Merchant City, Fish & Seafood Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: Shuttered in September 2020 and marked as ‘Permanently Closed’ on Google, this city-centre fish and seafood institution is one of the city’s best-known restaurants thanks in large part to its Art Deco interior, created in 1935 by the same craftsmen who fitted out the Queen Mary. According to an August 2022 report in the Glasgow Evening Times, it will re-open… but no-one seems to know when.

This “treat of a seafood restaurant” in a centrally located basement is thriving after 25 years on the strength of chef-patron Derek Marshall’s “tasty and generally faultless” cooking – no wonder “there has been little attempt to change the basic formula and experiment with new techniques and flavours”. Top Menu Tip – the famous “fish soup is superb”.

“A clear recommendation when visiting Glasgow” – Ryan James’ comfortable, old-school fixture occupies an extremely characterful Victorian building (the site is thought to be Glasgow’s oldest culinary establishment) filled with “awesome antiques”. The “very good” and “not overpriced” dishes draw on the rich Scottish larder (and there’s a “separate vegetarian menu, so worth a visit if you’ve got veggies in your group!”). RIP its West End sibling Two Fat Ladies in the City, which was still listed on the website as we went to press, but has been put up for leasehold since 2022.

John Macleod’s original venue – this quirkily laid out Finnieston fixture is one of the best-known destinations on this foodie strip and you can eat either at the counter or in the small warren of seating areas. Reports this year still included some “outstanding” fish and seafood cookery but there was also the odd “disappointment” – perhaps the strain of managing two places at once?

The “truly exceptional food” at John Macleod’s year-old follow-up to his long-established hit seafood venue Crabshakk shows he can repeat the successful formula, with “the same excellent fish but in more refined surroundings than Finnieston”. The new site by the Botanic Gardens in the West End is a beautifully restored Art Deco garage from 1912, shared with Ka Pao (see also).

Recommended for seafood, this fish-focused yearling from the team behind Cail Bruich opened in the West End of the city in spring 2022 to high acclaim and it receives high ratings all-round in this year’s annual diners’ poll (if not yet with a huge volume of feedback). “Waiting staff are well informed and extremely hard working” and “the ‘Taste of the Sea’ tasting menu is excellent value: very flavoursome and extremely well cooked”; you need the whole table to order it, but there is an à la carte alternative with meat options. Top Menu Tip – “kingfish carpaccio was a highlight”.