Darcy's - Glasgow

I was exploring Glasgow and decided to grab a late lunch, but with so many options, it was tough to choose a place. I eventually went to Darcys, which was nice but quite noisy and crowded. (The crowd isn’t why I’m giving it three stars.) I ordered the ginger beer and the penne arrabbiata. The pasta was a bit overcooked, but I didn’t feel it was worth mentioning to the staff since they were so busy. It wasn't the best meal I've had, but when you're hungry, you're just hungry. Enjoy!

I dined here tonight as part of a set menu and initially, there didn’t seem to be any gluten-free options. However, I decided to take a chance and asked if they had gluten-free pasta. I was thrilled to find out that they could make the carbonara gluten-free! The waitstaff were attentive and frequently checked in to see if we wanted drinks, but despite asking several times for water jugs to be refilled, they never were. That’s the only reason I can’t give a 5-star review. Darcy’s is a beautiful venue, and we dined in the lovely private dining room at the back, which is perfect for hosting a small function.

Described as a cafe bar on its website, Darcy's is a stylish yet relaxed venue suitable for a catch up over coffee, a glass of wine or a tasty meal. My mum loves it here and I can tell why. A bit more sophisticated than other cafe bars, it is also slightly pricier but you can tell that the food is of a high quality. It's varied menu offers proper main meals as well as sandwiches and burgers. I chose the club sandwich which seemed expensive at £8.95 but they didn't scrimp on the portions and I couldnt even finish it all. It was very tasty. The service was attentive despite being busy although we were given an incorrect bill and struggled find someone to point this out to which was a bit embarrassing but usually not having someone hanging over you waiting for you to pay and leave would definitely be a positive so I can't fault them for that. With it's classy but cosy decor and a strong sense of identity you don't feel like you are sitting in the middle of a shopping mall at all.

Woop Woop Mr sunshine made an appearance so we had to sit outside as soon as this happened in case it was our summer! So on Easter Sunday we stopped off at darcys outside area on Buchanan st where they had a nice wee collection of tables set up. We were just looking for some coffees initially but my aunt then decided to have a sandwich too. They were not quite ready for us when we sat down so we perused the menu and enjoyed the sun. The very nice waitress came over a wee while later and gave us another menu which was this years drinks as opposed to the one we had which was last years so that's a disappointment as they haven't changed the food menu since last year and all of the drinks were up in price! I ordered an Americano and was told it had to come in a takeaway cup for h&s reasons which was fine but at £3 I think this is overpriced. After a 10 15 minute wait my aunts sandwich arrived crayfish on ciabatta and chips which looked nice and was declared as very very good. It was £9 which again I am not sure this was great value. We sat for a while longer to finish our drinks and it really busied up, the annoying thing is that when sat outside potentially eating people are smoking around you not the restaurants fault?! But annoying to me. The waitress was the highlight, she was efficient and friendly and knew what she was doing.

Much to my surprise I'd actually never been in here before until Tuesday. I've been in the shopping centre hundreds of times, and I've eaten at Il Pavone on more than a few occasions, but had always just looked over Darcy's and thought I'd try it another time. Well this was to be the other time! Colin and I were seated right away at a table against one of the walls, which I liked cause I can see the whole place. I got wonderful vibes off the restaurant instantly; our waitress was absolutely fab, the quirky decor with mismatched chairs and, my favourite thing about the whole restaurant, an entire wall of postcards written in a variety of languages, from and to a variety of places and dating back to the 50s. Loved that! The menus were laid in front of us and we chose pretty quickly; the fancy bangers and mash for myself, and Colin was feeling minestrone soup and a wee caprese salad. After a short wait, the food came out and was absolutely delicious. With a massive choice of things on the menu I quite fancied, I was spoilt for choice. But the bangers and mash were obviously a good option! Shall be back here. Fantastic staff, great food and a lovely atmosphere.