The 78

Relaxed, fun vibe here and quite good for hanging out and chatting with friends or people watching. Sad to say (I’m vegetarian and love vegan food) that the three times I’ve been, I find the selection and quality of food uninspired and not particularly well made. On the plus, it’s very affordable.

I visited this cosy bar/​restaurant for a bite and something to drink with work colleagues. We decided on this place as both of my friends had been before and enjoyed it. A place serving solely vegan food would never be my top choice — in fact I’d never eaten a vegan meal before visiting here but I was pleasantly surprised.
I ordered a tasty ‘harissa’ burger from the specials board. It was a slightly spicy veggie patty with a mexican flavour accompanied by humous and a tangy ‘jam’. The burger came with hand cut jacket chips and a lovely little side salad that was garnished with pulses. Upon serving our drinks (a bottle of white wine to share) our waitress also brought us a bottle of iced water, upon serving our burgers she brought condiments. It was a refreshing change to have these offered rather than having to ask.
The atmosphere was lovely, welcomed by a roaring open fire after coming in from a cold and rainy Glasgow. This place is so relaxed, attracting a wide range of different people — they even let your dog join you! This place is definitely worth a visit, vegan or not. You’re sure to find something tasty on the menu or simply enjoy a bevvy or two in front of an open fire on a cold winters evening. Better yet, the meal and drinks were very reasonably priced so you won’t break the bank! For our burger meal, bottle of wine and a tip we paid £13pp.

Great little vegan bar in the West End of Glasgow. We went for Dub n’ Grub night where they had a reggae DJ.
Not we were expected to hear in our first night in Scotland, but was a great start to a chill night. College aged and 20 or 30 something’s mainly there. Get there early for a table on nights with music.

Mostly I come here for the cheap ale. Sam Smith’s Yorkshire ale is usually on draft and, being a Yorkshire lass, I can’t resist a taste of home. I’m also a big fan of the live jazz nights they run on Sundays — the atsmosphere is amazing and the place is always packed so if you’d like to be able to get a table make sure you turn up nice and early.
It’s a quirkly pub with mis-​matched, sometimes slightly eldery furniture. A couple of squishy armchairs and sofas are my favourite spots to sit. Watch out in winter though, you don’t want to be sitting too close to the doors because they’re draughty even when they’re closed and they get opened and closed a lot as people come and go.
The food is vegetarian and often vegan. Now, I’m no vegetarian but I think you’d be hard pushed to find a superior veggie burger to the one on offer here. I think if they had a meat alternative I’d still order the veggie burger — it’s filling and flavourful and comes with a good portion of chips. Also try their brownies if you’ve got any space left.

I’ve been here a couple of times, and both times the food and atmosphere were great; staff are relaxed but on to it too :)
You get such a good, hearty meal, packed with so much veggie goodness, and they have a few good beers and wines to go with it.
I think there’s a jazz band on a Sunday, but we didn’t stay to listen this time.
Really love the vibe of the place.

The 78 has been one of my most frequently visited bars throughout four years at Uni, and has played host to catch ups, celebrations, predrinks and hungover breakfasts.
It used to be a lot cheaper, but is still pretty decent with pints ranging from 3 – 4 quid. The food is tasty vegan grub, not usually crazy amazing, but consistently good. Their veggie breakfast is unreal though! And their specials are usually quite exciting.
They have great deals on (like 25% off for students on Tuesdays, or the Dutchy Pot nights, where food starts at £2!) The staff are variable, sometimes super friendly, sometimes a bit overworked, but never rude.
It’s a great spot to hang out and even get some work done during the day, as they have free wifi and comfy seats, plus during the week it’s not too busy. My favorite times at the 78 are always when it’s packed to the brim with people and there’s a live reggae or jazz band on. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, as you virtually have to climb over people to get to their toilets (which are not the snazziest or most functional, by the way) or bar, and it gets pretty noisy so isn’t the best for conversation. That said, the drunken, dancing, shouted conversations I’ve had at the 78 are some of the best I can remember, and I can attest that it’s the perfect place to kick off your evening if you’re heading down to the Berkely Suite for Walk N’ Skank on a Thursday night!
Overall, the 78 is studenty, cheapish, chilled out, and lots of fun.

I like the laid back vibe of The 78, and every time I go for a visit, I’m lucky enough to attend a coohl event like Mungo Hi-fi’s Record Store Day sale or the Dutch Pot dinner special. But every time I go, there’s always at least one staff member that has the grumpiest expression. This is always the case with restaurants/​pubs like these.
When the partner and I went over last Thursday for some healthy vegan food, we were pleasantly surprised with the Dutch Pot special dinner night thinggy! The food on offer was a starter of beetroot dip/​hummus with bread, a main of beetroot and quinoa fritters with salad and some sides, like chips and such.
So ok, we ordered that! 2 mains, a starter and a side (totally up to 7pounds each, which was a bargain). The food we ate was awesome! So fresh and delicious! Sometimes you forget how tasty vegetables can be, when cooked and prepared right. They have 2 thumbs up for food, that’s for sure!
Music playing that night was awesome too (as always). They were playing reggae, assuming it was a Mungo Hi-​fi set list. Relaxing it was!
The only thing I really disliked was the one tiny chic behind the bar that had a chronic grumpy face. She was not happy when we paid for our food, nor was she happy when she served us our food. Even when she said «enjoy your meal», the tone of it felt more like «ugh just enjoy your damn meal», ya know what I mean? C’mon, doesn’t take THAT much effort to smile! Do you want people to go to the 78 or do you want to scare them off?
If the staff were friendlier, I’d give it a 4 star but oh well. Grumpiness gets a 3!

I’m tempted to give 4 stars because being a vegan in a vegan restaurant giving 5 stars seems a bit obvious, but if there’s been any downfall for me in any of Glasgow’s vegan places it’s usually either been the service, or the thump thump vibration of music from downstairs coming through the floor, and neither of them applied today, so I’m sticking with 5. I’m sure if I’d ordered a special from the menu it would have been a no-​brainer, but I didn’t — I went for something I’ve ordered often, the tempeh, refried beans, and cheese quesadillas with chips, because three of my favourite foods are chips, cheese, and tempeh.
The chips were alright, not my favourite chips in Glasgow, but nice enough and their mayo is amazing. Also, they don’t charge extra for the mayo, and most places do, so I see this as a huge plus point. Quesadillas were good, but they put a salsa on top which had a bit of a bitter edge I didn’t really like. The food arrived quickly, plates were cleared quickly after we’d finished eating, and our order was taken at the table quickly (although we had already ordered at the bar when we’d ordered our drinks).
As for the toilets, well it’s quite a studenty place so I suppose expectations shouldn’t really be high, but since I’m writing a review and it’s my job to be picky, and I like a nice bathroom — one toilet was out of order, one had the roll sitting to the side rather than in the holder, and one had loads of toilet paper sitting in it that it looked blocked. They seem to paint over the graffiti, but I quite liked that actually, sometimes you’d find some crackers as you sat reading on the toilet. However, good hand drier!

The 78 has the best contemporary jazz I have found in town. So, if you like jazz this is the place to be on Sunday. The down side is, you can definitely tell this is a college joint on that night as well… Not that there is anything wrong with that, just not what I was hoping for when it comes to the best jazz in town.
I don’t recommend you order a cocktail here, the bartender I had was not exactly knowledgable. Oh and they have absolutely no London Dry gin, at least that was what I was told. The gin and soda I ended up with was weak sauce with a chunk of unsqueezed lime thrown in. The up-​side is The 78 has an excellent beer selection, so stick to the beer!
I cannot comment on the food because I did not have anything. This place would not be my ‘go-​to’ anyway since I am a carnivore, so I will leave that for the vegetarians to decide.
In summary go here for good live music. Some regulars were telling me about other great music throughout the week. Drink the beer and you should be good to go!

5 stars for The 78 can be summed up in two words; Beetroot Falafel. But i’ll get back to that after explaining what else makes it so good.
The staff are brilliant. Really friendly and welcoming. Keen to interact with customers, have a chat and even happier to field questions about their food and drink.
It’s a smallish place. The bar is long but there is limited seating during busy periods. If you want a table, i’d book ahead. But there’s plenty space to stand and tables and chairs outside for the nicer weather. It’s got a very rustic ‘converted barn’ feel. Lots of dark wood and sofas in front of the fire. I imagine it’s a cosy place during the darker months as well as a bright and airy place during the summer.
They have a huge range of top notch beers; bottled and on tap. Lots of choice from local/​Scottish/​craft breweries. Their wine is a little more limited but all bases are covered and their spirit selection is equally as impressive as their beers.
Now for the food. I had the soup of the day to start, which was Borscht. It was excellent. Beetroot can turn out far too sweet but this soup was perfectly balanced. It’s very rare I don’t feel the need to add any seasoning to a soup but this was spot on. For mains I had the falafel platter, which included 3 large falafels, warm pitta, salad, hummus and baba ganoush. All was perfect, the hummus was silky, baba ganoush full of flavour but the falafel stood out. Especially the beetroot falafel. It was perfectly seasoned with spice, had a hint of coconut and was crisp on the outside, fluffy and moist on the inside.
The 78 offers a super chilled-​out and comfortable space, with great drinks options and rich, wholesome, very tasty food that could not leave even the most committed carnivore unsatisfied.

I want to give this place 5 stars, but the service was unbelievably slow and rude. I was in Glasgow for 2 days, and went here twice. The first time was a Saturday, and my friends and I all ordered the brunch. The highlights were the tofu scramble and house made vegan sausages, nicely complimented by the other components of the breakfast. The tattie scones were perfect. Everything was very well seasoned. My bloody mary was tasty, and my friends selected a few interesting beers. The food took about 45 minutes to arrive (for 4 people), but it was so delicious that I wasn’t bothered.
We liked the place so much that we went back the next day, at the same time, and were told that they had run out of brunch. No apologies, no offers for substitutes-​we were simply told that we ‘should have called in advance’. Okay. One of my friends was so offended that she left at this point and decided not to eat here. The three of us that remained ordered the veggie burger, quesadilla, and chipotle wrap. We shared the three entrees and were impressed by everything. Great balance of flavors, nice texture to everything. Really hearty and delicious. But again, the food took almost 1 hour to arrive. We complained and received free desserts, which our waitress was NOT excited about. All of them were excellent and served with Swedish Glacé ice cream, my personal favorite. I love the food here, but they really need to work on their customer service.

The 78 is one of my fave bars in the Finnieston area. Airy with (limited) outdoor seating in summer, and super-​cozy in winter with a real fire, it’s great year-​round.
The venue is vegan, with a fairly extensive food menu and wide choice of drinks, on tap and in bottle.
On my last visit, we enjoyed some snacky stuff (hummus, olives and pitta bread) and a good belly-​full of organic beer and cider. The olives were really plump and ‘meaty’ (am I allowed to say this in a review for a vegan restaurant?) and hummus moreish.
Live music is on most evenings, with jazz and an open mic night the last twice I visited. The intimacy of the venue for music is brilliant. Every time I’ve visited the music has been fantastic — and I’m not as fan of jazz!
Popular with local students, vegetarian diners, and musos, the 78 isn’t too hipsterish thankfully!

Being an audiophile, I was first attracted to The 78 because of it’s name. When I discovered it was vegan, i became more curious. And now when I have to go to Glasgow, I’m often mapping the place I need to go partly to see if it’s close to The 78.
I really like this place. I’m not a vegan or vegetarian, but am sympathetic to both of these lifestyles of eating. I often feel that carnivores use meat (and their accompanying sauces) as a crutch and go-​to in their dining. Taking it off the menu provides for creative opportunities and that’s what The 78 seizes upon.
On my most recent visit I opted for the Classic 78 burger with Spicy cajun chips. I thoroughly enjoyed the burger. And I’m sucker for anything cajun and for spicy chips, so this was a no-​brainer and I wasn’t disappointed. They also have a good selection of drinks.
The only issue is that the service can be a bit slow sometimes or you may even be waiting a little while for someone to serve you at the bar. Also, It’s worth noting that they have a Dutchy Pot event on Thursday evenings when the regular menu is not served.

This was to be another venue for out Unilocal Brunch Club. I have been really enjoying the meet ups and the people so was looking forward to hitting this Glasgow joint. Well, that’s if I found the place, yup, I made the mistake and thought it was the 78 on St Vincent Street in town. Doh! I didn’t double check, my bad?! This 78 is open unlike the one in town and also based in the Finnieston area of the West End.
So once Ian M and I eventually made it we checked out their menu, with slightly embarrassed red faces no less. Hehe! I hadn’t realised this place was completely vegan, I thought they did a good selection a vegan/​veggie dishes so this was an eye opener for this wee carnivore muncher. I do like to have meat free days so was happy to try and especially off their brunch/​breakfast menu.
I opted for the Weekend Breakfast with a pot of tea, as it sounded mighty tasty. I had decided to stick with tea unlike the jakies (other Unilocalers) starting on a beer for breakfast. OK, so the breakfast, it had vegan sausages, baked beans, scrambled tofu, tattie scones and toast. I asked to have it with a tomato and mushrooms, not my favourite vegetable.
Well it was an interesting taste and the tofu was weird and a bit green. I don’t mind tofu but I think the texture/​scramble and colour was just too weird for me. The sausages were nice but the toast was brick hard. It was massive slices of crusty bread toasted, it was impossible for me to eat so unfortunately I had to abandon.
I got a real surprise moment with my tea as it was really sweet and I don’t like sweet tea, I had double check if someone had snuck in sugar. I was then reminded we’re in a vegan restaurant so no milk, soya only. Ahhhh!
So overall it was an interesting experience, and that’s not mentioning the banter. I do believe plane lap belt dancing was a topic. Hehe! I don’t know if I’d go back for the food, I really missed my meat and milk. I think if you’re vegan and veggie you will love it. I’m glad I got to try and I think that no doubt this place would be good for some evening drinks.
Thanks again to Briony for organising and I look forward to trying the next Bruch Club venue. Mmm brunch!

I have been to The 78 many times for beers and if I was reviewing it on a bar alone it would have been 5 stars however on this occasion I would love to go with 3.5 not quiet a 4 and not as bad as 3.
Food choices this place has plenty of options for vegetarian. A nice selection of burgers. To start I had a shared mix platter of olives hummus and pitta bread! This is a must if you are eating here. Mains were a little disappointing I went for the 78 burger it was massive in size and extremely dry. It came with a side of chunky chips and salad which was nice. I washed it all down with a Williams brothers birds an bees. They have a real great selection of beers.
The bar has a real cosy atmosphere mix of furniture tables and chairs. The staff here are really friendly and always ready to help and give help on food choices.

I really like the 78 as a bar, but for food I am far from convinced…
The bar part first, good location, friendly staff, cool beers and a nice relaxed vibe. I would not hesitate to go for a few pints here. Throw in the fact they allow the mutt to join me, this means as a choice for a drinking spot I am always happy to go to the 78.
I am afraid though on the food front it was a bit of a let down. I grew up eating loads of vegetarian and vegan food as my mum was a veggie and so were two of my older sisters. So the fact the 78 has a vegan menu did not phase me at all. The issue was the choices I made just seemed a bit bland. The 78 burger lacked seasoning or sauce. The chips that went with it were more about quantity than quality. For starters the olives were nice but the Houmous was pretty tasteless in my opinion. Vegan food can taste awesome if done right, but the dishes I chose were well wide of the mark on the flavour front. 4 stars as a bar, 2 stars for food. 3 stars overall.

A few Unilocalers have been meeting for brunch and this past weekend it was the turn of The 78 to do the hosting.
Important note: ‘The 78′ is in the Kelvingrove area, ‘78’ was a restaurant on St. Vincent Street (now something else). Not that anyone made that mistake… (no, it wasn’t me!)
I’ve seen good reviews of this place and so was keen to see what was on the menu. I tend not to select vegan eateries because I enjoy being a carnivore (no snobbery or anything, I’d just usually want something meat based) so having the brunch here helped push me to try it out.
Inside you are welcomed by a somewhat ramshackle place that looks lived in without being weary, with some random decorations here and there. It’s the kind of look a lot of places aim for but get wrong, The 78 felt very inviting from the minute I stepped inside.
The bar is reasonably well stocked with some good ales, and as the sun was past the yardarm I plumped for a pint of Seven Giraffes (I’m blaming Graeme H for that) and started to survey the menu.
Many of us had a similar question, what was in The 78 Full Weekend Breakfast? Our friendly waitress happily confirmed that it was toast, mushrooms, beans, vegan sausages, scrambled tofu, potato scones and … did she say toast already?
I was sold and pretty soon our dishes arrived. A hearty looking plate full was put in front of me and I have to admit it was delicious. The sausages were tasty, the scrambled tofu was delicious and I’d soon polished off the lot! Only downsides were that some of the items had obviously been sitting under a heat lamps for a little while, the toast (toasted baguette slices) was a little on the hard side (I managed mine, others couldn’t even break the the bread with their teeth).
The staff were friendly, the food tasty and the company was as interesting and weird as ever (I mean that in a loving way… the conversation about seat belt lap dances… well I’ll say no more).
I’d happily eat here again, even though I fear I wouldn’t choose it myself.

I am so full of food that my belly hurts and I need to lie on the couch for a while, but in a warm and cosy Christmas Day kind of way and it’s all thanks to an evening of glorious food at The 78. Tonight was their weekly Dutchy Pot event, where there’s a set menu of cheap and comforting food, full of goodness and entirely vegan.
On the menu tonight was kale, spinach and coconut soup (£2) which was absolutely delicious, followed by Jamaican bean stew with quinoa (£5), with sides of chunky chips or flatbread (£2) and some gorgeous ginger and chocolate cake for dessert (£2).
The staff were relaxed and friendly and added to the pleasant experience where the atmosphere was warm and welcoming, with dim lighting, old records and comfy armchairs that wouldn’t look out of place in your own living room.

As a meat eater, I’ve never understood why some folk automatically ignore vegan food without even trying it. Good food is good food regardless of what’s in it, and I can definitely do without meat every now and again. And on the strength of this visit everyone should give this place a go, for great food that is seriously good value.
For a start, it’s a really nice place to sit for a pint. Full of nice unmatched chairs and tables, great music (Pavement!), and a kind of old pub feel that doesn’t feel manufactured it definitely is a place you could spend a few hours in — the beers on tap and bottle are also pretty great. I would say that some of the doors in don’t shut properly, so you may want to avoid sitting in front of them on a cold windy day.
The food! For the price you’re paying (£11-​odd each for four folk sharing a starter, a main and dessert each and a couple of drinks) was seriously good. The nachos starter were fantastic, and had dark chocolate in them which really added to the flavour. I had the falafel burger, which tasted as good as any meat burger I’ve had in Glasgow (this is a special, so it may not be on all the time) and the chilli fries were brilliant — proper potato wedge style chips that were cooked perfectly. Dessert was a chocolate and orange tort. This was great, but could have been a wee bit smaller, at the end I was eating big claggy bits of tort.
I had always fancied coming here, as I really like its sister bars. This could be the pick of the bunch though, especially as far as the food goes. Go and enjoy!

Yummy vegan food! We have been wanting to come here for a while and now that were here we re glad we finally made it! Planing out next trip back! So IMPORTANT info on Thursday nights they have this set menu like thing which at first we were bummed about bc we wanted to try the vegan burgers. But alas we weren’t able. The Dutchy Pot thur night was great though!!! We loved it!
Great selection of beers and drinks!
My husband and I aren’t vegan but were pollo-​pescatarian s and I’m lactose intolerant (I know we limit our lives! Haha) so it was great being able to eat the cheese and sour cream tonight and not have to worry especially in this country of cream and bacon this Resturant is my new haven !
Also did I mention it’s cheap ! Great prices!

Mon coup de coeur à Glasgow. Une ambiance cozy, excellente musique indépendante, un staff vraiment sympa, une bonne bouffe végétarienne (avec une réduction pour les étudiants) et un choix de bières de petites brasseries locales. Parfait pour une petite halte après une promenade dans Kelvingrove, ou tout simplement pour se détendre avant d’aller de sortir au Lebowki’s ou dans Byres Road.
Bonus: Un des seuls bars de Glasgow à proposer des bières provenant de la brasserie Samuel Smith.

Als ich letztes Wochenende das erste Mal in der Bar 78 war, war ich echt angenehm ueberrascht. Es sind die vielen Kleinigkeiten, die die Bar in meinen Augen zu etwas besonderem machen.
Die Bar hat eine echt grosse Auswahl and englischen und schottischen Bieren, aber auch internationale Sorten sind dabei. Im Gegensatz zu den meisten anderen Bars im West End war es hier zwar voll aber nicht
super voll wie sonst überall üblich.
Eine echt angenehme Atmosphäre, keine Fernseher and den Waenden, né geschmackvolle Inneneinrichtung und gute Musik erledigen dann ihr übriges.
Ich werd da ab jetzt auf jeden Fall öfters hin gehen!