38 Best Restaurants in Glasgow, Scotland

This warm and welcoming old merchant's house in the heart of the Merchant City offers excellent Scottish food, a barbecue menu, and a lively charming bar area. On Wednesday or Saturday traditional musicians gather for an impromptu session in the bar; the rest of the time there is just conversation. The vibe is friendly, particularly in winter when there is an open fire in the grate; there's also an outdoor terrace in summer.

A Gaelic phrase that means "to eat well," the restaurant known as Cail Bruich certainly lives up to its name as evidenced by its many awards, including a coveted Michelin star (currently the only eatery in Glasgow with one). Run by two brothers, the ambitious and innovative menu makes use of local, high-quality Scottish ingredients, but it's really the delicate and clever cooking style that takes the menu to higher heights. Tasting menus of 5 or 7 courses are available (with vegetarian alternatives also available on request). 

You can experience dining at its most sumptuous and elegant for a good price in the grand surroundings of what was the Glasgow Conservatoire, where today golden Buddhas sit comfortably beside busts of great composers. The delicate flavors of Thai cooking are at their finest here in the chef's wonderful signature Massaman lamb (and beef) curry, flavorsome Fisherman's Soup, and fusion dishes like scallops with black pudding. The ballroom, with its chandeliers and balconies, offers dining as theater; or you can book the tiny two-person table on a balcony looking down for an intimate experience.

Anything but a shack, this intimate dining room has heavy wooden tables and chairs, an elegantly ornate ceiling, and a bar so shiny and inviting that it seems to almost insist you have a drink. The food comes from the sea—oysters, lobster, and squid—and you can have your choice served iced, grilled, roasted, or battered. The fish varies daily according to the day's catch, and only local and sustainably sourced Scottish seafood is featured. The fish sandwich and crab cakes are favorites on the lunch menu. In the evening, mussels and scallops draw the eye. The buzz of conversation and the perfectly modulated music create the right atmosphere. Reservations are essential.

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.

Thick wooden tables, tapestries, and soft candlelight make you feel at home in the comfortable dining room of this atmospheric haven serving an intriguing mix of Indian and Persian fare. A family-owned restaurant, it's all about healthy, flavorful cooking; chicken tikka masala in a yogurt sauce or lamb korma with coconut cream and fruit or the Persian shashlik are good picks. Accompany your meal with bowls of basmati saffron rice and fluffy naan bread. You could start with a shared plate of Indian starters for three or four people. This popular place continues to win award after award; reserve ahead on Friday and Saturday.

The brand known as Mother India really covers four adjacent restaurants rather than just one location, all highlighting small plates of impressive Indian cuisine. What makes this place across from Kelvingrove Art Gallery so popular is the combination of high-quality cooking and an extensive range of tastes, from the vegetarian dal to spicy ginger chicken. The style is casual, although the interior is an opulent mix of dark wood, heavy cloth napkins, and luxury silverware. It's usually crowded, so don't expect much intimacy, but do expect the finest Indian food the country has to offer. 

West-coast shellfish farmers own this sleek restaurant and feed their customers incredibly succulent oysters, scallops, and mussels. The pots of mussels, steamed to order and served with any of a number of sauces, are revelatory, and scallops, prawns, and oysters come together in a wonderful seafood pasta. The surroundings are simple but stylish, with white walls, cool ceramic tiles, wood floors, and wooden furniture. Another plus is the staff, who are helpful and unpretentious. This is where locals take their favorite out-of-towners, including for lunchtime specials and pretheater menus that are a very good value.

This eatery has completely rethought Asian cuisine, taking Chinese, Malaysian, and Thai cooking in new directions and using sauces that are fragrant and spicy but never overpowering. Subdued lighting, neutral tones, and dark wood create a calm setting for specialties including superb dim sum and crisp wontons filled with delicious combinations of crab, shrimp, and chicken. Leave room for the main dishes, especially the tiger prawns and scallops in a sauce made from dried shrimp and fish. Familiar dishes like beef in black bean sauce are astonishingly delicate and aromatic. The vegetarian menu is adventurous, too, and the cocktails are captivating.

This immensely popular restaurant shines at every level—service, presentation, and taste. The stripped-back, rustic decor encourages chatter and the sharing of the eclectic small plates that are its specialty. You choose perhaps two or three plates—larger than tapas and beautifully presented—from meat, fish, cold starters, vegetable, and vegan lists, which then arrive as they are ready. The chef combines colors and tastes in often surprising ways, like poached hake with red pepper and capers, lamb and bone marrow kofta, and confit duck with Thai yellow curry and rice. The desserts continue the theme with options like raspberry and olive oil millefeuille. The service is relaxed, friendly, and informative, and the wine list is enormous. Booking ahead is essential.

For many years Stravaigin has maintained the highest quality of cooking, creating adventurous dishes that often combine Asian and local flavors and unusual marriages of ingredients. You can try the piri piri quail (the seasoning is used in Africa) or the restaurant's famous haggis and neeps (turnips), symbolizing its commitment to local produce. A wide variety of wines is available, including some uncommon ones. The café-bar is abuzz with conversation; the downstairs restaurant serves the same menu, but the environment is quieter.

Occupying the former headquarters of the Anchor Line, whose ships sailed from Scotland to America, this bar and restaurant near George Square has been impressively refurbished to create the sense of fine dining aboard a luxury ocean liner. The menu reflects the voyage, too, including Scottish seafood and lamb, and a full range of steaks and their sauces to represent America. Wine and drinks follow the same transatlantic theme. Dine in the bar for more casual fare, such as salads and steak sandwiches. The slightly less expensive but equally elegant basement restaurant, the Atlantic, is French-themed. If you are visiting during the holiday season, the Christmas decorations here are a thing of beauty: the building's pillared facade is wrapped in lights, bows, and greenery, with the theme continuing into the luxurious interior. 

A welcome addition for East End diners, BAaD occupies a sprawling campus of spaces, including a stylish glass-roofed courtyard, a large beer garden split over two levels, several refurbished shipping containers, and a central courtyard space within the heart of Glasgow's original flea market, the Barras. The fashionable space hosts a series of pop-up kitchens, bringing various street food options to a crowd of trendy East End residents and visitors alike. The hipness of the venue is a reflection of the area's changing personality. With its long tables and airy atmosphere, the space was designed with sharing in mind, but there is also a more intimate balcony dining area.

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.

Originally built in 1827, this attractive hotel restaurant often has a piper by the door to greet hungry travelers ready for a Scottish setting and some Scottish fare. Tartan carpets, dark-wood paneling, and buck heads mounted on the walls set the mood, and the bar is a shrine to Robert Burns. The surrounding gardens overlook the Brig o' Doon as well as a small, rushing river. The food keeps to the Scottish theme: try panfried scallops with citrus butter to start, and venison casserole with juniper berries and creamed potatoes or the haggis with neeps and tatties (served with a dram) as a main course. There are several rooms for rent upstairs.

An early arrival in the redeveloping Finnieston area, Butchershop occupies what was once a pub and overlooks the bowling greens in Kelvingrove Park. Modern, open, and airy, it preserves the sociable atmosphere of its predecessor, though it is now a quality steak house offering a range of cuts from rump to T-bone. There's a well-priced, popular Sunday-roast menu, as well as good-value lunch and pretheater menus.

Down an innocuous-looking flight of stairs, this intimate restaurant is the type of place young locals love: flickering candles, mix-and-match crockery, and inventive, inexpensive food that offers new twists on the familiar. The menu reads like a comedic narrative, with descriptions like "traditional fish-and-chips, battered to death" or "Supreme Commander chicken." Vegetarians are not as well catered to, but they can at least can try the popular portobello-mushroom burgers with extra-thick potato chips. The chef uses only local ingredients, so the menu changes daily. A tea shop upstairs serves wonderful cakes and old-fashioned high tea.

With Iberian flair, this lively basement eatery located on the cobbles of Cresswell Lane is beautifully decorated using Spanish tiles throughout. The first tapas place to make an impact in Glasgow, it has been followed by others (and has opened a second location in the City Centre) but remains one of the most successful. This is an ideal way to dine with friends: sharing the dishes as they arrive and as you down some good Spanish wine. (Rioja is always a reliable choice.) Booking ahead is strongly advised.

Occupying what was once the tea market, this trendy café draws a style-conscious crowd and can justly claim to have launched the dining renaissance of the Merchant City. The café opens early, serving its wonderful signature breakfasts, and the main menu is varied but resolutely Scottish; don't miss the scorched mackerel, the roast rack of Dornoch lamb, or the smoked haddie and Stornaway black pudding. Wooden tables and chairs crafted by Scottish artist Tim Stead are so impressively built, it's hard to believe they're inanimate. The bar on the second floor is more intimate, much less busy, and lets you order from the same menu—but that should remain a well-kept secret.

This Michelin Bib Gourmand-restaurant is located at the foot of Glasgow Cathedral, with amazing views of the imposing Gothic church. Set up by a married couple who both trained as chefs in some of London’s most competitive professional kitchens, rich Italian food graces the menu, with options such as deep-fried lasagna bites, chicken liver parfait on sourdough, and traditional pasta dishes—all done extremely well. The beef pappardelle is surely the best in the city. An astute selection of cocktails and wines is also available.

This amazing Italian delicatessen and restaurant is located on Alexandra Parade, one of the East End's busiest thoroughfares. The beloved spot has been family-run since 1982, when it first opened in the heart of Dennistoun. It can be difficult to get a table because the place is so popular, especially on Sundays.

Inside what was once the mansion of tobacco merchant George Buchanan, the Corinthian Club includes two bars, a nightclub, and a casino in its maze of rooms. At the heart of the building, the main restaurant, the steak-and-seafood-focused Brasserie makes a dramatic first impression with its glass dome and statues. You can dine here, take afternoon tea, or sip a cocktail in one of the small rooms that divide this huge space, but don't expect to find a quiet table in a corner.

Glasgow's first dedicated South Indian restaurant adds a unique taste profile to the city's already accomplished Indian dining scene. Occupying a large penthouse space on Candleriggs, the luxurious restaurant's menu is entirely gluten-free and allows diners to mix-and-match thanks to its variety of small plates. Chickpea flour is used across the board in all baked dishes, from the delicious naans to the iconic (and huge) rotis. The small plates mean costs can quickly add up, so if you are looking for a taste of luxury at a lower price, get in before 6:30 pm when the pre-theater menu offers a selection of the same dishes at reduced rates. 

An iconic burger restaurant on Duke Street in Dennistoun, this independent spot has quickly become a cult favorite in the area, with tables filling up most nights of the week. The no-frills burger joint serves huge topped burgers (with vegan and vegetarian options too) and delicious ribs. They even serve Mexican Coca Cola, which still sticks to the 1980s recipe and is made with raw cane sugar. 

This popular West End Italian deli/restaurant hybrid is located beside the Gibson Street entrance to Kelvingrove Park. The deli counters are packed with the type of high-quality Italian ingredients that dreamy summer picnics are made of—think cured meats, antipasti platters, and miniature sweet pastries—while the dine-in menu makes use of these quality ingredients with a familiar mix of rich pasta dishes, pizzas, and Italian sandwiches. It's especially busy during weekend lunch service and the summer, when the restaurant doubles in size thanks to its large number of outdoor tables. Make sure to save room for the famous ice cream, some of the best gelato Glasgow has to offer. 

One of the early occupants of the new Finnieston, the Gannet has maintained its stellar reputation. Its comfortable wood-and-brick interior denotes the emphasis on the natural provenance and unencumbered presentation of their food. Tasting menus of six courses are offered for carnivores (from £90) and vegetarians (from £70), and change regularly.

Greek cuisine was not well represented in Glasgow until Halloumi arrived to fill the gap. Its large windows onto the street invite you in to a simply decorated interior with white walls and wooden tables, where you will find a reassuringly familiar menu of small plates, or meze. Beautifully cooked moussaka and souvlaki make their appearance along with slightly more expensive swordfish and octopus dishes. Like many other restaurants in the city, it has embraced the small plate/sharing menu in the Greek meze tradition.

A welcome addition to the West End dining scene, this trendy and accomplished restaurant has a thorough menu of Southeast Asian small plates that allow diners to mix and match different dishes. Founded by the team behind Finniston's popular Ox and Finch restaurant, Ka Pao opened its doors to high expectations from local foodies and absolutely did not disappoint.

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.

Offering all things Italian, this constantly busy, noisy, and extremely friendly café sits in the heart of the West End. Its pizzas, made on the premises while you wait with a coffee or a glass of Italian wine, are probably the best around, and the house-made pastas are just as consistently good. You can create your own pizza combination from the many topping options, but do leave room for the tiramisu. Perch on a stool by the window with a cappuccino while watching the world go by, or grab a seat at one of the crowded tables or in the mezzanine.