La Parmigiana

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The 2011/12 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

This review is taken from the current (2011) edition.

One of the city’s most sophisticated Italian restaurants, this small but elegant haven from busy Great Western Road is a perennial favourite for older couples and special family occasions – it does great business during the graduation season. With its stiff white tablecloths, sombre red walls, wooden furniture and formal but friendly service, it is firmly old school and proud of it. The menu is appropriately selective, shunning pizzas for more refined Italian fare. A gnocchi starter is just the right amount and comes in a rich sun-dried tomato sauce, while char-grilled Minch scallops are delicately flavoured – possibly bland without the tangy lime dressing perking them up. A substantial fillet steak is well cooked and beautifully tender, but the accompaniments are a little odd, mixing neeps, fritters and mash. There’s a good, varied selection of seafood in the black pappardella pasta. A special treat is the champagne jelly with berries encased in a wobbly dome, which looks beautiful and tastes naughty, while the rich zabaglione also has the perfect note of Marsala wine.

• High point: Fancy surroundings
• Low point: Fancy prices