The Western Club Restaurant

I was really lucky to come here before as part of a Unilocal Elite event, so when the opportunity came to pop in again (and make use of my Unilocal Check-​in offer — Market menu prices with a free glass of wine!) I thought it was definitely a good time to come along again and bring a friend. I even made use of the Unilocal Reservation feature… made sense since I spend so much time on here anyway!
I had called ahead to check market menu times, and had been told they had a big booking that night but as long as we left by half 7 we could totally have a seat. Not a problemo — so I booked through here.
When we showed up, I was a bit dismayed to be met by the manager to be told that not only did they not have any idea of our booking and didn’t think they could fit us in, he didn’t even know they took Unilocal bookings. No worries, they could fit us in as long as we could vacate by 7.45…absolutely no issue.
We got upstairs, got seated and ordered our drinks: two glasses of wine. As we waited for menus, we then heard the manager talking to the kitchen staff about the «unexpected Unilocal booking» — I totally get we might not have been expected, but given the otherwise high level of service, thought they might have been a tad more discrete about it.
Food wise, I can’t fault it. I had the potato & leek soup followed by the roast chicken & potato dauphinois while my partner had smoked salmon with curried lentils and then salmon with pommes frites (salmon overload but YUM — the pork was sold out, hence the salmon-​mania!)… and the service is definitely very formal silver service. However it would’ve been nice to have gotten our wine before our starters, and to have been offered the dessert/​coffee menu rather than asking for it. Having worked in the service industry too, it was a bit weird to overhear the manager admit he didn’t even know what the private event was for that he’d booked out most of his restaurant for.
These are minor grumbles, but it does feel like the standards have slipped a little since my last trip. Still definitely worth a visit if you haven’t been though, just not sure I’ll be rushing back.

When it was revealed to me that I would be dining here on Monday evening, I was rather excited. Despite having walked past this newly refurbished Royal Exchange Sq restaurant several times, little was known about what lay within, mainly due to it having had no reviews logged by Unilocalers until very recently.
I love a members club feel (mainly for people watching purposes) and The Western Club firmly ticked that box. The vibe is modern classic and has a stylish high end charcoal and silver interior. I would definitely place it firmly within the Hutchesons/​Anchor Line peer group in terms of swishness.
The first floor venue was busy for a Tuesday evening and, as predicted, the clientele was rather well heeled.
We met in the bar area for a drink first and the waitress was knowledgable about the wines on offer, which is what I would expect from a venue looking to compete at the same level as its market peers.
Moving through the the restaurant, we were presented with both an a la carte and market menu. The latter represented excellent value at £15.95 for 2 courses/£18.95 for 3 and is available every lunchtime and evening from 5−9pm (6pm Friday & Saturday). I would describe the cuisine as traditional Scottish cooking with a modern twist.
I went for 2 courses from the market menu starting with smoked haddock pâté with oatcakes, followed by fillet of smoked trout on a spring onion mash.
Upon ordering we were brought a complementary platter of olives, haggis bon bons and mackerel pâté canapes. This was a lovely wee touch.
My haddock pâté was chunky and delicious. It wasn’t a smooth pâté and so felt quite substantial for a starter. When I saw the trout coming out my initial reaction was that it looked like a measly portion size but this was deceptive as I ended up absolutely stuffed. The trout was perfectly cooked with a little touch of crisp skin and the mash was rich buttery deliciousness, there was creamed spinach on the plate too which complemented the buttery taste well. After all that I was too full for desert.
It’s worth mentioning that there is lift access up to the first floor, which is great. The ladies loos are down on the ground floor and so a bit of a trek!
Overall a really great experience. There was a slight delay in staff taking our orders after requesting a couple of minutes to peruse and that’s probably the only thing I would change. Will definitely return with a group of either friends, family or professionals in the future. Nice addition to the high end city centre dining scene.

What a swanky looking place! This was the first thing that hit me as i walked in was that the décor, lighting and arrangement of the area just said yes… this place has swank! lol
So i had meself a wee rum whilst awaiting the rest of the party (yes i was first again briony lol) and had a good wee discussion about rum with the barman which was great as he was knowledgeable, pleasent and friendly, everything you want in a barman really. then we were seated and brought out a little tray of haggis balls and some pâté with oatcakes. This was all delicious and set us up nicely for our starter of which i had some absoloutely gorgeous pâté with oatcakes, a little potato salad and some lovely capers done in a little salad. This was really nice, lots of different complimenting flavours from the haddock pâté to the leaves and small bits of flavour hitting all the right parts of the tongue.
Onto the mains and i had the seared salmon with curry butter and a herb salad with salsa verde. The fish was flaky and delicious, cooked so that it just fell apart, the curry butter done nicely so it didnt overpower the natural taste of the salmon and a nice wee salad with some lovely potatoes and spinach to round it off. Basically this was gorgeous food.
Another good point about this restaurant was the staff, very chatty and friendly throughout. Also kept us lubricated with tap water chilled and asked if we wanted drinks enoughs o that we felt as if we were being attended to but not too much that we thought it was expected. All in all a very swanky place with friendly staff and some very nice food. Loved it!

Formerly a private members club, the Western Club Restaurant is now open to the public. We were lucky enough to be able to get a seat on an early Saturday night and try it out — an interesting menu, delicious food and friendly staff meant we walked out very content indeed!
Located on Royal Exchange Square, one of my favourite places in Glasgow, I was dying to try this place out. We had attempted to go to another restaurant for an early Saturday dinner but it was «booked out» (read: one table of guests) so we ended up here. At reception the girl phoned up to see if they could fit us in which was lovely.
The dining room is modern casual — a little similar to Hutchesons but without some of the awkward seating layouts they have. We went for the pre-​theatre menu (£15.95 for two courses) — there’s also a Unilocal check-​in deal which is the same offer but with a glass of wine as well, win. We actually didn’t use the check-​in deal as we shared a bottle of Chablis instead.
We were treated to some lovely canapes to start which were very welcome, especially on a pre-​theatre menu when you might not expect them! I had duck breast to start which was served really thinly sliced and was a smaller portion than I expected, but by the end of the meal I appreciated it! I then had the fillet of beef which was served with haggis and potato dauphinoise — a really well executed dish with a lovely red wine jus and a delicious dauphinoise. There was perhaps a little too much haggis with the dish but that’s my own personal preference.
We then decided to go for dessert and both got the crème brûlée even though I really shouldn’t eat quite so much dairy in one go. I stuck to just eating off the delicious top layer and donated the rest to Graeme which I’m sure he appreciated!
Service was another highlight of our meal here — our main waitress was from New Zealand so her and I had a lot to chat about! She was super helpful and welcoming, and added an extra bit of sparkle to the meal. Overall service was really good without being stuffy or pretentious.