Restaurants, Student friendly and "Glasgow"
- Moskito
Moskito is a laid-back bar with an extensive drinks list as well as great food - Maggie Mays
Outstanding contemporary Scottish restaurant, with a bustling bar and all-year entertainment - The Tea Rooms at The Butterfly and the Pig
City centre gem serving Afternoon Tea, High Tea, cakes & delights
Chinaski's
239 North Street,
Glasgow,
G3 7DL
Even if Charles Bukowski – whose biographical alter-ego Chinaski’s is named after – mostly lived off a liquid diet, this dark, discreet hipster haunt just off the main drag of Sauchiehall Street is as much about its food as it is its drink. A huge…
Home
80 Albion Street,
Glasgow,
G1 1NY
The decoration at this city centre hang-out is indeed a bit like home – if you happen to live somewhere that’s the ‘before’ part of a makeover. The furniture is a random mixture of leather booths (some with ripped seats), squashy sofas and gaudy…
The Rio Café
27 Hyndland Street,
Glasgow,
G11 5QF
There aren’t many places where you find fashionable students sitting next to an anorak-clad granny who's sitting next to a couple on a date, but that’s what you get at the Rio Café – and it works. Step inside and you enter a 1950s diner – the red…
Bacchus
80 Glassford Street,
Glasgow,
G1 1UR
Weekends are busy at this Merchant City bar, catering for the post-work and pre-club crowd. The interior is stylish, with comfy low cushioned benches, bar stools and standard tables offering seating options to suit your night. Be careful to arrive…
Brel
39–43 Ashton Lane,
Glasgow,
G12 8SG
Namesake Jacques Brel would definitely recognise this informal wood-filled bar as a distinctly European approach to dining and beer. The former stables at the end of Ashton Lane has the air of a Gallic tavern with its oak-lined walls, wooden floors and…
Firebird
1321 Argyle Street,
Glasgow,
G3 8TL
This well-established neighbourhood bar and bistro makes sense whatever the occasion. The intelligent, free-flowing layout means you can dine more formally at the rear, sip a cool microbrewery pint perched at the curved wooden bar, or snack and watch…
See Woo Restaurant
The Point, 29 Saracen Street,
Glasgow,
G22 5HT
Five years ago the vast See Woo cash and carry in the north of the city opened up a restaurant and banqueting hall. While it may not be everyone’s choice to eat in 500-seater hangar space it is certainly full of local Chinese families and visiting…
Big Slope
36a Kelvingrove Street,
Glasgow,
G3 7SA
It would be interesting to know how many folk come into Big Slope for a drink, but end up having something to eat. That's what makes a good bar food menu: perched on the table, teasing and appetising. Here we have pub favourites with lovely twists…
The Tearoom @ The Butterfly and the Pig
153 Bath Street,
Glasgow,
G2 4SQ
The unique interior of welcoming shabby chic makes this a pleasant gem of a place to catch your busy urban breath over a quick wholesome soup and sandwich lunch, or a leisurely afternoon tea. The food is excellent. Here they do justice to the classic…
Baby Grand
3–7 Elmbank Gardens,
Glasgow,
G2 4NQ
Just a few short steps from Charing Cross station, the Baby Grand is by day mainly filled with office workers and commuters who do lunch and coffee in the long thin room, but by night the mood changes to a more leisurely vibe as the pianist takes over.
The Grosvenor Café
The Grosvenor Theatre, Ashton Lane,
Glasgow,
G12 8SJ
With its filmic décor and location above the cinema, the recently rebranded Grosvenor Café offers a great opportunity for a movie and a meal night-out. The striking and cavernous venue, lit by spotlights adorning the walls, has silent movie clips…
Bar Ten
10 Mitchell Lane,
Glasgow,
G1 3NU
Bar Ten’s style is trendy but effortless. Fairy lights are dotted about the bar and a high ceiling makes it feel spacious. Metal benches and tiled walls give it an almost industrial feel too. Celebrating its 20th birthday in 2011, the bar remains a…
Driftwood
2–4 St Georges Road,
Glasgow,
G3 6UJ
Driftwood has been a fixture of Charing Cross for a few years now, offering cheap and cheerful food to hungry students and weary shoppers. The dining area is decked out in the 'traditional' Mexican terracotta and yellow, though it's actually barely…
The Bank Café Bar
443 Clarkston Road,
Glasgow,
G44 3LL
Part of the Maclay Inn’s chain, this former bank has been nicely refurbished with solid wood and leather furnishings and a chrome-topped bar. Crane your neck to see the detailed cornicing and dramatic domed rooflight. There’s a good selection of draft…
The Left Bank
33–35 Gibson Street,
Glasgow,
G12 8NU
It is hard to categorise this bistro / bar, mainly because it is so successful in all its guises – as a lazy brunch hangout, for drinks by the window or a relaxed evening meal. The atmosphere is casual but the kitchen works hard, handling flavours…
Maggie May's
60 Trongate,
Glasgow,
G1 5EP
Just through a velvet curtain from the busy bar and gig venue is a quiet corner of Maggie May’s given over to dining. Dark wood and candles manage to create a subdued atmosphere despite the hubbub bubbling through from the bar next door. An extensive…
Bar Budda
8 Cresswell Lane,
Glasgow,
G12 8AA
Although Thai-influenced food has been a characteristic of this high-concept chain for several years, more recently the West End branch has also been focusing on Scottish ingredients while still retaining a flavour of the Far East. Embedded in…
Bar 91
91 Candleriggs,
Glasgow,
G1 1NP
From business suits to groups of students, Bar 91 is as non-pretentious a venue as you get in the Merchant City. Clearly a local for many, its red velvet curtains and dimly lit décor, as well as a smattering of disco balls and a TV fireplace, make it…
Barça Tapas and Cava Bar
Princes Square, 48 Buchanan Street,
Glasgow,
G1 3JN
Eating at Barca Tapas and Cava bar, situated in the upmarket Princes Square mall, is a classy experience. If you can, grab a table on the terrace which overlooks the light and bright shopping centre and browse the impressive menu. The calamari with…
WEST Brewery
Building 4 Templeton Building, Glasgow Green,
Glasgow,
G40 1AW
German-inspired brewery WEST’s bar-restaurant scooped the family friendly trophy at the Scottish Restaurant Awards in 2010 and it’s easy to see why. A big, bright, inviting space situated just outside the City Centre in the Templeton Building, a…
The Big Blue
445 Great Western Road,
Glasgow,
G12 8HH
Once again part of the Paperinos group after a flirtation with other management, this West End favourite’s chief selling point is its riverside location, the bar section opening on to the Kelvin with outdoor tables that are always packed in summer…
Òran Mór
731-735 Great Western Road,
Glasgow,
G12 8QX
The grand looking Òran Mór, a converted sandstone church overlooking Byres Road and the Botanic Gardens, attempts to cater for the varied wants of trendy West End locals by being all things to all punters: restaurant (see Scottish), club, theatre, bar…
TGI Friday's
113 Buchanan Street,
Glasgow,
G1 3HF
Now in its 15th year of serving up hearty American favourites to families, office parties and numerous other punters, TGI Friday's is as busy as ever (and by some accounts it's the most popular restaurant in the city). The chain operation's formula of…
Bar Gandolfi
64 Albion Street,
Glasgow,
G1 1NY
This stylish little bar upstairs from Café Gandolfi is something of a hidden gem, and the management like to keep it that way by advertising mostly by word of mouth. There simply isn’t space for more than a handful of diners and drinkers, around the…
Bar Milano
2 Mains Avenue, Eastwood Toll,
Glasgow,
G46 6QZ
From its pleasantly neutral décor and friendly service to the suburban location, Bar Milano ticks all the boxes for a comfortable neighbourhood trattoria. It’s housed in a converted bank but where such buildings often possess a cold grandeur, the…
