Osteria review: A taste of Italy in Glasgow

Osteria is an award-winning Italian restaurant based in Glasgow’s Merchant City. My boyfriend and I visited last week for the first time as we celebrated six years together.

We arrived in the city centre at about 7 pm on a Monday with no idea where we wanted to eat and managed to get a booking at Osteria’s for 7:30 pm. The restaurant was very quiet, but that was ideal for us as it made it more intimate. The décor throughout the restaurant was gorgeous - surrounded with rustic styles décor with paintings, clocks, wine bottles and a monochromatic brown colour palette – overall, it had a very homely feel.

As soon as we entered, the staff warmly greeted us and showed us to our table. Our menus were their set menu, which was wildly affordable with two courses for £15.95 | and three courses for £18.95 (available Sunday-Thursday 12 pm-10 pm / Friday & Saturday 12 pm-4:30 pm).

My boyfriend had the ‘polpetta dell’osteria’ for our starter course, which is homemade meatballs in a classic tomato sauce. It was topped with cheese (the cheese pulls were amazing) and served with a side of bread – this can be upgraded to garlic bread for an extra 95p. He thoroughly enjoyed this as he said the meatballs were cooked to perfection in accompaniment with the cheese and sauce was stunning; he rated his dish as a 4/5.

I had the ‘paté rustico, a homemade chicken liver paté with toasted Italian bread and red onion chutney. I love having paté as a starter when going out to eat as it is always enjoyable, and this was no exception. The combination of the salty paté with the sweet chutney on the crisp bread was incredible. I would have to rate it a 5/5.

My boyfriend ordered the Pollo Milanese (photo on the left) for his main course, which consisted of a portion of arrabbiata pasta with a breadcrumb-coated chicken breast. He rated this dish a 3/5, saying the pasta was more average than he had expected, but the chicken was the saving grace for this dish. The pasta wasn’t a very spicy arrabbiata sauce, making the meal a bit plainer, but it would be a great choice for picky eaters. It is also possible to change the pasta in this dish for an additional £2.

For my main course, I had ‘lasagne di mamma’ (photo on the right), an authentic lasagne made with egg pasta and Scottish beef. It had such a cosy, homemade feel and was very pleasant though nothing exceptional in all honesty, but an enjoyable main. My only critique would be that a side of garlic bread included would make all the difference, giving it a 4/5.

We passed on dessert as these two courses filled us with the ideal amount. The service could not have been more pleasant, and the staff were lovely, welcoming and accommodating. Overall, we were both delighted we chose to book this restaurant to celebrate our relationship and had a fantastic time!

Osteria is located at 17 John Street, Merchant City, Glasgow G1 1HP.

They have a straightforward booking system on their website, www.osteriaglasgow.co.uk, or reservations can be made via phone at 01415526009.