Singl-end Merchant City — Restaurant in Scotland

Save your time and your money!!!!

Not one to leave poor reviews as I like to support the hospitality sector but our experience today was so poor I hope no one else has the same poor experience.

Sadly we had a terrible experience here today. We have a friend visiting from abroad and when wondering around Merchant City we decided to try Single-end as I used to work as a waitress in the same location when I was a student 20 years ago.

Firstly, whether they are short on staff, I don't know but after waiting 20-25 minutes to be seated I was surprised to walk inside to see so many tables vacant and not many people had left during the time we were waiting. When we were seated there were dirty tissues and food spillages all around the floor.

We were seated in an area where there were 5 empty tables and a couple arrived after us to sit in the same area. The other couple were served first, afterwards we got to place our order. The other couple who were having a salmon dish had their food arrive within 10-15 mins. Our table of 3 had to wait 40 MINUTES before getting our food!!! Our food order was simple; 3 straightforward brunch meals. The other couple had paid their bill and left before our food arrived and the place wasn't full.

The serving staff were fine, no complaints, but very, very poor management!!! In total WE WAITED OVER AN HOUR in a CAFE which was only at best 3/4's full to get something to eat.

The food arrived; nothing particularly bad to say about the food it looked fine, tasted fine but nowhere near the quality I would expect for the price. I could only eat half of mine as the streaky bacon especially was of poor qulaity. Coffee was fine, hot chocolate fine too, tea was burned, teabag had been put into the cup and steaming water straight from the coffee machine had turned the tea flavour rancid.

No waiting staff apologised for our wait offered any reason for the wait or told us we would have to wait so long. That unfortunately is poor service and makes for a poor customer experience.

Anyway, we decided to pay our bill and leave asap, the poor experience of waiting so long on our food had thoroughly dampened all our moods then...

The stomach issues happened, within 10-15 minutes my partner had to find a bathroom to throw up in and we have all had dodgy stomachs since leaving, it's almost 8 hours later and no let up!...

At odds with all the glowing reviews, my own experience of Singl-end, Merchant City, was very disappointing. On entering the cafe around midday, a few days before Christmas, my wife and I found ourselves at the end of a lengthy queue. We were told that there was a 35 minute waiting time for a table, so we were in two minds about waiting. We were assured that if we waited we would likely get a table long before that. So we decided to wait. After almost 50 minutes I asked how much longer we would be. I immediately got the impression that we had been forgotten about, as we were shown to a table almost immediately. Our table was in a small narrow conservatory, far removed from the pre-Christmas atmosphere in the hub of the cafe. Although the conservatory was bright, it was devoid of any Christmas ambience. A staff member apologised to us for our lengthy wait, and promised us courtesy drinks to make up for our inconvenience. The drinks never arrived. After our food order was taken, it took a further 30 minutes for the meals to arrive. Although my wife enjoyed her Festive Betty (Roasted sprouts, brie, cranberry jam and poached eggs), my Meaty Breakfast was as unappetising to look at as it was to taste. The beans were congealed, the fried eggs were tough and had an inedible rind around them, the streaky bacon was over-crisp, the sausage didn’t taste like sausage, and the hash brown resembled a puck and was so tough I couldn’t get my knife through it. The only items I enjoyed were the black pudding and the half-slice of bread. The breakfast looked, and tasted, as if it had been sitting under a heat lamp for a while. If I’m honest, I’ve had a better cooked breakfast in Wetherspoons for half the price. I probably should have complained, but I couldn’t face causing a fuss in a crowded environment. Our two meals, a coffee, and a pint of IPA cost just under thirty quid. I left the cafe feeling cheated, wishing that we had gone somewhere else. The only saving grace is that my wife enjoyed her meal. Personally, I found the entire experience dissatisfying and disappointing. Perhaps I was simply unlucky on this occasion, but I definitely won’t be back to test...

Im writing this as a coeliac/dairy allergy sufferer. Also we were in the merchant city venue. Anyone else thinking that bread must be "normal" bread? I did too but its 100% gf/df! I cant recommend this place highly enough, singl-end in glasgow has the best bread ive ever tasted. They do an amazing brunch style menu and if i remember rightly, the only dishes that weren't worth adapting for me were the cheese base dishes like halloumi, as im also df, everything else was adaptable, the poached eggs could have the hollandaise swapped out for their chilli jam as im also df. If you're coeliac or gluten intolerant only, everything is adaptable! I went for the meaty baked eggs, it was amazing, and as the tattie scones were also gf/df i got a side of them. They offer takeaway as well, thankfully, as neither of us could finish as the portions are massive but our angel server Fraser had no issue packing it up for us, separately to avoid cc, and labelling it all, such a nice touch. From start to finish Fraser was so helpful, never once did i feel out of place or a burden due to my allergies, that's such a rare thing. That combination with the amount of options available just made it such a pleasant experience. They also have a bakery, back to the bread, that they make in house, and you can purchase loaves of that amazing bread to take home! The menu also said to ask about the bakeries cakes but we were stuffed. If you're ever in the area it's definitely worth the visit, just for the bread alone! we will...