifiably proud of all his time, effort and considerable investment. A nice, solid quality building with sympathetic extensions over the years. The decor and furnishings are a clever mix of antique and modern, with lots of decent antique furniture in the older parts, which then cleverly morphs into the modern extension. Our excellent room (Earl Sigurd) is modern but with a very high quality Scottish/Viking twist, all expensively done, and it works. Clean and comfortable with a huge modern bathroom and good views. The restaurant is also very good, with all of our dishes pretty faultless, and a decent wine list, so we're mystified as to why the AA have yet to give this at least the one rosette it surely deserves, and possibly two. So why only a 4* review? We were so incensed by the surly and graceless young man on morning duties (presumably housekeeping?) who was leaning on the stairs, slouching, gossiping with a colleague and totally ignoring the older couple struggling down with two heavy cases. No greeting. No eye contact. Not even prepared to move his huge great big feet out of the way. Just totally ignored. Certainly not a young gentleman destined for a successful customer-facing career, and definitely no credit to this otherwise pretty excellent business. In just about every other respect this place is really very good indeed, and of our 12 nights in Scotland, although not the most expensive or prestigious, this was certainly the best value room in terms of quality for price ratio. Recommended.

Almost as soon as we walked through the hotel and into our room, we regretted that we were only staying three nights. The rooms are lovely, very well appointed with nice touches. After our first night’s dinner here, we changed plans and ate here every night. It is also a great starting point for exploring the Mainland of Orkney and beyond. Although it is next door to Highland Park, the Distillery is shut for the rest of 2024 - but don’t let that put you off if you want to come this year. Malcolm has more than enough bottles of all sorts of whisky (as well as a wide gin and wine selection) to keep you entertained. Can’t recommend highly enough.

There appear to be two TA sites for the hotel/restaurant. This is an eclectic comfy hotel. Full of character with bizarre edges. Lovely whisky room, lounge with fires. Restaurant with excellent food and pleasant staff. My visit was in one of the newer rooms and it’s very lovely in all respects. The bizarre edge is the overuse of plastic coated signs and instructions (very 70s). This would have 5 stars if only the reception staff were more friendly and engaged. Recommended if you like encountering the unexpected.

Excellent hotel very welcoming. Lovely staff. Good choice of food. Our bedroom had all the latest gadgets with lovely large bathroom. Hotel a good blend of old & new. Amazing choice of whisky. Excellent location to explore Orkney. Would recommend.

The rooms in the new wing are very comfortable and the bathrooms luxurious. Food is very good - emphasis on local and seasonal. Good wine list with a range to suit all tastes and budgets. And a massive choice of whiskies too. People very friendly and happy to provide advice on what to do.

My husband and I stayed here for one night in late April and then three more nights in early May. We stayed in a newer room the first time and a larger deluxe room in the older part the next time. Both were nice rooms, the newer had nice views to Kirkwall and nice modern Orkney style bed, drapes, covers, etc. The other room had a big four poster and not such a nice view, but the extra space and jacuzzi were quite enjoyable. Both were quiet. The staff was very friendly and accommodating. The dinners were good, we got to sample pretty much everything. The room service was great as well. We didn’t eat cooked breakfasts, but the selection appeared to be quite adequate. They have some nice local beer on tap and a huge selection of whisky (not our thing, however). It is also very easy to get to and park but within walking distance to town. We highly recommend the Lynnfield, we enjoyed our stay very much.

We stayed in this hotel for a special anniversary 10 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed our visit. Not clear exactly what has happened in the interim but things have changed and not for the better sadly. So, back to the Lynnfield for yet another special anniversary. We checked in and, watched by the young man in reception, I carried my large case upstairs whilst my husband got his from the car. The room was large but overfilled with dated furniture and furnishings. The bathroom was superb. Everything was spotlessly clean. The shortbread biscuits were lovely with our cups of tea. Our first dinner was a bit disappointing food-wise but the main problem was the unsmiling, almost surly staff member. She asked when we would be down for breakfast. Next morning, a different staff member was more welcoming but the cooked breakfast was way over cooked, especially the bacon. For the rest of our stay we were vague about times and the breakfasts did improve. Many times we went past reception and no- one even looked up, far less speak. No one asked about our day, where had we been etc- it was as though we were invisible. The dinner menu did not change whilst were there. There was no life or joy in the hotel. Sometimes the fire was lit in the lounge and other times it wasn’t , making it dull and dismal and not a place anyone would want to linger in. I wonder if the hotel had had a very busy season and all staff and management had burnout. Much better just to close for the winter if you are unable or unwilling to offer a friendly environment and we couldn’t wait to leave because of the oppressive atmosphere .

Having stayed at the hotel five years ago and having a fantastic experience, upon revisiting the island although this time not staying at the hotel we booked in advance for a special evening meal to be the highlight of our holiday based upon our past experience! How five years can change a place! We ended up with one of the worst meals and experience that we have had for a long time! From the very start on entering the hotel we were completely ignored, we forcefully had to attract the attention of one of the staff to explain that we had booked in for a meal, having been shown to the lounge with a comment of that I will be with you in a minute , over twenty minutes later we were approached with menus and drink list , once again after a considerable time we were final asked what we would like to drink, this coincided with the time that we booked the meal for again after 15 to 20 minutes we were finally shown to our table, where we were expected to take our own drinks through, on arrival at the table which was extremely dark and tucked round a pillar. Having already given our order we waited patiently! We had to ask ourselves for water at the table as this was never offered! The young waitress that we approached responded in a very unsatisfactory way with a " yeah" attitude! Our first course arrived just after we had finished our first bottle of wine, once again being on the forgotten table our plates were eventually collected, the a wait for well over 30 minutes before our main course. My wife had ordered scallops with cauliflower puree on arrival it was scallops with chips, who ever served scallops with chips!! I had ordered a medium steak, which I ended up returning to the kitchen three times as it originally turned up blue to rare! This resulted in both of us eating separately the shared vegetables in my case were now cold, the steak returned and food that had been placed on the plate was transfered to and from the kitchen resulting in the food other than the steak being cold. The sauce that accompanied the meal was by this time well gone, with no offers to refresh any of the sides and sauces at any time. This meal was intended to be the highlight of our stay on the island and yet it was such a great disappointment with poor staff, poor service, poor food and not cheap food! This is supposedly a high class hotel and restaurant, we have stayed in many and this is not even a starter! If I had been awarding stars etc this would struggle at obtaining two, thankfully we are not staying here and I would advise anyone considering to think twice. I even briefly spoke to the gentleman behind reception on the way out and found him to be the most ignorant person I have ever met! Our experience could not be any different to our original one and obviously this hotel has sank below any such standards within the last five years. It was only on our way out which we could not leave quick enough that we met the hotel cat that showed more attention and feeling