The 10 best new restaurants and bars in Glasgow - including Margo and The Last Bookstore

As we head into winter there are a few new places to visit in Glasgow for a bite to eat or drink.

From a new cocktail bar and restaurant from the team behind Michelin-recommended Ox and Finch to a new southside Sunday roast spot, there's plenty of new restaurants and bars to enjoy in Glasgow.

Here we take a look at some of the latest places to open in Scotland's biggest city.

Margo

(68 Miller Street, Glasgow, G1 1DT)

new Glasgow bars and restaurants

The latest restaurant from Scoop restaurant group - the team behind Ox and Finch and Ka Pao - has opened in Glasgow city centre.

Margo, located in a sprawling unit on Miller Street, has a menu of snacks, small plates and sharing dishes that highlight curated seasonal produce, sourced from the finest growers and makers.

The kitchen is headed up by Glasgow native Robin Aitken, who first joined Scoop as a chef at Ox and Finch back in 2014. 

After a period of travelling and working abroad, Aitken returned to Scoop as part of the senior team leading Ka Pao Glasgow to its first Michelin Bib Gourmand, and Ox and Finch retaining its Bib Gourmand for the 10th year.

Sebb’s

(68 Miller Street, Glasgow, G1 1DT)

new Glasgow restaurants and bars

With Margo recently opened, next up is their cocktail bar Sebb’s. On Monday 25 November, Sebb’s will open on Glasgow’s Miller Street. This will follow a soft launch period from 19 to 24 November, where guests can enjoy 50% off food. 

Pairing a dedicated cocktail kitchen with a menu focused on food cooked over fire, Sebb’s will be a destination for daytime sessions and late nights sound-tracked by a rotating programme of DJs playing vinyl. 

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Kieran McKay (Sebb’s general manager) and Scoop’s head of drinks, Alasdair Shaw, will head up the cocktail programme.

For Sebb’s, they have designed a comprehensive list of cocktails batched in the mixology kitchen, including spritzes, sours, and signature ‘sippers’.

These include a White Linen Fizz (rum, yuzushu sake, elderflower, jasmine, absinthe), an Apple and Celery Gimlet (gin, apple, celery and tomato, garnished with togarashi), and a Miso Old Fashioned (miso and brown butter whisky with passionfruit, garnished with miso fudge).

Kieran was one of the original members of the Ox and Finch team in 2014, later joining Ka Pao Glasgow where he would become general manager and play a key role in shaping the cocktail offering, while Alasdair joined Scoop as head of drinks this year, having honed his experience at some of Glasgow’s best bars and restaurants, including award-winning whisky and cocktail pub The Gate.

Loveable Rogue southside

(122-124 Nithsdale Rd, Glasgow G41 5RB)

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new Glasgow restaurants and bars

The Loveable Rogue gastropub has opened a new restaurant in the city’s southside.

With successful Loveable Rogues now operating on both the West and East sides of the city, the new Strathbungo location offers a flexible, relaxed, cosy and accessible neighbourhood restaurant where everybody is welcome. 

The Loveable Rogue Southside is a local business owned by Glaswegian couple Joe and Amalia Lazzerini whose philosophy is based on food, friends and family. 

The community and food-centred restaurateurs have combined their passions to create a homely atmosphere with a seasonal a la carte menu on Nithsdale Road in Glasgow. 

Dishes include ham hough, cote de bouef, pan roasted scallops, fish and chips, pan fried gnocchi and monkfish cheek scampi.

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There’s also a Sunday roast menu with the restaurant open Tuesday to Saturday from 12pm - late for a la carte dining and Sundays 12pm - 9pm for all day Sunday roast.

Sear’s Pizza

(8 Chancellor St, Glasgow G11 5RQ)

best new Glasgow restaurants and bars

Sear’s Pizza joined Glasgow’s burgeoning pizza scene in September. Opened on Chancellor Street, Sear’s Pizza has brought, the team say, authentic New York-style pizza to the heart of the west end.

Inspired by the institutional slice-spots of NYC, Sear’s Pizza offers up classic hand-tossed,

thin-crust slices, large enough to understand fold, or not.

Sear’s offers nine delicious pizza options, with each slice just £5 or under, (alongside regular specials). 

Each of the pies are made with the fine key ingredients, low-moisture mozzarella, San Marzano tomatoes and a mix of Italian and organic, sustainable Wildfarmed Regenerative dough, fermented and baked.

The Last Bookstore

(157 Hope St, Glasgow G2 2UQ)

new Glasgow restaurants and bars

The Last Bookstore has recently opened its doors on Hope Street, in the city centre, taking over the former home of Fat Lobster.

From the team behind Devil of Brooklyn and Tabac, this unique bar combines the charm of a traditional bookshop with a modern drinking experience, complete with literary-inspired drinks and moody, antique decor.

The bar is a visual feast for book lovers, with 8,000 books lining its walls and a spectacular literary archway made of 1,300 books – together containing 442 million words.

The drinks menu is a tribute to famous authors, with cocktails inspired by the likes of Jack Kerouac, Dorothy Parker, and Ernest Hemingway. Beer lovers can also choose from twelve taps, including the house Bookstore Lager, Cruzcampo, and Guinness.

The food offering includes small plates and lunch options, highlights being brisket croquette with mascarpone, rosemary, and apple, as well as charred cauliflower with pickled shallot and tahini yoghurt.

Visitors will find a 16-foot floor-to-ceiling backlit gantry and a stunning 32-foot brass-topped bar, adorned with both books and bottles.

Seating options vary from high tables and stools to cosy booths and traditional tables, catering to all preference.

Innis & Gunn cocktail bar

(22-24 W Nile St, Glasgow G1 2PW)

new Glasgow restaurants and bars
Picture: Mark F Gibson

A new cocktail and wine bar is set to open in the basement below Innis & Gunn in Glasgow city centre. 

Plans for the venue, which will also offer “charcuterie style food”, were revealed at a meeting of the city’s Licensing Board. 

Hospitality entrepreneur Alan Tomkins, whose family own and operate venues such as Ralph & Finns, Vroni’s and Malo, is behind the new project at 24 West Nile Street. 

Roots

(71 Renfield St, Glasgow G2 1LP)

Roots is a brand new venture by the former operators of Mediterraneo. 

They offer small plates alongside an A la carte menu, cocktails, and a wide range of spirits on Renfield Street, the former premises of Gin 71. 

Sano Pizza

(5 Bell St, Glasgow G1 1NU)

L-R pizzaiolo Omar Najar & co-owner Raymond MacHugh

Sano Pizza recently opened its second restaurant in Glasgow. Located in Merchant City, the new restaurant is the company's fifth and largest venue to date.

The new restaurant, formerly a bar, is twice the size of its Finnieston location with 150 seats. Sano continues to offer its signature menu with dough made on-site daily, using only four ingredients: flour, water, salt and yeast. 

The sourdough is fermented for a minimum of 48 hours to ensure a light and chewy base. Each pizza is hand-stretched before being topped with ingredients sourced from Italy, including spicy salami from Calabria, mozzarella di bufala, Fiammante tomatoes and the finest, softest '00' flour considered the gold standard for Neapolitan pizza.

Sano was founded by twin brothers Raymond and Tony MacHugh, who were inspired to bring the taste of Naples to Glasgow after a life-changing visit to the Italian city. 

Their commitment to authenticity is evident in every aspect of Sano Pizza, from the ingredients to the Moretti ovens, which cook pizzas at 450 degrees in 90 seconds and the interior styling inspired by the street art and graffiti in Naples.

Saint Luke’s & the Winged Ox

(17 Bain St, Glasgow G40 2JZ)

best new Glasgow restaurants and bars

This music venue and bar is gearing up to launch a new smokehouse menu.

The revamped menu celebrates a return to its soul food roots, offering indulgent, shareable dishes and signature classics, all highlighting a new focus on smoked specialties.

Developed with the help of a newly installed in-house Traeger smoker, this new menu offering takes inspiration from the Deep South’s traditional cooking techniques, with each dish delivering rich, authentic Southern flavours. 

Diners can tuck into seasonal slow-cooked meats, smoked for up to 12 hours in the smoke pit, as well as new house-made spice rubs and signature sauces.

Starting early November, diners to Winged Ox can expect daily smoked specials featuring tender BBQ Spatchcock chicken, beef short rib, and low-and-slow brisket. 

Each dish brings the rich, robust flavours synonymous with Southern cooking, all complemented by house blends of spices, creating a new dining experience in the east end.

Slug and Lettuce

(110-114, W George St, Glasgow G2 1NF)

Taking over the site of Missoula in the City Centre, Slug and Lettuce have reopened in Glasgow after a two year absence.

The chain food chain closed its original St Vincent Street venue at the start of 2023, but now it’s back and the venue has had a £837,000 investment by owners Stonegate.

Slug & Lettuce West George Street is open until 3am on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with 50% off cocktails between Monday and Thursday.

Known for cake making, experimental jam recipes, Champagne, whisky and gin drinking (and the inability to cook Gnocchi), Rosalind is the Food and Drink Editor and whisky writer for The Scotsman, as well as hosting Scran, The Scotsman's food and drink podcast.
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