Amarone — Restaurant in Aberdeen City

Very hit and miss in a lot of different ways.

To begin with the menu was strange and seemingly full of errors. There were both "V" and "VG" keys to denote Vegetarian and Vegan safe meals seperately, but they did not seem to be applied correctly at all as they were only present on Vegan safe meals switching between the two at random, with anything containing any dairy whatsoever (be it cream or cheese) being deemed not Vegetarian safe. When I asked a waiter to help me with my confusion regarding the vegetarian safe dishes, they told me I was wrong and that "cheese isn't vegetarian, some vegetarians just don't mind it"???

I could understand room for debate when it comes to eggs, but dairy is pretty much the #1 dividing line between Vegetarian and Vegan... Very strange, just trying to cover for printing errors on the menu I think.

Across a family of four we had three courses, a different starter, main and dessert each every time, and it seemed as if the quality of the food and portion size was completely random from dish to dish.

When it came to starters, my Minestrone was almost big enough to be a main but tasted of absolutely nothing at all, just boiled-tasteless vegetables floating in vaguely tomato coloured water. My step-father's black pudding croquettes however were apparently delicious but the portion size was tiny, while my brother's bruschetta and mother's mozzarella fritta were both decently sized and apparently very tasty.

Next came the mains and once again between the dishes it was hard to believe they were all coming from the same restaurant. The Tonnarello al Pomodoro was almost twice the serving size of Spaghetti Carbonara, the lasagna was apparently extremely bland, and the Shrimp Linguine was I'm told "just fine" in both taste and serving size. Our "garlic bread to share" was delivered as a single small garlic-buttered bread-roll making for a hearty single slice each.

Even the deserts weren't spared from the inconsistent quality of the food at Amarone. The profiteroles were delicious, but the chocolate mousse was missing entire ingredients with no sign of the crispy almond base promised on the menu.

The staff were very friendly, the decor was nice enough, the seating areas were comfortable and the restaurant is spacious but the food quality and portion sizes vary so wildly from dish to dish that Amarone is hard to recommend.

The one area where quality wasn't inconsistent were the drinks, particularly the cocktails. Whether the frozen daiquiris we got to cool off from the heat outside of the espresso martinis on the desert menu, every cocktail we ordered was delicious. Frankly they should have just skipped the restaurant and opened a...

January 2024: A few days ago I visited this restaurant again after over 2 years and I regret to say that this time I was disappointed. We also came to celebrate special day, this time my birthday. We were offered rosé Proseco, which we agreed to thinking it will be one glass, on the house as previously. However, we were not informed that it would be a whole bottle and what its cost would be. This only turned out to be the case when we asked for the bill after the entire dinner (£29,95 for the bottle). In addition, a tip was added, which was not included during the previous visit. The food was good, but the menu was different and the dish, which I had previously eaten and really enjoyed was not available on it. Just like before we felt appreciated, this time we felt ripped off. There are so many restaurants in the city that you can freely choose and you will certainly find more than one that will be able to please the customer and make him leave appreciated. I probably won't come back here any time soon.

September 2021: My visit to this restaurant was related to my sister's birthday. Not only the ordered dish, Bruschetta Rustica & Pollo Funghi e Pancetta were absolutely delicious, we were also treated to Prosecco at the company's expense. It was a very nice gesture and my sister's birthday made it even more enjoyable. The staff looked after us well, all the time asking if everything was alright. I can definitely recommend this place if you have any occasion to celebrate or spend time in a place with an exquisite and friendly atmosphere. You will certainly feel appreciated. Thank you "Amarone", on behalf of myself and my sister, for making this...

This was not one my favorite restaurants that we ate at along our Scotland adventure. The night before we actually ate at another Italian restaurant in Aberdeen that had better food, service and prices. Initially, the service was pretty good and if it had stayed that way we would have given it a better score. One of the major reasons for the score was that there was a mix up with our bill and they gave us someone else's bill, which wouldn't have been a big deal. So it was brought to our attention and they said the bills were practically equal and then showed us our bill after we had been charged...well, to make our bills equal they doubled the gratuity on our actual bill to even it out. At the time we were dealing with our young children, so we didn't get to fully look at it until we got back to the hotel room and then noticed that not only did they apply gratuity, but they had also doubled it to make it equal. This was only part of the issue. The food was also just okay. Almost all the dishes were high in acid and fat/oil content. So, there were many options for my dietary needs. The children also didn't enjoy their meals as much. The tiramisu, however, was fantastic and I do recommend that. But, otherwise, if we find ourselves back in Aberdeen, which is likely...we will eat...