Reviews The Fruit Canteen

Friendly, excellent service, perfect coffee and fresh and delicious bakery

Do you get confused by sizes like Venti, Grande, Tall? Do you, also, find yourself not in the Italian Riviera or downtown Seattle, but in fact in the equally culturally rich and globally influential Scottish city of Glasgow? The beating heart of real, post industrial Scotland and birthplace of the Scottish enlightenment that revolutionised Europe. Do you perhaps want embrace and celebrate these facts whilst creating jobs, wealth and culture in this thriving local economy? Well, say no more, pal. Gordon Street coffee, located quite innocuously at the station main entrance, serves only two sizes: Big, and Wee (if that's confusing.. the Wee one costs less.). You can also get cooked breakfast items to-go, Scottish cakes (empire biscuits especially), and coffee shop favourites like croissants and subs. They sell ground coffee and coffee accessories too. Importantly, for a review, the coffee is very good and the service (even in the jam-packed morning commute) is warm and lovely. It's definitely city-centre prices, but if that's what it costs to keep just one last independent café open in the central station area, welcoming all with warm, self aware Scottish tourist tropes and home comforts for locals, then so be it. There's a particular joy, it seems, in celebrating this entrance to Glasgow. Offering tourists their first, much needed, 'big' coffee and a chance to see real Scottish words in action, like in 'Dinne be a roaster' where one could simply write 'don't queue here' instead. It's not just tourists, though, this is a local hotspot too! Good coffee is universal, of course, but a part of me feels that this celebration of culture extends to the proud city dwellers. Supporting not only local business, but the embrace of Scottishness as a powerful, influential, culture-in-action. Not an artefact of the past or media stereotypes. In a high-street of increasingly homogeneous global corporate blandness. Gordon Street Glasgow Central is a place to touch base, to affirm with your daily grind a connection to something deeper, a thriving culture, a proud national identity, a true spirit of place; the proud city of Glasgow.

Stumbled on this cafe on our first day visiting and so glad we did. Good coffee is hard to find in the area ( in the UK actually). Our only negative would be the time it takes to pick up a coffee………. Not very fast. We waited at least 20 mins ( lucky we weren’t catching a train)!! It didn’t perturb is - we returned the next day and enjoyed our caffeine hit! Thanks

A Line Worth Waiting I'm also aware that there are usually long queues here but the baristas behind the counter are like caffeinated ninjas. we do wait no matter how long is the line so yes it is worth to wait. AND Yes, my friend, the line is no surprise. It's a rite of passage, a test of your coffee-loving dedication. You're here for the good stuff, the ambrosia of the gods, and you're willing to wait. I don't get why people give 1 stars because they wait. Everyone loves good coffee so line is there. I guess people are expecting that they will say "because you are a very nice handsome gentleman I will give you coffee first, let's ignore the queue". Alas, reality hits hard when they realize that, yes, they too must join the queue. they wield their mighty weapon: the dreaded one-star review! No mate sorry you will wait the line next time too lol. Let queue-complainers complain , I had no idea to write a review here, they made me write.

Conveniently located at the station, offers fantastic coffee at reasonable price. Baked goods are good quality as well.

Great coffee and great staff. My favourite coffee shop in the whole wide world.