Borsalino — Restaurant in Aberdeen City

Hello friends family,travellers world ha i like saying that as i hope people are seeing the reviews of great places ive dined at and Borsalinos in the village of Peterculter is no exception step on in dinner is served!

There is something so special about a place that's family run and been there for over fourty years this is the case with Borsalinos Italian restaurant started by papa Franco in 1976 and now run by the lovely Lucca and his amazing team with the excellent Lewis as manager and front of house, the great Hamish on the bar and the lady's serving the food, its a family affair here and you really get that feeling when you enter the place. Tonight i was here on my own and was given a warm welcome by Lucca, Lewis and the crew and was seated at my lovely table well fillet steak decorated in a quiet part of the restaurant to peruse the menu, i was hungry and ready for some good food and good food is exactly what i received! Looking over the menu all the dishes all stood out in their own way with traditional favourites to other dishes you might not have had before, it all looked very tasty! So i opted for the buffalo mozzarella caprese starter and to follow not a choice i would often make when dining out italian but i went for the filetto al chianti fillet steak with a red wine sauce and mixed vegetables i was ready to eat and sat back in the lovely surroundings and waited for my food to arrive.

The caprese salad arrived lovely pieces of beef tomatoe, served on a great plate, large pieces of delicious creamy buffalo mozzarella with fresh basil atop and aa lovely balsamic glaze at the side, a really wonderful fresh flavoursome start to my meal and i enjoyed it very much excellant!

Onto my main the beef fillet and what a plate was placed before me folks big pieces of absolutely perfectly cooked fillet of beef medium rare exactly as id asked with the creamiest crispy on top super soft in the middle potatoe fondante with a side of roasted vegetables was my mission and to be honest everything complimented everything on the plate the sauce was so rich with a delicate taste of chianti wine and the fondante and vegetables just added a lovely myriad of flavours on my palate yet again from the Borsalinos chefs this was careful, thoughtful cooking and i enjoyed it to the very last bite the sauce just enlightening everything else that was there for me excellant cooking a most enjoyable main course bravo!

Sitting back stuffed the lovely Lewis came to my table and offered the dessert menu oh i was full but how could i refuse! so i opted for the panacotta with raspberry coulis mmmm i love panacotta and Lewis sat down for a wee chat and told me that Borsalinos moto was still the same, serving authentic Italian food to regulars and newcomers alike! all the food produce they serve is locally sourced and they cater for all food intolerances adding to that the fully stocked bar the seperate area which is stunning for private functions and the fact they are now serving brunch from 11 till 2 you really get the vibe that the folks at Borsalinos are really making the effort to give their customers a great and varied experience i cannot reccomend Borsalinos enough and would like to thank Lucca and Lewis and the brilliant staff for a really great night, so if your in the village of Peterculter stop by for genuine Italian hospitality and a true taste of Italy a restaurant that is really moving with the times best wishes...

A Visually Stunning Italian Restaurant with Room for Culinary Improvement

From the moment you arrive, this restaurant captivates with charm — vibrant flowers line the walkway, and the entrance feels like stepping into a garden. Inside, the design is equally impressive, resembling an art gallery with elegant décor, fresh flower scents, and thoughtfully arranged spaces. The bar to the right and the small private event area to the left show clear care and creativity.

The menu features a wide range of Italian dishes, which we were excited to try. We started with garlic bread, which unfortunately lacked any garlic flavor — it tasted more like plain toast with butter. For mains, we ordered a Margherita pizza with chicken and a Gamberoni e Zucchine. The shrimp in the risotto were nicely cooked but it was tastelessand I had to use salt and pepper to give it a bit of test, the pizza was bland and severely burned around the edges, tested nothing like Italian pizza at all, making some slices inedible. Disappointingly, we had to leave a few pieces behind — something I’ve never done with Italian pizza in an Italian restaurant.

The service was warm, and the owner was very friendly. However, the head waitress was unsure of key menu details — she incorrectly told us the shrimp were fried, she was did not offer us the chicken pizza which was on the menu and told us to have Margherita pizza with checking on top, Our water glasses were also visibly dirty. I later noticed a staff member adjusting her socks and then polishing wine glasses without washing her hands — a lapse in hygiene that stood out.

We were seated near the open kitchen, which could have been enjoyable, but the loud staff conversations in a non-Italian or English language disrupted the atmosphere.

Despite these issues, the setting is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen in a Scottish Italian restaurant. I’d still recommend visiting for a drink or light bite, simply to enjoy the stunning ambiance. The neighboring table praised their steaks, which I’m looking forward to trying on a return visit. Hopefully, next time the food will match the venue’s exceptional visual appeal and...

Aberdeenshire finest Italian restaurant was the claim.... so obviously pitching high you take note of everything, so this may be over critical, but rest assured we are definitely going back !!! Right, on arrival met with a big smile and a happy greeting by the young girl behind the bar and acknowledgement from the obvious man in charge. Shown to our table and after a couple of minutes one of the girls service arrived with a big smile and presented the menus and rattled the specials off , very impressively, first we asked for iced water, simple enough, water no ice so we thought we were in for a testy evening, we ordered pate which was great but bread lacked salt as did the oatcakes but the pate was really nice, my wife had the special goats cheese wrapped in spicy Italian sausage....this was spectacular and certainly raised eyebrows.... for mains my wife had seafood linguini cooked to perfection and certainly well seasoned and I had the Risotto Gambaroni, now, I have worked in an A la carte Italian of some note and cook Italian all the time and this was just perfect nice big prawns in a spicy tomato sauce not like a ketchup lol it was beautifully balanced and really impressed me for what that's worth.. desserts my wife had the sticky toffee and that was really rich , I had the tiramasu, not quite as potent as I would have liked the coffee to cream ratio was just not right far too much cream and not enough coffee soaked amaretti for me, it was still pleasant though, had a bottle of Anaise I think that's what it was, anyway it went perfect with our meals.service all night was good, 6 times the gentleman in charge walked past our table and 5 times I noticed him looking to see it was all progressing, no check back on starters ? Quite common but something we were sticklers about, check back on all courses, a couple of the girls had that touch of extra personality too. It was busier than expected with a large party but the service was very prompt and no delay in food service at all, all in all we were very impressed and def going back , a great spot and deserves its title and its no wonder the car parks always full lol...