La Vita Piccolino e Vino — Restaurant in Scotland

From start to finish, our experience at La Vita Piccolino e Vino was nothing short of horrific.

We were greeted at the door by a grumpy waiter who reluctantly showed us to a table after a five-minute wait. We were seated in an extremely cramped space next to the kitchen window, despite there being other, more spacious tables available.

Once the drinks order was out of the way, we waited ten minutes for our food order to be taken. As a starter, we ordered bread and olives to share, but were left waiting for at least half an hour for the starter alone. The restaurant was quite busy, but half an hour for a bit of bread, olives, and dips is ridiculous.

While we were waiting for the food to arrive, we noticed that the kitchen was infested with flies. Through the kitchen window next to where I was sitting, there was an uncovered box of olives on which flies were constantly landing. Regardless, we attempted to put this poor hygiene issue aside so we could enjoy our meal.

When the starter eventually came, we were served a couple of slices of brick-hard and badly burnt bread, olives that were so loaded with garlic oil you couldn’t taste them, and trays of balsamic and olive oil. The balsamic vinegar tasted off. Italian food isn’t supposed to be loaded with garlic—this signifies that what you’re getting is inauthentic. Garlic is to be used sparingly, if at all, as a seasoning for olives. When the waiter came over, he asked us why we weren’t eating the olives. When I explained, he gave me a funny look and shrugged his shoulders.

The main course took an extra fifteen minutes to arrive after we’d finished the starter—ridiculous. I ordered the Farfalle Verde, and my mum ordered the Spaghetti con Capesante (scallops). When it eventually arrived, my dish looked like it had spent the whole fifteen minutes lying under a heat lamp, as the tagliatelle was brick-hard at the top and the sauce was starting to congeal. As for the taste, it wasn’t bad, but again, the abundance of garlic drowned out the more subtle flavours you’d expect from an authentic, well-seasoned pasta dish. As for my mum’s dish, garlic was all we could taste.

The only positive thing about this meal was that the manager was kind enough to deduct the starter from the bill. Otherwise, this was an absolute disaster: taking together the indifferent attitude of the staff, the fly infestation, the burnt bread, the “if in doubt, add more garlic” approach to cooking, and the overall presentation—hands down the worst Italian meal we’ve ever had. In fact, you’d be better off going to Toni Macaroni.

(After reading other reviews on TripAdvisor, it’s come to my attention that others have also raised serious hygiene concerns—one couple had bugs crawling all over their food! Another found a disgusting-looking creature in their dish. This is a matter for Environmental Health.)

(P.S. I also recall a waitress being shouted at and taking abuse from one of the chefs. This is unacceptable behaviour and suggests a toxic work...

I'm adding an edit because of my last two visits, while excellent food wise, illustrated a common issue these days with many food outlets. Owners and Managers must remember there will usually be a designated driver who should not have to miss out because there is a lack of non-alcoholic drinks available. Some of us don't drink period. Contrary to what I said earlier they had Peroni Libre as usual but no red/white wine. Neither for that matter do they ever have booze free Gin. There is no excuse for this. They charge the same. I'm so annoyed that I've said "nothing for me, I'm not going" and that would be a pity. One Peroni and a glass of Tonic Water from a small can. Maybe they will let me take in my own?

The galling thing is someone could have nipped into the off licence and got a bottle for a fiver. My sister thought that maybe there is too much waste but one big glass and the bottle would be paid for. Come on Marco, you were not there at the last Bank Holiday. Just as well as you'd have taken scalps. Table of six, three courses. I felt like a wean again. Lovely Gins in the Orchard Park and when the heck will more restaurants sell Guiness Zero. So far, only available in the Golf Club.

I hope you see this. One star coming off!

ORIGINAL POST:

Top notch. I went Pescatarian this time around and everything was fresh and delicious.

Regardless of the menu, you can ask for whatever you fancy and the boss man owner will make sure you get it. Full portion too much? Easy, ask for a half portion.

Wine selection etc is excellent and whilst I want a glass and an aperitif and a liqueur, I tend to drive so am happy with the non alcoholic Peroni and red wine. Even the tablet with the large cup of coffee is great and the boss man usually slips in extra. He oversees a number of La Vitas but always appears and has a chat.

It's not expensive for what you get. It is noisy but which Italian is not?

Dine in is excellent. Take away is the same food (tip: order and collect yourself) and superb value. Delivery is available but personally have not tried it.

There is a car park behind the shops. Parking at the restaurant may be restricted. But not far to walk. Space is a little restricted but the Staff will move tables when possible....

Disappointing (sorry!) Decidedly average and un-fresh tasting food in spite of the great presentation. Having dined in at La Vita in George Square some years ago, I was looking forward to rekindling some of those magical tastes in a post-covid lockdown takeaway order of pizza and pasta from the Newton Mearns location. Unfortunately, my experience fell well short of my expectations. Driving the food home (in an insulated pizza bag) took 15 mins. This kept the pasta piping hot but sadly, the pizza itself was freezing. I could look beyond this, but the dough and tomato base with mozzarella used tastedly decidely cheap and mass produced for a venue that prides itself on fresh stone baked pizza (something that the likes of Mozza and Paesano Pizza do really, really well and for less money). The bread (for the garlic bread) was horribly dried out (the way it goes stale when it's spent a lifetime in the freezer before it being unthawed). The pasta dish Mia Casa was a signature dish and the ingredients tasted fresh enough but the sauce was watery and drab as opposed to creamy and spicy (if you want to taste this done right, try the 'Casa Mia' pasta dish from Darios in Shawlands which overcomes it's weaknesses in basic grilled pizza with truly outstanding creamy pasta). Now cosmetically, whether it's the venue or the food itself, these guys understand presentation. The place is clean and the interior decor is lovely and I could see that the food itself is prepared nicely for the eat in guests and the takeaway food is well packaged. But I'm one of those people who cares little for how it looks and a lot about how it tastes. It's just a shame that the actual food itself falls so short of the quality standard it markets itself at. This might soound horribly mean and unforgiving but when you're paying higher prices than better tasting alternatives throughout the Glasgow area, I expect a lot better than this. My verdict (based purely on this experience) is that there are much better tasting alternatives...