Broken Clock Cafe & Patisserie — Restaurant in Scotland

Listen, Glasgow. I need you to do me a solid: keep this place in business. I only get to come here every two years or so when I visit family, but god, is it worth it. If I lived in the city I'd probably have to start paying them rent for how at home I'd make myself.

Broken Clock is a lovely little cafe tucked just off of Great Western Road. It's a fantastic place to grab a quick bite or treat, or to stop and stay a while, lingering over delicious little cakes and coffee with a pal. The place is clean, brightly lit (letting in all the possible sunshine with it's big windows and doors), with a pretty botanical decor that makes it feel peaceful.

The food and cakes are gorgeous: treats for the eyes as much as the mouth. Their cakes have a really excellent mastery of flavour, sweetness, and texture. Each element of them is thoughtfully designed and blends into a perfect whole. The rolls and croissants are fantastic: soft, chewy, and delicious. If I could I would have shoved as many cardamom buns in my pocket as would fit on the airplane home.

All the staff I encountered were so friendly and helpful. The first day I was there, they set aside a cake for me in the back so I could grab it after we had run some errands, and the second time they carefully packaged my haul separately to make sure an allergy was isolated in it's own box.

I've gotten my 93 year old Gran a meringue roulade from them the last two times I've come over for her birthday, and she says it's the best she's ever had. So Glasgow and visitors to Glasgow: keep this place thriving so that I can bring her one on her 95th,...

The experience was very disappointing. When we arrived, the shop was full, so we placed our order first, and the staff asked us to sit outside. We had no choice but to endure the freezing cold, waiting for a table to become available inside.

Shortly after, a couple entered the shop, placed their order, and simply stood inside waiting without sitting down. Meanwhile, a table became available. Since we had been waiting outside the entire time, we thought it was reasonable for us to take the table. However, the staff refused to let us sit there, claiming that the table was “already reserved for the couple,” even though they were not waiting for a seat and had not sat down.

We tried to reason with the staff, explaining that we had ordered before the couple and had been sitting outside in the cold for a long time, but they insisted that we stay outside and gave the table to the couple instead. This treatment felt extremely unfair, especially considering the cold weather—Glasgow’s temperature today felt like -4°C. I don’t believe anyone would willingly sit outside to have dessert or coffee in such freezing conditions.

I would never recommend this shop. The staff clearly favor certain customers without any reasonable explanation. And as echoed by other negative reviews, the male staff member’s attitude was very rude. If you’re looking for a fair and welcoming dining experience,...

Nice cafe with great patisserie and bakes

There’s so many patisseries to choose from, I tried the Hazelnut dream. It has a very creamy pistachio mousse which I love, and the hazelnut praline is amazing too, the cake is not too sweet as well. The portion is bigger than I thought. The only thing I didn’t like is that the chocolate sponge at the bottom is quite dry and crumbly. 8/10

The raspberry and chocolate patisserie is very nice too, the chocolate cremeaux tastes really nice especially with the raspberry confit in the middle of the patisserie.

I also tried their pistachio croissant, and it is so big, and generously filled with pistachio cream, it is flaky and delicious. For this size the price is very reasonable too.

The chocolate and hazelnut bun is delicious as well, you get pieces of hazelnut, I totally recommend their bakery.

For drinks, I had the pistachio latte which didn’t tastes strongly of pistachio, which I wouldn’t recommend. My friend said the matcha is decent.

They have a few tables in the café and a couple outside as well. It has a nice vibe and friendly service. Everything is reasonably priced. I would totally come back to try more...