art lovers cafe

a must of lovers of charles rennie mackintosh, the house for an art lover in bellahouston park was designed for an international competition in 1901, and was faithfully recreated in 1996. there is a very fine suite of principal first floor rooms with a super cafe/restaurant on the ground floor. well worth a visit & only a 15 min bus ride from central glasgow on route.

good christmas menu. this was my third visit to the art lovers' cafe and the first two visits were disappointing. i had a christmas lunch with 19 colleagues there yesterday and - what can i say - it was magnificent! given the large party and how busy the restaurant was i expected a lacklustre meal. i was so very wrong!

the 3 course set menu had plenty to choose from and ticked all the boxes. starters ranged from duck terrine, soup, artichoke salad, chicken salad & salmon fricasse and i must say the carrot & ginger soup was outstanding (and piping hot!)

to follow i had the beef stew with potato dumplings which was artfully plated and heaven to taste. my vegetarian colleague had open mushroom ravioli and raved about it. a few of our party had the fillet of hake and the full christmas turkey choice looked amazing. not one member of our group had a bad course and the service was impeccable. really helpful and friendly but unobtrusive. chocolate mousse & cheese boards for some and a pear brulee with shortbread for me ended a great festive lunch and at 3 courses for £19.95 was great value. we were all stuffed! i will definitely be back.

not impressed. the art lovers' tries very hard but really doesn't deliver. my starter of potato and arbroath smokie terrine with poached egg and salad was quite frankly awful. the salad had no dressing, the terrine was straight from the fridge and full of bones and the warm egg had no seasoning. the main of pork belly, scallops, pea puree, mash was lovely, can't fault it. the dessert of strawberry roulade was a flop, hardly any filling to the roulade. the setting should be inspiring but with plastic chairs, cheap napkins and personally non-inspiring artwork on the wall it left me flat. won't be back.