Just back from a night here so I thought I'd write up a review while it was very fresh in my mind! We booked here for a night away - a mini holiday, if you will. Booking was simple though the website and we went for the Friday night deal - complimentary cocktail each, £20 each off the dinner bill and breakfast for £119. We upgraded from the double room to a superior room, but it's worth noting that the website doesn't actually tell you what the difference is and I'm not actually sure the room seemed any more superior than a standard room.
I'm not really a fan of the hotel from the outside - I think it looks like an IT business. Inside though, it is super slick, modern and classy. There has been a lot of work put into the decor and we spent a good amount of time over lunch talking about how cool it is. There's free wifi throughout, both the rooms and the public areas which is handy. I'll try to split my review up into easy to manage parts from here on in.
The bar:
We ate in the bar for lunch - a lot of the meals are also starters on the evening menu so it was a good way of trying as much of the menu as possible. I had the lemon sole goujons which came with chips. Some of the best chips I've ever eaten, they were so good they even overshadowed the goujons which seemed a little bland by comparison. I also started on the cocktail menu and loved everything I had - they can do cocktails off menu as well, and this one was the only one I found a little disappointing. I like my espresso martinis on the sweeter side and this was definitely savoury but still pleasant enough.
The bar was a really nice place to sit and have a drink and we found ourselves back down here before dinner. There's lots of nice nooks, couches and cushions so you can have a good chat with your beloved without feeling like there's other people too close by.
The restaurant:
Adjacent to the bar is the restaurant which again, has the same great design elements as well as comfortable arm chairs at the tables. The tables were all nicely spaced out so you weren't right by another table - maybe if it was full this would be an issue. I did have to ask to switch seats with Graeme though as there was an air con blowing right on my back, he didn't seem to mind.
The menu is impressive and I was interested to see if the dishes would live up to their luscious description. I had hand dived scallops with chive butter and pea shoots (£12.50) and then the 9 oz fillet of Scotch beef for main with bearnaise and a side of sprouting broccoli hollandaise (£29.95).
The scallops were really small so I was a little disappointed when they arrived, but that went away when I tasted how good they were. Succulent, juicy and sweet, the chive butter was a great sauce to go with it and possibly a few more pea shoots would've been nice.
The steak was also great - not the best steak I've ever eaten but still damn good. It did cool down really quickly, possibly because of the cold plates but apart from that I really can't complain. Again, I was really impressed by the chips (chunky cut this time) but when they cooled down they lost their lovely crunch.
I wasn't going to get dessert but seeing passionfruit souffle with coconut sorbet on the list blew my mind and I knew I had to have it. The waiter helpfully checked whether there was dairy in the dish so I ordered it, but I'm pretty sure it was served with a side of cream which was weird. The souffle was lovely but really got far too sweet after about 1/4 which was a shame - it needed that cream to cut through the sweetness but I couldn't eat it. The sorbet was lovely but again very sugary sweet.
I also enjoyed that they served wines by the carafe so you could have 1/2 a bottle and then switch to something else - the rosé and albarino were both lovely.
Overall it was a very good meal with helpful and friendly service. The bill was a little more than we were expecting but probably all the cocktails and wine was to blame.
The hotel:
As I mentioned above, we paid for a superior room but I'm still not sure what the superior aspect was as it seemed standard - bed, ensuite. There wasn't any couches, lounges and the size didn't seem overly generous.
But apart from that, the room was perfect. A lovely leather bed which was super comfortable. The biggest pillow I've ever seen in my life. A couple of freshly baked cookies on the desk under a glass cloche. A good sized bathroom with a shower/rainfall option and nice toiletries. The bed was super comfortable to sleep in and the doona/duvet was light and warm at the same time. It was a little chilly in the room and even when we left the heating on it didn't warm up a whole lot, and in the morning the bathroom was pretty chilly.
For a mini-holiday close to Glasgow, I'd definitely return here as it really did feel like a proper holiday in a very romantic, cosy hotel. read more