The Squid & Whale

I went to The Squid & Whale with friends after work — I’d never been before and was excited about trying the Mexican themed food. But left feeling a wee bit disappointed.
The service was pretty slow, our mains took a rather lengthly time to come out — and when they did mine was luke warm. By this point I was too hungry to send it back, so plodded on regardless. The food was just OK. I had a pulled pork burrito and the chipotle fries. It took me a while to get past the fact it was barely warm and on second thoughts I should probably have just sent it back. But I didn’t want to cause a scene.
The burrito was uninspiring. There wasn’t much flavour too it — the rice was tasteless and the pulled pork had an overpowering tinge of black pepper. It cost extra to get guac or jalapeños on the burrito, but I feel these extras are a must as they packed the most flavour. The seasoning on the fries was nice, but in my opinion it could have done with a nice pot of spicy mayo to dip them into in.
It was a bit ‘meh’. I could take it or leave it, but I wouldn’t hurry back. I must admit that I’ve made far tastier mexican food at home myself.

Being an American we heard that this place was a Mexican Restaurant and we should give it a go. To say we were let down would be an understatement.
The chips, salsa and guacamole were beyond bland. There was literally no spiciness or flavor. I’m not sure if they actually know what guacamole is. It truly was just avocados mashed up with tons of onions in it. There was no garlic, tomatoes, jalapenos, etc. We couldn’t even finish it. The chips that came with it were also quite stale.
We ordered tacos and a venison burrito because the server told us the venison burrito was the spiciest thing on the menu. I’m wondering if she’d ever consumed the burrito herself because it was not spicy at all. It also contained potatoes which were not listed on the description on the menu. Potatoes do not belong in burritos unless they’re breakfast burritos.
The service was decent and the ambiance was very relaxed but the food was majorly disappointing. We have not gone back and do not plan to.

Still a five star experience, although maybe for different reasons from the last time.
In the 2 years (! — absolutely flown in) since it’s opened, not much has really changed, and to be honest it didn’t really need to. It still sells good beers and spirits, and it’s a great place to spend some time. It plays a great selection of music, and maintains a decent level of cool without dropping into full hipster mode.
I remember being blown away by the food when I was first there, and while I still really enjoyed it I don’t know if the wow factor is still there. This could entirely be down to me (i remember being absolutely ravenous when I ate here first!), and perhaps the opening of slightly more interesting Mexican places in the time since have meant that I’m used to other stuff that burritos and chilli. Having said that, I seem to remember the menu being a little more out there the last time — what was a printed A4 menu that looked like it would change is now a fancy printed job that looks like it’s hard and fast. What I had was good, and I can happily recommend it, but I just remember it being one of the best meals I had enjoyed back in the day, whereas now it’s just (merely) really good.
Still very much a 5 star experience though, and well worth a visit. With the Hug and Pint just across the road Great Western Road is now a good place for an indie pub crawl!

Had to update based on recent experiences. The food quality is no longer consistent; depending on who’s working, I’ve seen massive variety in how things are served. The service lately has also started to suffer; it’s still acceptable, but sometimes it takes forever to get someone’s attention, and at least a few of the newer staff members tend to be kind of short and gruff with customers. When it’s good, it’s really really good, but when it’s bad, it’s offputting. I hope this trend doesn’t continue — it’s been one of my favourites.

Visited here for a late lunch one Saturday afternoon as we were in the area. The menu sounded very promising with a wide selection of Mexican inspired dishes and a good choice of veggie fillings, however it’s didn’t quite live up to expectations.
Nothing was too heavy or stodgy and Luther H had some tacos that looked nice. Lovely side salad and I had a great cocktail. But the food just felt like it was missing a kick, a hit of seasoning or a bit more depth which I expect from Mexican food. The best part of my burrito was the rice!
It wasn’t bad for the price we payed, and the staff were so helpful and friendly. Alright lunch, I imagine it would be a nice venue for evening drinks but I would t be rushing back for dinner.

I have such bad luck with Mexican food! I really thought the food here would be great after seeing photos on Unilocal but I found it mediocre. I had the Ensenada tacos which contain beer battered haddock, salsa, guacamole, shredded lettuce and sour cream. A delicious sounding combo but the flavour was a let down. I also tried a mini quesadilla with chicken mole which again I found lacking in flavour but it still tasted ok. Maybe I expect too much?! The food was fresh and nicely presented and I like that you can order a bunch of small things so you can try lots. The prices are pretty reasonable and the venue is relaxed.
Unilocal check in will get you 10% off the bill.

A quick visit here for one drink and a top up on dinner as I was still a bit hungry. Service was great: drinks and food arrived promptly and bill received and paid quickly. I even used my Unilocal check in offer of 10% off food! (Although we weren’t buying much food on this visit.)
Music was quite funky — no idea who was playing but I was chair dancing a little and was ideal for a jive — had I the space, the coordination, and the ballsiness to do so.
I just got a Williams Bros March of the Penguins — I didn’t feel in the mood for trying anything new. Hubbie had a Krusovice.
For food I knew I wanted seitan and at a little under £8 for four small tacos with a small side salad and nachos it was the perfect size and price of dish to share to fill the little post-​dinner gap. The seitan was in cubes and was nicely firm but not too chewy as some meat substitutes can be.
The toilets are quite small and a tight squeeze trying to get around other patrons touching up their makeup as I go to wash my hands. The joys of being out for a drink in a popular haunt on a Friday night. The hot tap didn’t turn on and the handdrier is a bit weak.
I’d like to pop back in some time for the seitan burrito and take a better look at their drinks range.

I have been here twice, I want to like it, but unfortunately it just didn’t cut it. Squid and Whale does have a happening vibe and good drinks, so for drinks I think I would recommend it.
The nachos were my favorite, but it is hard to mess up tortilla chips and cheese. I have also had the ceviche. For those of you that don’t know what ceviche is: it is raw fish or shellfish that is marinaded in citrus which causes an acidic breakdown of protein making it seem ‘cooked’, which is then spiced up with various garnishes. This dish has to be marinated for a fair amount of time… I think the restaurant must have been running out of the dish because I pretty much had a few pieces of fish and some dry vegetation on each tortilla crisp (3). Also, there were strawberries on it, which I have never seen before. Strawberries are an interesting concept and I think it would be good with cilantro and citrus, but just not well executed. Normally the tortillas would be piled with the ceviche, not to mention the bit of fish was very dry. This was the first major fail for me. They should have just said they were out, instead of serving crap ceviche. For a Mexican restaurant I felt like it was lacking in options for salsa too, but they had an ‘exotic’ Scottish hot sauce (Glasgow Mega Death), which was excellent!
The taquitos were good, but different than what I would think of as a taquito. However, if its good, I’m not really complaining. The other strange thing was this ‘asada’ stuff they had on the menu, which is some weird vegan wannabe carne asada. Stop teasing and put carne asada on the menu too.
One of my friends had the chilli, it looked amazing and she said it was fabulous. It is also the first thing on the menu, so I will get that next time I make it in there. The margaritas are also great, which is why I would go here for drinks.
The service has been pretty slow both times, though both servers were very nice. The food also took forever from the time of ordering. Squid and Whale has a cool name, good concept, but needs work.

Been looking for these type of Tacos for a loooooong time!
I have been to Squid and Whale before but never reviewed it… bad Unilocaler! This time I made sure to take note to write a review. So here goes…
I had fish tacos in America and they I remember them often and fondly. They were freshly battered fish fillets in a crispy taco with the most amazingly fresh pico de Gallo, Guac and sour cream. I have been searching in Glasgow for something as good for a long time. I think I may have finally found somewhere that does them.
I had 4 fish tacos at Squid and Whale. The batter was light and crispy and a the fish fillet was fresh and tasty. The salsa was lovely and the sour cream was moreish. I asked for extra sour cream which they brough out free of charge. My only gripe was that there was no choice of a crispy taco, only soft ones. I also shared a portion of Chipotle fries which were delicious.
Special mention has to go to the range of hote sauces. They had different flavours of Cholula and also the excellent Glasgow Mega Death sauce. In my opinion, ALL Glasgow spicy establishments should stock Mega Death and support a locally produced product.
We also got 10% off as we checked in on Unilocal… amazing. The only thing that was not great was the service. It was not rubbish but I still had to go and ask for the bill. It will not put me off now that I have discovered their tacos.

Squid and Whale is located on Great Western Road, the vibe is very much west end hipster. There is lots of wooden furniture and odd teeth and triangle murals on the walls. The lighting is pretty low with candles in old bottles on the tables and lots of cactus dotted about… I would sat it is definitely a bar that serves food rather than a restaurant, but that is cool and totally normal in the west end.
I should probably point out that it was so noisy when were in, this wasn’t due to music but just the noise from tables, at times I couldn’t hear what people sitting next to me were saying, this wasn’t a huge probable for me but worth mentioning that on a Tuesday night it was pretty lively and loud.
So let’s get a little negative out the way first — the REALLY slow service. I would firstly like to point out that on the night Squid and Whale sent me an unprompted tweet after our meal which I appreciated, they apologised for the service as they had been caught off guard by how busy it was that evening. We arrived at 7.30 and we got our starters at about 8.15 and then our mains at 9.20…I was starving so this did not go down well but I understand that the kitchen was just over run. Would it stop me going back? Maybe!
Now that I have gotten that off my chest I can rave about the seriously delicious food. The menu is loaded with deliciously tempting mexican dishes. Mr G and I decided to share starters so we went for 2 Oaxaca Tacos which consisted of shredded chicken in a rich mole negro salsa fresco, house guacamole and soured cream, and we ordered a portion of Taquitos De Cochinta which is Mayan style pulled pork, rolled in little corn tortillas and fried until golden.
When the food finally arrived it looked and smelt amazing. First I dove into the Oaxaca taco which was over flowing with fillings and tasted amazingly fresh and light. I would say if you order the tacos for a main you would probably want to order 4 as the were smallish but a good size for a starter.
The Taquitos De Cochinta were gorgeous little golden nuggets of deliciousness. I could have happily munched my way through a lot of these. They were crunchy and slightly greasy on the outside and inside the were stuffed full of soft lush pulled pork that was so flavoursome. This was definitely my favourite dish of the night.
For my main I ordered a Yucatan burrito which was described as Conchinita pibil (slow roasted pulled pork), rice, frijoles refritos, jack cheese, salsa fresca and soured cream, along with this I ordered a side of chipolte Fries. When the burrito eventually arrived I could have eaten anything I was so hungry but thankfully it was absolutely delicious and easily the best burrito I have every eaten.
Unfortunately our chipotle chips never appeared and a waiter never passed our table while we were eating to ask about them, I think possibly the weren’t added to the order as they never appeared on the bill.
The food was lovely and I would definitely recommend it based just on that, however the wait was horrendous. In a large group it wasn’t too bad but if it had just been Mr G and myself and we had to wait nearly 2 hours for our main dishes I probably would have walked out. I appreciate that they didn’t anticipate being that busy but I couldn’t really leave the issues we had unmentioned as it did effect our experience.
I would visit again for food but if it was even close to being busy when we walked in I wouldn’t stay. I’d say it’s definitely worth another visit tho.

Finally, a pub on this spot of GWR which looks like it is here to stay, and good Lord may that continue! For far too long this place has been changing hands more often than a scabby £5 bank note, so I really hope these guys can stick it out.
What the Squid and Whale have managed to do is find a thing called a «niche», unlike many of its now dearly departed predecessors ;) The ‘Squid’ is probably the only place in town at the moment making proper authentic Mexican food and so if you are craving some awesome soft shell tacos or Devil’s Shrip, you know where to come.
This is the second time I’ve eaten here since the move away from a more Tex-​Mex style cuisine. And it was a good choice on their behalf. The food is much lighter, tastier and offers something different to the hordes of American style restaurants in Glasgow at the moment.
On this particular visit I opted for the Yucatan pork tacos. The tacos can be bought as pairs, ideal as a starter or as a plate of four, which would make a great main. There are some really good taco options, last time I tried the haddock tacos and they were divine. The pork ones, didn’t quite top the fishy ones, but they were super tasty all the same.
I’d been hearing on the rumor mill that the Seitan Asada was one of the best things to eat. Seitan, if you don’t know, is basically wheat gluten, so its is very high in protein and suitable for vegans. It kinda looked and tasted like kebab meat which may be off putting to some, but not me. It was really nice, as it had been well marinated, however it was really a bit overly salty so I struggled to finish it unfortunately.
The pub itself is a great place to hang out, with a nice chilled out hipster vibe. There is table service, good music, cool, zany decorations and paintings and a really decent beer list, including some good craft options.
Well worth a visit if your in and around the West End. Also you can get a cheeky 10% off your food bill if you check in on Unilocal

It was International Food Night #6 and on the menu this night was Mexican. This ain’t your usual run of the mill Mexican joint food this; was as authentic as you can get. Not been to Mexico and used to what we’ve been given as Mexican food in Glasgow but I’d say this was rather tasty stuff.
I decided to order two small dishes rather than a starter and main as I felt a main would have been just too much for little me. I ordered Taquitos de Conchinita from the Antojitos menu and also two of the Ensenada from the Tacos menu. It was all taco based choices but absolutely delicious.
The taquitos, crispy tacos filled with Mayan style pulled pork, was lovely and would you Adam and Eve it, I had had them previously on another visit. How could I forget about this cheeky wee dish?! I made the right choice by ordering again.
My other dish was made with soft tacos filled with haddock fried in a lightly Mexican beer batter accompanied with side salad. The fish really worked with the combo of Mexican delights including guacamole. I would highly recommend. I would maybe order the four the next time; they were that good.
A big thank you to Rocco G. who is the International Food Unilocal King for organising this fab wee night out. I can’t wait until night number 7. Bring it on!

I’ve been in search of authentic Mexican food in Glasgow for quite a while and I’ve finally struck gold! Went along to my first International Food outing with the Unilocal gang and was excited to try the Squid & Whale’s awesome looking menu. The first ting I noticed was Mayan style food… Result!
The night kicked off with a Modelo beer (favourite Mexican beer!) and it tasted just as good as it did on holiday.
Next up was the ‘Deviled Shrimp’ tacos. Big, juicy shrimps, fresh shredded lettuce, lovely soured cream and tasty tacos. Loved these. Just a little bit of a kick and not too filling for a starter.
Next up was the Conchinita Pibil. Slow roasted, Yucatan style pulled pork with green rice, pink pickled onions, queso fresca, frijoles refritos and house guacamole. This dish was incredible! So many flavours and textures. So authentic tasting too.
The décor in this place is cool, with funky artwork, Cactus plants everywhere and paper decorations.
Service was pretty slow, they seemed super busy, but this didn’t bother me too much. In fact, I’m glad when I see wee businesses like this so busy.
The bill came in at a £25 for two courses, two beers and a tip. This was with a sneakt 10% Unilocal check in discount too.
Already planning my return trip!

Just not quite as good as I remember…
I have been to squid and the whale a few times before and I always loved it, but if I’m being honest, I now just like it. We went here recently for an international food night out and for me things have changed slightly. It’s still a quirky place and it does great beer, but the food and service ain’t what it used to be.
I had the shrimp taco starter and the venison burrito main and I have to say the over all feeling for me was that it was lacking a bit of edge. It just all felt a bit plain and missing something flavour wise for what is meant to be Mexican food. I definitely preferred the old menu!
The place was really busy to, which meant at times the service was a bit slow. That’s fine for waiting in food, but it was also hard to catch staff attention to get drinks or the bill. All in it was still a great night with decent food, but it is no longer 5 stars. I would actually probably rate it 3.5, but will go with 4 to be positive.
Still worth a look, but not the amazeballs place I used to think it was.

I visited the Squid and Whale again over the holidays with a group of friends. I’d made a booking advance as I wasn’t sure how busy it would be on the Saturday after Christmas — they happily took a booking for 10 people without any bother.
On the day I mentioned I wasn’t entirely sure how many people were coming, and that we could have more than 10 — again, no problem, the bar guy said they were happy to add tables to ours if more people showed up.
While we were waiting for the rest of our table to arrive we ordered a plate of the veggie nachos. These are SO good and delicious and I highly recommend ordering them to share between a few people. For my meal I went for a serve of the taquitos (I really love them, ok?!) and 2 fish tacos. The waitress took our order in two parts to make it easier for the kitchen, which did mean food arrived at different times but at least she explained that while taking the order. As usual, the food was really fresh and tasty, and didn’t take long to arrive. I really love the beef taquitos so always get those, and was impressed by the fish tacos. The only downside being is that they come in a soft shell whereas I prefer crunchy — but no real bother.
Service was helpful and friendly throughout our visit and the bill was really reasonable. This is a really great bar to have a drink in, and it’s a added bonus the food is so good. I just wish they’d bring back the grits.

Briught the braw & maw here for lunch today. This was my first visit to the squid & whale (& it’s previous incarnations) as it was always seemed a little too far away & a bit off the radar.
Anyway, I’d noticed that S&W was gaining a lot of good press, so I decided it was time for a visit. We started with nachos (of course) which were loaded with Jalapeños & salsa. They were a great entrée to the rest of our food, fresh, zingy & (with the help of Glasgow Mega Death) a little spicy.
My brother & I ordered burritos, which were huge, filling & just what you want on a cold day! While I loved the burrito, I didn’t get the sense that there was much of the seitan asada in it, what I got was mainly rice. The maw ordered 2 tacos, which she loved. We ordered a side of guacamole despite it being included in all our orders (it’s guacamole after all!) The guac was fresh & you could taste the avocado, which is a big plus.
I really like the squid & whale, their beer menu is as exciting as the food (how many places can you say that about.) I really hope they tweak their menu a little as one or two changes (real cheese on the nachos & a little less rice/​more filling in the burritos) would really make this place a 5* I will return!

Before going to watch a performance at Webber Theatre, a friend and I opted to eat here. I love the décor, plenty of cacti and paper chains, mexican chic in my opinion.
I ordered a burrito with 3 stars of spice and my friend ordered vegetarian tacos. My burrito was hardly spicy at all, admittedly I have a high spice threshold, but this tasted good, but not chilli spiced at all. The vegetarian tacos were ok from what my friend said.
On the plus side, the beer was reasonably enough priced and the portion size is considerable! I did like getting a tiny amount of (tortilla) chips and salsa with my main.
Slight bug bear, from checking into the Unilocal app I got 10% discount. When asking for the bill, the waitress heard can I have the bill and didn’t let me add I have a discount… So when the bill came, I had to reask for the discount to be added and she took my phone to the manager as she didn’t seem aware of how to apply the discount. She then made a passing remark of «oh well you only saved like 2.50, so not that much.» Which was quite rude, and well it’s still a saving… (I think alcohol wasn’t discounted.)…
The bar looked well stocked, so might head back for a re-​review at a weekend and for some stronger drinks