Bo'vine - Glasgow City

We had a fantastic meal at Bo’vine. The Chateaubriand was delicious and the staff were all lovely and attentive. Julie really looked after us. A fantastic experience. Five stars!

Not been to Bovine in a while, we used to be regular visitors, but upon the previous visit we were slightly disappointed. However, we put this down to a one off and went back. We ended up opting for the market menu which was great value. We ordered mains and desserts. My partner ordered the steak frites and I ordered the braised ox cheek. All I can say is WOW, food was superb and the portions were huge. We both thoroughly enjoyed our meal, a 10/10. I'm not a big dessert fan, so ordered the cheese board (I'm also fussy with cheese so the waiter noted what cheese I couldn't eat). My husband had the apple plum crumble. Again big portions and both delicious. Lovely atmosphere in the restaurant, toilets clean and tidy. Staff were welcoming, helpful and knowledgeable. Big shout out to who I assume was the manager?? Lady with blonde hair. After our meal she came over to check everything was ok and also took the time to chat to us. We felt she was genuinely interested. I also commented on how I left my umbrella at home (by this time it was pouring of rain outside). She gave me a spare umbrella to use. 10/10 for the food and service. Will be back soon.

LIke most of the others below avoid! I'm laughing ironically at the review before mine because I was in that same night and had a very similar experience. Just dropped in for a drink. Were seated but offered no drink menu. 15 mins with no service despite there being plenty staff in the restaurant so went to barman to get one. Barman behind the bar seemed confused by this request but got me some menus sat down only to find it was only a wine list. Another 10 minutes watching 4 staff including clearly overworked Barman behind the bar all trying to get the music machine to play something. They were at it a good 5 minutes just feet from us with nobody inclined to offer us service until we asked and a grudging waitress went and got a notepad. Eventually she returned and asked if we wanted the drinks menu? 25 mins too late dear and we have a dinner date around the corner 2x G&T and a scotch. No request as to what brand of the myriad available we might like but hey we were finally getting served! Or so we thought. We could observe Barman looking confused at our order. Maybe it was because no brand was specified but I'll give the benefit of the doubt because he was still clearly overworked and the waiting staff were still clearly swanning about underworked but nobody thought to give him any assistance. Then there was multiple trips to a store behind the bar whilst preparing our order. It was a really simple order. Turns out he was obtaining a special spherical piece of ice for the whisky almost tennis ball sized and absolutely ridiculous. Especially as we'd now been waiting 30 mins and we only popped in for a drink. The drinks were fine, downed and we left for our dinner Cail Bruich BTW outstanding if pricey but would wipe the floor with the service at Bovine. If this place were not attached to the hotel and had to stand on its own feet it would close. No teamwork, no cognisance of the customer, inappropriate staffing levels or flexibility, no evidence of supervision. Finally, apologies to Barman but to your credit you were working your socks off without any help and would possibly be more appreciated elsewhere. 10 years or so since our previous visit. Probably the same again if it is still there.

A friend and I met for dinner at Bo 'vine. It was Thursday night. And there were maybe 5 tables, but they were fully staffed. It started with the *manager* taking our drink order. I ordered a *raspberry* daiquiri (flavor will be important later)... and tried to clarify that I had a pineapple allergy so I just needed them to make sure that they didn 't use anything that the pineapple juice had touched behind the bar because the menu had drinks with pineapple. She first tried to say they didn 't have pineapple juice... until I physically pointed it out to her on the menu. Then she changed the story to we haven 't used any today because we aren 't offering those drinks right now even though it was on the drink menu they gave me and there was no indicator of there being times it wasn 't offered. Additionally, what I got afterward was a *strawberry*...martini? It definitely was not a daiquiri. Terrifying for anyone with food allergies! Then my friend ordered the Steak Diane but wanted the sauce swapped for peppercorn sauce because she wanted the sides with the Steak Diane. Was told they could do it. And then instead they put the order in as the same as my order but with peppercorn sauce. The manager did fix that order, thankfully. They never checked on us and didn 't ask if we wanted dessert as they cleared the table. And then despite 6 of them sitting there having a chat in the middle of the service floor (the manager being one of them) it took over half an hour to get our bill after they cleared the table, and then another 15 minutes after that to let us pay. Also, on the way out the manager had the nerve to be like Bill all settled? with a tone that implied we might have tried to dine and dash... All in all, it was the *manager* who made our experience awful. I don 't know if maybe she was just having a bad day, but certainly not the level of service I expect from a Byres Road establishment. Especially not a pricier steakhouse. I certainly won 't be going back, and will be discouraging friends and family from attending in addition to this review. As a former waitress and restaurant supervisor myself, I tend to be very forgiving when it comes to mishaps. But this service was atrocious. Food was only middling... not worth the price we paid, nor the poor experience to get. But hey... maybe I just went on a bad day.

We had booked an overnight stay in Glasgow along with the Bo'Vine chateaubriand for 2. On arrival we were advised the offer was not available as they didn't have any Chateaubriand. We were given the option of a Sirloin or Rib-Eye as the only alternative. A phone call or email would have been nice as we would have cancelled and booked elsewhere however we were there and this was our only option. We had 2 sirloins, one was medium which was ok. My wife had medium to well done however it came cremated and completely charred on the outside and cooked less than my medium inside. I ended up having that one as my wife couldn't eat it. We added a side of Onion Rings which again were way overcooked and broke up like burnt crisps. (still got charged extra for them although I had paid for Fillet Chateaubriand which we didn't get) Overall, this was a really poor experience and it has clearly went down hill since we last visited. Below average food, poor customer relations and overpriced for what we had.