Despite the random ramblings of the first review on this place, having nothing much to do with eating here, as more a rant on cycling and coffee - I decided to try this out, after Nonna's Kitchen across the road was an utter disappointment.
Booked table for Fiona and I on a Tuesday night, as the weekends are rammed. Wasn't overly busy with 3-4 tables there at 6:30pm. Waitress came running over from behind counter, bubbly and friendly to seat us.
Her colleague came over with menus and mentioned the specials, along with offer of drinks. Fancied their Chianti, so she came back with a small glass for us to try beforehand (nice touch). Ended up with the bottle as a result!
Went for starters of calamari, mains of Lasagne and Fiona has risotto, but they kindly added prawns to it for her.
Chatted with the waitress & instantly from sitting down here, it has a very different feel from Nonna's Kitchen. No, it's not slick and fancy with a Fiat 500 car sitting outside purely for marketing purposes. It's COSY and welcoming. I'm instantly relaxed as is Fiona. This is what I want from a restaurant... lets hope the food lives up to the ambience and service so far!
Calamari - cooked fresh, not from frozen, but cut a little too thinly and lacked seasoning. Still nice though, but for £5.95 it could be better taste and portion wise. Glasgow City prices here after all..
Mains didn't take long to come - 15 mins or so and wowser. There was certainly no lack of portions here! The focaccia bread looked amazing (cooked!) :-) Dug into the bread whilst the lasagne cooled. Stark contrast from Nonna's and the lasagne was bursting with flavours. Fiona even said her risotto was the nicest she'd had so far, from ANY restaurant to date. It might be slightly more than Tony Macaroni's lets say, given they do special 2/3 course meal deals, but with the portion sizes and quality, it was well on a par with City Centre restaurants.
Saved space for dessert & had to have Tiramisu and Fiona tried Torta Della Nonna. A traditional Tuscan dessert with pastry and vanilla. Whilst mine was stunning, Fiona was left disappointed in hers, as it had nuts all over it (hates nuts!). A little heavy on the icing sugar dusting too. Lass said she'd change the menu to show nuts on it, but despite not being eaten, it remained on the bill. A nicer touch would have been to take it off as first timers here and an issue with the menu here.
That said, we both had a very relaxing, friendly banter evening, learning about the restaurant, staff etc and experienced FINALLY, some freshly cooked food locally.
I will 100% come back and take the mother along to sample it and hope the standards remain consistent here.
You Gotta Eat Here - For Sure!! :-D read more