You probably saw this on Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Revisited. The one where he came back to Inverness, offered a few old ladies a gizzard sandwich and then remarked that the new brasserie seemed to be doing very well. Having been to Abstract (the main restaurant) on three occasions now I'll admit I'm a fan. The food isn't flawless and the chef seems to find desserts in particular difficult, but it's always been interesting, sometimes challenging and generally I've left with a smile on my face. Tonight, feeling a little less flash, I decided to try the cheaper brasserie option, and left a little bemused, somewhat sad and wishing I'd saved money for the real deal.

I would guess that the success of Cinnamon rests on the back of clever marketing and a massive advertising budget. It is a restaurant of style rather than substance. It is a modern curry house with trendy decor.

On the Wednesday night that we visited, it was also packed to the gunnels (thus we were unlucky enough to be shown to an awful table under a staircase, despite having booked in advance). The menu appears stylish (some attempt at fusing Scottish produce with Indian spices), but at Cinnamon all is not as it seems... We ordered haddock kebabs for starters. Although the fish was beautifully marianated & cooked to perfection, it was accompanied by what tasted suspiciously like Blue Dragon sweet chilli sauce! We then had to wait forty five minutes for our main course to arrive. My main course was a curry of tiger prawns in a fennel and onion sauce. Despite the flash description, this did not tast any better than a bog standard Madras - albiet a very greasy one at that. The prawns were cut into little pieces - whether this was an attempt to make them go further or not, I don't know, but I would certainly have preferred them to be presented whole, as is the norm (especially when the dish cost £14.95, without the rice!). My partner had a lamb curry which was also disappointing. For dessert, we ordered Kulfi. This was not the nice, creamy, homemade Kulfi, such as is served in Karma (Aberdeen), but a horrid, factory made, lurid green version.

After booking a table for a pre-theatre meal at 6pm, we turned up to find our table had been given to another party and we were stuck downstairs and forgotten about. It took half an hour for our order to be taken and then no food arrived, despite me going upstairs to complain 3 times. At 7.05pm the waiter then turned up with some food - which turned out to be the wrong order and he took it away again! We then left, complaining to the manager on the way out and did not receive one word of apology. Truly appalling service - I can't even comment on the quality of the food as we didn't get any.

Have been going to Roo's now for many years and have yet still to find a fault with anything. The menu is an international menu consisting of a bit of everything from quality steaks to chicken satay or the most tender rack of ribs i have ever had.