Reviews Cafe Gandolfi

Cafe Gandolfi what more can you say that does this amazing place justice? Apart from exceptional food, outstanding service and an ambience unique to Cafe Gandolfi it makes visiting it a key part of any schedule when in Glasgow.

Usually order the full breakfast. Decided to change it to toast with poached eggs and a side of bacon. Bad idea. The whole dish was bland. Not sure it was local Ayrshire bacon but there was certainly a lack of taste. Decor and atmosphere always welcoming and warm.

One of my favorite places to go.. Gandolfi is one of my favorite places to go in Glasgow. Very cozy atmosphere if the furniture is not so. (sorry Tim Stead but it look great)
Food is a nice mix of homely and fusion. Some Amazing traditional meals - MacSweens Haggis, Stowaway Black & White Pudding with roast apple. + Italian and American influences. Yum.
And the specials board is worth a long look.

Cafe Gandolfi really is a hidden gem of Gladgow. Fantastic seasonal menu, lovely staff. Highly recommended. If you enjoy it here you should try the sister resturant Gandolfi Fish.

Loved it! Dont actually eat.... Loved it! Had a really tasty meal. The chef is fantastic and was happy to change a dish slightly for me as I dont eat cheese. My other diner had great fish. Huge portions of tasty food. Recommend!

A great Glasgow insitution that maintains great standards. Try upstairs for a more modern twist.

Excellent choice on menu. Impressive wine list. Service not with a smile though. Went on a Saturday night and felt rushed to finish meal so they could get their next diners in. However, despite this I would still recommend this.

Food excellent both in terms of ingredients and presentation. Wine list is particularly good. The Tim Stead interior has stood the test of time and creates much of the unique and distinctive nature of this restaurant. Great place for lunch, dinner or Sunday brunch with friends. Staff experience can be a little varied but don't let that put you off - both food and décor are unique and not to be missed.

The breakfast menu is wide ranging; from porridge & muesli to homemade fruit scones & croissants. Cooked items included the usual suspects; various types of meat and/or eggs on toast to more interesting and very Scottish sounding dishes like ‘Black pudding with pancakes & mushrooms’ and ‘White pudding with apple, crispy onions & cumberland sauce’.

Working in a busy restaurant robs me of most weekends so there’s nothing I like better than a lazy Monday off work and somewhere nice to eat. The Merchant City is a pleasant walk from our flat so we quite often meander down there until a lunch menu, pre-theatre or amazing sounding dish catches my eye. There’s certainly enough choice with over forty places that serve food in this tiny area. We had a fantastic meal in Cafe Gandolfi with the in-laws back in April so we felt that we wanted to go back and sample the other goodies on offer.

In true lazy Monday style, we never arrived to Cafe Gandolfi for lunch until about 3pm. This has happened so often that myself and a friend have renamed this time as ‘linner’ – it’s an in-between meal like brunch but between lunch and dinner. Many restaurants in Glasgow close after lunch and don’t reopen until around 5pm so they are no good for linner but most places in the Merchant City stay open making it the perfect destination. Cafe Gandolfi looks reassuringly homely and a great place for a casual Monday meal.

I love the chunky wooden tables that were commissioned just for them and the big tables are laid out in such a sociable way that it makes me want to come in as part of a large group. It was quiet when we arrived due to the time of day but they still had five tables in so it was ticking over.

I was tempted to have the scallop special but last time that I came in I had the special instead of the chicken and I was determined to try the chicken this time but I love the sound of the courgette flower. I haven’t been able to try one of these yet but they look great and seem to be the new thing in cooking.

Gandolfi scores brownie points with Mr S because they sell St Mungos lager on tap from the local West brewery (he is a big fan). I would highly recommend taking a trip down to West for a try of their selection of Glasgow brewed beers or you’ll find St Mungos in several Glasgow bars & restaurants. I didn’t fancy an alcoholic drink so I went for their home-made St Clements juice. The only point I would make on the drinks is to make sure that you order them before you need another because some drinks have to come from the bar upstairs so we waited a wee while for these.

As I said before, I had almost certainly decided on the chicken when we went in but I looked through the menu nonetheless. All of the starters sound delicious and there is an array of main courses to choose from.

We were just going to have main courses but the Arbroath Smokies were delicious last time so we shared one. They bake them with tomatoes. cream and parmesan & serve them with toast fingers and salad. The smokies were as good as the first time and I could easily polish off two of those instead of having a main course next time.

Mr S chose the New York Pastrami with cheese for his main course. It came as an open sandwich on sourdough bread with the pastrami on top followed by mushrooms and melted Swiss cheese. He said it was fabulous and the ultimate comfort food with the cheese on top. It is also a nice touch that the salads come undressed and then they offer you house dressing as a choice instead of the salad arriving soaked in oil.

My dish was a home-made chicken kiev that came with creamed potatoes, sugar snap peas & a beetroot and radish salsa. It arrived at the table oozing with butter and it was indeed the rich dish that I had been expecting. I usually veer away from ordering chicken in restaurants because I always think of chicken as an everyday meat & half the time it arrives overcooked but the idea of a chicken kiev transported me back to my childhood. Having eaten in Gandolfi a few times now I knew that the chances were that it would be miles better than the kievs I ate as a child but it provided enough nostalgia to prompt me to order it. The chicken was juicy and tender so that worry was swept away after the first bite. The salsa was more like a coleslaw minus the mayo than what I would call a salsa, and the flavours went really well with the dish and provided enough freshness & crunch to cut through the butter. It was the sort of dish that you have to be in the mood for in my opinion (I was) due to its hearty nature.

No desserts were ordered this time but the time before we tried the malteser pot, crème brulee & the baklava and I remember them being enjoyable.

Gandolfi also offers you the best of both worlds with the ‘cafe’/restaurant part downstairs and the bar, which also serves food, upstairs. They also have clean, modern toilets with nourishing handsoap. It is amazing how much of a rarity this is and I like nice toilets in a restaurant.

It is not cheap but all of the ingredients seem to be as fresh as you’ll get so I can understand that this costs money. The bar upstairs also provides somewhere to sip on a cocktail or sup a beer after your meal, so you don’t need to go searching for anywhere in the rain. Again, it’s not Glasgow’s cheapest bar but they have a large spirit collection, friendly, knowledgeable staff and the Parmaviolet Martini’s are to die for.

The food is very tasty and the portions are good. They have quite successfully added their own spin on every dish we tried, which is a nice touch. The prices are a little on the high side though nothing outrageous. The service was good though a bit careless towards the end of the night, where drinks orders were being forgotten about repeatedly. All in all a good experience so can recommend this place if you want some great food in a nice setting.

Delicious breakfast 🌞 The poached egg was perfect. I really enjoyed the black pudding. It was not too salty and oily and it melted in my mouth— better than the ones I had in England. The mushroom and sausage were also tasty. And the potato scone was new to me but resembled nostalgically the pancakes at home. Can’t imagine how I easily finished a full breakfast. There is a very good selection of tea, with nice quality and aroma. The dishes came fast and the service was really friendly. The interior is elegant and charming.

That was our first time in Glasgow, a very short stay...and we usually don't eat twice at the same place to make sure we try many places.. but with the Café Gandolfi, we had to do an exception. The building is great, the breakfasts were incredible and, to be honnest, we came back for the very kind staff !! Don't miss it !

Every detail in the interior is special, heavy wooden chairs, tables with beautiful table tops and stained glass on a large window, these are not all the details worth describing. The food is delicious, and the staff is polite and attentive.

For the price you pay for a steak it would have been nice to have a wee salad with it. Both our steaks were slightly overdone in spite of having been very clear about preferences (blue and rare) This said it was tender and a good cut of meat. I can warmly recommend that IPA beer for the lovers of hops out there.