Grosvenor Cafe

Though I’ve not been to the Grosvenor café for quite a while now, I did used to go frequently, and I think the ridiculously slow service got the better of my annoyance one too many times.
The place itself is a cracking venue, huge open plan area with loads of chairs and an island bar. There’s also a mezzanine area which is usually reserved for private parties. The lighting is… well there’s not really any lighting to speak of, it’s insanely dark!
Having been for food a few times, I can’t complain about the food quality, it was tasty and not too badly priced. Good without being great. The drinks selection at the bar is also good, with tons of spirits to choose from, a decent selection of draft and bottled beers and a not too shabby cocktail list.
Now onto the bad bit… the service. I’ll get the good bit out the way, anytime I’ve had food, the table service has been pretty decent, mostly attentive and quick. The bar service is where the problem is, and I think it’s service makes it one of the worst bars in the area. I’ve been in times where it is packed and times when it is empty and the service time between the 2 was no different! A wait of 10 – 15 minutes really is the norm, and when you do get served, I’ve always found the bartenders a bit on the rude side. Had one occasion where the guy spent most the time complaining about how long his shift was (he’d just started it as well!).
Overall it’s hard to see me back in here unless it’s someone else’s idea, though the place will often be very busy simply for its location.

I’ve only ever frequented the Grosvenor Café for drinks, so I can only comment on that part. Kris and I visited on a busy Saturday evening and found it to be oddly quiet. However we were grateful for a seat at the bar, so we parked up and ordered our drinks…
…Or should I say, tried to order? Bearing in mind that this was a busy pay-​day weekend you would expect the Grosvenor to have stocked up on their most popular beers/​wines/​spirits. Instead they had only 3 beer taps left and were running low on pretty much everything else. Having said that, the general ambience was relaxing and the staff on the bar were apologetic but also friendly and polite. Given the difficult circumstances I’d say this is fair enough for 3 stars.

I’ve visited the Grosvenor Café a few times, most recently for my work Christmas lunch. They had no trouble at all coping with the ~60 or so people who filed in on a Friday at midday and I think it’s safe to say we all enjoyed our meals.
I went for the smoke salmon salad, the roast turkey with all the trimmings and the hazelnut and chocolate torte. I admit being slightly jealous of those who ordered the cheese plate but the torte was good, if a little sweet. I also felt like the meal was generally really well balanced — it’s too easy to leave a three course meal feeling like you need to sit down for a week and a half and never eat again. I left feeling satisfied, but not over full.
They’re a pretty decent bar in the evenings, selling your standard range of cocktails as well as beer, wine and other mixed drinks. Since there’s tonnes of space you can usually find a seat even on busy nights, although there can be a bit of a wait to get served. It feels like quite a cool space to hang out in as well, the high ceilings make it special and I like the big long tables that groups inevitably end up sharing with strangers and making new friends at.
Since it’s close to Christmas I think they’ve stopped doing there usual lunch offers for the time being. However, normally this is the kind of place that runs things like £5 pizza when you buy a drink, or two-​for-​ones on meals for lunch offers. It’s worth keeping an eye on the signs they put outside to see what the most recent offers are.

Big room, dark and a little soulless when few people in there… shame as we had a great lunch and both my wife & son raved about the truffle chips. Had great fish & chips, good glass of rouge; very good service. Good prices

The pizza is tasty, not the best, but it’s a decent pizza with nice mixed ingredients. From Monday to Friday there is a half price promotion in mojitos and some other cocktails (£3) and a double pint of tennents for £5, not the cheapest place, but still affordable. The music and ambient is what I enjoy the most about this place.

Not amazing pizzas, but not bad, particularly as they were part of a really cheap drinks deal for the rugger!

Pizza for £ 5 during the week? Yes please! I know it’s a very individual thing, but I love their way they do their pizza dough. Delish.
You also get a basic fizzy drink with that deal too which is cool.
It was my first time here and I love the atmosphere and deco.
Staff were helpful and friendly and service was very good.
Maybe next time I’ll be brave and try the mushroom one with the cheese I’d never heard of

Having a bar as part of the cinema is a great idea but, unfortunately, there’s nothing much to write home about at the Grosvenor Café — it’s all decidedly average (apart from the venue itself which is huge and could be pretty cool… definitely should be made more of).
I had scallops on toast with a duck egg on top from the all day brunch menu. Sounds delicious — tasted ‘ok’. The scallops were slightly overlooked and a bit rubbery and the duck egg looked suspiciously like a hens egg in size! It’s the kind of place you should really stick to ‘safe’ options on the menu (sandwiches, pizzas etc) so I half blame myself for ordering outside the box! I should have known better!
They are very child friendly (kids activities put on on a weekend) — which is great if you want to hang out in a bar with your little ones but not so great at all if you really don’t want to hang out in a bar with other peoples little ones!

We went to the Café for a pre-​birthday dinner and later a bunch of friends met us there for some drinks. The food was alright, we had burgers and mac and cheese which isn’t tough, but the service was terrible. It took forever to get someone to come by for orders — no one seemed to be assigned the table, and eventually we started going to the bar for drinks which was an absolute mess. There was no system and at one point I must have waited 20 minutes for a drink while random people around me were served. It definitely won’t be on my list of places to run back to.

We decided to head to the here with our two month old as we had heard it was child friendly. I was impressed with the look of the café — very big, spacious and stylish. However we had to take a rather rickety lift to get into the place with our pram. The place was full of toddlers and children — ideal for us with our wee one.
My wife ordered the squash, lentil and coconut stew (£8.50) and I ordered fish and chips (£10). The order arrived very quickly — 5 to 10 mins. The waitress serving us was very helpful and bright.
The food was nice but nothing special. We both agreed it was overpriced for what it was — should have been two or three pound cheaper to be worth the money.

After a couple of woeful experiences at Grosvenor I feel that a re-​review is more than deserved.
This bar is a nice enough space except for e few issues, first off the bat they don’t like lighting, it is super dark. Seating wise there are lovely big comfy booths but unfortunately we were located at one of the large high tables on uncomfortable stools, which was fine for the first hour… but by the time we left 2 and a half hours later I was in agony and in fact still have a very bad back after the experience. Oh! also it was VERY kids heavy when we visited at lunch time Sunday which made for a VERY loud atmosphere.
Staff wise — honestly I would like to be able to talk to you about the staff but we barely saw them… we had to ask to order drinks, then we had to ask to order, then we had to ask again for more drinks, then we had to ask how much longer the food would be, then we had to ask for the bill. Are you seeing a pattern here? Basically if we hadn’t stopped staff to ask for stuff we would have been ignored the entire time we were there. The only time anyone showed any interest was when a member of staff, who I suspect was the manager stopped to ask if our complicated order was right? It wasn’t but we muddled through.
The menu is nice enough and features all the usual staples you would expect in this kind of place, pizzas, small plates, and a selection of ‘main’ dishes. In the end I opted to start with the Smoked tomato and basil soup which arrived after a long 30 minute wait. The soup which I had tried before was delicious, it’s beautifully smokey and thick which is served with some lovely soft bread. zero complaints with the soup!
For my main I decided to try 3 of their small plates for £12. I choose Roast beetroot and butternut squash with feta, Scallops and streaky bacon with black pudding and Crayfish, avocado with marie rose sauce. This food arrived a whole hour and a half after we sat down so as you can imagine by this point we were so hungry it almost didn’t matter that the food was sort of meh! I wish I could tell you that it was worth the wait but in truth it just filled a hole, it was edible but not amazing and definitely not worth a 90 minute wait.
We left as soon as we were finished our mains and in total for a pretty basic 2 course meal we were there for well over 2 hours…2 HOURS!!! My Life is way way too short for this! I should point out the bar was only about half full so it wasn’t overly busy. I mentioned this on twitter and quite a few people have commented about the staff and the length of time service takes so clearly this hasn’t been a one-​off problem.
Pretty awful lunch all round which left me feeling utterly mortified as I had suggested The Grosvenor as a meet up spot for our wee Unilocal lunch. The only saving grace was the company which was great. In all honesty I probably won’t go back to the Grosvenor Café because there are so many great places literally on their door step.

I haven’t dished out many 1-​star reviews, I’m glad to say. Unfortunately after visiting the Grosvenor Café today, it’s time for another one.
I’d never visited here before and was impressed by the size — it reminds me a lot of Hillhead Bookclub with the high roofs and dim lighting. Very, very dim lighting. We were seated at a bench table towards the back which is ok for the first hour until you get really uncomfortable with your legs dangling and you can’t stop fidgeting.
It was moderately busy but the mezzanine area wasn’t open, and was probably ¾ full which didn’t change much through our visit. Service was horrendously slow throughout and every time we wanted something — to order drinks, or food, or to check where our food was, we had to ask for someone to come over.
I ordered from the small plates menu, 3 dishes for £12 — squid, bruschetta and the Scotch egg, as well as a side of chips. Our food was delivered in courses, and so even though I’d asked for my chips as a starter, I was left waiting with no food while the others ate (of course they offered to share, the lovely human beings they are).
We’d arrived at 1pm, and it was 2.50pm before our mains arrived. No, that’s not a typo. Would the food make up for the ridiculous wait? In my case, no. The squid was cold and flaccid, the Scotch egg was incredibly bland and the chips were mooshy. The only thing I would compliment was the bruschetta which had a nice amount of tomato and goats cheese on it, but was just one slice of bread — pretty stingy!
There was no real apology for all the problems with our meal — perhaps that’s what you’re meant to expect here. Apart from the food and the service, this really isn’t my kind of place to visit anyway — if you closed your eyes, it sounded like you were in a soft play centre with all the kids running around the place. Then you open your eyes, and there’s students at the bar getting stuck into the booze for a big night out, and it’s all just a bit wrong.
Coming in at £20 a head and taking 2.5 hours for a 2 course lunch, I can’t ever see myself returning here. Of course, the company was fabulous but I’m not rating them — hence the one star.

Stopped in with the wife and kid for a sandwich but they had no bread at (!) 2:30pm? Still, the beef and horseradish sauce was nice enough on the substituted bun. Julie had the ham and cheese and we both had a couple of soft drinks. Not sure two rolls and two soft drinks merited £17 mind you: O
Service however, was poor. We arrived carrying a baby yet were shown to a booth with no offer of a high chair until we asked.
And then after waiting to pay our bill, I eventually went to hand the money to the girl (short, red hair) who barely gave me a glance never mind a thank you. In fact it was even close to disdain.
Won’t be rushing back.

I’m a frequent visitor to Ashton Lane but I’ve never eaten at the Grosvenor Café so, whilst wandering past in the sunshine the other night, spotting two chairs outside, we decided to opt for cheap and cheerful!
The menu is pretty good, with a nice ‘café culture’ option of three smaller plates for £12 (watch out for the supplements though) and a range of burgers and pizzas that are a little different from the standard fare.
We opted to split a bacon and black pudding pizza, with a side order of chunky chips, over a nice cold pint of Heverlee for me, and a Rekorderlig for Clare.
The food arrived pretty quickly and disappeared pretty quickly too! The pizza was a thin, home made base, with a good amount of crunch round the edges and sturdy enough to hold up to the ‘fold’ (I usually eat pizza American style, a larger slice folded in on itself), the toppings were tasty although, as ever, the bacon could’ve been a bit more crispy! The chunky chips were pretty good too, if a little … soggy… in texture? So overall not too bad, but could be better.
The service was ok, although we did have to hunt down someone to get a menu, and whilst I could complain about the fact the tables and chairs are a bit unstable, given that they are resting on the old cobbles of Ashton Lane that might be a bit churlish.
It’s good to have another option for drinks and a bite to eat that I know will be ok, if you are looking for a higher quality of food then I’d suggest you nip across the lane to Brel instead, but I can see me visiting the Grosvenor Café again.

Nothing super great about this place but I liked it and would come back again.
I walked into the downstairs area first which was kind of busy but really small, came by myself and was looking for a place to sit but couldn’t find anything. Asked a young couple near the door if the upstairs area was any quieter and they gave me such a face and shook their heads in unison mouthing NO at me hahaha. I didn’t understand until I made a run for it anyway and headed up the stairs.
Bitch is huge! The upstairs area is quite bigger than the downstairs.
But yes it was super packed and very loud and a world cup game was on. There was a huge rectangular bar in the center filled with lots of busy bartenders that took a long time to get my drink order in. Maybe on a weeknight it might be more enjoyable?

Coolest bar I went to in Scotland, it was a converted cinema and was huge and amazing! There was so much room and it was so cool to just walk around the bar, the atmosphere was awesome!!! I had only been told about it in passing so I was confused about having to go up the stairs to enter, but it was a really cool place and I would go back in a heartbeat!

I like the Grosvenor café. It’s big and airy, with lots of dark wood, comfortable couches and good cocktails, which makes it somewhere I can happily make myself at home for a long, lazy, boozy afternoon or evening. I visited recently with some colleagues for dinner and drinks and they too were quite at home, as we made ourselves comfortable in a cosy corner.
Our waiter was lovely and so happy to help, as he took our orders, catered for our dietary requirements and even remembered a complicated cocktail order without needing to jot it down, all while chatting and bantering away like we were old friends.
I had a tasty tomato bruschetta to start, followed by an amazing coconut, butternut squash and lentil stew, all washed down with plenty of red wine. I then had a singapore sling, which was delicious and tasted deceptively saintly, as the best and most lethal cocktails always do.
Whether you’re out for an evening of cocktails or are popping in for some dinner before heading down to the cinema, the Grosvenor Café is a lovely, cosy and classy place to spend a while where you’ll be well fed, watered and looked after.

Absolutely love The Grosvenor Café! They do an awesome brunch — so comfortable and affordable to go at the weekend
Also the market that runs there on the first saturday of the month is fab!

There are good and bad aspects to this place.
Good:
— Excellent cocktails (£5−8)
— Good food
— Nice interior, with comfy seats
— Good location
— Can accommodate large parties
Bad:
— SLOW service
— Can get too loud (strange acoustics too)
— Weekends you probably shouldn’t bother
I keep going back because it’s convenient, but the service is unacceptably bad. I have waited for 20 mins for a waitress to even notice my table when they’re only serving another 2. I’ve had to just approach the bar and pay my bill many times. Despite the beautiful interior and the laid-​back atmosphere, the service really lets it down. The bar staff are hit and miss — I’ve had great service some days, and awful on others.
If I were in the West End for a day, this would be on my list of possible places to eat, but not at the top. It would be high up on my drinking list though, as the cocktails really are delicious!

Best to avoid this bar at weekends as you will never be served, I was here with a group, just over an hour later we gave up.
I get the impression that the staff have also given up, I’ve never seen a bunch of unhappy people in al my life, in fact I have got a better vibe from a funeral.
The problem with the owners of the company is that they don’t train their staff to save money and send their new recruits to serve with out the basic training to work a bar.
There is two bars here, and that’s a good thing but they both sell the same thing!
Where one should be s cocktail bar and the other should be for regular drinks.
Service rating 0 stars
Atmosphere rating 0 stars
The exit 1 star
The only good part was leaving.

Schöné Bar mit angenehmer Atmosphäre. Sehr groß, sehr voll, aber nicht unangenehm. Schöné Auswahl an Barfood. Unbedingt die Muscheln probieren.