Juice Garden

A solid four star update for JG, I'm sticking with my original rating but just had to add:

OMG, RAW CARROT CAKE.

I'm a big, big fan of super healthy sweet treats. Hooray for natural, healthy sweetness. You can make such delights at home but's really, really hard to find raw dessert in cafés. Like REALLY, REALLY hard.

My raw carrot cake was a tad expensive but, golly gosh, super satisfying. And I was just so very delighted that it existed, which made it all the more satisfying.

I'm quite literally over the moon that I can get raw baked goods in Glasgow. - Thank you, Juice Garden!

Last Friday morning I wasn't really feeling my usual treat of a coffee so I thought I'd nip into Juice Garden for a treat instead. This was my second time visiting, first time was just after it opened and I was impressed with the shop and the drink, but just hadn't had the time to come back.

Not going to lie, I find ordering here pretty awkward. I love the big menu on the wall, but found my self hesitantly standing in a group of customers in the middle of the shop who were all deciding what to get. I love that they have lots of options, but it was a bit too much for me (perhaps it was just my early morning brain function). I also really like they list the health benefits of each juice, but again it's more reading to speed through while you're queuing. Maybe I just need to pick up a take-away menu and pick what I want before I arrive!

First visit here I panic bought a Protein Pig juice but luckily it was lovely! This time I was determined to have a better look at the menu before choosing. I ordered a medium Morning Juice (pineapple, apple, passion fruit) to go. I think the pricing here is a bit on the high side, but I get it if they're ordering in fresh ingredients each day. I liked my drink a lot, and it was gone all too soon!

As I've said I've visited twice now and each time I've found the staff to be polite but a bit stand-offish. First time I just put it down to being a new shop but maybe not. When the girl at the till said "there's your drink" (a totally innocent phrase) it sounded more angry than you'd expect!

Saying that it'll not deter me from going back a third time! I really like the decor and atmosphere of the shop and would like to sit in and try some of their food or snacks with my juice next time round!

These people know their juice. Specifically green juice, which is what I'm most into. Not for Juice Garden the 'green' juice with a token teeny bit of spinach thrown in. Here you can have mighty green juices such as Iron Mike - apple, kale, spinach, parsley and moringa (yup, I had to google that one too). Or Food for Thought - apple, avocado, lemon, gota kolu and ginko biloba.

All in all, they have 28 different juices, including a range of Botantical Shakes, which have a raw vegan source of protein as an alternative dairy free protein rich shake.

Then they also have Shots such as the Flu Shot - ginger, lemon and Irish moss. Seriously, when have you EVER seen Irish moss on a menu anywhere else? These folks know their stuff.

There's also sandwiches - and I can personally vouch that the Awesome Avocado actually is awesome. Two of the sandwiches can be made vegan and they even have vegan pesto. Seriously, I LOVE these people.

They have also just started selling soup too. I could probably live in this place.

The place itself is pretty cool for hanging out in - there's window seats where you can watch the world go by or use the free iPads, or bean bags for lounging about on, and a cool hanging bobble chair. Or normal seats, should you feel the need.

Prices are reasonable - you can get a small (12oz) for £3.65, or a large (16oz) for £4.65, and sandwiches are all £3.95. For quality, healthy ingredients and attention to detail such as this, I think that's good value for money.

Slap me down with a stick of celery ... This place is great!

I'm a little wary of juice bars because they are totally done to death in Australia, and not in a good way. Fruity, yoghurty laden drinks that make you feel gross afterwards - especially if you opted for the wheatgrass shot (which just tastes like grass). And you'll be nearly $10 lighter for the privilege.

Anyway, back to Juice Garden. This place has a fresh and healthy vibe to it and it's worth a visit to check out the decor alone. Crisp white seats, green faux grass floor (yes, really), beanbags and tablets to use while you sip away. There's clearly a lot of love behind this place!

Now onto the menu - there are a LOT of juices to choose from and honestly, I was pretty overwhelmed by all the options. There's also a little bit of text under the ingredients telling you which juices might be good for your immune system or give you shiny hair (with the disclaimer that they're not making any medical claims down the bottom). All juices are £3.65 for a small and I opted for #8, the 8th wonder with apple, pineapple, mint and passionfruit. After a short wait (less than 5 minutes) my juice was delivered and I was in heaven - fresh, tasty and a great portion size.

There's also optional shots, you can make your own juice and they have sandwiches as well. You can get an acai berry bowl and add fruit or dried fruit as a topping which could make a good, unusual lunch option.

All up, I was pretty damn impressed with Juice Garden. This is like no other juice place in Glasgow (not that there's many) and I'll be back for another visit very soon.

Feeling a bit under the weather and snivelly I decided it was a good time to finally give this place a try.

The place is decked out in funky furnishings - grass effect on the floor and some comfy bean bags and comes complete with cooler than a cucumber staff members.

I do love fruit and smoothie type drinks and the menu has some great options each with different benefits - anti - ageing, iron boost, hair glowing- take your pick!

I've never tried a vegetable / green juice and couldn't quite bring myself to try them on this occasion, so opted to make my own mix of strawberry, mint, passionfruit and apple. At £3.95 for a small one it was pretty expensive and to be honest the juice was okay but nothing special. It might just have been my poor choice but I've had tastier Innocent smoothies. My friend opted for a small roobios tea and at £2.50 it was pretty pricey!

Looking at the menu and given its a health type place I'd also have liked to have seen some rough calorie guides. Now I know its all healthy stuff- fresh fruit and the like, but I'd imagine most people who are pretty health conscious or watching their diet for whatever reason, would be interested to know how much they're clocking up.

I certainly would think about returning, and will work up to the green juices, but do think its a tad expensive to be somewhere I'll regularly visit.

I REALLY WANTED TO LOVE THIS PLACE! If you know me, you'll know I'm a HUGE fan of juice. I juice a lot myself and juicing was what got my husband and myself into living a plant-based diet. With that said, I think I know my juices from my smoothies pretty well. Now, as someone who doesn't carry cash I was disappointed when I went in on the first day and their card machine wasn't working. I could excuse it as it was their first day. I went back last week and again the card machine still wasn't working. I was desperate for juice as I had too much to drink the night before - while most turn to a full breakfast I turn to juice to cure me!

Anyway, I went away to get cash and came back. Now, there are a couple of things that bothered me...

First, I think it was the manager that was there - he seemed a bit stressed and there wasn't anyone there, so not sure what he was stressed about but it was slightly off-putting. Second, I stood there waiting to order and a girl just smiled at me, it took someone coming from the back to come over to take my order. Weird.

I placed my order and I watched the other girl make my juice, I was a bit annoyed that she barely put enough kale in to get any juice out of it. Kale needs to be juiced in bunches to get enough juice. THEN THIS HAPPENED: she juiced unwashed apples WITH THE STICKERS STILL ON THEM!! Now, as I said I had a lot to drink the night before so my reaction was a bit slow and I thought perhaps I was seeing things. That's when the other girl brought a box of apples and took them out and placed them in a basket that the girl was taking apples out of to juice.

I didn't say anything at the time although I really wish I did! When you're juicing you're consuming the entire fruit so when the apple is unwashed you're ingesting everything on the skin. Yes I drank the juice, yes it was good. To be honest though I think the place is more style over substance and I rather just juice at home.

I so wanted to like here more. Post run, I want some energy and decided to visit the Renfield Street Branch. The pop-up on Buchanan Street looks great, but I'm not convinced, for no reason as I love street food.

Anyways, the branch I visited. I walked in and couldn't find a clear menu of the type of smoothies/juices available. Turns out there behind a group of tables, so was kind of awkwardly starting behind someone..

The person at the till was super friendly, showed me the differences in size and said he would bring it over. I didn't like that you could see unwashed smoothie blenders and the office door being open.

I ordered the 8th Wonder -Apple, pineapple, mint, passion fruit - energiser, anti-inflammatory, digestive aid, which was under the red juice. So was surprised when it came as a green/yellow shade, but I suppose that's probably the green apple.

All the tables were sort of dirty, yeah I'm being picky, but there was 2 staff and juice stains on all white tables.

My juice was incredible though, slightly pricey, but lovely and refreshing. The salads look really good so might get a takeout one lunch mid-week!

A couple of weekends ago I was meeting friends for lunch, and one suggested a quick catchup before eating to try out Juice Garden. Always up for trying new things I eagerly arrived and had a look around. The shop is small but the seating area is pretty funky with a hanging seat and beanbags. Being heavily pregnant i had to settle for sitting on a normal seat, but the two friends I was with took great delight in slobbing all over the beanbags while I looked on enviously.

Suitably impressed by the large display of fresh fruit and veggies behind the counter, I got down to the serious business of choosing a drink. I wanted something fairly light and simple so as not to detract from lunch, and settled on a 'Pink Banana' made with almond milk, strawberries and bananas. My friend placed her order and we stood to wait for them being made up. And waited, and waited, and waited......After about 10 minutes we went to sit back down feeling a little frustrated. A girl had arrived before us and placed an order - but only for 4 drinks which surely should have been fairly quick to make? I appreciate everything is made fresh but over 10 minutes with one order in front of me is a little excessive.

Anyway, how was the drink? Well - it was nice and tasty enough, but I feel extraordinarily overpriced for £3.65. I could make the same drink at home for less than a pound, and have done before (my husband only drinks nut based milks).

I'm not saying I wouldn't go back, there are a few things on the menu I'd like to try - but it certainly won't become a regular haunt for me with the level of service and prices.

Heaven. So grateful to find a cool, chill, healthy place. My body is grateful!

Definitely come here if you're looking for a healthy alternative to your normal lug. Your body will love it.

Feeling rather ill today so no food could be stomached this morning.
So handy juice garden to the rescue!
Appleberry goodness.
I've started to feel a lot better and can only expect it's because of the drinkage.
Staff are friendly and easy on the eye lol
No complaints here.