Glasgow Living Part 30 - Dinner at Amore, Merchant City

Readers, how are you? It finally feels like Spring is on the way. As I type this, I can still almost spot daylight out of the window! I’m catching up tonight on a restaurant review from the weekend before last – trying out Amore, the family run Italian and pizzeria on Ingram St, Merchant City.

I've been a Glasgow food blogger adventuring again in Glasgow this week! 

It’s not somewhere we’d been before, but an invite from the PR company to go along and enjoy the atmosphere on a Saturday night wasn’t one we wanted to turn down. We had a table at 7pm and I was surprised firstly by how big Amore Merchant City is. It’s absolutely huge AND it was packed to the rafters!

 

It’s the type of place people start their night, but it attracts a massive demographic – from groups of girls chatting on a night out, to families celebrating birthdays (they dim the lights and the place flashes neon FYI, if you’re planning a happy birthday celebration). We saw young couples, dressed up to head out on the town and older people tucking into huge pizzas with big smiles on their faces.

Amore really does please all the generations. It’s got the feel of a giant Italian café – with exposed brickwork like a pizza oven, a rotunda space in the middle to seat a group (must be the VIP space) and fast moving service. We were quickly seated on a arrival, given some huge menus to peruse and our drinks arrived quickly – an Italian frascati for me and a Modelo for Mr WhatClaireDid.  We didn’t have to wait long for our starter orders to be taken and the food followed soon after – piping hot.

We’d suggest you prepare yourself for dinner here. Maybe don’t eat for 3 days beforehand?!  I am of course joking, but the portion sizes are incredibly generous. So turn up hungry.   I had the mozzarella triangles to start, mozzarella fried in breadcrumbs with a Napoli sauce.  They were so good… and I probably could have shared my starter with Mr WhatClaireDid, but he’d ordered the bruschetta and demolished that with little room left for mine.

Onto the mains we went, with me opting for Ravioli Casalinga and Mr WhatClaireDid going for Pollo Milanese.  My ravioli was also an incredibly generous portion (I didn’t manage to finish it – possibly a first) and it made me smile – all too often you order ravioli in a restaurant to be presented with 6 bits of pasta and you’ve eaten them before the rest of the table have made a dent in their mains.  At £10.45 a portion, it’s good value for the amount you get.  The Pollo Milanese came shallow fried in breadcrumbs and served with spaghetti napolitana.  It came with two portions of chicken, so again… come hungry.   The restaurant also does a half and half option with its pizza and pasta, so you can have a half pizza, half portion pasta if you’re unable to decide. We didn’t have this, but did see a few people tucking in! 

Amore makes for a good place to go for a group – be that a family, where you’re trying to please multiple generations from kids to grannies – or a group of friends starting a night out. Amore Merchant City is also a good shout for a pre gig feed, if you were going to a concert or the theatre, as the service is speedy, even when the restaurant is packed.

Some great choices, but we were too full! 

Dinner for 2 (two courses and a drink) from the al a carte menu would give you change from £50 – probably enough for another beer or two!

Amore Merchant City is located at 30 Ingram Street in Glasgow and you can keep an eye on their menu online, or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Disclaimer: I was invited to dinner for two in exchange for a review, any opinions expressed are my own.