Glasgow Restaurant Guide

Native Glaswegian Anna Parker and her chef-husband Dan (ex-head chef of London’s Darby’s and The Dairy) launched this city-centre newcomer in August 2021. It occupies the Scottish Baronial landmark, ‘Cathedral House’, with a restaurant seating 32 and a covered garden seating 40. The seasonal menu is Italian-inspired and ambitious: from home-cured salamis to almond milk gelato.

2018 Review: Café Gandolfi’s nearby spin-off delivers “lovely and fresh fish” enjoyed against the backdrop of “Art Deco-style decor”.

This 40-year-old pioneer of modern Glasgow dining “never fails to deliver”, with its “great food selection” (including excellent breakfasts) and unique interior, including original hand-made furniture by Tim Stead. Its fish restaurant offshoot a few doors along closed down during the pandemic, but owner Seumas MacInnes saved the Gandolfi by selling his home. His sons Donald and Alasdair are part of the team, as manager and chef respectively.

Dough proved for up to 48 hours to satisfy those Neapolitan pie puritans are the draw to this “very cheap” and accordingly “very busy” pizza pitstop with city-centre and West End branches; they also run a pasta-centric three-year-old sibling, Sugo, in the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Herald Building.

“Always ambient and fun” – Richard Caring’s stretching (twisting?) of the Ivy brand is easy to snipe at but has so far avoided degenerating into farce. For sure, “the food is certainly nothing superior”: fans may claim it’s “more than adequate”, but its overall ratings nowadays are only just the right side of poor. That said, even critics of the cooking often feel that the “lovely” interiors and “welcoming service” provide compensation, and fit the bill for making an occasion of a meal. In the capital, the most mentioned outlets are The Ivy Chelsea Garden (“delightful garden tables and ideal for a noisy girls’ night out”); and The Ivy Kensington Brasserie (“huge fun, loads of buzz” and “always a treat”). The Ivy City Garden and Canary Wharf’s Ivy in the Park follow along in terms of volume of feedback. The newest member of the spin-off family is The Ivy Victoria – a vast space with 300 guests over two floors.

An Art Deco interior created in 1935 by the same craftsmen who fitted out the Queen Mary make this city-centre icon one of the UK’s more historic restaurant spaces. Shuttered since September 2020 and the onset of Covid-19, it had been feared in some quarters that its closure might be permanent. But in August 2021, the owners confirmed that this seafood destination would reopen in 2022 after a refurbishment.

“Very good-quality fish (fresh and locally caught) – often simply but always expertly cooked” has been the hallmark of Derek Marshall’s low-key city-centre basement destination since it opened in 1998. Top Tip: “exceptional fish soup!”.

2018 Review: “Just great Indian (street) food with attitude” – the premise of this “really honest” and “tasty” 3-table café, bringing a dose of Mumbai to the city-centre.

2018 Review: Sibling to Edinburgh’s Indian street food joint, this stripped-back venue serving inexpensive snacks, curries and tandoor-cooked meats near the Glasgow School of Art opened in early 2017.

“A piece of old Glasgow in a traditional setting” – the Buttery is a city institution, run since 2007 by Ryan James as part of his Two Fat Ladies group. Worth a visit for the Victoriain interior alone, its “reasonably priced menu and good cooking” ensures that a meal is no let-down.

This spin-off from Cail Bruich attracts some attention purely on account of its stellar sibling, although the culinary formula is much simpler – sharing plates of locally supplied meat, seafood, cheese and charcuterie, plus an interesting selection of wine. But while we do have some feedback saying it’s “very good”, its volume is too limited for a definitive verdict.

“Never disappoints, even after four decades of being a customer” – a “Glasgow institution” (est. 1964) whose “consistent cooking” attracts “generations of families, all welcome”. The victuals touch on most of the flavours of the subcontinent, while the founder, known to all as Mr Ali, is a bit of a West End dining legend.

“Expect to queue” for the privilege of eating at this West End institution, an icon of Indian cooking for four decades once sampled by the late, great Anthony Bourdain. It’s known for the “interesting flavours and options” on its menu – “not over-subtle, but very good”, while “the naans are fluffy and the best ever”.

Opened in June 2021, on the former site of Sisters restaurant, chef Graeme Cheevers (previously head chef at Isle of Eriska) hopes to impress the tyre men with the ambitious tasting menus at his first solo venture. (Unalome BTW is ‘a Buddhist symbol representing the path to enlightenment’). It opened too late to inspire survey feedback, but numerous press reviewers, including Chitra Ramaswamy writing in The Times, tout this as the city’s second Michelin star in waiting, and the AA awarded it a hard-to-achieve 3 rosettes in their late October 2021 awards.

“Innovative food that’s well priced” from a menu of sparky small plates helps ensure Jonathan MacDonald’s Finnieston gastropub is “always packed”. There’s lots to interest non- meat-eaters here too, with their own dedicated menu to select from.