Pubs and restaurants in St Andrews - your favs?

Heading to St Andrews for a solo trip this June. Staying in town around the corner from TOC, and would like to hear everyone's favorites for pubs and restaurants. Only requirement is walkable from TOC

A simple list is fine - no editorializing needed. Go....

My favorite was the Whey Pat, corner of City Road and South Street. Its been a few years, but they had the best selection of real ales. In addition, it was far enough from TOC that it wasn't completely populated by foreign golfers (I know, I'm a foreign golfer too, but I like a chance to have a chat with local people)

Also, the bar at Russacks Hotel is a great place for a drink as the sun goes down, with views over the 1st and 18th fairways..

The Keys for the best scotch. Great selection of beer on tap for the non-whiskey drinkers in your group. Lots of locals frequent it.

I like the Jigger Inn. Next to the Old Course Hotel, but prices are much lower. I like sitting outside and watching the golfers play the 17th hole on TOC. Can get busy, but normally good for an after round drink and cigar.

KY16 for postcode searches via these for pubs. UK Pub Guide, Campaign for Real Ale • whatpub.com

Central Bar for a ton of hand pump choices and few golfers or at least not so obvious, versus some of the others in town.

Taste Cafe on North Street for good coffee - important for a PNWer ;-)

These are great. Keep 'em coming!

LOL," just give me a list but don't comment on why" - not seeing the value in that (which you can get on TripAdvisor, but again there is editorializing) so I'll keep my list to myself. ;-)

Glad the folks kind enough to respond have editorialized so there is some context for you and enjoy St. Andrews. I think it's an experience all its own separate from the courses. Take advantage of all the town has to offer outside of golf and dining is my only suggestion. You will have a great time.

Oh, another suggestion, we were told that Jahangir restaurant in South Street was a favorite of Darren Clark, and the best Indian food in town. I can't compare it to any others, but Jahangir was really good.https://jahangirstandrews.co.uk/

I was just trying to avoid long-winded diatribes with unnecessary details, but it's a fair criticism.

All right, then, editorialize away, everyone!

i've heard the bar/lounge at the R & A is pretty sweet ...

Dunvegan is good for decompressing after the round as its right off the 18th green but for holing up, The Keys and Criterion were my favorites. Both walkable from the Old Course.

To avoid a long winded diatribe, lol .......... 2 Logies Ln, St Andrews KY16 9NL. Reservations a must!

For a good beer, head over to St Andrews Brewing Co. on South St. For good beer/food, I like Forgan's on Market St. Both very easily walkable from TOC.

My personal faves -

For lunch cant beat the links clubhouse

Cheap dinner - The central bar

(but never really had a bad meal anywhere)

Dinner but A bit more expensive and my personal fave would be the Saint

(again never had a bad meal anywhere, i quite liked the Jahangir as mentioned above)

Bars - if im on a bit of a crawl i'll generally go -

Whey pat

The Saint

Brewing co.

The Adamson

Keys

VIC

Balgove Steak Barn - best steaks in Scotland.. definitely worth a visit.

Jigger Inn on a nice day for a post round drink, sit outside and watch people make a triple on the 17th :-)

Dungaven for a late night drink as well.

In addition to the prior recommendations:

Haar Restaurant - Had one of the best meals of my life here. Not Michelin-starred yet, but it will be.

Hams Hame - Good quality pub food.

Seafood Ristorante - Really good upscale meals

Hotel du Vin & Bistro - Had an excellent steak dinner there, with good wine selection

Little Italy, and you will most likely need a reservation.

My favourite is The Adamson, me and the other half go there around 10/15 times per year. Other than that as ebeck said, Little Italy but you will need to reserve.

Bumping this to the top, with a lot of folks here headed to Scotland for golf and the Open.  I plan on hitting some of these spots and can give some feedback.  I'm staying next door to the Dunvegan, so will likely set up shop there for the duration of my time in St. Andrews.

Dunvegan and Jigger are the 'go to's'. You have to have beer there, even if it is just to say you did. 

So a little off more off the beaten path would by the three places in the Rusacks Inn - The 18, One Under and the Bridge. All are a really good fit for different reasons The Bridge is great for breakfast looking out on the course, 18 has the best views and one under is a true pub. https://marineandlawn.com/rusacksstandrews/food-beverage/ 

I have to say my favourite place is Mitchell's Deli and Restaurant. https://www.mitchellsstandrews.co.uk 

About a 10min walk from the course. Really fun vibe, great food and far enough away from the course that you are not eating with a bunch of golfers on vacation (not that there is anything wrong with that). Also it is not that expensive, so you can spend your money elsewhere. 

I'll add another vote for Mitchell Deli.  When we were in St. Andrews last month and looking for someplace to eat, which wasn't very easy because there were a lot of families out there for commencement, we sort of stumbled upon Mitchell's.  They had a set dinner menu and everything was excellent.  I only wish I had taken a picture of the menu because I have a poor memory.  This was after we tried Little Italy, Forgan's, and The Adamson.  I had wanted to go to Cromar's, but I'm glad we went to Mitchell Deli.

I haven't looked at the previous posts, but I imagine someone must've suggested Jannettas Gelateria for dessert.

Good idea to have this thread bumped up given what is coming up next week. I will say that when it comes to food in St Andrews there are lots of very solid choices but too often for my liking the options on the menu are either stereotypical Scottish/British fayre or American. I have no issue with that, the problem is that whilst they tick certain boxes, the standard of what comes out whilst dependable is not as good as it would be if it were done genuinely. For example, if you want a Fish Supper go to a fish and chip shop not a restaurant. I am yet to eat in a restaurant anywhere where the fish or the chips are as good as if it came from what I would call as a chippie (fish and chip shop/takeaway). I am possible biased, my grandparents owned a chippie but you just cannot beat chippie chips!

On 2/1/2020 at 9:12 PM, tiderider said:

i've heard the bar/lounge at the R & A is pretty sweet ...

Very stuffy place--interesting but not particularly enjoyable.

Its been 10 years since I was in St Andrews, but my favorite place at the time was the Whey Pat, just outside the old city gate on South Street.  A good selection of Real Ales, friendly staff and customers, and a variety of people.   Second choice was probably the Keys, in Market Street.  The Dunvegan was fine, but overrun with foreign golfers.  Yes, I'm a foreign golfer too, but I enjoy a little contact with local folks.  I'm sure the Jigger Inn is a lovely place, but its American-owned, and Mr. Kohler got enough of my money when I was in his place in Wisconsin.

My group enjoyed a very nice meal at the Russell Hotel in The Scores, and good Indian  food at Jahangir in South Street.

I forgot to mention Ham's Hame Pub & Grill which is across the street from the Old Course 18th green (I guess it's behind the grandstand behind the 18th green right now).  

Also, I was going to quote davep043's post above regarding enjoying "a little contact with local folks" and say that you sometimes need to be careful what you wish for.  Heh.  When we were at Dunvegan, we sat next to a local guy who we had a nice conversation with and he even tried helping us try to find someplace to eat since most local restaurants were booked.  After a little while, he started talking about how, after 40 years of playing golf, he had just that morning finally figured out his golf swing and could drive it 300+ yards and proceeded to give us a lesson.  We didn't want to be rude (and couldn't move anyway), so we listened.

Fast forward a few hours when we had been unsuccessful finding a restaurant, we ended up at a different bar and, lo and behold, we bumped into him again.  If he hadn't been already 2 sheets to the wind earlier, he had added a few more by now.  He immediately recognized us, came over to our table, and started up again on his new golf swing, which suddenly had improved his driving distance to 350+ yards.  We were okay with that until he changed topics to our current vs previous (U.S.) President.  At that point, based on our facial reactions, I think he figured it was time to move along.

He proceeded to visit just about all the other tables.  We got the impression that he was known to the staff because every time he'd move to a new table, the servers would point, say something to each other, and laugh.

Sounds like Hamish is still doing the rounds.