The Olive Retreat - Castle Douglas

28/07/2026

We've had lots of tourists looking for us over the past week, so we'd like to say a huge thank you to all the local businesses who have been kindly pointing people in the right direction. We really appreciate your support!

If you're looking for us, you'll now find us at Sambuca at the top of the town, next to The Imperial Hotel and opposite Panache.

We're a stylish new restaurant with a welcoming wine bar and our own customer car park. Our extensive menu has something for everyone, from Mediterranean and Asian-inspired dishes to British favourites. We also specialise in catering for guests with allergies and dietary requirements, so everyone can enjoy dining with us.

Bookings are highly recommended as the restaurant and wine bar become full every night during the Summer holidays.

🐶 Well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome. Please mention when booking if you'll be bringing your four-legged friend.

🥡 We also offer a takeaway service. During the busy summer season, takeaway slots are limited, so we recommend pre-ordering earlier in the day to guarantee your preferred collection/delivery time.

You can browse our menu and order online at sambucarestaurant.co.uk, or keep up to date by following us on Facebook.

We look forward to welcoming you soon!

Welcome to Sambuca Restaurant, your gateway to an authentic Mediterranean culinary journey, right in the heart of Castle Douglas, Scotland.

12/06/2026

With Sambuca – I just got recognised as one of their top fans! 🎉

09/06/2026

As all our followers and locals know last July we suffered a fire at The Olive Retreat - Castle Douglas and unfortunately the business had to stop trading. We were a thriving restaurant and just about to hit our peak season. This was a devastating blow for us as a business, our team, local accommodation businesses who relied on us to feed their customers well and all the locals who enjoyed meals out at our restaurant as well as our takeaway service!

I do not own the premises at 139 King St, I only lease it. Buildings insurance and building repairs were not within my control but I did my absolute best to secure all repair quotes and support all the forensic, insurance and fire service investigations. Sadly repairs never happened.

One random day I opened facebook and saw on the Soap Box Derby page that Matt McKerlie had set up a fundraiser to raise funds to support our business and lots of folk were donating money! I was totally blown away as we are just a business not a special cause and never in a million years did I expect anyone to care or donate because our business had suffered such a loss.

When 'your chips are down' and someone does this for you out of the blue and then loads of locals jump on to support you it's just an amazing motivational boost and my heart was filled! I was actually contemplating closing the door on hospitality but I had a commitment to my staff and customers who were asking 'when are we opening?' plus all the folk who donated and messaged me with support just spured me to carry on.

I need to apologise to everyone who donated for not sharing how your monies were spent. I was tied up in a legal case and the fundraiser was nothing to do with me and it was all contentious! I wanted to share it as a positive at the end but my lease situation has gone on far longer than I expected.

Just to confirm all funds were shared equally amongst Olive Retreat Staff who suffered financial loss - no management took a cut. I had no connection to the fundraiser.

I was intending on doing a thank you post next week as new developments take place but a comment on another business page has highlighted the urgency of me updating folk.

Thank you to all the amazing people in CD who have supported us, my staff and our new business Sambuca at 38 King St! The legal experts who stepped forward to support me (some who did it for free) knowing what I was dealing with have been my absolute saviours in this awful situation!

I'm aware of a crazy conversation in a butchers across the road from The Olive Retreat where it was said I was being taken to court and evicted approx 6 months ago! My chefs mum was stood behind the person lying!🙈🤣It was pure fiction but clearly gave the individual a weird satisfaction and sense of power🤦‍♀️

I love CD. For every 1 negative person who spouts out on facebook posts there's 10 who will quietly back you and have that 1 person marked and lots of private messages occur that they are not party to! The same happened tonight! 👌

Anyhows...here's to Matt McKerlie! A true gent, a rock of support and all round top guy 👌 also your Soap Box Team who I love dearly for all their help and support too.

We did have a celebration opening evening where funds were distributed but I was so emotional I didn't get any photos 🙈

Thank you everyone! ❤️

24/11/2025

Just a post to let those who still don't know but we have opened another restaurant - Sambuca up at the old bank where Mr Pooks used to be. Same team and great menu with a few tweaks. We haven't publicised ourselves much as I wanted to give the team time to settle in and to iron out any teething issues with the new building and layout. We have been extremely busy so booking is highly advisable.

We are also offering takeaways and deliveries. Give us a follow to keep up to date with offers, events and new plans for the future.

08/11/2025

Vouchers - if you have vouchers you haven't been able to use due to the restaurant being closed please get in touch via messenger and I'll get back to you after the weekend. 😊

25/09/2025

BIG NEWS!!!

The Olive Retreat remains closed at the moment. Repair works are going to take considerable time to complete and haven't yet commenced. I am unable to offer any further information on the restaurants' future at this time.

In the meantime you can enjoy a great menu and social experience at the brand new Sambuca Restaurant @ 38 King St due to open in October.

Pop across to their page for more info. Don't forget to enter the competition... there's £100 voucher prize on offer!

https://www.facebook.com/sambucarestaurantcd

Keep following us to keep up to date with our progress. I'll be posting updates on vouchers purchased etc soon

Thank you for all your ongoing support! ❤️

A new Mediterranean dining experience & Wine Bar in CD. Come along to enjoy our delicious, versatile menu, premium wines/cocktails in our lavish surroundings

08/09/2025

Good morning loyal followers

Official update pending....! Me and the team should be back to work very soon serving you the best Mediterranean Cuisine in South West Scotland!
We have a nice little project team working on an exciting new dining and social venue for the town so keep your eyes peeled 🎊🍷🍕🕺🍝🍸🎶

This wouldn't have been possible without the encouragement and support of local people and voluntary organisations/charities in the town. Back in July Matt Mck very kindly set up this fundraiser on the Castle Douglas Soap Box Derby page. I haven't personally promoted it because I was hoping the insurance were going to move fast to eliminate further losses. To answer the big question about insurance 'they are apparently very busy and we are in a queue!'

The fundraiser closes TODAY so if you'd like to be part of our big plans and help us along on our journey you can donate using this link.🙏🏾 A massive thank you to those who have donated or made the effort to share the fundraiser. It really has warmed our hearts and give us motivation to keep going.🫶

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/helptheoliveretreat?utm_medium=CR&utm_source=CL

Every penny will go towards new equipment and furnishings that we need so desperately to open our restaurant. We'll be sure to pay it forward when we are on our feet!

I just want to say a massive thank you to my team who have stood by me, my team are everything, I simply don't have a business without them. We've only lost a couple of staff and thats mainly because they were leaving for university/securing jobs in their chosen careers so it was expected at the end of the Summer season.

I can't wait to update you all further! First, I have to get everything rubber stamped and ensure there's enough funds to make it all happen before I can release an opening date, 🤞this should all happen over the next couple of days.

A big Happy Birthday to my better half 'Dan The Man Who Can'. If you know Dan you can start feeling sorry for him now because he'll be grafting his backside off for the foreseeable to help us get back up and running.💪 Feel free to comment and send him your encouragement and sympathies😂🙈

Any likes and shares would be hugely appreciated... especially you businesses with large followings 😉 👌

Thanks again for all your support through a very difficult time ❤️

See you all very soon 🎊

Iʼm raising money to HELP THE TEAM AT THE OLIVE RETREAT. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

29/08/2025

Hello.....

Hope you've all had a great Summer. 🌞

Sorry no repairs update... apparently the insurance company are very busy this time of year 🤷‍♀️ Hope to have a more positive update soon! Keep watching 👀

In the meantime I would like to share this little cake business that is opening tomorrow Saturday 30th August! 🤩🍰🎂🧁

Please feel free to pop in to the cake cabin (from 12.30pm tomorrow) on Wallets Mart Car Park or give it a follow on fb/insta/tiktok

I just want to say a huge good luck to Molly in her new venture Molly's Sweet Treats!! What an amazing achievement for such a young woman to start up a new business premises independently in these challenging times. As well as being super talented Molly is such a kind and beautiful person who's working multiple jobs to get herself started up - she really needs local support. ❤️

She's certainly blessed with having an amazing network of family and friends helping her along the way but I can only imagine the butterflies and pressure she'll be feeling today.🙈

You've got this girl 💪

16/07/2025

Looking for the following tradespeople to quote and potentially complete work for us please.

Quotes required within the next couple of days so we can submit to insurance asap Availability for works required within the next couple of weeks as I'm hoping for a fast turnaround.

Please get in touch with me if you can help us out I'm requiring two quotes for each of the following

Commercial Gas Engineer
Commercial Electrician
Joiner - wall/window/roof repair
Painter/Decorator

15/07/2025

Does anyone need additional staff this Summer???

A huge thanks for all the offers of help this past week. It's really kept our spirits high and it's so much appreciated! ❤️

We've even had the offer of a local kitchen to use to provide a takeaway/delivery service which is something I'm looking in to. Would this be valuable to the town if we could open as a takeaway??? Please comment below.

In the meantime I'm trying to support my team in looking for temporary work or even permanent work. Although I want to retain my team the priority is to ensure they are supported with employment and I appreciate some businesses may not want to offer temporary work due to costs of training etc.

My team is my strongest most valuable asset and you will have seen since we opened in April 2024 just how hard they have worked to build the reputation of The Olive Retreat! Aside from being an 'asset' they are beautiful humans with a huge amount of skill, kindness, experience and energy. They're not just skilled in the restaurant trade but in other business areas such as admin, computer tech, retail, housekeeping, care work etc. I can also guarantee their honesty, reliability, work ethic and many more attributes.

If your business is looking to recruit, even if it's just for adhoc event's over the Summer then please send me a message as we may just have the right skill set/availability to support what you need. I have some staff that drive but some that don't. I'm happy to look in to public transport times/car sharing etc and support my team moving forward however I can.

Before anyone mentions insurance.... yes we are on with it but it's slow progress. I'm not one for sitting around waiting for big corporations to decide our fate or to keep folk hanging. After discussing this with my team this is the best course of action for all my lovely staff.

We have commenced a big clear out and there's still work to be done. The new appointed BOSS (Bonnie the Pupster) of Ernespie House Hotel has been supervising our efforts in the restaurant from her high throne!

Photo for cuteness....who needs doom and gloom!!! ❤️