Sometimes the secret of restaurant success seems blindingly obvious.
Just be there. On the premises. Not the manager, the chef, the public relations person. Definitely not the public relations person. I'm still surprised at the huge number of emails I get saying: "Hello! please let us know when you would like to visit our client's restaurant for a complimentary meal and a free bottle of wine."
What? Er, nope. Crikey, maybe I'm old fashioned but, shouldn't public relations firms charging restaurant owners for their expertise know that restaurant reviews by this newspaper are anonymous? We don't say we're coming, we don't say we're there, and we pay our own way. I replied to such an email the other day politely pointing all that out but adding - because it's completely true - that I was in your client's restaurant with friends a few weeks ago and the food was absolutely awful. The reply? Blissful silence. If I cocked my ear I could faintly hear the sound of myself being manually exterminated from the mailing list. Stamp, stamp, stamp.
Anyway, the best PR comes from simply being there. I'm talking about the owner, of course. In here, Mr Tarantino is everywhere. He's on the phone when we call to book. "Grazie, grazie," floods down the telephone line. He's at the door when we come in. "Ciao, ciao, grazie, grazie," follows us to our seats. He's at the table flourishing, pointing, smiling when we place our order and there are even more grazies with a tante thrown in, too, as he heads off to the kitchen at the back.
I should point out I have never met the man, nor has any PR firm ever contacted me about his restaurant but it's kind of obvious, as it should be, that it's his business. When he's not at our table he's doing the same at other tables in this small restaurant right beside Ox and Finch just off Glasgow's trendy Finnieston food strip. If you're a grumpy person - unlike me of course - you may find this has a little too much formaggio. But there's no denying when delivered with sincerity - as it seems to be here - it's effective. Hey, the man is working hard to create a business.
By now we're eating a dish of lightly battered and delicately seasoned courgette - this is what would be called an amuse bouche in posh restaurants - and grazie-ing back and forwards amongst ourselves as we do so.
The occasional draught from the front door isn't bothering us, nor are we fazed by the slightly strange murals on the wall that look like the staff drew them on a quiet Sunday afternoon. In fact they add to the genuine, slightly homespun feel of the place. By the time the starters arrive by flickering candle-light we can see that someone in the kitchen is putting in a shift too.
The melanzane parmigiana in bianca look spectacular, baked and carmelised and appetising, while the involtini di zucchine e tonno are a work of rolled, curled and folded Italian art. There are proper flavours from the melanzane; a startlingly cold, savoury introduction to the zucchini followed by a sweet hit as the tuna and courgette flavours mix.
The pasta scoglio that follows is packed with Scottish shellfish and has a excellent lightly flavoured sugo. Not so impressed, however, with the Linguine Alla Puttanesca. It's meant to be a strong punchy sauce but it has far, far too many capers making it taste almost pickled. I've just come off the back of judging pasta at the Scottish-Italian awards - where the standard was very high - so maybe I'm being choosy, but it was not to my taste. It's the first pasta dish I've ever left unfinished.
Does this spoil our experience? Nope. Why? Because of the way the restaurant is run we've already been imbued with a healthy dose of goodwill. The sort of PR that is priceless.
Tarantino
914-916 Sauchiehall Street
Glasgow
0141 237 3902
Menu: At first glance a traditional Italian menu, but there are a few handmade pastas and some interesting dishes to lift it all. 4
Atmosphere: Small, comfortable restaurant lit by candles, with a slightly formal but not stuffy feel. Not sure about the lift music though. 4
Service: Hard to fault, full-on Italian, warm and welcoming and, yes, the owner does seem to be on the premises which counts for so much. 5
Price: Not cheap with starters hovering around the £6 mark and pastas and risottos from £9 to £14 , but fine given the standard. 3
Food: The fritters are fabulous, some of the starters very good, overall real evidence of care and effort going into the cooking. 7
Total 23
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article