We're Turning Outside In

No, we’re not turning into contortionists, but we are showing off our nimble flexibility as we move the outside back indoors.

After a summer of operating an exclusively alfresco dining experience, serving more than 15,500 diners … and  more than 400 diners on many days … we’re moving indoors again.

From Monday 28 September, you can book tables indoors for both dining and drinks. The Gallery bar and restaurant will reopen for the first time since Friday 20 March.

One marquee will remain at the front of the hotel along with five of the dining domes which have attracted interest from around the globe.

When you book online with us – and we’re continuing to ask everyone to do this as this ensures we capture track and trace information and that we keep this secure – you will have several options:

• Marquee tables – we do have heaters but please remember that this is Aberdeen, so warm clothing is advised!
• The Gallery Bar – for indoor dining seven days – we’ll use our restaurant area at weekends but please note that we have one menu throughout the hotel
• Afternoon tea – from Wednesday to Sunday
• Dining experiences – we’ll be introducing these during November and December

We’d like to thank all of our customers for taking our alfresco summer to heart and supporting us so enthusiastically throughout.

And who knows … perhaps the Alfresco Chester Experience will make a return ….

Watch this space!

And that brings us to the C word – and for once this year it’s not Coronavirus or Covid but Christmas.

We know that in 2020, we can’t deliver Christmas hospitality the way we would like to, or the way our guests expect. Christmas Day without background music and no Santa would just feel like any Tuesday evening if we did. A party night where only two people are allowed on the dance floor at a time and have to be called back to their seats with a ‘come in number seven your time is up’ megaphone, would be less fun than charades round at your Auntie Ina’s.

So, we’ll be closed from Christmas Eve until 28 December. We think our team deserves Christmas at home after working harder than anyone can imagine since we reopened. We’ll be taking dinner reservations up to 8pm on Hogmanay.

And then we’ll be back for 2021.

Wonder what that will bring?!