Nick's Italian Kitchen & Bar is a bit of a main stay in Hyndland, and during the years I lived in…read morethe neighborhood I ever actually had the urge to visit. Maybe this had something to do with the fact it looked more like a burger bar than a traditional Italian restaurant, but as my dad always said, "Don't judge a book by it's cover," unfortunately on this occasion my judgey instinct was correct.
I went along as part of a food tour evening and Nick's was the destination for our main course. Faced with specials like kebabs (eh?), meat and fish pasta combo's I knew right away I was not gonna get anything authentically Italian. I could tell some of my fellow diners eyes where on me as I tried to figure out if any of the dishes got the thumbs up from the fussy-pants Italian guy.
On this particular evening I opted, rather insanely, for a salmon and pasta combo, which is about as Italian pouring a jar of Dolmio on that instant pasta muck. Yup, its the stuff of nightmares for me ;)
My salmon was done on a grill, but had been charred to within an inch of becoming a lump of coal. The spaghetti on the side was an odd mixture of cream, black olives and capers. It was such an odd combination that left me wondering how anyone could have come up with this recipe.
I thought I must have got a bum deal with my dish and so I sampled my buddy's pizza. Unfortunately, it just did not do it for me at all. Over cheesy, terrible dough, overly herby seasoning, way to crispy and thin. Just not my idea of pizza at all.
Disappointing too was the beer list. The only beer I wanted, an IPA I think, they didn't have. Big sad face :(
Despite it being a wonderfully sunny, spring evening, Nick's is rather dark and dingy feeling place. With so many new, proper Italian restaurants opening up in Glasgow, this certainly ain't a spot I'll be rushing back to.