Restaurant Glasgow

Situated on the very busy Great Western Road amongst the Pizza Huts, Subways and carry out outlets is Wudon Noodlebar; an odd addition to a fairly student orientated area of the city.

Ordinarily, I would think a noodle bar would fit in well in the student packed west end but Wudon sticks out like a sore thumb. The service lacks the speed and efficiency Wagamama offers, the prices are just that bit too high for the students and the stark interiors don’t offer diners glamorous surroundings.

The food itself is bland, of the three meals my party ordered they all tasted the same and we found ourselves hunting out Wasabi to bring some flavour to the meals. As someone who is diet conscious I welcomed the addition of a non fast food eatery take away in the west end and I do enjoy noodles but a little bit  more spice wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Has anyone else visited Wudon Noodlebar? What did you think?

The Italian Caffe is the sister restaurant to the Italian Kitchen so I only thought it fair to review this restaurant too. And I was not disappointed.

The Italian Caffe is an Enoteca which means that it boasts one of the most varied and diverse wine lists. These wines are available by the glass or by the bottle, letting you taste wines that you may not have tasted before. I asked the waiter what wine would best suit my meal and they were able to recommend one. I was pleasantly surprised that the staff actually knew what they were talking about, making my dining experience that much more enjoyable.

And like the Italian Kitchen, the food from the Italian Caffe is of a very high standard, producing authentic italian cuisine with fresh local ingredients.This makes this italian restaurant one to try out, if you love italian food and a comfortable and warm atmosphere with some of the best variety of wine in Glasgow.

Bang in the heart of Glasgow is the Italian Kitchen. With Italian restaurants 10 a penny in Glasgow the Italian Kitchen has some stiff competition. The prime location obviously has its advantages but if someone is looking for good food they could easily look further afield.

The Italian Kitchen’s menu is extensive covering all the classic dishes we are used to but with a pasta and meat menu to make even the most refrained water at the mouth.

The food is freshly prepared and was very delicious. I chose the Melanzane in Carrozza,
which is fried aubergines stacked with mozzarella, followed by the homemade meatballs in a tomato sauce. The starter was very nice indeed, although I am quite the fan of aubergine, regardless it was very fresh and not overly fried, a nice thin layer of breadcrumbs with a little crunch. The meatballs were, again, very nice; the sauce was very flavoursome with a heady mix of herbs making it all a little bit more interesting.

The restaurant itself is stylish but still remaining comfortably informal.

Overall the Italian Kitchen has stayed true to the great Italian chef, and from my short time in Glasgow it has been the best of all the Italian restaurants I have dined at.

Here are some more helpful reviews about the Italian Kitchen Glasgow:

Trip Advisor

The List

Sugarvine

Serving contemporary Scottish Cuisine  Cail Bruich is a refreshing alternative to all the gastro pubs and Italian restaurants swamping Glasgow’s streets.

The Great Western Road restaurant is the second Cail Bruich the family has opened the first being in the Bridge of Weir.

The menu is a beautiful mix of gourmet and traditional; serving traditional dishes with a nice twist veering away from the typical options we are used to seeing.

On the menu for myself was Ox Cheek Pie which was delicious, perfectly cooked and quite a surprise for someone usually quite timid in the culinary department. Similarly my dining partner stepped out of the box, so to speak, and thoroughly enjoyed her Pork Belly.

Overall Cail Bruich is a warm and welcoming restaurant that offers delicious versions of our traditional Scottish meals- in a country where all too often we are choosing other national foods over our own it is nice to find a restaurant that is proud of Scottish culinary offerings and serves them in style.

www.cailbruich.co.uk

Famed for having over 60 biers from around the world the Republic Bier Halle is a small chain of posh gastro pub’s that is littered across Glasgow, and famed for its 2 for 1 pizza and pasta deals.

The Bier Halle situated on Great Western Road is one brilliant for a sunny day, with its covered outdoor seating area it is perfect for those willing to brave the miserable weather in an attempt to capture some of summer Scotland has to offer.

As previously mentioned the bar itself stocks a wide and varied range of biers, and it’s biggest selling point has to be its 2 for 1 on all pizzas and pastas. The pizza’s are freshly made, however, somewhat a bit sparse on toppings and a little dry… the bier was of course delicious, but when the bill came I was a bit surprised about how pricey the bier in fact actually was. A raspberry berry was in the £3.50 region, which directly across the road in my favorite off license The Cave costs around £2.

The atmosphere in the pub was good, the service a little slow but overall I would say that the Bier Halle food is not bad considering what you pay for, but I would recommend going easy on the pints of bier if you are looking for a cheap bite to eat, it can get pretty pricey.

Italian
Average price of 3 course meal (excluding drinks)= £20

The Mancini can found on the popular Great Western Road in Kelvinside; small in size but big in personality the restaurant is busy with welcoming staff.

As expected on a Saturday night the restaurant is busy, full a crowd that consists mostly of the young professional sort, and every table is overflowing with people having a good time.

The menu has all the main ingredients for an Italian restaurant: pasta and pizza, with a few interesting dishes thrown in for equal measure. What is so pleasing about the menu has to be the fact that it has a nice selection of starters, I feel that many restaurants let themselves down by neglecting the first course, and I particularly enjoy having a nice starter to kick things off with.

After much consideration I settled for the Gateau of Smoked Salmon and Pepper, Crème Fraiche and Citrus Salad to start with. It was, simply put, delicious; the gateau itself was incredibly light and when combined with the grapefruit that formed part of my citrus salad it was deliciously fresh; and left me feeling refreshed and ready for my main course of vegetarian lasagne.

I do this lasagne no justice when I call it a vegetarian lasagne, for it is a lasagne of wild mushroom, leek and asparagus and much tastier than any meat counterpart could ever offer. Again, the Mancini got the combination of the rich ingredients spot on with the lasagne, it was, without being crude, very very yummy, and left me wanting more.

To accompany our meal we had a reasonably priced bottle of house red wine, although I am not a wine connoisseur myself the wine was a nice compliment to the meal we had, and for those with the more experienced palette there was a wide selection to choose from.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Mancini, the food was delicious and the service impeccable, I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys good Italian food.

Italian
Price of the Pre Theatre Set Menu: £11 per person.

Hidden away on a small street in the fashionable Merchant City area of Glasgow Esca is a very nice Italian restaurant, it is small but the clever use of space and the modern décor make it feel both airy and cosy at the same time.

The pre-theatre menu is somewhat limited, but for £11 a head for two courses including a glass of wine it isn’t too bad. I am not a big soup person but as I don’t like mushrooms, mussels or sardines I was forced through default to have the carrot and coriander soup of the day for my starter which was very flavoursome, although a tad over salted, but it was very fresh and surprisingly didn’t fill me up to much which I always fear when choosing a soup for starters.

I really was in the mood for lasagne but again the limited pre theatre menu left me with little options, I would ordinarily go for the pizza but for the sake of this review I avoided it, and I chose the carbonara instead. I am usually a big fan of carbonara, but I was disappointed by Esca’s offering, it was too creamy and very very rich in flavour making me feel a bit sickly and causing me to leave half a plateful of pasta uneaten. No one had much to say about our individual meals, although the others at the table finished their whole portion so all couldn’t have been that bad. Our wine was accompanied by a free glass of white wine, and followed by a bottle of their house white, which was pleasant enough and was fine enough for the price of it.

Overall, I wouldn’t rate Esca’s food very well; my meal was overly seasoned and too rich in flavour which really can spoil it for me. I will, however, give Esca the benefit of the doubt as this meal was ordered from the small pre-theatre menu and if I had the selection of the full menu I know I would have chose differently. When it comes down to it, however, £11 for two courses and a glass of wine is pretty good value which on many occasions that is all your looking for a meal in a nice atmosphere for a reasonable price.

For the Pre-Theatre Menu priced at £10.95 visit their site on 5pm.

Italian

Total cost of meal for one (two courses, side order and soft drink): £17.00

Springfield Quay is a leisure park that hosts a bevy of restaurants and entertainment facilities; all your usual suspects are present, Odeon cinema, Mecca Bingo, Frankie and Bennies, Nandos etc… and nestled amongst all the tackiness is Ask. I have never came across an Ask restaurant before, and in the midst of screaming families and commercial restaurants, its sophisticated interiors and quiet atmosphere seemed like heaven.

Ask is not very well signposted to be honest, I initially thought it was just a section of the massive Alea casino building, so if you do want to pay it a visit note that it is beside Nando’s and has a glass front.

The restaurant itself has a modern and sophisticate feel which I found unusual in such as family orientated complex something which must have had something to do with why there were still tables available with the other patrons being mostly groups of ladies or couples, no doubt stopping for a bite to eat before a movie.

The menu is Italian, covering pizzas, pasta and salads; I was quite impressed by the large choice of salads as they are often neglected and I chose the Insallate Pollo Pancetta salad which was topped with pancetta, pan fried chicken, avocado and all the usual salad garnishes. It was very tasty indeed, with lots of toppings but a little sparse on the green side. My friend chose the Vesuvio pizza, and unfortunately for him it was far too hot, admittedly the spicy pepperoni, red chilli and chilli flakes mentioned on the menu should have prepared him for the searing spiciness but I feel perhaps the waiter could have mentioned it when ordering, as he certainly pointed it out when placing it in front of my unsuspecting friend. What was a shame, however, was that the pizza itself was good but the over use of chilli spoilt any enjoyment whatsoever and he ended up leaving half of it.

The table service at Ask was reasonable, we were seated and meals ordered fairly quickly but we did sit with our empty plates for a good 10 minutes, followed by another 15 minutes whilst we waited for someone to take our dessert order. The dessert incidentally had another mixed review; I chose the lemon sorbet which was home made and tasted mouth wateringly good whilst my friend had the chocolate cake which for me tasted dry and looked a bit lifeless to be honest.

I think out of everything Springfield Quay has to offer foodwise Ask may be your best bet, I do enjoy Frankie and Bennies, Chiquito’s etc but with regards to quality and surroundings I would prefer Ask.

Check out their website for menu and restaurant locations.

Naively thinking that Oran Mor was simply a pub restaurant I was quite surprised to discover that the beautiful Church situated in the very popular Byres Road area actually includes two bars, two restaurants, a nightclub and a private function room; which on our visit was hosting a University Ball.

The bar restaurant areas was beautiful, retaining many of the original features of the church and using furniture that maintains the rustic feel of the area that is further supported by the traditional Scottish music playing in the background. Although this portrays a some what old fashioned image of the location this is a fashionable pub, that, by the humungous inflatable Corona bottle at its entrance, I am positive attracts a young crowd.

The menu had all the classic pub foods; burger and chips, steak pie etc… all reasonably priced. The food itself was good, the burger I ordered I don’t believe was freshly prepared and tasted the same as every burger you get in these pub restaurants across the country which was a bit disappointing. Although the chips that came with the burger were good the accompanying salad was a pathetic offering consisting of a mere two limp leaves of lettuce.

Although my visit to Oran Mor wasn’t perfect I had only ended up eating by accident, having visited with the original intention to have a few drinks in the last hours of the day, therefore my sole intention wasn’t to eat. I would definitely return for a drink as it had a brilliant atmosphere, I would also like to check out what else the venue has to offer; the Concert, A Cocktail and A Canapé nights sounds right up my street; and the Play, Pie and Pint sounds like the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon. So, as a pub I would say two thumbs up, but as a restaurant I am undecided… another visit is already being arranged.

Italian

Average price of meal (2 courses + glass of wine): £18

Having heard rave reviews about their pizza on numerous occasions and being a pizza fan myself I was really looking forward to my visit to Big Blue; and it did not disappoint I enjoyed every aspect of my visit to Big Blue. My only complaint being I couldn’t get a table in the outside area, but in all fairness the outside area is small and packed due to the sun being out, apart from that I really enjoyed the atmosphere and food.

Although Big Blues entrance is situated directly on the main street the restaurant itself is down two flights of stairs at the river level allowing it to have an outdoor veranda overlooking the River Kelvin. The restaurant exudes a laid back and warm atmosphere; and it was surprisingly busy for midweek- perhaps it was the beautiful weather. The menu focuses primarily on pizzas and pastas however salads and a grill menu are available; taking all recommendations into consideration I had a pizza- topped with tuna and red onion in case you were wondering.

When it arrived we were offered the usual black pepper but also a chilli and garlic oil to drizzle which I thought was a bit unusual. The pizza was delicious very light and soft, and the toppings very fresh- I was left satisfied by the pizza however I am unsure whether it was as good as everyone seemed to have made out. Although liberally topped, I felt the pizza lacked moisture and taste, I think there maybe wasn’t enough cheese on it. One thing I did notice was a large number of people having the Calzone, which literally looked like a mountain of carbs, far more than those having normal pizza which made me think perhaps I ordered the wrong pizza… that the Calzone is what everyone is talking about.

In conclusion, even though I thoroughly enjoyed my pizza and the service was brilliant I felt like I was robbed of my magical Big Blue pizza- the pizza I ate did not meet the expectations that were built up from the recommendations. Perhaps I made the mistake of putting the Pizza on the Pedestal, or perhaps I chose the wrong one… either way I did not have the out-of-this world pizza I was promised.