Glasgow Restaurant Guide

“Still with a buzz about it” – this sprawling West End legend is fast approaching its 40th anniversary and still manages to be both “different and classical”. Its many fans agree that it’s “wonderful for both food and environment”, not to mention its bible of a wine list and “awe-inspiring malt whisky selection” (of which “the staff have a remarkably broad and deep knowledge”). Now run by Colin Clydesdale, son of founder Ronnie, the ‘Chip’ has a more casual brasserie upstairs.

“Adventurous taste combinations, very consistently delivered” via a good selection of “innovative small plates” score top marks this year for this Finnieston gastropub. Service is “lovely too” and the only gripe is that some seats are “a wee bit cramped”.

“Such an institution” and “a true throwback to the 1930s” – even reporters who hadn’t visited in a quarter of a century were delighted to find that “little has changed” at this “timeless” dining room, where “the menu is biased towards seafood and, where the genuine Art Deco interior (created in 1935 by the same craftsmen who fitted out the Queen Mary) is a joy to behold”. Naturally the big draw is the room itself, but the food is well-rated too.

“In a quiet Glasgow backstreet” (between the M8 and the SECC) and with an “unassuming” exterior, Ryan James’s “splendidly preserved institution” is one of the city’s oldest venues, complete with an “unexpectedly beautiful interior” (of the tartan-clad, vaguely baronial variety) lined with booths – a “fine destination that has maintained standards for many years” (especially for Scots seafood).

It’s “very crowded”, but there’s no knocking the “consistently fabulous fish and seafood” (which comes at “amazing” prices) at this idiosyncratic Finnieston fixture. You eat either counter-style at the front, or at a “closely-packed table” in one of the many nooks at the back or in the small upstairs section.

This three-year-old modern bistro “on Finneston’s eating strip” has won renown as one of the city’s better dining destinations. All reports are full of the highest praise for “small dishes bursting with flavour” and food that “genuinely melts in the mouth”.

Peter McKenna & Ivan Stein’s stripped-back Finnieston venture has made waves since opening six years back; “the cooking (modern British) is perhaps more serious here than the bare-brick walls décor suggests” (being “full of interesting small dishes, but not too ‘out there’”). In fact, more than one reporter notes “it deserves a Michelin star” such is the quality of the food but – perhaps as prices are not supercheap – stops short of awarding it full marks for value.