ORO

All that glitters isn’t gold?

All Pasta isn’t Al Dente

I decided to give ORO second chance!

The first time I went to ORO on Kilmarnock Road I was very excited as I hadn’t seen my friend ‘The Mary’ for about six weeks. We entered and it was fabulously opulent almost like walking into a church but that’s how I feel about food. I worship at the feet of a decent dish! We drew attention to ourselves in our enthusiasm and the staff must have thought we’d never been out to eat before.

I’d been here before for coffee, cake and Ice cream but it had been refurbished since then and was much more opulent with it’s new name and all. We were seated and asked what we’d like to drink. I ordered my usual Americano with hot milk. The order was taken and we were given menus.

As the server left our table he commented, in Italian, to another member of staff,

“Peasants, who drinks coffee before dinner. These people have no clue?”

I let it go because I do understand the concept of coffee after dinner. We carried on, enjoying the chat when another member of staff came over and asked, were we ready to order yet? I apologised, stating we’d not even looked at the menu and would be ready to order in 5 minutes. Precisely 5 minutes later, the previous member of staff, the coffee, commenting gent, came over and asked,

“Are you ladies intending to dine, or not?”

They were not busy, 3 of them were standing chatting, so, at that point I asked politely for the bill, we paid for the coffee and coke and left, vowing never to go back. Given there were only 5 tables occupied, we saw no rush to order. Had the place been busy I would completely have understood as I know how the industry operates?

Jump ahead 5 years – I was meeting a friend for coffee and, yes, you guessed it was ORO and what a different experience. The place was buzzing, staff were delightful, coffee was delicious and my Cannolo was the best I’ve tasted outside of Italy. My favourite being from Bar Vitelli in Savoca but ORO’s was up there. Not at the same altitude as Taormina but fantastic all the same. Light, creamy, tasty with just a perfect crunch to the scorza.

I decided to book a table for me and The Mary for the following Monday and, although she was dubious after ‘coffeegate’, I talked her round. ORO is regarded as one of Glasgow’s foodie institutions and did not disappoint on this occasion. From the moment we walked in; the atmosphere was welcoming and vibrant. The staff were efficient and friendly. Even, the ‘coffee commenter’ whom I remembered on sight, was pleasant and we had a wee chat in Italian.

The pasta was perfectly cooked, Al Dente with a rich sauce, succulently prepared with juicy Italian Sausage. (my favourite kind) The Mary, who is the Focaccia expert, agreed it was the tastiest, crispiest, (all the ‘iests’) and the most fragrant she had ever had. It had a perfect combination of salt, rosemary, aromatic olive oil and was burnished to perfection.

Like gold, not everything turns out to be precious or of the same quality. Sometimes we need to dig deeper in order to give something time to develop or another chance to reveal its true worth.

Monday night really was worth a Gold Star made of Pure ORO!

• Ambience 💋💋💋💋💋
• Food 💋💋💋💋💋
• Service 💋💋💋💋💋
• Value for money 💋💋💋💋💋
• Covid Safe 💋💋💋💋💋