Funicular Railway

Good day out in the Cairngorms today, with a trip to the funicular railway. Not as busy as the last time I was up, just before Christmas, even with the forecast snow. Less snow than other times too, but still cold at the top.

Came back to Inverness for dinner at Route 66, to use a Groupon voucher. We've decided to review places we eat, so here goes the first. All using a scale of excellent, very good, good, average, poor.

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Route 66, Inverness

Trade: Dead - the only other diners left as we were waiting for burgers, and another couple came in, looked at the menu and left.

Menu choice: Good - difficult one, as they only do burgers or hotdogs, but there's a good range within each category.

Service: Poor - no smile, informed that we couldn't order off the proper menu with a groupon voucher - it was just bog-standard burger, cheeseburger or chicken burger; mistakes with the order; plates cleared before I had finised eating. Staff gathered behind the bar, eating dinner at one table, or chatting as we left.

Atmosphere: Poor - partly because it was dead, but the place should have more atmosphere. It's designed to look like a 50's style diner, and in a busy part of town. There's genuine jukeboxes there that don't appear to be working. The staff aren't lively, American-style waitresses.

Food: Good - not the best bun I've had, but a decent burger.

Toilets: Good - ladies were average, mens were very good.

Value for Money: Poor - We tried once before to redeem the voucher, but were a day early - a genuine mistake, and one they could have offered to honour for the sake of goodwill, but they turned us away - even asking if we wanted to leave after ordering! I would have thought the point of a Groupon voucher, for a company, is to give someone good value for money, wow the customer with what you can do, in the hope they return. Instead, we're told we can't order off the main menu, our options are severely limited, and we leave feeling like we've got less than we paid for, never mind what the voucher was meant to be worth.

Recommend: No

I should add, this place has buckets of potential. The restaurant itself looks great.