This was a place that we tried out during our recent trip to Glasgow. Unfortunately, our flight back to the Netherlands had been cancelled early in the morning, and so we found that we had an extra unplanned day in Scotland (still part of the UK?). Given that we had two kids in tow, and a wife who wasn't keen to hang out in the hotel room... it was probably better for everyone's peace of mind if we returned back to the city centre to find things to do.
In the end, we found a movie to see (I will review in a different post!), and to kill the lunch hour, we found this nice looking Italian restaurant just opposite the cinema. When we went in, we thought that it looked quite fine... but it also turns out that it is a bit of a chain in the United Kingdom... but with only one location in Glasgow.
The Space
There is something quite nice about the style of the interior, although it is all concreted and tiled like a swimming pool building, there is a hint of a Mediterranean feel about it. I can't exactly place it, perhaps it is the colours or something... but I feel like I have seen it before in the south of France and Italy. Or perhaps I'm completely mistaken!
There is an open kitchen at the very end of the long and large eating area. These open cooking areas have been quite the rage for some time now... I wonder if the chefs find it just as exciting to be on display whilst working? I think I wouldn't really like it... but I guess it makes for a less hot kitchen, and a more cosy warm eating area. Still... if I was working, I think I would prefer more privacy from people taking random photos for a travel blog.
The Menu
The menu is pretty much as expected for an Italian restaurant. Pizzas, pastas, and a selection of "proper" dishes. Nothing strange or out of the ordinary... what I have found in Glasgow, is that there is an unexpectedly good selection of really decent places to eat at! Whilst we were here, we had great feeds at the restaurants in the city and also near where we were staying. Of course, the only problem being that the United Kingdom is pretty expensive...
There is a specialised kids menu with a selection across three courses. We have only just started taking our kids out to slightly fancier restaurants... and our oldest is absolutely in love with the idea! Okay, Ask Italian isn't incredibly fancy or anything like that... but there is a sort of thrill from being able to choose your own starters, mains and dessert!
Okay... something that is a little bit strange that I've never experienced is the fact that you make your selection and then send the order through via a webpage! It's sort of nice and novel... I'm a bit torn on this. I am old-fashioned in many ways, so I don't really like it... but I do appreciate not being bothered by the waiter every few minutes... asking if we have finally made a choice or not!
The Food
The kiddie starter... a tomato based dip (likely what they use for much of the meals) with veggie and bread sticks. Weirdly enough, it was a big hit with both girls... I mean, they do like their vegetables but when you get to dip them in something, it suddenly becomes next level eating! Kids are strange...
My wife wasn't feeling too hungry, and so she had just ordered a Margherita pizza. When it arrived, it looked pretty good, but much larger than we had expected! However, as we all took chunks out of it, it turned out to be quite nice and light in the dough (usually that is the heavy filling part if it is done the in awful American style). Plus, it was nice a light on the cheese... nothing is worse than a pizza swimming in cheese and oil! Bleah!
The kiddie pizza was also nice and light... and of course, it was done in a little shape for the little ones. Rabbits are always a hit! Although, I think that the actual placement of the eyes and nose were a touch in the Picasso-style.
Now, for myself... I wanted something a bit more substantial, and so I had a look at the main dishes instead. A crumbed and herbed chicken filet was more to my liking. What was interesting about the whole menu was that it was incredibly modular... you could add and take away pretty much everything that you wanted (within reason). It appears that this is more of an Anglo thing rather than something that I have experienced on the mainland of Europe.
Anyway, this was supposed to be served with a creamy mushroom sauce... which would have been nice to try, but I feared that the creaminess would be a touch too much for my stomach to handle.
However, even without the sauce... I was impressed with this dish. For a "non-fancy" chain type restaurant, the coating was nice and crispy with the chicken nicely tender. Chips were perfectly done, and the broccoli was still firm and not overcooked. Really, this is miles above what I would expect from a restaurant like this!
There were the two desserts from the kids... adults went without, when you are eating out with kids, you always end up eating a good chunk of the kiddie mains as well, which means that there is slightly less room for desserts. However, the kids were nice enough to share!
A nicely dusted brownie for the older girl... just nicely rich enough!
... and just a plain vanilla ice-cream for the little one, but with a nice selection of sprinkles (you can customise the sprinkles when you order). Again, there is something about serving it all in many different little bowls that just makes the experience that much more special!!!
The Experience
What can I say... we can in here, just expecting a fast no-fuss meal to pass the lunch hour whilst we were waiting for the movie. And we did get a no-fuss high quality meal! The high quality wasn't expected at all... but given our week of eating out in Glasgow, we really shouldn't have been surprised.
The only downside was the cost of the lunch... it was significantly more than you would pay on mainland Europe (especially as you travel further east or south...). However, that isn't really the fault of the restaurant, but it appears that the whole UK is just more expensive!
I'm keen to find out if all the different locations for Ask Italian are as good as this one... I don't think that there are any in the Netherlands, but I will have to check! An excuse to eat out... just to compare the service and quality!
Opening Times
Monday 11:30am–10pm
Tuesday 11:30am–10pm
Wednesday 11:30am–10pm
Thursday 11:30am–10pm
Friday 11:30am–10pm
Saturday 11:30am–10pm
Sunday 11:30am–10pm
Contact Details
Address: 3 Port Dundas Pl, Glasgow G2 3LD, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 141 261 0322