BAaD - Barras Art & Design — Restaurant in Scotland

I like Baad for a nice chilled pint, inside or outside, and they have a large screen which will show certain sporting events. However, my most recent time at Baad for a Scotland 6 Nations game was a disaster and this review outlines that experience.

I emailed Baad first just to inform them of this to give them the chance to respond before posting a review, however it took them weeks to respond to tell me they'll pass it to management, and then never received a response, so I'm now leaving my review.

Firstly, I had two full benches reserved to accommodate 10-12 people, but we were initially sat at one bench and told that there was a mix up with another table. I raised this and after 25 minutes into the game, so about 40 minutes of us being there, we were moved to a pair of benches toward the front, but only because another group didn't show up. I don't know what we'd have done otherwise.

Secondly, each member of our party on arrival, even after giving my name, was held back from entering despite being able to see us waving at them. People arrived over a 45 minute period or so, and each one was told to wait until a member of staff came and got them, which in some cases took several minutes - just an unpleasant experience overall really.

Thirdly, they were operating table service, however two of our guests were waiting 25 minutes before receiving a drink. It was hard to place an order, and it took an age to actually receive an order. We had to go to the bar to ask for service a number of times, and I had to actually cancel our last order at the bar because it was taking so long. The staff didn't really seem too bothered, which is fine I don't expect people to stress themselves out when it's likely a planning fault, however no one was apologetic and it seemed like it was just normal.

Whilst at the bar trying to cancel my order there was one person pouring individual pints going onto a tray and two others that were milling about, one of which was actually doing nothing at all. The system was so inefficient and poorly managed - perhaps they were short-staffed or had last minute absence or something, but if not, there's no excuse as all tables were booked so they knew how many people were going to show up.

The venue was also cold and lots were sitting with jackets on.

I've had many good times at Baad, but not for a while, so unsure if this is a one off or if there is an issue with how these busier days are run. I organised this for my friend group, and unfortunately no one wants to go back to Baad after our experience. And it wasn't just us, all other tables of course had the same issues.

I've left two stars because I've enjoyed Baad previously, and I'm happy to amend my star rating if I have better experiences...

Cold. Awful service and not cheap.

Went to BAaD to watch the rugby on Saturday. Honestly? Worst service I have received. Our friend had already booked a table and was seated however on arrival still had to wait to the side until someone was ready to take us over. Once seated went to bar to order drink to be told it was table service only - sat at our table and on arrival a few of our friends were having drinks delivered so asked to order but were told it had to be someone else. 15/20 mins later we ordered. - on top of this we also had a table booked for 10 but were seated at a table for 6 because staff seated someone else at the wrong table earlier. 35 minutes later our drinks arrived. Tried to order a second drink - again a shambles not one Bar staff member actually walking around the tables to order from. Had to go to the bar to ask someone to come down to take our order - pointless. Eventually ordered but once ready our drinks got delivered to another tables instead of ours so had to wait even more time to remake those. Ordered a 3rd drink had to cancel and get a refund as was taking far too long. No apologies just poor service and communication. Place is also freezing everyone had jackets on sitting indoors. Also £6 for a pint of estrella which takes 25 minutes to arrive is pathetic....

We were in before Biffy Clyro gig as a party of 6, table at 630. Drinks service was busy but okay, coffee was forgotten about but brought later on.

Food service was a disaster, we ordered about 7 and still hadn't received our food at 8, we were told we were the next in the queue for the kitchen (???) But when food did arrive it wasn't what we had ordered. We were given the food that arrived anyway for free, and the waiting staff were extremely apologetic. The food was only half eaten as we had to go to the Biffy Clyro gig at Glasgow Green.

Staff told us that BaaD weren't expecting to be that busy before the gig so only had a normal amount of staff on for a Thursday night, yet kept accepting walk ups and put on more tables without bringing on the extra staff to cope.

Our experience was fairly rubbish but I mostly felt really sorry for the waiting staff on the front line having to deal with the problems of management putting extra pressure on them without providing extra resources. We had a similar experience when they first reopened after lockdown but put it down to a new environment. After this visit I doubt we will be back any time soon and definitely wouldn't recommend to anyone else.

2 stars is down to the waiting staff alone who had a horrible job to do but did...