Reviews Alston Bar & Beef

A great place to come while waiting for your train. A very nice steakhouse with a nice wine list. The food here was very nice and the décor was great. Friendly staff and a good beer selection. They even have a train monitor so you can see when your train is ready to go. Only pain is a lot of spiral stairs to get to the restaurant not great if you have a lot of heavy cases.

Alston Bar & Beef recently opened its doors in Glasgow to much hype and a lot of mystery. It joins the likes of Gordon Street Coffee, the Beer House and the upcoming Taco Mazama as part of the ongoing pre-Commonwealth Glasgow Central rejuvenation works that are currently taking place in the station. Located underground, down in the catacombs of Central Station, Alston is fairly easy to miss if you’re not paying attention. As you enter the station via the Gordon street entrance, you’ll find a wee cracked doorway sitting just beyond Gordon Street Coffee. If the giant ‘Alston’ sign doesn’t give it away, that’s where you need to go. The entrance. Intriguing! As you head through the door, you’ll notice a sign proclaiming that the ‘best’ steak can be found here. In Glasgow, that’s a pretty big claim to make. Unfortunately, we weren’t here for steak on this particular visit, but we’ll most definitely be back to sample it soon! The BEST steak? Bold claims! As you head down the dark blue stairc

Early memories of going out for dinner usually involved mon pere ordering steak. Regardless of what else was on the menu, he chose it because going out was a treat and steak was a rarity at home. Ever since then, a slab of beef to me is synonymous with happy family times. Nowadays I take my meat much pinker but the same principle stands thus why we chose steak for a certain birthday meal. Glasgow has some pretty good steak restaurants now – The Butchershop, Grill On The Corner and The Grill Room are three examples of this. There’s always room for one more to join the party, and one did.

Alston literally popped up in the basement of Central Station where you’d least expect it. The doorway is easy to miss – go in the main entrance to the station and Gordon St Coffee is on the left and its a single door after that as you’re walking into the station. With some clever decor and lighting the space feels nothing like a dingy basement and more like an explorers cave. I don’t much like the televisions displaying train times but I understand their importance to some. When you enter the cave you are facing the kitchens pass area so get some wonderful meaty smells and sights. Through to the bar area with its gorgeous lights then to the tunnel shaped dining room. What a pretty place and I found myself excited by dining in a venue that was slightly unusual.

There’s something a bit 1920′s about the place but I can’t put my finger on it. Alston is actually named after Alston Street in Grahamston in Glasgow. The street is long gone but they can carry the name forward. My cocktail choice was the 1873, named after Alston Street’s last year in existence. Caorunn gin, St Germain & blueberry jam sold it to me in an instant and it was as delicious as it sounds. They had Sam Adams too so Mr A was happy.

Menu-wise they have a lunch and pre-theatre menu with two courses for £12 (£3 steak supplement) or three for £15. Buoyed by the birthday celebrations we were eating from the main menu. A quick look online beforehand led us to having the porterhouse to share.

Since we were going big on mains we didn’t want to spoil our appetites with starters so opted for a tin of bread with butter to see us through. The bread was unexpectedly more than worthy of a paragraph. It didn’t arrive immediately – often a good sign – and when it did it was warm (contented sigh). A knife was plunged through the middle and we dug in. There was a mini pan of oil & balsamic alongside soft butter so we alternated. At this point I’d like to say that soft butter is underrated in restaurants – little details like this say a lot to me about how hard they’re trying. Anyway, the bread was delicious. Really soft and fluffy on the inside with a nice crust.

When it was time for our main course they took out Alston branded plates with a big quinelle of no-lump buttery mash. We had ordered sides of buttered greens and sautéed mushrooms, which appeared in little copper pans.

Then the main event came out – a kilogram of 35 day dry aged porterhouse cooked medium rare. If you get as confused as me about steak names, a porterhouse has a bone down the middle with fillet steak on one side and strip sirloin steak on the other. Negative out of the way first – it was served medium and not medium rare. It didn’t matter too much because the beef that was in front of us was full of flavour and ranked up there with our best steaks.

A bit of the meat combined with those buttery mushrooms and mash was heaven. I’d ordered béarnaise and Mr A had chosen pepper sauce but we barely used them. It’s worth noting that the other sauces were buttery numbers and the sides were all rather buttery so I wouldn’t go for them.

Mr A was raving about the mushrooms and I loved the buttered greens (broccoli, green beans and leeks if you’re wondering).

Alongside our chunk of meat we had a glass of wine each. The Cotes Du Rhone had more depth than the Malbec so skip the former if you’re having red meat. There were no wine descriptions on the menu and the restaurant filled up all at once so the staff can’t be expected to describe every one at busy periods.

Desserts were completely out the door after that main course so we had coffee – cute cups.

The toilets were another plus point – nice decor, powerful hand dryers and good lighting. It took me a minute to figure out which one to go into as the signage is stag & deer heads – am I the only one that prefers a normal sign? Especially after a few drinks!

The meal was a huge birthday success and Alston goes on to my recommended list. I’m sure my dad will be there in no time.

Recently opened but already setting itself as a firm favourite. This is a restaurant/bar with a difference. From the industrial chic design to the 55 gins, it's all go here.

Check out our review for further information here http://www.foodanddrinkglasgow.co.uk/gordon-street-coffee-79-gordon-street-glasgow-g1-3sq/

Visited on a quiet weekday for lunch. It was a bit tricky to find the entrance as Google Maps pinned the restaurant on another side of Glasgow Central Station. The staff were very friendly, and the food was amazing! I loved my medium well D-rump, and the herby sauce recommended by the host was SUBLIME! The dark chocolate brownie dessert was equally brilliant. Balanced flavored and in a hearty portion. Thank you! I will definitely visit again.

Went here as a random choice for a friend catchup lunch today, and loved it - Sunday roast was delicious, and great service and tasty cocktails too :) Sadly didn't have room for dessert in the end, hopefully next time :)

You really have to look for the door of this place on the station concourse left side which leads to a descending staircase into a subterranean arched bar. We did not partake of any food but had drinks and coffees after being on our feet for a long time on the wonderful historic underneath central station tour. Bar staff were really nice and friendly in the cosy, could be romantic,🤪 hideaway under one of the UK's busiest commuter places.

Was a great setting inside, staff were friendly and very helpful. Steak was cooked just as i had asked, the scallops were cooked well but the smallest one's I have seen for the price.

The food was amazing, the sunday roast was exactly what I had hoped for, super soft roast beef and a tasty starter of spiced calamari. The decor was unexpected and very chic, felt like a bootlegger den or prohibition bar. Good selection of whisky and decent service... but, they added a 10% service charge for two of us. I think any tip should be my decision not the businesses. The really frustrating thing was we had already given a similar cash tip to server and we ended up feeling like we paid it twice. Really frustrating as it left a poor taste in the mouth after such a nice experience. I'm not going to mark it down further but can't offer a 5 star due to this.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER From being sat to our table to paying the bill everything about our night was perfect. We had the château Thursday deal and you got way more than your moneys worth. Excellent food and equally as good drinks! I will be returning soon 100%

On point. Amazing service, great drinks. Lovely Sunday roast.

Good service. Sirloin was alright. Not medium rare (imo). Peppercorn sauce was a winner and good chips and salad. Came to £55 for med. rare sirloin, chips, peppercorn sauce, salad, and two vodka soda. Servers added 10% service charge. Overall not bad by any means but not a wow. Nice servers and convenient location.

Little hidden gem...that I can guarantee you will miss. It's entrance is well hidden within Glasgow Central Station....it's on the Gordon Street exit just to the right. You'll have walked past it 1000 times if you're a regular central station traveller & never even noticed it. Great steaks and great cocktails. Perfect place to start a Glasgow pub crawl.

This place is absolutely fantastic. They have amazing food and the ambience is next level! I highly recommend this place for the steaks, but don't discount the sides. The mushrooms were divine.