Section 33

Section 33 just gets better. They appear to listen to feedback and judge themselves critically looking for areas they can improve.
This was a major improvement on their first event where a great sounding menu was let down by execution.
This time round the tasting menu meant they could tighten their focus and deliver on quality. Many have reviewed the food already so to avoid repetition I’ll simply say it compares very favourably with the many tasting menus I’ve had elsewhere. My partner in crime even made glowing comparisons to Michelin starred The Three Chimneys in Skye under Michael Smith. High praise indeed.
One final point — I’ve heard via people who have worked with S33 that they’re very decent people & great to work with — especially given the logistical challenges their events involve.
Already looking forward to the next one in two weeks
Score — deliberately not scoring ⁵⁄₅ as I suspect they wouldn’t do that themselves !

Section 33 have done it again and although I didn’t think they could get any better from my last review of them in November, they did (see Review: Section33 Popup Restaurant). Section 33 is an underground pop up restaurant with a generous heart. It takes unusual spaces and make them spectacular for 3 – 4 days only, serving not only innovative but consistently amazing food. The past 2 pop-​ups have been in the Govanhill Baths and the Panopticon, with a selection of small plates to choose from. In each of these locations Section 33 donated a share of its profits to the venue to help with their restoration funds, as well as local food banks.
This pop up was slightly different. It was a take over of an existing pub: the old Sammy Dow’s on Nithsdale Road, Stathbungo. With the donation planned for the Shawlands and Strathbungo Community Council. It had the usual social media build up with the addition of spray painted Section 33 logos popping up all over the city and the venue was kept secret until the last possible moment. The biggest difference, however, was the food. Instead of a selection of sharing plates this was a 5 course tasting menu, with a gin cocktail and 2 glasses of wine, all for £45 per person.
Atmosphere ⁵⁄₅: Warm, cosy and lively.
Food ⁵⁄₅: Amazing.
Service ⁵⁄₅: Enthusiastic, energetic and passionate
Overall ⁵⁄₅: This was truly an amazing night in every way and Kyle and his team fully deserve top marks. It was yet another showcase for their talent and diversity, and also for other small business such as «It All Started Here Coffee…». I cannot wait to see what Section 33 does next…
Read full review at

«Life Is Not Measured By the Number of Breaths We Take, But By the Moments That Take Our Breath Away»
Our afternoon with Section 33 certainly was breath taking and not just because of the unexpected replacement bus service which resulted in a brisk walk to the venue from the city centre.
From beginning to end the service was flawless. If I could, I would add a shiny gold star on top of the 5 stars that can be awarded on Unilocal because of this. In hindsight if we had been a bit stealthier we would have made friends with the lovely guy that was looking after us for most of the visit, worth having a guy on the inside for info about future hush hush events! All jokes aside he really lovely, as were all the staff that we met on the day
I had my first proper taste of gin (ssssh don’t tell my mum, she’s been a gin drinker for years and will think I was swapped at birth if she knew I’ve never tried gin or red wine) in the form of lush Eden Mills St Andrews gin cocktail.
Each dish was well executed. Throughout the meal I had the opportunity to try ingredients that I would not usually gravitate towards such as crab and deer. I tried to be ever so good and take my time so that I could taste the texture and flavor of each bite. It was worth it as each mouthful was better than the one before.
I’ve been with my boyfriend for a few years and we’ve never double dated in that time… delicious food and a few glasses of wine and he was thinking about who we could invite along to the next pop up Section 33 event!
The wine to go with the food was well chosen and it was great that two small glasses were included in the overall price.
Worth booking if you have any bespoke catering needs as the team seem to put their heart into soul into the experience that they are trying to create.
Really nice adventure and a reminder of what life is all about.

Top notch night — great venue, great food and had a chat with the organiser who was a very passionate chap indeed. The red deer main was the stand out dish. If you can get a table, go!

The latest venue for the pop up was the Brittania Panopticon. It was a lovely, really interesting venue. However, it was dead cold in there and they warned attendees to bundle up for the night.
Here’s the problem with serving hot food in a cold venue — your food is lukewarm by the time it gets to your table. While I enjoyed the flavours, the temperature issue really affected the overall experience. The prices seemed a bit high for the size of the portion, but the food was clearly well made.
We had one of the earliest bookings, as I made reservations really, really late. As such, the live entertainment started right as we were finishing our desserts. The guy was really talented and I wish we would have gotten to enjoy his performance a little longer. Alas, by the time he took the stage, we were just ready to go thaw out somewhere.
I’ll definitely give Section 33’s future events a shot, but I really hope next time they pick a climate-​controlled venue!

I know that a good few of the reviews on here are talking about the price of the food at section 33. I’m going to start with that and get it out the way. Yes, the dishes are not cheap. But this year, you were paying for the experience of dining in the Panopticon which I feel is kinda priceless. How many people can actually say they’ve eaten dinner in a gorgeous, original Victorian music hall?
Also, yes it was cold. It’s a listed building. There will have been so many regulations about what heaters can actually be used. I just made sure I layered up and used my scarf as a blanket, although ikea blankets were provided.
The venue itself is stunning, the silent movies and live musicians were a nice touch and really added to our evening. Some of those silent movies are hilarious! Genuinely funnier than half the comedies out these days. Fairy lights and an incredible singer song writer also added to our experience.
Anyway, enough about that and onto the main reason for this event… The food! I had 3 mains: Vietnamese rice paper rolls — packed with flavour but I only managed one of the two rolls served as they were surprisingly filling; smoked and cured shaved beef — wow, the flavours from this were incredible; and my favourite chilli and soy caramel chicken wings — a good sized portion of wings (I had about 6 in mine) coated with the most heavenly glaze ever… Almost ordered a second portion! For dessert I had the salted caramel profiterole… Actually, I had 2 because they were SO GOOD that we needed to order a second round.
In interests of fairness, I also tried both the cocktails on offer and, once you get over your cocktail being served in a paper Coke cup, they were both incredible. Mmmm!
It’s been a week now and I’m wishing this hadn’t been a pop up, I’d kill for more chicken wings or another profiterole…

My first guerilla pop-​up dining experience! In summary: Lots of fun, well organised, good food, but not cheap… more on that later.
Six of us met up earlier for a pre-​dinner drink before heading to the «secret» location which had been revealed a few days earlier… the Britannia Panopticon. Arriving on a chilly November Friday night, we entered by the side door and made out way up the stairs. Entering the main auditorium, it was bustling with diners, chatter, a musician on stage singing and playing guitar, and people having drinks at the bar — where we quickly headed. The bar was impressive (for a popup) — gin cocktails, spirits, wines, beers, and soft drinks. After 20 minutes our table was ready.
So, we pretty much ordered everything — as my friend who dined the previous night said, «Have the shredded beef! Actually have it all… and the hotpot… twice.» — I won’t list everything we ordered (check the menu pic) but highlights were indeed the Wild Venison Hotpot, as well as the Buttermilk fried Pheasant. One of us was surprised by the seabass being not «cooked fully», but we were assured it was right, and it was wolfed down regardless. Some of the items were rather small portion-​wise, others fairly generous. We ordered 3x each and shared, and a few bottles of wine too.
Compared to their previous pop up (at Govanhill Baths) it seems that lots of lessons were learned — we had a well stocked bar, plentiful staff, etc. No complaints about anything from me for this November 2015 event.
Some other reviewers have complained about the prices. Well, it wasn’t cheap, but considering the cost of planning and staging such a unique event, the high-​quality ingredients, plentiful staff, live musicians, DJ, and that it was (to us anyway) a special night out — I think the prices were fair. A new restaurant isn’t going to turn a profit on its opening weekend, it takes time. So an event over a couple of days needs to charge a bit more, in my opinion. We happily paid £40-£45 each, and all look forward to the next Section 33 pop up :)

I’ve been debating on how to best formulate this review.
It’s different. It’s out there, it’s, well, expensive. (£5 to book your seat, and then per person, with two tapas dishes and a drink each, £30. £30!!!) And cold (but I am chronically undercooled, so in that regard it wasn’t too bad).
Having had the Panopticon on my List of Glasgow places to see, I was thrilled when I found out that the pop up was being held here. The menu looked decent too — I was interested in many of the items. But then I realised that it said that they were more like tapas dishes — sharing is caring, you get my drift, and a frown spread over my face.
We walked in, happy to be there, and it smelled like deep fried food — I was intrigued. We grabbed some blankets (woo for IKEA) that they kept next to the entrance, and were shown to our table. It’s eclectic, it really does look like a pop up, chairs and tables mismatched and splintery. I immediately wrapped myself in the blanket (cold bum — not a nice feeling). We ordered drinks and were given water and kinda picked some items from the menu. I went for the falafel (which all three of us ordered, because there is no way you can share the falafel), and the scallop, duck and pineapple thing.
Now, how on Earth you’re supposed to share ANY of the dishes is beyond me. They are tiny. TINY. The falafel was tasty, but the hummus is incredibly acidic (too much lemon, perhaps?). The duck tasted like your run-​of-​the-​mill Chinese takeaway duck, and the pineapple is literally a chunk of pineapple. The concept of the dish being served in a coconut shell is nice, but it doesn’t work because it kinda gives the food a dusty taste.
The lighting is horrible too, either it’s too bright because you’re staring directly into the light or it’s so dark that you’re lifting the coconut shell into the air to try and get the food on the fork.
The one redeeming thing, and why I give this place 2 stars is the «giant» (not so giant) salted caramel profiterole. It’s caramelly salted goodness. But they do serve it with cress. Cress on a caramel. Cress on a profiterole. I don’t know, there is really no need.

Having dined at the Govanhill Baths pop-​up last year (and been somewhat underwhelmed) we were initially reluctant to return to Section 33. That is, until we realised that this year it would be taking place at our wedding venue, the magnificent Britannia Panopticon Music Hall. We snapped up two tickets for Saturday night and wrapped up warm, looking forward to revisiting one of our favourite Glasgow spots.
We arrived early for our booking and grabbed a couple of cocktails– perhaps something a little more wintry would’ve gone down better, as the zesty pomegranate concoction would’ve been more suited to a balmy summer evening than a chilly November night– and caught up with Judith from the Panopticon, who let us have a sneaky peek into the (very impressive-​looking) kitchen.
We were seated more or less on time and a couple of decent glasses of red followed. We chose six of the small plates, and these were swiftly delivered by the super friendly waiting staff. Between us we tried the mussel popcorn, chicken wings, buttermilk partridge, shaved beef, beetroot ravioli, and the pork cheek. The balance of flavours across all dishes was well executed, with the chicken wings and the beef coming out on top. We agreed that the food was far superior to the dishes we had sampled at a (very popular) Glaswegian restaurant (also specialising in small plates), and was comparable in price and portion size to said restaurant.
For pudding we shared the profiterole and the cheesecake. Both were light, delicately balanced and not cloyingly sweet, and rounded off the meal nicely. Our meal cost us just under £50, and we found it hard to find fault with any aspect of our evening. The staff were excellent, the food superb, the wine delicious, and the venue… well, I think it’s obvious what we think of the venue!
The only thing I’m disappointed about is that we didn’t get the chance to see our sponsored plank on the new stage. Next time!

So having missed out on last years pop up I was really rather excited about going this year and overall I have got to say I enjoyed it for the experience and something a little bit different!
The venue was great — it was pretty and twinkly and felt welcoming and well laid out. Yes it was cold but they had warned us plenty of times about this and told us to wrap up warm enough times for me to do so.
The service was quick and super friendly. We got a nice wee table not far from the stage where a rather excellent young girl was about to come on to sing (Amy Lou from Dunfermline) — we were sat right in front of her very proud dad and grandparents which was fun seeing how excited they were.
It was recommended we get 2 – 3 dishes for each person and we went for 6 between two of us to share. Everything we had was either yummy or super yummy but the portions were pretty titchy — esp as we were sharing each of them. The scallop was a single scallop, the pheasant and beans, three wee bits, and the crab claws had barely any eating — I know they were small plates but they could have been a bit bigger please!
Pudding followed — the salted caramel profiterole was loved by my boyfriend. I personally didn’t like the pumpkin cheesecake — but as was pointed out by my helpful boyfriend — I don’t really like pumpkin and no matter how much I love cheesecake that sum doesn’t work! So my bad not theirs.
All in, by the time we added in the wine and the ticket price — it wasn’t a cheap lunch but it was a fun, quirky experience in a beautiful old building and I enjoyed it!

i was actually very disappointed by this dinner — perhaps as I had such high hopes for it! There were some great points, but I have a few gripes that were just too big to ignore.
To start with, the Venue was beautiful — an old theatre I would have never found otherwise! There was great live music to add to the ambiance, the staff were lovely and there were blankets to ward off the chill. So far, so lovely.
However, for me it was the food that was the let down. Flavour wise, I found it enjoyable — there was nothing I could say to fault the taste! But the portions you received for the price was slightly shocking. For our £7.50 we received 3 mini nuggets of fried pheasant and 2 tbsp of ‘bbq’ beans. Similarly, another £7 provided us with one (!!) scallop on our scallop dish. What’s more, we found the presentation not really conducive to the sharing tapas ethos they were going for — the falafel and hummus were all stuffed into one pita, which made for difficult sharing…
So put off were we by the size to price discrepancy that we chose to leave to get dessert elsewhere — we were in and out in half an hour. I’m disappointed that the food didn’t live up to my expectations, as the idea was fantastic! I just hope for future events they provide more value for money, so I can afford to linger for longer.

In a word: No.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I was with my girls on a much needed girls night, this night would have been a total wash.
As others have said, the venue was cool and the food was good, but that’s about it.
We paid £5 to get in, the spent £25 each on «tapas style» food which amounted to the amount of food we would have gotten as a starter. The portions were miniscule and not very shareable.
We each ordered the falafel, two of us ordered the scallop and duck, a buttermilk fried pheasant, profiteroles, drinks and two other dishes I cant remember were ordered. As mentioned before, the food was good, but not worth the money paid.
It was so dark in the venue, I couldn’t see what I was eating, let alone take pictures. For reference, check out Sophie K’s photos, as she took pictures of our food. They offered blankets for comfort as its just about winter out here, but that did little to heat us. We all kept our coats and hats on to shield us from the draft coming in.
Great concept if all or most proceeds go to rebuilding the music hall, but the prices were borderline theft on their parts and the amount of food served was not worth the price.
I won’t be partaking in this guerrilla dining experience again.

Bring your winter woollies! I must have missed this on the ticket!
So dinner in a swimming pool? It’s probably the coolest idea in a while, however it wasn’t all it cracked up to be! Where to start! Firstly the bar area that was advertised was merely a waiting room with no bar service (if there was it wasn’t well on display) so we get our welcome drink £5 = a plastic cup of Ecco Falls. So if you don’t like white wine or red wine, I believe it would be a soft drink! I say believe because we only got offered wine! Our table is ready! The place had great atmosphere, DJ then live Music pretty awesome. Our hostess informed us that they were out of Lamb! Ok it was 6pm Sunday. We waited and Waited nobody came for a drinks order. The service was just plain awful!
Ready to order–
Shrimp and pork toast, fish tacos, Venison Mole and the Chicken (thank goodness for the chicken as it provided a little heat) we also went for the tomatoes — this is not something I would normally go for but it was Clyde Valley and they are the best!
We ordered dessert and got the wrong one! We ate it anyway.
On a really good note — all the money went to support the food banks!

In theory it’s great, however the execution fell short. Having attended numerous pop-​ups abroad and locally, Section 33 excelled in some dishes but everything else was disappointing.
Hosting the event in a historic disused space, the setup was cool and interesting. However, the excitement died down as we sat freezing in the middle of an empty century-​old swimming pool waiting nearly an hour for our food to arrive. Of the 9 dishes we finally feasted on, the lamb on roti canai was a favourite with its rich flavour and tender texture juxtaposed with a naughty roti canai. The chicken was disappointingly bland despite remaining tender and juicy. At least half of the desserts had nuts in them, so I was only able to sample the basil and olive oil cake with strawberry ice cream, which balanced out the meat-​heavy dinner.
When it came to paying the bill, we waited another 15 minutes until we were presented with an incorrect total. We brought it to the attention of our server, who later brought back another incorrect bill (first overcharging us by £20, then by £10) – how can you get it wrong twice?
The experience would have been improved by having heat lamps dispersed throughout the space, or hosting the event during the summer. Food service could also be greatly improved to avoid having your patrons wait nearly an hour.
For a similar price point, brilliant food execution, and great service, you can dine at one of the recent Bib Gourmand winners without having to keep your winter coat on or see your breath while you eat.
p. s. why is this classified as «Mexican» on Unilocal?There was nothing Mexican about the evening or food…

A bit disappointed that i can only give 3 stars but i think whoever is behind the whole section 33 idea needs to remember that if you organise a pop up in scotland in a venue with no heating then you might try to organise some heaters. the place was freezing! So cold that none of my table could take off their jacket. I spent the night trying to warm up my hands which meant we were happy to rush the dinner.
The food wss tasty. not amazing but good. However the size of the plates were tiny for the price. Each dish was about 2 bites between 2. I tried the beef (which was the best i would say), fish tacos (also good), lamb and venison empanadas. Also tried the chocolate dessert which was nice. I would have been happy to pay £4−5 a dish but these were all overpriced. The prosecco was also quite pricey at £25 a bottle. i think if you are going to serve wine with plastic glasses you should lower the price a little.
The staff were good and the venue was amazing, along with the live music and for that i am glad i experienced it but i wouldnt go again im afraid.

An interesting idea, a cool location (in more ways than one) and some tasty food — a fun way to spend a Saturday night.
The Section 33 pop up is here for one weekend only (but I don’t think it’s sold out so you might be able to head along today if you’re lucky!). Eating in Govanhill Pool was a bit of a novelty but rug up — it is seriously chilly down there!
My favourite dishes of the night were the burrata with Clyde Valley Tomatoes (these tomatoes will blow your mind, they are so flavoursome and delicious), the fish taco was tasty and the venison mole empanadas were also pretty good. I didn’t love the beetroot dish, the beetroot overpowered everything else and the rice just seemed like normal white rice rather than puffed rice as described on the menu. I had the peanut butter choc chip cookies for dessert but wished I hadn’t bothered as the Nutella cream cheese was a little bland and the cookie could have been a stronger peanut butter flavour for me.
There was cocktails available in his and hers options — a gin and rum option. I have no idea which was meant to be which but the rum was the far better of the two and not bad value at £5.
I was disappointed to see a 10% service charge added to the bill when I’d not seen any mention of this beforehand. Perhaps it’s because we were a table of 7? Either way it meant it was about £70 between two for the meal out which puts it in the very pricey category and I’m just not sure the food lived up to the bill.

It’s actually hard to know where to start. Let’s go positive at first. Cool idea, quirky venue and great music. Both for the the DJ and the live guitar playing singer dude.
5 quid a ticket to book a spot and supposedly entitled you to a free beer or cocktail. But not for us I am afraid. All we got offered was a red or white wine. I went with red, unfortunately it was echo falls and it was disgusting. Five quid was a rip off for a wine that you can get in any supermarket for a fiver a bottle.
After drinking our welcome drink in the reception we got invited to the pool area. It looked really run down, but that was the point. It was a great setting to have a meal in a swimming pool. Unfortunately they forgot the heating. The fiver booking fee should have got you a free balaclava. It was so cold, I expected to see a polar bear wander past at any moment.
Once seated we waited around 25 mins for somebody to take our order. We were told there was no lamb left and they were out of the west and piston beers that featured on the menu. Alternatives were Budweiser or Peroni. :(Yes, I have become a beer snob, but surely they could have reached slightly higher than this when buying replacement booze to take the spot of the west they had run out of? Still I went for Peroni and tried to enjoy it, but felt like I had been kicked in the #*%#* when later on the bill showed 4 quid next to it.
The food… Sadly we waited ages as the kitchen seemingly lost power. Some stuff was lovely when it did come. The shrimp and pork toast in particular was great. However I really thought in general it all felt a bit tiny and very over priced. Fish tacos were average. Chicken was good, but could have done with more seasoning. The tomatoes were nice, (Clyde valley tomatoes are epic), the venison mole was Tasty enough. But it was all to small for the price!
After the main courses we were still hungry, so ordered dessert. We went for the lotus biscuit one to share. Again it was tiny and it turned out to be the peanut cookie one they had brought us instead. We ended up just eating it as it would have been to long till someone came back around to be able to complain and get it swapped over.
Really wanted to love this pop up event, but it was honestly so disappointing. Very understaffed, small portions, poor drink options, pretty expensive and a temperature that would have made Santa feel at home.
I am glad I have had dinner in a swimming pool as it sounds cool, but there is no way I would go back to the current location. If it pops up again and you do decide to visit. Say hi to Santa for me and watch out for the penguins sliding about in the ice.
A generous two stars.

Excellent popup restaurant in the south sides much loved Govanhill Baths. How could I resist the temptation to say I had dinner in a swimming pool!
Very friendly reception from staff with a choice of cocktail or beer on entry. Escorted to our table by lovely chatty greeter staff. Very attentive waitresses who manage to get the balance perfect by gliding past and offering drinks and desserts when needed but not interrupting the meal. Lovely acoustic live music. Absolutely amazing menu, lots on offer to try but not too long and inducing choice blindness.
All in all a perfect evening, wonderful staff and menu, and a date night to remember.