The Alchemist Glasgow — Restaurant in Scotland

Popped in on Saturday 14/9 around 6pm with my friend for a drink before we headed home after a day in town. Place was mobbed, but we seen a table over by the window so made our way to it.

There was a reserved sign but no time on it so we spoke to a female member of staff who said as we were only having one or two drinks we were absolutely fine to sit at it until 7pm. We found a drinks menu and sat down (at the dirty table!). After we decided what we would be having a male member of staff (ridiculous purple hawaiian type shirt) approached the table to tell us we couldn’t sit there and had to move. We told him that again we were only in for one or two and cleared it with the other staff member who said it was absolutely fine to sit there as there was no other seats and nowhere to even stand without being in the way. He then proceeded, in the rudest manner, to tell us again that we couldn’t sit there and that area was for food only. We looked around us and at least 3 of the tables around us did not have food! We asked him to go speak with the female staff member that told us it was fine. He did. Then came back with an even bigger attitude and reiterated his stance that we had to move. Again we questioned this and said we had been told it was fine. His reply… “well I can’t comment on that as I wasn’t part of the discussion and it’s for food only so you can’t sit there”. OK hun, but we’re literally telling you what the conversation was.

At this point he has pissed us off so much that we got our belongings and left and will never visit again.

I’m not sure what his problem was and if he is a manager then he clearly lacks any business acumen - surely a table with less than an hour until it’s reserved would be better filled with someone that wants to buy a drink or 2 and put money in your till (however small) than left empty until the booking arrives!

Make...

Awful service - will not be back!

Visited the alchemist on 30th December for a cocktail to celebrate my sister in laws 30th birthday at 2pm. We didn’t have a booking but had checked in advance and it said online there were tables held for walk in.

We arrived and found a table that another group were just finishing that didn’t have a reserved sign. We checked with a female member of staff who said the table was available until 4.30pm. My husband ordered drinks (took about 15 minutes) whilst we asked 3 different members of staff to clear and wipe the table.

This included the host in a stripey shirt. He dismissed us and continued to wipe other tables around us, but not ours. He then came over 2 minutes later with a reserved sign and told us the table was reserved at 3pm. I explained that we’d already been told by another member of staff that we could stay until 4.30pm. He asked us what member of staff we had spoken to, and after checking, he came back with an extremely rude attitude and said that we had to move by 3pm.

There was no apology for the apparent miscommunication between the staff. He simply checked his watch and said “well you have 45 minutes to leave the table”.

I have been to the Alchemist in Manchester many times and had a great experience. I was extremely disappointed by this experience...

amazing experience overall. the best thing about this place is the staff, it was our first time here as we were visiting glasgow and all of the staff were so polite and friendly, very welcoming. even the bouncers on the door were lovely! the staff were all happy and smiley. you could tell from the way they interacted with each other that they’re a great team and clearly get on with each other well. it really made the atmosphere even better, very upbeat!. The food was lovely, the chicken is probably the best chicken we’ve ever had. The drinks looked really cool and actually tasted good too so they weren’t just for show. Our server was Nelli and she absolutely made our night. Nelli was super sweet and friendly and even on a busy night she made sure we were well looked after, she was very kind and welcoming. Overall a fabulous experience for our last night in glasgow and will definitely be back on our next visit! I will admit, its a pricer night out but i think its well worth it for the service, atmosphere and novelty of the food/drink. The only complaint we had was that the music was a little too loud, was more of a club volume and you did have to almost yell to talk to each other, which made it a little hard to hear the staff. Other than that, absolutely...