Macdonald Houstoun House  

Staff very friendly hotel bit shabby excellent food

It has a relaxed ambience ,with historical background yet within a short drive or train ride to Edinburgh,the food is excellent and staff are always welcoming. It used to have a Steakhouse which was good for a family get to-gether for Sunday Lunch this closed down about 2 years ago and is sorely missed as the Tower restuart is fine for dinner but not for a lunchtime meal where you want to meet with family ,as an alternative the bar menu is too limited. I was celebrating my 65th Birthday but had to meet the family elsewhere for a Sunday lunch gathering which was a shame as the Hotel was a perfect venue otherwise

This was an excellent hotel, situated in an authentic Scottish country house. The rooms inside were very modern and comfortable. The bar was cosy. The food was good. The staff were very helpful. There is an excellent spa with an 18m pool.I Didn't use the dining room but I was shown around it in advance of my next visit. Highly recommended.

Comfortable and reliable place to stay when visiting family in Livingston

staff were excellent

Using the gym and spa facililities, the excellent dining experience and extremely pleasant staff.

The only thing I didn't like was the price of the lounge bar sandwiches, coffees and drinks.Exceptionally high and put us off from drinking in the lounge bar after paying for a sandwich and coffee. I feel that the extortionate prices are not justified. If the prices were reasonable then more people would use this facility. We had a great deal when booking this Hotel so can't really complain, however, the room was a bit small for a twin as the beds were too close together, I was there with my Sister and we were tripping over each other to get dressed etc. albeit it was a lovely room, but possibly to be used as a single.

This hotel has great character, and the staff went out of their way to help.

Unfortunately the swimming pool has no steps or other form of invalid access, only ladder access, so my wife, who suffers from arthritis was unable to use it. There is a charge for Wi Fi.

The staff were very friendly and helpful, but the room and fittings were showing a lot of wear and tear. Very shabby for a 4 star hotel. Work need to be done on the rooms to bring them up to standard. I understand it is a very old and historic building but that does not mean that the standard has to drop. The wall paper was ripped and torn in room 35 and the fittings in the bathroom were loose and you could still see where some items had been repaired.....badly !!!!

Friendly staff suggested good alternatives for dinner when restaurant full.

Fresh fruit, wine, chocolate, shortbread, bathrobes and slippers not in room on arrival, but were provided few hours later after contacting reception staff. Would have been nice to have on arrival.service at breakfast a bit slow -40 mins to wait ofr cooked meal, but staff friendly and apologised for wait

There is no disabled access to the restaurant! Shocking!

A really nice hotel which is in a good location, and is in a very pleasant wooded setting. Staff were friendly and helpful. We had dinner and breakfast at the hotel and both were excellent - the dinner menu was imaginative with something there to suit all tastes. We had a good sized room which was very clean and well furnished. The hotel is situated well off the road which meant that there was near silence at night and a good sleep was guaranteed.

We held my sons wedding ceremony in the beautiful grounds of the hotel, then we had drinks and canapes in the courtyard, followed by the wedding reception in the Stables section of the hotel.The hotel supplied a very good band for the ceiligh in the evening. It was a perfect day and I couldnt fault the hotel management. They were very pleasant, organised and very professional.The hotel master of ceremonies was very good. Food was excellent and the hotel rooms very comfortable. We asked for stovies to be served for the evening wedding guests, but it was more like a tasty lamb stew and not like Scottish stovies at all.Chef needs to learn how to make real stovies.

Nothing I didnt like about the hotel, but they could have had more staff at the Stables bar to serve wedding guests. Some guests got tired of waiting to be served so they went to the local shop to buy alcohol. Drinks were very expensive at the hotel. £8 for a large glass of wine !!