Gordon's Trattoria

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• Average price 2 courses:
   £17 (lunch)
   £17 (evening meal)
• House wine: £13.65 per bottle

• High point: Lively atmosphere and large portions
• Low point: Cheerful, but not always cheap
• Food served: Sun-Thu noon-11pm; Fri/Sat noon-midnight
• Open since: 1982
• Also offers: Childrens portions, Childrens high chairs, Take away

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops.

This review is from the 2007 edition.

If proof were needed that plenty of good food and a lively atmosphere makes for a successful restaurant, then look no further than Gordon's Trattoria. This High Street veteran of more than 25 years is still bursting with energy and as popular as ever. Stretching back through a narrow building, informal diner-style booths opposite the busy open kitchen make way for a more traditional layout at the rear. An upbeat mix of pop music and the brightly-coloured interior are enough to cheer up any rain-soaked sightseer, and the hospitable staff will do their best too. However, it's the enormous portions of well-presented and delicious home cooking that keep local diners competing with tourists for tables. A bowl of pasta e fagioli soup is satisfyingly rustic, while the generous antipasto makes a more refined starter. Substantial pizzas and pasta dishes are popular main courses; try a mountainous calzone filled with mozzarella, ham, salami and peppers, or ask for a finger bowl and order seafood pasta loaded with fresh whole prawns and mussels. Surprisingly tasty desserts might be beyond most appetites, but save space for the testa rossa, a grown-up confection of vanilla ice-cream and vodka-laced raspberry sauce.