I popped in here for lunch last week with the awesome Bex M to try out their food which I'd heard…read moreso much about. The restaurant is a pretty nice space with large comfy booths so you might forget there's even people sitting behind you (as I did a couple of times!). There is an express lunch menu of 2 courses for £7.95 which is hard to resist, but I actually didn't really fancy anything on it so ordered the gnocchi from the full menu. The waitress explained they've actually changed their menu and don't offer that anymore, so back to the express menu it was. I ordered the antipasti and the rigatoni alla matriciana (gluten free is an extra £1 I believe). I asked for them to come out together as I was super hungry. The food arrived after a short wait and the pasta was a super generous portion - so I probably didn't even need the starter. The antipasti had a large portion of olives and a fresh chunk of bread but I wasn't overly excited by the meats which were a bit bland. I did really enjoy the pasta though so that was nice - and the waitress happily lathered on the parmesan for me. The flavours were really nice and there was plenty of bacon and a good coating of sauce. The gluten free pasta was really tasty too and you'd never know it was GF. Service was helpful and friendly, and our waitress was really chatty and made sure we were well looked after. I'd definitely head back as the express menu is a really good price and you also have the option of ordering a baguette if you fancy something a little different from ususal Italian dishes.

Just go.... It is a laid back phenomenal phenomenon for all…read moreages or peoples. The mix is broad and yet the staff and layout and ambiance seem to make it work ... So bring your stressed dads with babies, your cocktailing girl groups, your family gatherings, your hipsters, your business lunchers and launchers, your ladies who lunch, your men before the football , your leaving doers, your (classy) hen- partiers, your poor (it is a very affordable menu), your huddled masses (there is room for groups). This restaurant delivers ( and not just takeaway), consistent good set menus, a wine list, cocktails and specials... Come for the cooling in the warm summer months, come in winter for the candlelight warming. You won't be disappointed.

Great beer selection. Tried the thin crust pizza and it was very good. Good and friendly service.read more

We were looking for a pub that served haggis and found ourselves here. From the outside, you could…read moreeasily walk by and not even notice this place. Once you walk downstairs and into the restaurant, there are multiple rooms and sections that make this place bigger than it appears. We were led all the way toward the back to be seated, so don't be too intimidated when you first enter and see no seats available. This place is perfect for both drinks and food as there is a variety of selection, especially beers. I opted for the Innis & Gunn Original (£4.60) while my friend settled for a bottle of Ginger Ale (£0.85) since she was not feeling very well to drink alcohol. As for food, we shared the Nachos (£4.95) with Pulled Pork (+£1) and Bier Halle Big Share (£11.95), which came with BBQ wings, deep fried haggis and black pudding, deep fried pickles, sliced bratwurst and spicy sausages, 2 pretzels and sauces for dipping. The sharing board was beautifully plated and came with plenty of food to fill the both of us up. The only thing I wish they had was a cheese sauce dip for the pretzels, but everything else was excellent. The sausage were smoky, wings were saucy, and all the other fried items were nice and crispy. We did mainly come for the haggis and this was delicious, especially since it was fried so flavor was less overpowering as straight up haggis. Even the fried pickles were sweeter once fried. The nachos were also good, although we may have over ordered with this dish. Overall, great food and great beer --definitely a great stop for the night. They also offer a 2 for 1 deal for their pizza, which has so many options to choose from. If we were more hungry or had a bigger group, this would've been an amazing deal!

I hadn't been in F&Bs in years, the last time I went I didn't like the meal, the Americanism or the…read morewhole chain restaurant thing. So imagine ending up there for lunch on my 30th birthday! My Mum and I were hungry so just went for it. We were in the Braehead one (used to be Xscape), its a good size and wasnt too busy. We got three courses for £11, served a lovely waiter with (what I hope was) a cheesy fake Italian accent. I got mushrooms to start, creamy chicken pasta for main and finished with waffles. Everything was delicious!!! I was stuffed and chuffed ;). My Mum also enjoyed her meal, she had garlic bread, fish and chips and ice cream. I'm not a big drinker and Mum was driving to I had diet coke (with unlimited refills) and Mum had tea. The best part was the music they played! Elvis, Dusty Springfield, The Beatles and lots of others that I love. The bathrooms were nice too :). So my views of Frankie and Benny's have definitely changed and I will no doubt return.

Frankie and bennys bases itself on a family based italian restaurant. Nicely decorated to give it a…read morehomey feel. Service is always great here and a wide choice on the menu - typically pasta and pizza, with some steak/ribs. The lunchtime menu is excellent value, 3 courses and refillable soft drink recently worked out at less than £13 including a tip.

Was awright. That's about as much as I can say. The service was alright, the food alright…read more Honestly, I prefer Bier Hall's Fiorentina. The base is nicer, there's more spinach and actually, big shavings of Parmesan. Although busy, but not overly, it felt like the (what I assume was the head) waitress didn't seem to be interested in serving us. When asked if we wanted any oils I requested chilli but had the garlic dumped on the table before I could correct the mistake. The younger waiting staff were a bit more pleasant, but it wasn't a dining experience that would drive me back in any hurry.

Popped in for a late lunch on a dreary afternoon, I'd seen that they had a Vegan pizza on the menu,…read moreso I was looking forward to trying out this new addition to Byres Road. First impressions were that the place is huge, like the tardis or layers of an onion it just keeps on going! Sadly due to the lack of customers at around 3pm, it almost felt like watching the maiden voyage of the titanic, having already read the script. The staff (the manager in particular) looked bored & a little disheartened. Anyway, having been sat down in a wee corner booth, I took a moment to look around. As you'd expect the restaurant looks brand new, they've gone for a much cleaner, brighter (& whiter) look than their branch on Sauchiehall St. The white tiles and metallic trims on the bar and kitchen give it an industrial look (albeit one that's been done to death). The faux-vintage wall decoration just seemed odd & didn't really fit together. On the kitchen counter, they had two bags with "today's dough preparing" written on them, which felt like a bit of a cheap gimmick (you wouldn't want to leave dough to prove in the middle of a restaurant..) I ordered the Classic Pianta, with Artichoke, Mushroom, Spinach and chilli flakes. The pizza was OK, sadly nothing memorable, it was heaped with rocket and lacked pine kernels and garlic oil, so it tasted a bit like most people's impression of Vegan food: lacking in flavour and covered in grass. It took a longer than expected to get the bill, possibly cause the rest of the staff were on the other side of the restaurant(/Byres road), but thankfully the waiter didn't disappear while the bill was settled. Sadly this first visit didn't really give a great impression of the latest addition to Byres Road. I'm sure when the restaurant is full it'll actually be quite vibrant. The lighter decor gives the impression that it's been designed to be a social space rather than subdued/intimate. My only concern is that business will never be sufficient to sustain this large space given the number of great pizza options available in the West End (and Glasgow as a whole). Maybe Pizza Express on Byres Road is a bit of a slow burner, but for now I'm not convinced it'll remain a long term fixture in the heart of the West End.

We really enjoyed it. Came to Glasgow to visit my daughter as she is studying overseas. Zizzi was…read moregreat. Staff was very attentive. Their pizzas are huge, definitely to share with someone. Pasta was amazing too. I highly recommend it.

That's more like it…read more......... ....were the words tottering around in my head after our first visit to the recently opened west end branch of Zizzi. Taking over the space left by Bar Buddha, this place has taken on a real dramatic refurbishment , with the owners going to great lengths to drag a dark, dingy cave like premises, into something truly inviting, fresh, bright and...well, funky! From the get go this joint just screams 'mon in and have a wee look' with its bright lights, whitewashed walls and tall ceilings. Splashes of art on the wall, both canvas and indeed 'straight to wall' artwork, complement endearing design flourishes (couple o' wee trees in the floor dude!!) that all add to the 'arty' feel of the restaurant and in doing so, keep in theme with the arty area itself. Right....the grub. Well, no complaints here either. Price wise it's reasonable and really what you'd expect from an Italian restaurant (about £8-10 on average per dish). Quality wise, i'd say its fairly decent...is it the best, well, to be fair, inn terms of Italian joints in Glasgow, Zizzi has a good bit of competition.....was i disappointed at all? Not a chance! Other things worthy of mention: - Service....in both locations the service has been kick ass, with the servers showing an actual interest in ensuring all is well....me like. - Rustica Pizza...aye the menu is pretty extensive, but i'd have to say , these bad boys are pretty damn good - Mentioned it before but....the space itself....it really is an inviting area, i can imagine coming in here on a cold winters night just for the light level itself!! Zizzi is good. Aye its a chain, but this location certainly feels like its area specific, thus has a more' independent' vibe than its city centre alternative. Service, so far, has been great, as has the food itself. Go!! You will not be disappointed!

Nick's is very close to where we live but we haven't been to this restaurant / bar for a few years…read moredue to a prior experience (exceptionally bad customer service from the Manager when enquiring about a group booking) so I'll be honest and say we booked lunch here for convenience and the tempting offer of two courses and a glass of wine for £9.95 when booked through 5pm. We arrived at 1.15pm and the place was empty but we were greeted by a lovely waitress who showed us to our seats. It turns out the deal we had booked entitled you to a glass of wine, a soft drink or a pint of any of the beers on draft. This made the deal amazing value as they usually charge over £4 for a pint or glass of wine. The lunch menu was good with a selection of 5 starters and 6 main courses. Two of the mains came with a supplement (the steak which was an extra £5 and the salmon Caesar salad an extra £1.50). I went with the goats cheese and black pudding starter which sounded delicious on the menu and didn't disappoint, I really liked that the goats cheese was crumbled through the salad, and then the salmon Caesar for my main. My husband had the meatballs to start and the Cajun chicken pizza - he devoured both dishes! The portion size was generous and we were both stuffed for a good few hours afterwards. The inclusive drinks were also great quality - the white wine is a Chilean Sauvingnon Blanc which was full of sharp gooseberry flavours and the red was a South African Merlot - with my husband opting for a pint of Bitter & Twisted. Our waitress was friendly and efficient and lunch here certainly changed our previous opinion of Nick's.

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.

I am disappointed I never knew about this deli when I lived in the West End!! I came here to get…read moretake-away for a colleague and me, and what a fabulous find! We had the chicken-tomato and chicken-pesto ciabattas; they were delicious and HUGE! We also ordered the side salad with tortilla crisps for an extra .75p; the balsamic dressing was fantastic with fresh, crunchy veggies. Also who knew corn crisps tasted awesome with Balsamic (by the time we made it back to work, the crisps had soaked up some of the dressing)? The gentlemen behind the counter were so nice, and made lovely food with great presentation. So great in fact, that I ended up getting dessert too. You can tell they take pride in their work. I definitely need to come back and eat in the restaurant! One more thing, the coffee smell in the cafe was divine, so I will be trying that on the next trip too!

I've been traveling for a couple weeks and haven't felt compelled to review until now. I like…read moreeverything about this joint-spotless, clean decor and excellent service. The food is delicious and so fresh and so clean! It's the little things that make me want to return, a single basil leaf, drizzled with olive oil adorned my tomato soup and made me smile.

Looking for a bite to eat with my friend and her three year old daughter we thought Pizza Express…read moreseemed like a good family friendly option. Glasgow was in full Commonwealth fever and the town was really busy. We tried the branch in Princes Square first, but with over an hour to wait with a hungry kid we opted to visit this branch just off George Square. We had to wait about 15 mins on this busy Saturday night, and we have a sneaking suspicion the kind, but slightly too enthusiastic waitress might have given us a table quicker due to the tired child and the harassed look the adults were sporting. My friend opted for to go for the £6.50 piccolo menu for her daughter which consisted of a starter of dough balls, followed by a choice of pizza or pasta dish, a choice of dessert either ice cream or chocolate cake/brownie and a Bambinoccino (basically a frothy milk with chocolate). This proved great value and was devoured without much complaint. We both opted for the Leggera Pizzas - lighter pizzas with a salad in the middle. I went for the Goats Cheese which was sweet with lovely caramelised onions and spinach, whilst my friend opted for a chicken version. These were really tasty despite being lower in calories than a lot of pizzas and I think theres a real potential for restaurants to make some dishes slightly healthier, or more moderate portions catering for more health conscious eaters. To finish my friend went for a black coffee and I tagged on a mini dolcetti chocolate gluten free brownie which was rich and ganache like and just enough to end the meal. Prices are as you would expect, about £10 for a pizza, £5 for dessert - not the cheapest by any means but the food was fairly good quality. Our waitress was lovely and very friendly although we did find the service particularly slow, but I think on this particular night the restaurant was particularly busy. However, I would say though that I much prefer the Princes Square branch. There's seating both up and downstairs but we did find some of the facilities toilets etc a little run down, and from a quick look downstairs we both thought it looked a little dark and unatmospheric. Definitely somewhere I'll keep coming for pizza, but its by no means fine dining and I'd probably opt to visit the brighter Princes Square branch.

Most of the praise aimed towards Pizza Express seems to centre on the ambience, which is far more…read morerestaurant-like and intimate than the chain's name would suggest. Waiters come round with black pepper, gentle music plays in the background, the decor is stylish, and you can order a bottle of white wine without feeling an idiot. The food is good too, with more authentically Italian pizzas than many rivals, but in all honesty. sometimes I just prefer a greasy, meat and jalapeno laden beast from Dominos or Pizza Hut.