Saramago Café - Glasgow United Kingdom

Waaaay back before the CCA was the CCA and it was called the 3rd Eye Centre, they still served a damn fine veggie lunch in the cafe, and thankfully Saramago is continuing that tradition. It's not huge so it can be difficult to find a table at lunchtime, but out of hours it is a wonderful space to chill out in over a coffee and a book, and they have free Wi-Fi too if you have work to get on with. The old centre was housed in a couple of tin-roofed sheds and the transformation into the CCA has been nothing short of miraculous. Who knew that there was a wonderful town house hiding behind the old buildings? This was a showpiece job for the architects Page Park, who have created a wonderful cosmopolitan atrium courtyard that feels like it should be outdoors somewhere on the Mediterranean and really shows off the best of the buildings that it connects with its higher-level walkways. The food is always pretty good, and they do a reasonable soup wrap lunchtime deal for £6.50. Finish off with a cup of their excellent coffee or a Suki tea and you're all set. Even if you're not hungry, pop in here just to have a look at the space. It's a great example of creative architecture in action.

My vegan experience in glasgow just kept getting better and better! Saramago serves a great range of delicious, high quality food in a funky venue on Sauchiehall Street. We went here twice and tried the pasta, pizza, haggis, Sharing plate and the chocolate brownie with vanilla icecream (made with soy milk).It was all amazing! If only I lived closer and could eat here all the time! Seriously, try the brownie with icecream so, so good!

Review update time for Saramago and I'm super excited to dish out that magical 5th star. I had only been to the cafe area before, and this place was suggested as a venue for newbie night (thanks Ema C! . I phoned and booked the bar area even though I'd never been up there. Ok, it is a little hard to find on your first visit but once you know where it is, you won't have any troubles. My tip is to enter from Scott St and you won't have any trouble finding it. There's an awesome outside area as well as space inside, and an area I think they call the back bar. This is where we had Newbies Night and it was perfect. It was bar service only so it meant a little back of going back and forth but that was ok. Their Pinot Grigio is delicious too and very reasonable at £19 a bottle. If you're looking for a drinks/nibbles space for up to 30 people, seriously think about the bar area at Saramago. The only downside is the space was a little dark on a nice sunny day but these are pretty rare in Glasgow anyway.

This was my second time drinking here and I wasn't overly impressed. We booked the back room for a small party, which was great, and yeah the space itself works really well for a group of folk. I drank red wine all night but I wasn't happy with their wine selection, but as they say it got better with every glass! We were allowed to have decorations and cake but had to make sure it was all cleared up before we left, which is fair enough. The staff though, the staff were very rude. I had to wait at the bar numerous times until the staff had finished gossiping with each other, and never got so many as a smile or thank you once. They have a terrance which is handy for smokers, but either the door has to be locked or it doesn't close properly. So either people had to walk back around the bar to go outside or the room was freezing! Also it wasn't until about 30mins before we left that the bar staff realised the speakers hadn't been on in the back room. We then found out that this had been a blessing as suddenly no one could hear each other talk! It's useful for the space and location, but unless it fulfils a need for another party, I probably won't be going back.

I visited here for lunch last Saturday afternoon with some friends who were visiting for the weekend. They were looking to try somewhere healthy, in city centre and nice to relax in for a couple of hours, which is a harder than it sounds! A friend suggested the CCA as it serves some lovely big salad bowls. We were not disappointed, all four of us ended up ordering salads. A friend and I both had the Thai noodle salad and both loved it. Lovely fresh salad, packed with flavours and textures and coated in a delicious dressing. My friends also order the beetroot salad and the butternut squash one, which they also said were really good. The salad's are served with bread, making it a very filling meal. We had some small plates between us, sweet potato fries and soy asparagus. We spent a few hours sitting in the courtyard over lunch with a couple of drinks. It's a great space to chill out in! The only downfall was the service, when we walked in I had booked a table, being a Saturday afternoon we weren't sure how busy it would be and as we arrived two members of staff didn't know which table was ours. It was a bit of a confusing start to the meal. as we were seated we were instantly asked if we wanted drinks but needed a couple of minutes to look at the menu, we waited another 15 minutes until someone came back to take drinks orders. Not ideal but we weren't in a rush at least. In general the service was slow and distant the entire afternoon. I also tried some items on the mezzie platter while here for a Yelp Newbies night. Everything I tried that day was also really tasty! I will definitely be back to eat here, I think I would like everything on the menu! It's a great space, with a nice atmosphere and great food.