Merchant City, Italian Restaurant Guide

Stop Press – in summer 2024, Paul Stevenson sold this hit pizzeria with a local sibling (plus equally popular pasta-only brand Sugo) to Glasgow-based DRG, whose empire includes Café Andaluz amongst many others, in what was reportedly an eight-figure deal. Fortunately, the new owners have announced that they have no plans to tinker with the winning formula, and for now it seems to be business as usual at this industrially styled venue, meaning that it continues to turn out “exceptional” Neapolitan-style pies from a “buzzy short menu” (almost wholly comprising a list of ten pizzas plus “amazing specials”).

Fresh pasta is made daily at this big (200 seats) operation in the Merchant City (from the team behind Paesano Pizza), which works on a no-bookings, first-come-first-served basis. Feedback is only limited, but says that as a “cheap ’n’ cheerful” option it’s “very impressive”. (The Scotsman’s Rosalind Erskine is a fan too, dubbing it – in her December 2023 review – “a winning formula that’s well executed”).

Wander over from Victorian burial ground the Necropolis for something far livelier: this “all-round crowd-pleaser” that shares digs with a boutique hotel inside the baronial pile that is Cathedral House. Chef Dean Parker (whose CV includes Darby’s and Sorella in the Big Smoke) and wife Anna “have got it just right” with their mix of “delicious snacks” to share plus mains to hog (not least the “most delicious pasta”), all of which is Italian-ish but with a twist “rather than the stereotypical choices” of your common trattoria. Bonus points for “truly innovative” cocktails. Top Menu Tip – “linguine with lobster and cod cheeks, followed by monkfish with wilted greens and seaweed butter; complete with an excellent affogato for dessert”.

Occupying an interesting looking Edwardian landmark (built in 1914 as a tram stop), this “classic Italian” wins praise for its “well-cooked Italian food” (pizza, pasta, plus classic Italian staple dishes). “It can be crowded, but is very friendly”. It generated national headlines in 2023 (including in the fun-filled Sun), when owner Marco Giannasi ‘secretly’ sold the business to waiter Alex Matheson and his wife Jen Doherty (although Giannasi and his wife still own the freehold). Top Tip – “good value lunchtime offers”.

“A brash, grand and ambitious new Italian” from owner Guiseppe Marini, which opened to much fanfare in spring 2023 in the expensively revamped city centre premises that were previously a branch of Zizzi. It immediately inspired upbeat reviews in our annual diners’ poll (“just what Glasgow city centre needs”; “excellent pastas and promising-looking meat and fish options”; “really committed to its Italian wine list and to weaning its crowd off premium Champagne”). But in August 2023, the three Cozzolini brothers who used to work for Francesco Mazzei at Sartoria in London’s Mayfair parted ways with the project. Consequently, we’ve left it un-rated for the time being while its culinary direction becomes clearer.