7 Best Restaurants in Glasgow, Scotland

A 19th-century inn turned into an elegant restaurant, the Finnieston retains the dark wood and narrow cubicles of earlier times, but today it is one of the new high-quality seafood restaurants that have transformed the faded Finnieston area into a fashionable district. The menu allows you to choose the fish and how it is prepared, the sauce, and salad or vegetable sides. You can also eat in the bar, but wherever you sit, choose from the enormous menu of fine cocktails and an especially lengthy gin selection with over 50 options.

Miss Cranston's Willow Tea Rooms were the ultimate place to be seen in Glasgow in 1903, not only for the tasty tea but for the beautiful art nouveau decor and furniture designed by a young architect by the name of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The original tearooms have now been fully restored here, and you can lunch on traditional Scottish cuisine or take an elegant high tea in the exquisite surroundings of the Salon de Luxe.

One of a new breed of burger joints that has emerged in the city, this casual spot with long wooden tables, stools, and benches is also a meeting place for coffee or a drink. The many creatively stuffed burgers and sauces are accompanied by different poutines and cheese toasties, a variation on the British classic known as rarebit. There's a good vegan and vegetarian menu, too. The West End branch is strategically located a block from Byres Road and the Glasgow Botanic Gardens.

The name says it all: this pleasant, airy café pays homage to all things brunch. There are eggs in every combination, decadent waffles and French toast, and a delicious array of classic brunch cocktails from Bloody Marys to mimosas. It's located close to the Kelvingrove Museum and offers boozy brunch deals that keep it popular with large groups, especially on weekends. 

Close to Glasgow University, this popular bar and restaurant attracts a more mature student crowd. It's an airy spot with high ceilings, leather sofas, and wood floors, and the specialty is good, eclectic international food at reasonable prices. It covers the spectrum: breakfast, brunch, small plates, lunch, and dinner. The extensive menu is impressively varied, including Goan chicken curry, Vietnamese soup, harissa halloumi, and even fish-and-chips. This is a relaxed, unhurried place, whose casual air belies its excellent cooking.

Occupying a converted stable behind the Hillhead subway station on busy Ashton Lane, this restaurant is a Glasgow institution, with an untarnished reputation for creative Scottish cooking. Its street-level restaurant is a beautiful courtyard protected by a glass roof, and the more informal brasserie upstairs also serves less expensive dishes like haggis with neeps and tatties or a plate of mussels. The upstairs bar is invariably full and noisy with conversation. The creative menu might include cod with hazelnuts and truffles, or Galloway roe deer, and there is an excellent lunch and pretheater menu for two or three courses.

This microbrewery serves beer brewed "according to German purity laws of 1516"—in other words, no additives to muddy the flavor. The German theme is continued with the slightly cavernous dining space dotted with large wooden tables, and the food, which includes wursts, Wiener schnitzel, and goulash. A more limited bar menu is served in the very popular beer garden. West is in the famous Templeton Carpet Factory on Glasgow Green, built to resemble the Doge's Palace in Venice. You can tour the brewery Friday through Sunday with four tasters as part of the price.