Rudi’s

I loved this place when it was Bean Scene; in fact it was my favourite location of this Scottish mini chain but I believe it’s changed hands and name. I’m sure it had another name again when I just visited again for a wee jaunt in Glasgow.
It is much more of a café now than coffee shop so has full on variety of lunches and snacks. I love the fact that they have kiddie size lunches and that says everything you need to know about the clientele these days. Gone are the comfy arm chairs that I loved for long stints of writing and in our dining chairs.
The only thing that is extended are their flat white coffees, ordinarily served in smaller cups but they serve in mugs. I feel that was closer to a latte than flat white but the hot chocolate was pretty welcome on a drizzly Glasgow morning.
Still a great place but more for munching in rather than working with a coffee or two
coffee not flat white

Rudi’s is a lovely addition to the West end. It has developed its own style to diverge away from the Beanscene/​corporate coffee house look, and has gone its on way with food and such.
Lovely décor — very upmarket — but the food isn’t too expensive. It’s clean, modern, stylish, the staff are nice, the food is great. Panini’s and baguettes are around the £6 mark, coffee’s are around £2, or more if you want a shot of syrup. It has a relaxed, airy vibe but offers some cosy comfort on these colder, darker nights.
It’s kid friendly, but what five stars it for me is how nice the staff are. I’d had a really bad day when I was in here for a reviving cup of brew, and the girl behind the counter was really chatty and friendly which cheered me up. Just goes to show that good service remains in your memory longer than the place itself might. Lovely! I would recommend it to «ladies who lunch», but also saw some budding bromance on the go in here as well.

Like a difficult second album, this place is slowly starting to grow on me… When it first opened I thought it was ‘aw’right’ but too similar to the departed Beascene to really make an impact in this end of ra toon.
Well, the similarity to BS has remained, however they’ve certainly upped the game in the last month or so.
The ‘keepin it short’ look:
Grub — Is it homemade… it certainly tastes like it in some cases
Service — From a shaky start, they’ve really started to offer amazingly friendly and quick service
Vibe — It’s the music man. Past two visits have been The Stones and Bob Marley… rockin’
Yes it’s still mutha and baby central (once you have your own, you do begin to channel the ‘waaaaaaaaaaaa’ out a little), but the seating offers many options for solitary or group coffeeage/​munching.
Rudi’s, you deserve this extra star. It’s nice to have you in the area.

How I lament the downfall of Beanscene — in its early days it was a bright prospect as a local alternative to the Starbucks/​Costa craze that was taking over our cities, offering better food, coffee and music.
The Cresswell Lane branch has now morphed into this new name of Rudi’s, with not much else changing. It’s still popular with the mother & baby crowd making it one of the noiser cafes and is always packed at peak times. The coffee seems to be the same to me, which is great news as Beanscene’s was always one of my favourites. There’s a new sandwich menu and the Rudi’s Rueben is a particularly nice NY-​deli affair.
I guess it’s still early days for this place, but I was disappointed by the service on both visits — it shouldn’t take them half-​an-​hour to bring me my coffee and sandwich for a week day lunch, and it was not like they forgot it, they were just too slow to keep up with the custom despite having a decent number of staff. The less said about the toilets the better too (a subject that could form its own review website). It left me wondering if there are any decent alternatives to Smug/​Tinderbox for a quick lunch and coffee in this area now that so many other places had closed…