Metropolitan

Cocktails! was the cry.
Cocktails! we all agreed, was a fantastic idea.
So we headed to the Metropolitan where one of our party had sensibly booked a table in the upstairs piano bar.
I always feel a little out of place in here, it’s full of the well to do, high heeled, tight shirted crowed but I no longer care about that kind of thing and just enjoy the opulent décor and the fantastic lady singing contemporary songs as piano ballads… ohh and the cocktails.
A Kilted Vesper Martini kicked me off, a wonderfully sharp dry gin and vodka affair with a bitter citrus kick.
I’ll ignore the round of rainbow shots that appeared after that for valid reasons. a. I didn’t order them. b. they were largely just sex on the beach style fruity affairs (a bit like drinking a shot of pure sugar). c. they would’ve messed with the perfectly balanced drink I already had so I left mine until after I’d finished.
I like the Metropolitan, pretentious posers aside, it’s actually pretty much on price with other cocktail bars (I paid the same at the nearby Virginia bar as I did here — £7.50 for those that want to know) and the service is good, efficient and friendly.
The piano bar is a nice touch, and much more refined feeling than the rabble downstairs so well worth venturing up to see if they have tables. Beware the large group of drunken idiots you may find there though (and sorry to anyone who was there on Friday night if we spoiled your evening, blame the rainbow shots!).

Whenever I’m visiting the Merchant City, I will often pop into Metropolitan for a drink (usually a cocktail!). The staff are always approachable and willing to offer you suggestions if you find yourself overwhelmed by their extensive selection of spirits, wines and cocktails.
My family and I visited for celebratory cocktails after my brother’s graduation and it seems that people tend to gravitate towards Metropolitan when they have something to celebrate or when they want to treat themselves, so expect lots of family groups, birthday/​stag/​hen parties.
I tried an elderflower and wine cocktail, whilst my boyfriend had a White Russian. For me, if a bar gets a White Russian right, they’re A-​OK (controversially, even the famed Lebowski’s can’t get them right!). Thankfully Metropolitan created a Russian worthy of the Dude himself; the perfect blend of vodka, kahlua, milk and cream with a hint of cocoa sprinkled on top. I had one happy boyfriend! I can’t remember the exact ingredients but I remember it being delightfully refreshing and fruity. The prices were also pretty reasonable given the care and effort made by the staff for each cocktail.
If you want to treat yo’self, having a cocktail at Metropolitan would be an excellent way to do so!

I have been here for drinks loads of times in the past, so it is somewhat strange that I have never reviewed it. Well time to sort that!
It’s the sort of place I would take visitors to the city or go for a drinks with a work contact. It’s not the type of place I would normally go with mates for a few pints. It’s sorta fancy and if you sit on the seats in the inner square it’s quite a nice spot to pass a few hours.
It’s more cocktail bar than a pub type bar, although you still can get a pint. It also opens late which I was unaware of until a very recent night out and I would go back if I fancied late night drinks but did not want to go to a club. (I never want to go to a club these days)
I have never tried the food, but for drinks this is a nice venue and a pleasant place for a (pricey) drink or two.

Ordered a sazerac. Staff did not know what the drink was even though it was on the menu which should have been a sign that it was going to be bad. Bartenders had to «consult» each other to figure out how to make it. It came out on the rocks and was the wrong color. I could already tell it was made wrong before I tasted it. Tasted like a watered down old fashion. No peychaud no absinthe. Definitely not good. Their is an option on the menu for bartender challenge. Not sure how they would make a variation if they don’t know how to make an original. Highly dissapointing.

We live really close to Metropolitan, so it kinda surprises me that I’ve never popped in.
Until Saturday. We had spent the day subcrawling and by midnight some of us were still standing and looking for somewhere else to go. Metropolitan was suggested as it has a 3am licence on Fridays and Saturdays.
As soon as I walked in I thought, ok, everything about this place screams cocktail bar. It does a very extensive range of cocktails, spread across several menus. There are 2 bars –one each serving the inner Merchant Square part, and the Candleriggs side.
When we were ordering, half the beer taps had run dry so we were left with 2 very expensive pints of peroni.
I think that it’s a good place for cocktails — hence the numerous nights out and hen parties I see going in here — and I’ll totally return for a cocktail myself, but if I’m after a late night beer I’ll be heading to Boteco Do Brazil round the corner.

Definitely one of the top cocktail bars in Glasgow. Wide selection ranging from martinis, to hurricanes, to prosecco based drinks. (They also have your standard beer etc). My favourite right now is the Salted Caramel Martini which is garnished with a sliver of salted caramel — not that i need an incentive getting to the bottom of my glass. Too easy to drink though. The bar staff are very attentive and helpful, and will also come up with a special cocktail for you if it’s not on the menu. I would recommend sitting outside on the cobbled Merchant Square.

I really, really liked this place. The Mojitos in particular are great, and one barmaid even made us a surprise cocktail which was awesome, they really are good. However after coming here maybe beginning of March time, it was the staff that really let the place down and pissed me off. I came in with a few people only having met most of them for the first time that night through a friend, and literally only having had 3 drinks prior to this, I was told that myself and the girl I was dancing with were not allowed to be served any more alcohol after the cocktails that we just bought, based on dancing. Now, I’ve worked in bars, AND clubs, and I know when I see a drunk girl dance, however I also LOVE dancing and know how to dance and just because we were the first people on the floor and it was obvious that we were having a great time, we got punished for it. All we were doing was dancing like no-​ones watching, like everyone says you should do. When we questioned the bartender, he told us that he thought we were fine and it was the managers decision, however when we asked to speak to the manager, he simply did not respond to our request. I thought this was very cowardous of him to not be able to explain why this was happening.
Surely if we were that badly drunk we would have been asked to leave. If anything, we brought more people onto the floor, ended up dancing with near enough everyone on the floor, and most likely made them a few extra £££££‘s that night because people came up and danced with us sooner, and kept buying everyone on the floor rounds. unfortunately, the ones who brought em up weren’t allowed. Thing was, we had only 3 drinks before this and with a big dinner, so still relatively sober as this all happened at roughly 2am.
We were just having a good time, and I think the staff needs to realise that people can do that these days without being doped up on drugs or absolutely smashed.
Apart from that, the cocktails are mad good, and if the staff hadn’t have been so judgemental, wouldve gave this place 4 stars.

Ok — so when we finally got our cocktails they truly were fantastic however the arduous wait to get served was nearly enough to put us off. I am however glad to report we hung in there and the results we well worth it. Buzzing cocktail lounge with seating into the square. Gets VERY busy at the weekend but with the bar staff paying such attention to detail it is hard to get agitated with the slow service. Will visit again out side of peek hours!

Visited here on a Saturday night for dinner and drinks with a friend. Our table was just outside the gents and the main passageway where staff kept bumping into each other with hot food /​drinks.
Food was lovely and beautifully presented — the brownie with Guinness ice cream was something I really enjoyed.
Sadly we were not impressed with the service. It was pretty poor and rushed. We were also charged for drinks we ordered during our main course but never received.

Another deal, another restaurant.
The spiral staircase may have looked good and cute but killed us traipsing up them. Friend has health problems so not a good start. I asked about a lift but apparently they do not have one. I say apparently because after our meal I noticed one and asked if we could use it (it was a service lift) and was told yes. Made a big difference.
The soup was lovely but my main was a bit disappointing. I am not a fan of «el dente» vegetables and the roast beef was not as «melt in the mouth» as I expected.
Apart from that enjoyed the meal, the cocktail and the staff were lovely. Our guy, Josh I think, was a «newby» (started that day) and was charm itself. Friend loves olives and we jokingly said «what no olives» when her French Martini arrived and lo and behold a little plate of olives appeared. Really nice touch. My Bellini was excellent. We were there way beyond our 2 hours watching people and the stalls in the market place and although the restaurant was fairly busy, no one rushed us.
Would recommend it for staff and atmosphere and maybe next time I will suggest cooking my veg more.

It’s been a longgggggg time since I’ve been up this end of the city. There’s a lot of bar/​restaurants in this lovely courtyard in the old candleriggs market.
We were here on a Sunday and we tried the metropolitan for a spot of lunch. It’s nicely laid out and there’s a lovely bar area and plenty of seating out in the courtyard.
The reason for the 3 stars is because I thought the portion sizes were a wee bit measly for the money. I ordered a chicken salad and I was lucky if there were about 6 cubes of chicken and a handful of lettuce. My daughter got a chicken mayo ciabatta and hers was the same, loads of salad, hardly any chicken. My mum and sister in law got the steak and melted cheese baguette and they both said it was lovely. On the other hand, the kids portions were huge! My wee grandson who’s only 3, had fish and chips and I had to check he wasn’t given an adult portion by mistake.
The food was nice but not amazing and the setting was lovely.
Also on that day, there were a lot of little stalls in the courtyard, from jewellery, home baking, expensive chocolates and paintings. It was a lovely area to have a wander around and it made it all the better because it’s all indoors as the the weather was rubbish outside. I’d definitely come back but I’ll try a different place for lunch the next time.

Me and the Girlfriend went to Glasgow for a post Valentines — Valentines day. We were told to hit the Metropolitan as it had great cocktails. My girlfriend worked in one of Dublin’s top cocktail places at the time and she wanted to challenge this. Anyway I can honestly say she was taken back by how good they were.
We tried a good cocktails, we asked our waitress what she would recommend and she was great a qualifying our needs. I wanted something with whiskey and sweet and herself wanted something a bit softer and playful on the pallet. The cocktail that was suggested was Scotch based, Maple Scotsman (maple & Auchentoshan) and I’m not a fan of scotch but they blend of the cocktail was incredible!!! And would be tough to find a challenger of this. She got a Lazy Cocktail — french berret — such a fancy champagne glass — Chambord Pineapple juice blackberrys… so so so yumme
Anyway, the waitress showed us the menu and after a fun day rambling around the city looking and Rennie Mackintosh museums and various others, we were very hungry.
They had a great selection on the menu, very traditional scottish, but some nice modernness which suited the style of the place.
So what did we get I hear you ask?
Starter Scallop with chrizo to share, WOW honestly WOW!
She got the rack of Lamb with butternut squash and cabbage. The cabbage was way better than anything mother use to make. lol
I had the Steak Sirlion hand cut chunky chips, and some delicious peppercorn sauce. I love mine medium, and it just could not be more perfect (is that a word?)
Dessert time. my eyes were bigger than my belly and I was stuffed afterwards.
For me… Sticky toffee pudding = lovely! Simply Lovely (with caps)
I also picked on her Metropolitan Cheesecake, the manager recommended we got this as it was based on the house cocktail– crème de cassis, vodaka, strawberry and cranberry… I couldn’t stop smiling, I do love a good Cheesecake.
What I loved was they had a Rainbow of shots, I really wanted to try this, but I was way way way to full. I may have pigged out.
Anyway we thoroughly enjoy ourselves, and stayed after in the inside/​outdoor area in the venue and have a few more drinks. When I am back in Glasgow, which I hope is soon, I will be adding this to my GO TO list.

Really enjoyed the prosecco and steak here. The steak was well cooked and very tasty but would have been much easier to eat on a plate. Mine was served on top of the chips (making them soggy) and salad in a pasta bowl?! Very awkward to cut steak when it’s piled on top of things. Also rather heavy on the red onion in the salad.
The pâté was nice too but not enough oatcakes (a familiar problem in many places) although I was brought some more when I asked. We were there for lunch at a free event — the service was great and the place is nicely decorated in a modern yet comfortable style.

Delightful, chilled atmosphere, beautiful stylish and relaxed décor… Did I just use the word delightful?

Went here on a Friday night for a couple mojitos and was very happy. They were the most delicious cocktails I’ve ever had! Not sure if that’s saying much though, as I usually go to crappier bars than this upscale one. A lot of people were dressed quite nicely.
The drinks are pretty pricey, so be sure to pace yourself! ;-) My date and I grabbed a table for 2 at around 9, but the place quickly filled up within 30 minutes or so.
Would go again for a well made cocktail!

Alas I have not been to out wining and dining in some time (thank you recession) and I do feel I have had very little to Unilocal about! However last week I had the ‘joy’ of attending a Hen Do at Metropolitan. Not only was I in a group of hens but it was Halloween weekend! Quite the evening!
I was surprised how accommodating Metropolitan were — we had a private dining room, 3 courses and they allowed hen-​style frivolity usually shunned by most places — possibly because we were out of harms way.
The food was pretty good and there was a decent selection, drinks were brought up to us and staff were attentive, but not too much.
All in all if you are planning on having a private party of some sorts have a look at this place — pleasantly surprising!

If you only remember one part of this review, remember this: BEST. COSMOS. EVER.
As a cocktail bar, the Metro is exactly what I’d expect in that genre: flashy flashy flashy!
It’s all shiny and modern and definately not the kind of place where you’ll be talking to an unshaven regular about the weather.
I don’t know about other people, but I like to get dressed up when I visit the Metropolitan. It isn’t required by any means, and I have been there in jeans in the past, but something about the place makes you want to look like your best.
The restaurant upstairs is high quality, and definitely make a reservation there before you head out, as I’ve always found it packed. It is situated on the mezzanine overlooking the Merchant Square, and you’ll be in luxury there.
Downstairs, comfy chairs in the ‘lounge’ area with big windows overlooking the street. Further in, is the ‘garden area’, which is in the Merchant Square itself. Feels like being outside, but not quite.
Excellent tunes on a weekend; and a great place to go if you’ll be clubbing later.

I am only contributing a review because i feel it is my human duty to everyone that may visit Metropolitan to let you all know this: try the White chocolate and honey espresso Martini. It’s a pricey five pounds and ninety five British pennies for the pleasure but, my god, it is a pleasure.
:)

Despite it’s upmarket reputation, I’ve always found the merchant city to have more of a «neds with money» feel, with venues like Arta crawling with foul mouthed 40 somethings in ill fitting suits, waving their fistfuls of tenners.
Thankfully, that isn’t the case here, as the Metropolitan is exactly as you’d imagine it to be from it’s name. sleek, shiny, shallow, but with a brilliant cocktail list and a buzzy enough atmosphere, even if it is often full of people chattering about property prices.
The cocktail list is huge and unusual, thankfully bereft of french martinis, and the staff were very friendly on our visit. It’s by no means cheap, but definitely a pleasant way to spend an evening.

Some friends and I had just been out for a nice meal in the Merchant City when we were tempted to go for some after-​dinner drinks. As we walked past the Metropolitan, we decided to head in and share a bottle of wine.
This is a nice bar. Joined to the Merchant Square, you have the option of sitting indoors or ‘outdoors’ in the large covered courtyard. After just a few minutes we were approached by a very friendly, smartly dressed (and drop dead gorgeous might I add) waitress who took our order and brought our drinks to the table. Unfortunately, as you’d expect for a nice bar– the drinks ain’t cheap. The cocktails were pricey so it was more economical to share a bottle of vino.
For a Thursday night, the place was quiet but enough people were about to give you a bit of an atmosphere. Sitting in the adequately-​heated Square surrounded by potted plants, it almost felt like we were dining outdoors on the continent– what a lovely experience on a cold November night.