Intro

This Holiday Inn isn’t operated from Salt Lake City or somesuch far-off American place, as many imagine, vaguely, that Holiday Inns all are. In fact it was built and is owned by a long-established Glasgow businessman who is not only popular but who made his way to the city’s heart through its stomachs.

Hotelier and restaurateur Maurice Taylor first opened La Bonne Auberge as Glasgow’s original French / Mediterranean brasserie and bar on Bastille Day in 1975 and today the restaurant is right here in the Glasgow Theatreland Holiday Inn. In 2007 Maurice won The Fellowship for Achievement in The Scottish Hotels of the Year Awards.

We stayed for a Review recently in the company of HotelReview Eire and they sung the praises of the big city hotel restaurant’s character. Better, they thought, than the majority of branded city hotels they had experienced over there or over here. And we all agreed that air-conditioned bedrooms are now something of a must in this hotel class.

The hotel

is located very centrally and directly opposite a car park so parking is easy. At the hub of things, the hotel is next door to Europe’s tallest multi-screen cinema tower, the Royal Concert Hall, the Pavilion Theatre, Scottish Television, the Theatre Royal... to name but a few attractions.

There is all the shopping appeal of vibrant Buchanan Street and Princes Square a few minutes’ stroll away. Sauchiehall Street awaits with its shops, galleries and the famous School of Art and Willow Tearooms both by world-famous Glasgow architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Today this newish hotel is, you might almost say, a successful and very popular restaurant – with the small matter of 113 rooms attached. The air-conditioned (a real plus) bedrooms are mainly looking good; many were recently revamped and restyled in 2005. There's an excellent choice of room type and you can read about them below.

Having arrived by plane (the airport bus stops almost at the door), train (the station is a short walk away) or car (parked across the road) you’d enter under a canopy into the Reception area where a glass of sherry can help revive: help yourself. Cheery and normally Glaswegian staff set a pleasant tone at this business-class hotel.

To the left of reception is the open-plan Bar, the L’Orangerie Conservatory dining area and La Bonne Auberge Restaurant. To the right you'll locate the Conference & Events Rooms... and lifts to the bedrooms. The hotel also offers a small but helpful Mini-Gym for health-conscious guests, and wi-fi internet access for all.

Bedrooms

The hotel offers 90 Standard Rooms, 16 Executives, 4 Junior Suites (intriguingly-named Art, Phantom, Heindel and Cornell) and 3 Penthouse Suites. All rooms have individually-controlled air-conditioning units, tea / coffee hospitality trays, trouser presses, high-speed wi-fi internet access, complementary toiletries, and a choice of 5 different kinds of pillow!

The hotel has 113 bedrooms in all and to explore them just click here! Décor varies in style from room type to type, and Executive Rooms enjoy an additional seating area for extra comfort, mini bars, luxury toiletries, bath robes, slippers and the turndown service with complimentary chocolates and mineral water. Feature rooms also have a bow window giving masses of light to the spacious rooms, plus spa baths and (alarmingly) bathroom scales.

But the contemporary new-look Standard Rooms have a style we like very much – practical and well thought-through, something along the lines of a boutique hotel’s décor and format.

We also stayed in the luxuriously revamped Renoir Suite: coming-to in this newly redesigned room is a pleasure – the bed is high and luxurious, although not king size, but the superb-quality Egyptian cotton bed linens and lace edged pillows provide a sensory touch of pleasure; the marble bathroom has a spa bath; the bedroom and sitting room areas are finished in pale gold; there’s a TV in each room, and a CD player / video in the lounge, with its sofa and armchair, display cabinet with a decanter of sherry and big crystal glasses; mini-bar and safe.

Best idea is to have a good chat with reservations when enquiring / booking. By the way, do keep an eye on the excellent Special Offers link at the top of the Review, in the orange text. Room Service is available 24-hours, of course. They can bring you ‘a Pizza room action’, as they call it: a wood-fired pizza and a bottle of Continental beer... cheerful value at just £9.95.

Dining

Guests can dine all day, choosing from the L’Orangerie Conservatory area or La Bonne Auberge bistro restaurant. Lunch and all-day light snacks are available. Croque Madame, anyone? How about Wild Boar Sausages with Peppercorn Sauce and Mash? Spiced Salmon Fillet with Crispy Caesar Salad?

Private dining is also available, and done well. In the publication Gourmet Glasgow by Alan Tomkins, Gerry Sharkey – who is the popular head chef at the Holiday Inn here – provides a couple of the recipes. Both dishes look delicious and yet not beyond the capabilities of readers not possessed of a TV chef’s back-up crew and personal shoppers. Both dishes could appear on the menu at La Bonne Auberge for the food here is fresh, acclaimed, and not beyond the reach of most.

HotelReview™ | Scotland has awarded a SilverPlate™, meaning that we recommend dining-in at this hotel, while GoodFoodScotland.com gives a recommendation and the AA has awarded a rosette.

At the Guide, if we know anything at all, we know that it is the people who make the difference, who make a place consistent. Chefs tell us all the gossip. Glasgow-born Gerry is a fine man to have at the helm here; his interest in education ensures that his brigade is capable and kept keen. “The food is fairly modern – and you can, I think, see the ‘Frenchness’ in it!” he says. “I’m about to head off for Aberdeenshire and Banffshire, with a couple of the team, to choose some local suppliers, and I want the chefs to know – as well as the customers – where their food is coming from. We have great sources of produce here in Scotland, and I’d like there to be even more traceability from farm to plate.”

Dinner Review

The Guide was in a party of 3 who dined at the Paris bistro-style La Bonne Auberge restaurant. We met for a pre-dinner drink in the Bar area on a lively Friday night. The place was full of life, and staff, dressed in black with long white French aprons, darted to and fro keeping everyone happy. One of the trio was a much-travelled Monsignor of the church; the second was a senior manager at one the country’s biggest food producers; the third was your reviewer, anxious as ever at having made a recommendation for this fussy pair. For, although the restaurant holds an AA rosette, one would not like to be condemned by a hungry monk and an unsatisfied accountant at one and the same time. What would the verdict be?

We sipped The Glenlivet on the rocks and relaxed. Background music was suitably urbane, My kinda town, even if the city acclaimed in song was on the wrong side of The Pond. Paris may have been quiet this year, the fallout of the fall out with America, but here in Paris, Glasgow, things were going with a swing. The reverend crossed himself and ordered another dram, whilst the bean counter counted his beans and decided to throw caution to the wind, too. I nodded to the waitress, like an old hand at an auction. And then it was time to eat. L’Orangerie is a conservatory-style dining area to the left of the bar, but we were shown through to La Bonne Auberge proper and into a generous round booth at the rear.

Open brickwork, hanging baskets, bistro tables and chairs, French objets and bric-a-brac, wrought ironwork, extremely attentive staff: all helped create an easy-going atmosphere. Relaxing and fun but serious courtesy and an interesting Carte. We at Scotland’s own hotel guide can tell you that many hotels would give their credit card-swiping right arm to have their restaurant as busy as this at 10pm on an ordinary Friday night in November.

There is a prix fixe menu available from 5pm – ideal for pre-theatre, and there are a few of these establishments nearby. Two courses for £14.95. (In fact there was a voucher in our room which would have entitled us to a 2-course dinner and a small glass of house wine for a remarkable £11.95 each.) However, we went for the main menu’s flexibility and admired the simple price structure: all starters £5; fish, vegetarian and most other main courses £14.45; grills added a supplement of between £2.95 and £4.95; sides all came in at £1.75.

From the selection of 6 starters we opted for: Succulent Greenland Prawns with a Sweet Pimento and Lemon Cream Cheese, for our spiritual advisor; Beef and Ginger Tea with Shitake Mushrooms, Spring Onions and Water Chestnuts for the food industry magnate; and Marinated Lamb Loin with Avocado, Apple Rilettes and (the unaccountably-named) Mint Jizz for the man with the little black notebook. Other starters included melon, paté and cheese ravioli.

“This has almost a Turkish feel to it”, said the minister, “very nice indeed”. All starters came attractively presented on white plates, everything in the modern fashion. The prawns were moulded into a thick circle, topped with mousse and ringed with chopped herbs and tomato pimento. The soup, tasted by us all, was a great success: “It doesn’t taste Chinese – it’s more interesting, very warming too”, said souperman. My lamb, which I was advised helpfully was a cold starter, was generous in quantity and very tasty: sitting on a roundel of avocado were half a dozen small oval cuts of mustard and herb-pressed lamb fillet. Off to a good start, then.

We selected a bottle of Chablis to accompany the meal. “Austere and dry” said the wine list. How could we resist such a deathless endorsement? In fact it was crisp and refreshing, and served with a flourish.

Vicar was in a mood for blood so opted for the Rib Eye Steak. Manager was in a mood for seafood so selected Tempura King Prawns with Braised Leek and Sweet Chilli Sauce and Salad. Writer was sold the Dish of the Day, described faultlessly by our server and later written down as an aide to memory: Supreme of Guinea Fowl with Puy Lentil, Panchetta and Pistachio Risotto, and Onion Purée, Kumquat and Apple Chutney, and Red Wine Latte. Quite a billing for a wee guinea fowl. So – how did it all go?

The steak was “absolutely perfect” – a large portion for a large man, soft, yielding, moist. The prawns were, once augmented by a larger helping of the dip, considered “fine, although perhaps more of a starter dish”. The game bird was comfort food indeed: the whole dish sounded a bit OTT but in fact the chef had shown admirable restraint in presentation. The sauce was a delight, the tiny studs of swede and the kumquat flavours all co-ordinating well. A tiny guinea fowl chipolata sausage was a nice touch. The whole was interesting and substantial – the bird itself, French poultry as with much of the best, was moist and roasty-topped.

We didn’t need dessert but Warm Pear and Frangipane Tart with Peach Ice Cream, and also Chocolate Truffle Mousseline with Blood Orange Ice Cream both melted away delectably. Dinner came to around £20 a head, excluding wine. Unarguable value. And very toothsome. The sheer number of people who come through these doors testify that La Bonne Auberge is certainly on any Glasgow gourmet’s trail.

Links

We hope that you find these local links helpful:

Glasgow: Scotland with style™

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Theatre Royal

Glasgow Science Centre

University of Glasgow

The Willow Tearooms

Loch Lomond Shores

Receptions / Events

Private dining is becoming ever-more popular and the Holiday Inn and La Bonne Auberge can together offer an enjoyable experience in their Pigalle Room which seats up to 8 diners. The hotel can also cater for up to 100 in the two Montmartre Suites, and has a conference pack available on request.

The Reviewer’s View Gary McLean

“The Holiday Inn Glasgow Theatreland is a friendly and distinctive hotel and we like the wide choice of air-conditioned rooms with the restyled Standard Rooms being a success. It is easy to park and is certainly a central base from which to enjoy the city. The hotel’s La Bonne Auberge restaurant is a winner, far better and far more enjoyable fun than most ‘chain’ city centre hotels’ dining offerings.”

Note This hotel was awarded a listing by HotelReview™ | Scotland and has been fully reviewed by the Guide; this includes a full overnight stay followed up by quarterly quality control checks and ongoing feedback from readers. As a reviewed hotel, its Look & Book Box™ features are ONLINE and any awards made by the Guide are published above. The star grading has been awarded by the Scottish Tourist Board, VisitScotland.

Your opinion? There’s a link to a Reader’s Review form at the top and left side of this page. It only takes a moment to send the Guide your views via the small panel that will pop-up. You can be as brief or as fulsome as you wish! Your views go to the Editor, who will acknowledge your response within a few days. He may edit feedback. Reports do not go directly online. You can be named or remain anonymous. At Scotland’s most-read hotel guide we greatly value the tremendous feedback we have from our readers. Thanks!

Disability Information: There are adapted rooms and a lift. Please confirm exact details with the hotel.

Ghàidhlig: Bidh Ghàidhlig ri fhaighinn an seo a dh’aithghearr! Tapa leibh.

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