Booly Mardy’s

If you’re looking for a chill spot to hang out and grab some amazingly delicious drinks, this is your place. After working all day, I met up with some friends here for celebration drinks. I arrived in the rain feeling a bit tired and questioning why I left the house, but when I walked in my mood instantly changed. This place has such a relaxing and welcoming vibe, it is a game changer.
The bartenders were really friendly and got me set up with a drink right away. I am notoriously picky about cocktails and this place makes me a happy girl. It’s not your run of the mill bar, they make some seriously delish cocktails. My first drink was a Espresso Martini and it was pure heaven. From there, I wasn’t sure what I wanted and the bartender was awesome about it — he asked me what kind of flavors I was looking for and whipped me up a special drink. I’m from Texas and I love me a spicy drink… the bartender made me a jalepeno infused tequila cocktail with egg white to make it frothy and ahhhmaaazing.
Basically, if you are in the mood for a damn good cocktail — go to Booly Mardy’s. I also noticed they had food which I’ll have to try out next time I go.

Unfortunately I wasn’t overly impressed with Booly Mardy’s.
We had heard that they had a good range of gins, so we went to check it out. The first issue was that there was no drinks menu. There was a cocktail menu, but nothing listing what fine spirits they stock. Ummm. That seems like a bit of an own goal if you ask me. If you have near on twenty gins, you want to make sure your customers know about them. I’m sure that listing what you sell must be quite high up in the ‘how to run a bar’ manual. Still never mind, we happily got on with drinking what we could see at the bar, and made our own list.
The décor seems pretty classy — dark colours and muted lightning but the noise level seemed high. There were 7 of us and I struggled to hear the people I wasn’t right next to, so I wouldn’t go again with a group larger than 4.
The main problem though was the service. It’s table service which is great on principle but there needs to be some sort of order behind it. Really we would have drank much more if we’d been attended to with more regularity and less haste. Another own goal. We also had to repeat orders, as the server wasn’t writing orders down and couldn’t remember, or perhaps just hadn’t understood us. To be honest, I’m not convinced we were actually getting what we’d ordered anyway.
Drinks were brought poorly prepared — no ice when ice had been requested, tonic brought when it hadn’t been ordered, and no garnishes for the gin. The discerning gin sippers amongst us have been taught to expect a slice of apple to be served with our Caorunn dahling! Although they did serve the Hendrick’s with cucumber so at least that was right.
Eventually a dude came over who knew what he was doing, gave us a list of gins as long as your arm, and got our order right. That was our last drink though as I think we’d ran out of patience by then. Shame we hadn’t met him earlier in the night.

Really really like Booly Mardy’s, I mean what isn’t to like about the place.
Great ambience, great and attentive staff (who know their stuff) and a great menu of beers, cocktails, and tasty dinners.
Famously the bar opened under the name Bloody Mary’s but was forced to change it; you may even still find some locals referring to it by the original moniker.

Ohhh this is a 4.5 out of 5 for me.
One of the benefits of being a Unilocaler is that our wonderful community manager will organise wee visits to some great places. Yesterday’s brunch (a semi-​regular feature) was no exception.
I’ve drank in here a few times in the past but never eaten but as soon as I saw their brunch menu I knew I was in for a treat! It’s funny what effect the word chorizo has on me but once I’d seen the «Chorizo Hash» on the menu I was sold!
Whilst we waited I ordered a cappuccino which arrived promptly — and with a smile, what great staff they have, all friendly and helpful and smiley — the coffee was ok, a little bland for my tastes but I like it strong, and definitely not hot enough for me.
And then one of the smiley staff place a plate of deliciousness in front of me. A generous portion of chorizo, fried potatoes and onions, with two fried eggs and a side of rocket. Oh sweet heavens. I believe there were other people at the table having conversations but, to be honest, I was too busy nomming and soon my plate was cleared!
Looking around, my brunch companions all seemed to have enjoyed their meals too, a mixture of fried breakfasts, eggs benedict (with extras), french toast and … a «brunch» burger (I’m not convinced that really counts though).
It was a great brunch, only a couple of things that could’ve been improved upon I think. The coffee was a little cold, the chorizo hash was more ‘stuff fried together and put on a plate’, maybe it was just the presentation but I was expecting something a little more visually appealing, and the booths weren’t the greatest with six of us crammed in there. Minor issues, all fixable, that didn’t really detract at the time.
I will most definitely be back to try some more of the menu, both food and cocktails!

We took a wee departure from our subcrawl to hit up Booly Mardy’s purely because I was confident they were the best location around Byres Road to do an espresso martini. They were so tasty I ended up ordering a second while we were here.
I needed fuel to continue our subway adventures, and espresso martinis have never failed me in the past. The group of subcrawlers took up seats out the front undercover, and I ordered our drinks. The staff were really nice and helpful — even though I was somewhat under the influence — and delivered perfectly tasty and caffeinated cocktails quickly and without a fuss. I recall they were around the £7 mark which seems pretty reasonable to me.
We stayed for a short while, enjoying our drinks in the sun and some banter. Some Unilocalers, who will remain nameless, even partook in a cheeky cigarette on the footpath while we indulged — thankfully it was windy enough that it wasn’t bothersome to those in the seating area.

This place holds some good memories for me. It’s the pub where around 3 years ago I had my last few pints of pre-​marriage freedom. Joined by some close friends, ushers and best man it was the start to an amazing day.
It is therefore going to be hard for me to ever give this place anything but a high mark. All my memories of it are of sunny days, good beer (but pricey) and good times. Until the Saturday Subcrawl when it became rainy days, some sort of beer and good times!
This is a great spot for a drink or two. If you find yourself in the area you should definitely give it a try. If your lucky you will get some sunshine as well and be able to sit outside and watch the world go by. I would tell you what beer I had on Saturday and how good it was, but I can’t actually remember if I am being honest!
Easy 4 stars.

Did you know this used to be Bloody Mary’s? They changed their name after a trademark dispute to this cunningly disguised anagram. See, kids? Stick with my reviews, you’ll do some of that learnin’ the high faluting folks talk about.
Aaaaaaaanyway. We arrived here as a part of the subcrawl (it was a small diversion that was necessitated by the need — yes, need — for espresso martinis. Not for me, I had a pint being a manly man and all that… grrr etc. etc.
Having said that, the pint I had was Samuel Adams — not a normal pint you can get on draft everywhere, and happily accepted.
I’ve heard the food is good also, which is a plus point if you’re quaffing all these cocktails and beers. The outside seating is a bonus in the nice weather also, just make sure the seat’s dry before you sit down.
Not that I did that *cough*
The Byres Road scene is heavily populated by loads of bars and restaurants — Booly Mardy’s is up there with the good ‘uns. You can’t go far wrong here.

We ate at about 10 – 15 restaurants in Glasgow on a recent trip and this place was by far the best of them all. The cocktails are interesting and delicious and the food is excellent.

We were in recently during a wet and windy day — and had amazing, warming bowl of soup! yummy! staff brilliant, food great too! Thoroughly recommend. good range of drinks too and prices very reasonable.

I get the feeling with this bar that it is trying to be something that it could never be.
A bar it is not but a glorified waiting room.
I’ve got the impression that this venue is like a cattle market your placed in a pen with nothing.
Poor bar service with staff who think they are so cool, and who want to only serve their mates, there was plenty if them but none where serving, my group left after 40 minutes with out service.

Favoured watering hole of the west end’s more pretentious, less attractive big spenders. Reasonably good cocktails and Chanel sunglasses abound.

Kind of has a classy feel to it, so I felt really drab and gross eating here without having showered that day!
I went here for lunch this weekend and would rate the experience as ³⁄₅ — had I gone later in the day and gotten a few cocktails in me, maybe I would have given it a higher rating.
My order was the soup of the day, which was tomato and red lentil. It came with a few slivers of baguette which were fresh and delicious. The whole meal wasn’t very big, as you’d probably expect from a soup-​of-​the-​day. It was around £4, which wasn’t great, but not horrible.
The menu is pretty limited, especially in terms of vegetarian food. They do have a vegetarian platter which is meant for 2, but it’s something like £14, so pretty pricey.
There is outdoor seating which is great, and the inside is kind of neatly decorated. Reading these reviews, it looks like I should have also checked out its fancy bathroom!
I’d visit again if it were on my route, and maybe to sample their cocktails, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do it.

Booly Mardy’s is a decent style bar tucked off Byres Road on Vinicombe Street. The huge pavements at this part of the town have been taken advantage of fully and there is outside seating which is south facing and a serious sun trap.
Booly’s has perhaps one of the best back bars in the city — some of the liquors here you won’t find in the majority of cocktail bars in Glasgow, but I imagine you would in other cities. I’ve never felt entirely comfortable sitting in the pub, I don’t know why. The gantry is beautifully designed but the same thought seems to not have went into the design of the seating area. So I recommend heading outside with your drink if the weather is nice enough.
This bar isn’t too student friendly as many of the places in this part of the town are. Although you can get a bargain here with mains around the £6 mark and full breakfasts on a Sunday. The only time I head in here now is on an early Sunday afternoon for a bloody mary every so often — just to take the edge off the night before! The crowds are mainly middle aged, a good thing for the area as many of the places are far too student friendly for my liking! Good that there is an alternative in the Byres Road area for people looking for one, but not my kind of thing.

I can’t get enough of this place. It has everything that I want: excellent steak, and a well-​made cocktail.
It has a wider selection of cocktails than you’ll find most places. This is THE PLACE if you want a piña colada. It was beautiful, too, with a little pineapple leaf sticking out of it, and complete with a little umbrella.
Outdoor seating is popular, and don’t worry, they’ll come out and take your order so you don’t have to get up. That’s what makes it dangerous though; you could stay for hours, it feels like minutes and then you won’t want to leave.
Brilliant.

Not a huge fan of this place I’m afraid.
OK, so it looks every inch the style bar it tries to be and the outdoor seating area is overwhelmingly tempting on a balmy day. However, it just lacks that certain something and can often feel sterile and artificial.
The crowd tends to be older that the student masses which crop up everywhere else on Byres Road and on weekends, you can expect it to be a tad poseury. In fact, every time I’ve been here on a Saturday I’ve sensed a sort of meat market feel in the air.
As you would expect, it’s quite pricey but those who genuinely see this as some sort of stylish place fully embrace that.

Booly Mardy’s is ideal on a sunny due due to its outdoor tables which are perfect for people watching on Byres Road. It also has a fine selection of cocktails.
Prices are pretty expensive so it’s not a place to go for a casual drink. Toilets are also fancy as a previous reviewer said.

I only recently discovered this place, and I’m kicking myself for not checking it out before. As well as a fabulous selection of cocktails, they serve really good food.
On any given day you’ll find a great cross section of the West End’s inhabitants in here. As well as students and young professionals, you’ll also find proper grown ups and mums & daughters.
The food is as good as their cocktails — if you don’t believe me order yourself a luxurious bowl of golden lentil soup. Yum!
The place is really well decorated, and has a great feel to it. Contrary to what some of the reviews have said below, I found the staff here really friendly and attentive. Plus, they have really nice toilets complete with fancy hand cream. That always helps.

Booly Mardy’s is easy to miss, tucked away just off Byres Road, however it’s definitely worth a visit to sample one of their famous and lethal cocktails.
After lunching on Ashton Lane one summer’s day, some friends and I decided to pop in here for a cocktail since we had heard great things about them. We opted for mojitos all round, which were so pretty that we almost didn’t want to drink them… almost!
We were served our drinks in lovely tall glasses, nicely presented with huge chunks of ice and mint throughout. As we sipped, the pretty yet potent drink got to work, with all three of us feeling rather cheerfully tipsy by the end of it. Definitely worth the £6.25 for the ambient atmosphere of this place and the delicious drinks they produce.

Yes, this place is as pretentious as it sounds.
It does your usual coffees, cocktails (vast and numerous… try drinking your way through that beast of a menu!), drinks and food, but it’s all rather serious. (I got the feeling the staff were looking down on my bargainous Primark clothes — cheeky! — skilled as they may be, that was just rude).
Sitting outside on one of their comfy chairs with a cocktail on a sunny day can’t be beat though — it’s worth the glaring staff.

Day or night, if you fancy a cocktail, Booly Mardy’s is the place to go. This sleek bar has a whole page on their menu dedicated to variations of the Bloody Mary. Don’t presume that you don’t like this cocktail until you’ve tried one of their classics. Their highly trained staff will show off their skills to produce you a masterpiece.
While this bar should be added to your pub crawl of the west end, it’s also a nice place to stop by for a coffee. They have outdoor seating which seems to catch the sun regardless of the low temperatures, and the shiny pine interiors and laid make music make this place an alternative to Starbucks.