The Salon in Glasgow City

It was mid-afternoon in a snowy Glasgow and after seeing the movie Maestro (lifestory of composer Leonard Bernstein) at the nearby GFT we were in need of a late lunch; somewhere can-do, cosy and welcoming. At The Salon we were offered all that and more. Welcomed from the minute the door was opened for us, we found the staff attentive and caring - nothing was too much trouble. In tribute to Maestro Bernstein's New York, I had a Reuben sandwich. Food and wine came quickly and was delicious. By coincidence, our friendly and efficient server was called Felicia - the same name as Mrs Bernstein. The movie references aside, here is a venue where you can feel relaxed and looked after. Reminded me of the atmosphere in the late lamented Rogano. Good mix of people including a newly married couple, hotel and spa guests, and walk-ins like ourselves. Would it be too cliched to say that 'There's A Place for Us'!

So where to start other than don’t go there. Stay overnight and all was fine til check in room was late. They lied said they’d called but didn’t. meal in the restaurant ordered a few dishes and cocktails. Bill came and they over charged us. Problem started when we queried the bill. Ended up getting the manager and he was rude, said the bill was standard even when they had charged us for doubles liquor we didn’t have. I then decided to pay as the discussion was getting heated the manager put through the card payment and then cancelled the payment and told the whole restaurant my card had been declined I had to prove that I had the money via my online app. The disrespect was so bad i ran out the restaurant leaving my 75 yr old mum and sister to fix things. The doorman no better kept referring that I must come from Tory ! Never have I ever been treated so disrespectfully. It was disgusting and disgraceful behaviour.

Made a reservation for Saturday at 5pm and arrived on time. Host was not engaging or welcoming at all. Bar was not extremely busy, with seats available at the main bar and by the windows. However, she chose to seat me at the opposite end of the bar by myself with minimal interaction at the kitchen pass where the f&b service team was having their dinner service briefing. Would have been good to ask if I was happy to be seated there, but she didn't stick around. After the fourth accidental bump by the service staff navigating their food orders, I called for assistance from who I believe was the senior manager on duty who came in to chat with the staff (her very beautiful and well-behaved black lab waited at the entrance of the Salon). She moved me quickly to a sunny window seat without apology or explanation despite me asking for one and moved off to other areas of the hotel. The bartender was attentive and perfunctorily friendly. The house martinis were excellent. The service staff attending my section was alert and attentive as well, always checking on my order or refills with an easy smile. The host, however, refused to give eye contact or engage despite walking past my table several times and having every opportunity to throughout my hour + seated there. Opportunities to engage in service recovery (not compensation) were made available but not taken. I am disappointed because I expected more out of an IHG property and their values and their widely touted goal of 'guest love'. I am disappointed because it was my last evening in Glasgow and despite having already been in the UK for over a week for business in Scotland, it truly felt like it was my first brush with casual racism. (I have spent the remaining month in the country and have not encountered this with every other bar or restaurant I have made a reservation with.) I believe and continue to believe this an isolated case with all my heart. It is a pity, because it is a pretty venue with a lovely bar menu, a decent bar bites menu, and apart from the host, a good team on the floor and behind the bar. However, a less than stellar hosting and seating experience has made it the stand-out negative experience I have had in my 3 weeks in the UK, and that statement alone probably requires some introspection among the senior management of the hotel and perhaps the head office.

Booked afternoon tea vouchers for a family members 30th after previously visiting the hotel for afternoon tea a few years ago. Unfortunately it did not live up to last time. The service was terrible, we had to ask after about 15 minutes of arriving to be served by one of the many waiting staff working, who were largely standing around doing nothing. Also had to ask a couple of times for tea with our afternoon tea... and the general feeling was the staff could not care less we were there. One waitress, who we should have got the name of, was great - I think she was new and made an effort to serve us and chat away to us. So thank you to her at least!

Disappointed as this is a lovely looking hotel. Sandwiches have hardly any filling scones were not at all tasty. Weren’t shown where to go had to as. Nobody was that friendly apart from one of the bar staff. Disappointed all round.

Lovely bar and very nice staff but it took at least 10 - 15 minutes to bring our drinks after we’d ordered them, and we hadn’t ordered anything like a cocktail. The bar was very busy and I think they needed more bar staff.

I visited the salon for afternoon tea on Saturday with a few friends and was greeted with a warm smile. Our table was slightly shabby but it was clean and a beautiful room. We enjoyed the delicate cakes and selection of loose leaf teas and even got to try a type of champagne we’d never tried before. Everything was delivered swiftly by our friendly waiter who had plenty of chat and did great for his first day. As we left we were given a cute bag of truffles each. Overall we had a lovely trip and I will be back! I just hope they give it a lick of paint.

An absolutely beautiful Georgian Hotel in the heart of Glasgow. Spotlessly clean, stunning decoration combining old charm and modern effortlessly. Pleasant staff. If you are serious about good food and good teas and coffees etc , it's just adequate.

After an afternnoon in the spa we went up to the salon for some drinks. Nothing was too much trouble with some extra cocktails from a particularly fussy group of women. They cocktails were delicious, the service prompt and attentive without being intrusive and they went the extra mile from bringing out forks and knives for the birthday girl to cut her cake to throwing in some extra sweets from the kitchen for the party. A really lovely touch.

Took my daughter and her cousin for afternoon tea here, £35 per person, food was lovely and surroundings very nice. I was put of due to the fact that we asked for water glasses to be refilled and also for some more tea on separate occasions, both times it took the waitress ages to return due to the fact that she was very busy talking to another waitress! If your paying that money or going to a 5 star hotel I would expect not to wait as long as we did, we canceled the tea and got the bill. On the menu it said at the bottom sweets to take home, my daughter had to ask for these, they were not offered but I feel we should have got them automatically. Not good enough.

We had afternoon tea at the Blytheswood Square Hotel on Friday which was very nice. It is a lovely hotel with plush surroundings, excellent food, and courteous staff, however the table service could be vastly improved. We arrived 10 minutes early and were seated promptly. We then had to wait 15 minutes for our champagne then a further 20 minutes for food, considering this was a pre-booked afternoon tea we felt this unnecessary. The food was nice but my wife requested coffee which was served from the bar. After a 10 minute wait, during which we observed at least 4 staff chatting at the bar, we had to remind them that we were still waiting for a coffee. We observed other diners with the same frustrations. We feel that the service was poor considering that it wasn't overly busy, and were a bit disappointed as we had attended a private function at the hotel last year and could not fault one thing.

We arrived on Sunday, July 29, 2018 to an almost-empty salon and asked to have afternoon tea. They made a huge deal of our not having reservations, but there were only three tables with guests in the whole salon and six waitstaff covered with hideous facial and neck tattoos presenting a terrible image. I asked for "regular tea", and my travel companion ordered a grapefruit daiquiri. It took forever for service, but we had no other pressing plans, so we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally we received our sandwiches and sweets, and they were very average. When the bill arrived, I was charged 3.5 GBP for the most expensive tea, which I had not ordered. The waiter told me I had ordered a "special" tea. Then the waiter charged me in USD, which is meant to make the salon and bank money. I refused to sign the trumped-up charges and made them remove the unordered pricey tea and charge me in GBP. I noticed the total in USD and made a note of it. When I got back to my hotel, I looked up the official exchange rate, and charging me in USD would have made the hotel about $5 USD. If they do this to every foreign customer, it can really add up. The waiter told me there was no way to charge me in GBP since I had an American credit card, which is total bunk. This is a scam, travelers. I would never return to this dishonest establishment and would certainly not recommend anything about it. It needs renovation, needs classy, cleaner waitstaff, and has no reason to overcharge. We paid $88 USD for a very ordinary lunch and horrible experience. Clearly this place is out of cash and doing whatever they can to raise money. The manager was since contacted and advised me that tea is not included in the $88 afternoon tea. Does this make sense to you? I've had tea at some of the top hotels (Dorchester in London for example) in the world, and they were not only less expensive, they did not charge for a cup of tea with afternoon tea. Tea is part of afternoon tea! The man who waited on us did not speak English and did not understand English. When we ordered afternoon tea, he was totally confused on what we wanted. I'm now reading reviews on the rooms, and the comments are similar to what I am saying. A bad experience! I was in an English-speaking country with a waiter who did not speak nor comprehend English!

Visited the Salon for afternoon tea on a Saturday, with 2 friends. Had good experiences at the Blythswood Hotel in the past, so we had come on my recommendation. Arrived at out booking time and were seated. Brought a selection of teas to look at, and drink orders taken, then waited, and waited and waited! 45 minutes later we had to ask for our food. Given that this was pre-ordered, I would have expected it to arrive shortly after we were seated. Poor service continued from there - we had to ask for tea, which again seemed to take a very long time to arrive. Similarly, after we had finished, we had to seek out staff to ask for coffee, and again waited 25 minutes for this! Food was ok, pretty average hotel afternoon tea and definitely not worth the 45 minute wait. Disappointed - there were cheaper options out there, but we came here on my recommendation. Definitely won’t be recommending it again.

As a birthday treat my daughter and some friends took my wife for afternoon tea in the Salon Bar. As a hotel with a five star rating I was expecting five star treatment, sadly that was not our party’s experience. I have been lucky enough to have had afternoon tea at Mar Hall, the Cromlix Hotel and on two occasions on Cunard ships so as you can imagine I was expecting the same standard. The table was booked by my daughter for 6 adults and 2 children for 12.15pm. At 1.20pm I went up to the bar as there were no waiting staff on the floor to complain that our order had not been taken and the children were becoming bored and fractious. When the afternoon tea finally arrived it was minus tea and coffee. We had to ask a waitress to bring tea and coffee. The tea finally arrived as we were finishing our sandwiches however the coffee didn’t and again we had to ask for the coffee and milk. Also there were no spoons so we had to find another waitress to bring them. The service was exceptionally uncoordinated, slow, unacceptable and definitely not a five star experience. My wife complained to the duty supervisor as we were leaving and although he apologised and took our name and telephone number saying that he would contact us once he had spoken to his manager, needless to say now after a week he hasn’t had the courtesy to do so. Five star treatment, definitely not! The only time the service was quick was when the bill was brought.

We went for afternoon tea on Sunday afternoon. We were seated at a table and then pretty much forgotten about for half an hour until we finally got a waiters attention. He apologised but it took another 40 minutes before we were finally served our tea and sandwiches. There were bits missing and had to ask for tea spoons, tea strainer and milk amongst other things. We witnessed the same thing with other tables around us, everyone was waiting a long long time for mediocre service. The excuse we heard was that they had been really busy that day. I’m sorry you are a hotel, on a Sunday afternoon....what do you expect??? It all just seemed really disorganised with no one really in charge, and if I’m being really honest I’m not really sure any of the staff really seemed to care. Definitely not 5* service. Very disappointed.

Service was very slow. 40 mins after arriving we had been given a glass of water that we had to request. Tea arrived after 50 mins with no milk, teaspoons or enough strainers. A G&T took 25 mins. Food arrived after 1 hr. Other people...

Itison voucher. Was really looking forward to this. Unfortunately a bit disappointed. Food was ok. Savoury was poor - stale roll, soggy bread, soft pastry, vegi alternative to beef was soggy red pepper. Sweet was better with delicious macaron, tasty raspberry mousse, and delightful mini...

My girlfriend and I visited the spa last year and upon finishing our thermal experience just after 5pm, we were gutted to have just missed the afternoon tea (Some of us taking longer to get ready than others *cough*). So, when I saw the itison...

My two colleagues and I paid in full fir the afternoon tea. No special offer used. Tea was pleasant if not very well served Our cakes and sandwiches were well presented and tasty. Not sure quite what we missed but for what we paid I...

I was gifted an afternoon tea here, so 4 of us went along on Sunday. We arrived early so we ordered some drinks at the bar. Not a complicated order (2 mocktails, 1 negroni and a coke) but it took over 20 mins for the...

We got a gift voucher for here for afternoon tea. At first sight all looked impressive right down to a friendly and helpful doorman. We were shown to our (pre-booked) table. The seats seemed to have been designed for six feet six inch long arachnids...

Went for afternoon tea, which was a gift. It cost £28.00 pp. For that you got 4 small sandwiches, 2 mini scones and 4 small cakes. They were all delicious, but very small. Unlimited tea and coffee. I asked for green tea, and it came...

Unplanned visit for a drink on saturday afternoon. Not great service which was disappointing. Expected first class service having read about the hotel. More like bar in a department store. Busy with afternoon tea visitors. Ordered some light snacks but again were not impressive. Have...

Staff attentive and knowledgeable, nice welcome. Seated quickly and explained in detail about the tea that had been booked for us. We were using a voucher.. Tea we asked for was available, relaxed atmosphere fine to wait. The contents of the afternoon tea was disappointing,...

Visited the hotel today for afternoon tea.....purchased on a ITISON .....welcome was very nice....seated...very nice.....asked for voucher ....passed over.....offered tea/coffee......fine......then it all went wrong.....I had ..in error printed of the front sheet only...which did give full details etc...but not a voucher number....I was informed of...

Booked the "Duchess of Bedford Afternoon Tea" at £22 per person. No tablecloths, just plain table. First shock was when the waiter gave us cutlery by holding the cake fork by the tines and the teaspoon by the bowl. Tea was served quickly enough, but...

I recently went to the Blythswood Hotel for my friend's 60th birthday treat from her daughter for afternoon tea. We were shown to our table where we waited some time before any member of staff brought us anything. The tea did not include Prosseco so...

As a cake lover i decided to book a table at the Blythswood Square. The first impression was great, magnificent building in a great location. Sadly when we arrived to our table everything drastically changed. The table was located right next to the ladies toilet...

Went in with a few friends for after dinner drinks. We ordered two rounds and both were wrong. Staff didn't use a notepad when taking our order, four drinks, which is a pet hate of mine - particularly when the order comes back wrong. The...

Went to the cocktail lounge at the Blythswood Hotel on Saturday night for a treat for my boyfriends birthday. Walked into the hotel lobby, we could already hear the loud music from upstairs, not very classy in a 5* hotel. We went upstairs where we...