University Cafe in Glasgow City

A small and very very very old cafe. The furniture is still the original, a jump in the past. The food was really delicious. Excellent soup, macaroni and cheese, and coffee.

A blast from the past. My wife has been wanting to go for ages, so took the wee one. Been decades since I've last been and was exactly how I remember it! As with everywhere, the prices have gone up but always happy to support a local business. A Glasgow institution!

This place has been here for donkeys. Just like stepping back in time the last time I was in here for a coffee was approx 40 years ago. The only thing I would change today is the seating. Perhaps could do with a bit more padding lol.

It was a trip down memory lane for me a blast from my past. The food was excellent Hot peas with plenty of vinegar and home. made chips were amazing definitely be back

An iconic little cafe with traditional ice cream parlour backdrop. Great all day breakfast. Good coffee. Great prices. A family business with history (over 100 years in busines depicted through photos, memorabilia and architecture).

Lovely food and friendly staff as always

Great wee cafe. Staff are lovely and the food is excellent, I had the Scottish breakfast which was delicious. The coffee was to die for!! Would highly recommend and it’s good to support our local businesses.

Came here over the years ,lovely staff friendly and efficient Linda & Hazel .old fashion decor same style . Good selection of food fress and very tasty. 👌

What a treat to sit where Anthony Bourdain sat. I loved the original decor which is still pristine, felt like a step back in time. Loved the deep fried Mars bars...yummmm

Great place to visit staff great family owned been going there for about 65 years Lasagne Spag bol and fantastic ice cream

As always great ice cream, great selection of sweets, staff helpful

Having previously enjoyed an Ice Cream in the Summer I returned for a Coffee and Cheese Toastie this weekend whilst up visiting my old father . Sadly it was pretty poor with a slice of Plastic Processed Cheese melted between 2 slices of white toast it was completely tasteless . The Cappuccino to be fair wasn’t bad , I even had a second cup with a Tea Cake . The place was virtually empty and badly wanted a clean and tidy . I am truly sad to be leaving such a negative review because I liked the Owner who I chatted to and I liked the fact that ithe University Cafe has been here 100 years . Pellici however do this so much better back in London and it’s a real tragedy that the Verracia family here in Glasgow can’t up their game . It urgently wants better Produce , better quality of Preparation and a good Tidy of the Premises . Lack of Investment and Business Plan is the overwhelming issue and instead things have been allowed to slide and that’s a pity , a great pity I note the reply from the Owner beneath and much of what he says is true . I was hoping my comments would be taken in the spirit in which they were intended , Byres Rd is a competitive environment and I genuinely fear you are standing still .

Shockingly steep price for a meal. Chips were the worst I’ve tasted. Cheap oven chips. Not cut fresh and fried like any good chippy. Basically disguised as a chippy for tourists and charge them as much as possible. Avoid!!!!!

Super authentic lovely location managed by a great team. They serve really tasty Scottish breakfast close to the uni campus and are an absolute must-try in my opinion. If you are there, you have to taste their totally mind-blowing ice cream, and I am sure you won't regret it!

Excellent old fashioned cafe, in the Italian Style from 100 years ago. I go regularly and the food is first class. Try the ice cream!

As late Antony Bourdain sad.. Place to go and taste their food The Best food in Glasgow,,,,........😋😋

food was lovely was served fast the staff frendley enough and it wasn't to expensive

Legendary spot that everyone should visit!!!

Want that old fish and chip nostalgia vibe the check out this place Great food and great atmosphere

Hasn't changed in 40 years. In a good way.

The food was excellent 👌 😋, it brings back memories of being there with my mum(May)a walk about at the Barrasford,then agid munch,at Cafe.100% aw gid,everyone smiles after there fid..Simster 💙..

Experience old Glasgow cafe vibe .

Love the University Cafe. Been going on and off for decades. Still a great place, still as popular as ever and 105 years old and going strong. Looking forward to my next visit!

Love this little place ❤️🍦 The prices are brilliant! You can sit in or takeaway. They have every sweetie you could imagine! The staff are always so helpful and friendly. Highly recommend 👌🏼

So good!!! A real Scotland staple. Do your self a favor and Get the peas and vinegar

Used to be a good value cafe. Stff are good. Decor is still unique but prices are over the top for what your getting.

Great wee cafe excellent service great staff helpful and friendly 😁

I have family in the west end, everytime I visit I get a sausage, bacon and egg roll and I have not found a single roll quite as good in every cafe I've been to in Glasgow. Fast and delicious.

A lovely back to the past local cafe. A tradition taste of a scoop of ice cream. Creamy and cold 😊 not too sweet. The council should take the experienced locals as the priority than further narrowing the road and pavements.

Clean friendly and tasty food ,peas in vinegar humongous serving,

Rubbish food. Lovely look and nice servers. Chef walked through and coughed all over. Pasta was watery and overcooked, I'm sure ice cream is good but cannot recommend for a proper meal sadly.

Absolutely brilliant food excellent staff awesome

Very expensive. Would find a cheaper venue next time.

Been going here since I was a kid In the 60s, Good times..

I love this place, every time I’m in the area I try to go. Just traditional comfort food with a side of great icecream! The atmospheres so cozy and it’s always pretty busy.

University Cafe is an institution! And I finally see why having tried it today - I had an oyster and can say it's the best ice cream in the west end! The staff are so friendly and the decor is fabulous, and the prices are great! No wonder Jamie Oliver and the likes have been here!

Spectacular! Will return again and again and again 🤩

Old fashioned cafe. Cheap, cheerful, nostalgia. Carbs galore. A Glasgow Institution. Worth a visit for the interior & the ice-cream. And old fashioned sweeties. I imagine the fish supper is good. Limited for vegetarians.

It's like time warp, very homely with great food and fantastic coffee

First visit in over twenty years. Not changed a bit. Brought back good memories.

Trying to decide what to have for a (very late) breakfast, my Glaswegian mate has a very obvious lightbulb moment and said "University Cafe". A genius. All day breakfast, the works: black pudding, Lorne sausage, potato scone, bacon, hash brown, beans, fried egg, and toast. Glorious. Whilst enjoying the atmosphere in this quaint little cafe, I saw proper handmade soft serve being prepared behind the counter. After finishing our meals, I left with a classic 99 and mate has an oyster with raspberry sauce. Pure joy.

Great traditional cafe family run buisness amazing ice cream

We discovered fish tea! Lovely and very friendly place.

I went here to do my college photography location shots, of which I chose to do Nostalgia. I onyl rated this 4/5 stars due to me not actually eating the food. However, the willingness and eagerness to allow me to both shoto in the cafe and assist with suggestions makes it 4 out of 5 stars alone. The staff were lovely and the food looked absolutely amazing even if I did not have any. I would go here with full intent of dining out if I wished to do so. Appreciate the help offered by staff once again, and hope they continue to thrive. Should note I did not have to pay anything to do so.

Lovely place small tables my first time in place

Great wee place. Same as it was when I was a kid.

Yummy lunch, personally would have preferred less chips and two eggs for the egg and chips. Piping hot tea, two cups and a dessert which looked like it was my birthday! Pleasant smiley waitress . Many thanks. This dessert is biscoff cheesecake served with lovely ice cream.

A Glasgow institution. Top notch

Consistently good. Best toilet in town. Seating was a bit tight for big lads like me but genuinely braw.

Has an old school look. The staff is so friendly. I just had hot chocolate and it was nice. Nothing special, it's just a hot chocolate that u get everywhere else and it's nice. Good quantity

Nice spaghetti bolognese and the cafe latte was good.

I lived in NYC for 6 years and I am telling you the cheesecake and ice cream I had here rivaled the best places I went in NYC. You know a cake or pie is done correctly when one slice leaves you absolutely satisfied. Very heavy slice flavorful without being overwhelming in any way. Enjoyed every last bite! And the ice cream had such lovely flavor. The pairing of the two was perfection 🥰

This place is exactly what you’d want it to be - very cosy, very traditional, and very friendly service. Had a lovely breakfast.

Icy rain day in Glasgow. This quaint old style Cafe had a very good hot meals menu. Seating very snug, not for large tummies, and outside toilet eek!!

We wanted a central place to meet for coffee. We were each able to find parking nearby. We received a fine welcome and the tea/coffee tasted good. However, the seating is very narrow and not v comfy, the tables a bit high, and the toilet is down an alleyway, was not clean or up to standard. I could not work out how 2 teacakes and a snowball could cost over £4. Apart from that, ok atmosphere.

I was born just around the corner from the University Cafe and it has been a favourite of mine fr more than 50 years, despite regularly living overseas it's always been a must visit whenever I returned home. I now live back in Glasgow again and still visit regularly. My brother was visiting from overseas and we checked the opening hours on google which suggested it would be open, we drove for an hour to get there but it was closed - it was 3rd January and a public holiday so it was understandable, but disappointing opening hours hadn't been updated. Would be a solid 5 start otherwise.

Hmmm in desperate need of a good clean. Food OK. Outside Toilet in close...... Like being in Glasgow in 1960s.

Enjoyed it food and service was excellent.😀👍

Brilliant as always, the best ice cream in the West and superb with warm chocolate cake and a cup of tea!

Really good burger and chips, considering the portion size it was reasonably priced at £6.50 too. Very nice old fashioned interior too, the way you access the toilet is slightly unorthodox - you get a giant key and have to go down the close next door to the cafe, and down the back to a discrete door under the stairs. It was clean though.

They don't make cafés like this anymore. Eating in the University Café is an experience of life in the middle of last century. The food is plain but excellent, I had a 'Fish Tea' you probably don't remember the phrase, it's fish and chips with bread and butter and a cup of tea. I also bought some of their ice-cream, sheer bliss. Good food and friendly service I loved it!

Classic West End institution, loved by locals and visitors alike. Terrific scran at a great price

The best Ice Cream of Glasgow is available here. 🍦is my personal favourite with raspberry sauce on it. Brilliant service and friendly staff as well. Manual preparation of the ice cream cone is the best part, what a perfection!!! Food is also decent enough here. I tried burgers and 🍟, it was good.

Have dined in and had Take Away. Food excellent. Friendly family business for 106 years. Excellent staff.

Best Ice Cream in Scotland and it's not even close.

It resembled travelling back to the 1960s. The decor is vintage as is the Scottish menu. Staff V genial. Definitely worth visiting.

Lovely staff and AMAZING ice cream. They do both sit ins and take away. The menu is a collection of standard British staples (there are pictures of mac&cheese with chips, lasagna with chips and such like on the wall), so you'll enjoy it if it's your kind of thing.

Absolutely loved it ❤️ Been living in Scotland for over 11 years and I can't believe it's taken me this long to visit the University Cafe. I had heard great things about it and it was a lovely first experience. The staff are so lovely, well mannered and made us feel so welcome. I can't wait to bring my kids here. They will love it 😀

Uni Café: A constant in the food serving business. Food is the same as it was in the 70s. Brilliant! Hi Gino!

Retro Glasgow cafe selling great comfort food and delicious ice cream to eat in or take away.

Lovely staff and a delicious 'Hot Peas' for lunch. Ice-cream is also a must here and the coffee is always a delight. A must visit if you're in the area.

Really enjoyed,takes you back to another era

Ice cream was amazing, loved it and highly recommended for a treat

I had One of my best English breakfasts here.

Best ice cream in the west end.

Amazing home made ice creams. We tried the vanilla ice cream in a cone🍦 which was just perfect

I have been going to the University Cafe for more than 40 years and have always loved it there as the staff are friendly and the food is REALLY GOOD!!!!!! As a STRICT vegetarian due to my love of animals, however, I do have to say that I am being EXTREMELY GENEROUS by giving them 3 stars due to the fact that they do NOT use free range eggs!!!!

Good solid meal (Fish and Tea), along with some nice desert treats afterwards. After reading great reviews, we walked a great deal across town to visit this iconic location. Haddock is tasty. The location is busy, however the service was friendly and fast. My expectations were too high, otherwise this is 5 stars.

Lovely old style Cafe. A place for a nostalgia banana split.

A bit overpriced and small portions too. I had expected much better. The woman who served us was not very friendly. Food was mediocre at best

Love this cafe, food and ice cream were great x

Great traditional chippy cafe with good portions and nice Ice cream

Historic all-day breakfast and ice cream cafe, should be on everyone's West End hit-list of places to see. Bourdain filmed here for the "Parts Unknown" series in 2015.

This was a lovely cafe ,great place for food. Staff was lovely.

Had a lovely coffee and Knickerbocker glory here with my friend

Been there on April, 2022. Everything was delicious; staff super attentive! Guys were kind enough to prepare us some orders off menu (like deep-fried haggis, mars bar etc.). I fell in love with Glasgow and this centenary cosy Café! Hope to meet them lads soon again! Best regards from Brazil! =*

The toilets are a horror show but otherwise this place is an absolute joy! Love the history, the seating, the retro vibe and they do some mega ice cream and desserts. We keep going back.

Great breakfast and the staff was really kind. The best café I have ever been in my 3 months in Glasgow. I will come back for some ice cream before leaving the city.

Smashing ice cream and pie and peas.. give it a try. Place has been there since God was a boy!

Lasagne is just the best , the very best, However no good for your waistline, heheh heheh, I could not fit into the booth !!!!! Too tasty

'A pure dead brilliant place'. Hand made ice cream and hot foods. Some are for eat in only. We've known this place since we were kids. Love ❤️ it and the food yum yum. Breaded haddock, chips and buttered bread with large cups of tea. Magic. Then the best bit. Dessert. I had the double nougat with my wife having an oyster. Both filled with home made vanilla ice cream. Fabulous 👌. It's small on the inside but the welcome and service is super. We go there as often as we can when up in Glasgow.

Was in on Sunday morning had scrambled Egs toast. Coffee. Friends also got full breaky. Food nice. Coffee really gd. Staff lovely girls who served us great. Will def be back.

Quite nice for a wee cheap bite to eat. Have nice ice cream, like the old fashioned shells and nuggets that you get from the Italian ice cream van .

Excellent ice cream! We came for the Anthony Bourdain experience— and the pie/peas/chips which were fun, but the ice cream is amazing. Proper, good ice cream. Clearly no added yucky stuff. I’m very picky about ice cream.

Great people, great food, great experience.

Dreadful breakfast served to me sausages and potatoe scone both returned to staff the replacement was as bad won't ever eat at the four cafe again 😢

Great staff. Very wholesome food.

Brilliant cafe, good food and friendly staff. A step back in time. Love it.

The only fish'n'chip shop in the world with a Michelin Red Star.. and still only £7! (Also best ice-cream :)

Great wee place a must visit in Glasgow; a remedy to all the bare walled, hipster, served on a slate, same as anywhere cafés.