The Juice Garden - Glasgow

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!

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.

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.

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.