Café Antipasti

The 2012 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

This review is taken from the current (2012) edition.

There is a standard of service and meal in Café Antipasti that is reassuringly consistent if hardly exciting, although this reflects its location at the busy and less-than-intimate end of Sauchiehall Street. The waiting staff are invariably polite, quick and efficient – a necessity when so many of its customers are watching the lunchtime clock or making a pit stop before heading on elsewhere – the wrought iron and wood décor never seems to distress and the lunch and pre-theatre menus offer excellent value for money. The à la carte menu, meanwhile, hovers consistently around the middle grade. A starter of gnocchi in a pesto and parmesan cream is filling and well cooked. The garlic, tomato and basil bruschetta is crisp; the ingredients fresh and flavoursome. Likewise, the spaghetti and meatballs is a satisfyingly tasty main course. Only the wild mushroom risotto, thick with onions and thin on mushrooms, is disappointing. A generous choice of desserts and wines by the glass cover the bases.

• High point: Slick service
• Low point: Thud of feet from the mezzanine