Caprese Don Costanzo — Restaurant in Scotland

I never write reviews, probably something I should do more, but I feel compelled to share my experience at Don Costanzo.

I really feel passionate about Italian food - I am a keen cook and I know what is good and what is bad. I have been to the majority of Italian restaurants in Glasgow and there are some really exceptional ones. I had heard from various people about Don Costanzo and that it was really good, so we decided to try it recently.

Firstly, the food. I ordered arancini to start - this was one of the specials. Regrettably, they didn't have a specials board - the waitress ran through the options with us verbally. This was fine, as she was very informative, but one of the members of our party later commented that they couldn't remember all of the options by the time the waitress was finished speaking. Understandable - and most restaurants would combat this by having a specials board, or at least a print out of the specials at the table. The arancini arrived, and they were nice, good crunch to the outer layer, and the filling was adequate. They were accompanied by a pleasant "napoli sauce" as they called it. The arancini were the only thing to add an extra star to this review.

Before I address the main course, I should advise that the pasta options on the menu contain non-traditional ingredients. The carbonara contains cream, and they state on the menu that the carbonara and amatriciana options contain bacon. The traditional meat to use in these dishes is guanciale, which for the price, should be expected. The minimum expectation is that pancetta would be used. I assumed though, that given the family atmosphere to this restaurant, perhaps they had stated that bacon was used so as not to confuse customers. I should also state that the price of these dishes is advertised on the website is £10.90 - this is not correct. If memory serves me right, they were around £13 a plate.

For my main course, I ordered spaghetti amatriciana - this is one the staples of Italian cuisine and only the most careless or clueless of chefs would mess it up. As soon as it arrived, it was clear that it wasn't going to be good. It was indeed little clumps of bacon in the pasta. Poor quality of meat, tough and dry, with none of the slight crisp that you would get from guanciale or pancetta. The pasta was way overcooked, borderline mush, and the sauce was soaked in oil. The worst pasta dish I have ever had in Glasgow. Fa schifo!

The table were all getting desserts, so I opted to get one. Instead of bringing out the menus as requested the waiter - a man with long hair ran through the options, and didn't bring us menus despite being asked to. We were going to share some desserts as we weren't interested in having a full one each, so we asked for 5 spoons. He failed to bring the 5 spoons, and when asked a 2nd time to bring a 5th spoons, he again failed to do so. I had tiramisu - again, the worst tiramisu I have ever had. The savoiardi (lady fingers/sponge in the tiramisu) was total mush. Who is making this food, a 6 year old? Terrible food, and terrible service - admittedly not from all of the waiting staff. Also, there is only one white wine and one red wine available by the glass.

I would like to finish this review of Don Costanzo by pointing out that it advertises pictures of its' famous customers (majority of whom are Celtic/Rangers alumni) on it's website, instagram and on pictures which surround you in the restaurant as you eat - it feels like these pictures serve as a reminder that the elite of society eat at Don Costanzo, in an effort to assert itself as the major Italian restaurant in Glasgow. Quite bizarre.

As stated at the start of this review, I am passionate about Italian food, and I can tell you what is good and bad. Oro, Celino's, Bar Vini, Joia - go to any of them for good Italian food! Do not waste your time or money at Don Costanzo. Easily the worst Italian restaurant that I have personally been to in Glasgow. Thanks...

I've been waiting a while to visit this place after reading mostly positive reviews. I downloaded the menu from their site to get prepared for what I would order. When we booked we requested a quiet table as neither the wife or i are fond of loud folk and big crowds. The room itself is very loud and we struggled to hear ourselves think, we were surrounded by really loud folk talking about their holidays, nights out and all sorts of nonsense we didn't have any interest in. A young guy appeared and started talking to the folk about his holidays too, it turns out he worked there, mental. At this point our quiet night out was officially pumped and we decided to try to get someone's attention to order food, as we had been waiting a fair bit of time since receiving our drinks about 20 mins! The young guy appeared after a while and told us about specials, when he left we had to get a waitress back to go over them as we had forgot them all. We ordered two specials meatballs and canneloni. When the meatballs arrived I was disappointed to find hardly any spaghetti or meatballs about half an average portion with loads of tomato sauce. My wife's canneloni was the same about half a plate of food. The food itself was okay but nothing special so we thought maybe the desserts would be an improvement so we both ordered homemade tiramisu. We were informed that they dont make it till later in the week so we had to order something else, I got afogato which is just ice cream with some cold espresso over it, the wife got an apple pie slice. Again the desserts were just okay nothing special so we asked for the bill as we had to go to a football match and we had already been there too long, 1hr 45 mins roughly since parking outside. The bill was shocking £70 without a tip for two small courses each one beer and a fruit juice. All the prices were different from the menu on their website £14 for a beer and a fruit juice mocktail! On average you'd expect to pay half these prices in Glasgow at any good Italian like la Fiorentina or Piccolo mondo and you'd certainly not be hungry when you left. Still stunned and hungry I bought 2 pies at the stadium and a bovril and felt a bit...

Okay … so …first the good… nice, attentive staff and lovely atmosphere with great live music.

Now the bad… food overpriced and mediocre.

Finally …the ugly … we were given a handwritten menu (no prices) at the start of the evening. We were told it was a ‘restricted menu’ … naively (or perhaps stupidly) we assumed that it would be like a set menu at X amount £ per head. Fast forward to the end of the night - a meal for 5 people (only 3 drinking alcohol and around 3 drinks each) and we were presented with our bill - just shy of £300!!!

Absolute rip off and really sneaky and underhand to present a menu with only 3 or 4 choices for each course (unsurprisingly the most expensive dishes on the menu as it turns out) and give no prices for ANYTHING! Also, no standard menu given to show the prices of the dishes on the ‘restricted menu’

Left a sour taste after what was otherwise a very fun evening. Such a shame. Owners… is this really how you want to treat your customers?

We did mention to the waitress that the bill was much more than expected and expressed our disappointment that it had not been made clear to us that the menu presented to us at the start of the evening was in fact just a small selection of some of the restaurant’s most overpriced dishes! The waitress empathised and looked thoroughly embarrassed and suggested that next time we ask for the menu with prices. We got the distinct impression waiting staff are told not to bring this to customer’s attention and only to give a menu if requested. As I said, sneaky and underhand. Not nice to leave a restaurant feeling like you have been...