Operetta - Reviewed by Dinertec, Apr 2, 2015

Rating: 3/5

  • 58 Waterloo Street
  • Glasgow

The Moll had been rattling my cage for weeks about a night at the theatre. “There was a time you wanted to show me off every night,” she drawls, a vision in pink curlers and coffee-stained housecoat.

So I bagged us front row seats for the new production of Guys and Dolls at The King’s and decided to treat Blondie to a pre-theatre meal to boot, to make sure I was right back in her good books.

I’d heard on the grapevine that Operetta, on Waterloo Street, is packed out every lunchtime, with office workers and canoodling couples. But could the little-known Italian deliver after hours?

I revved up the Buick and parked next to the joint, on the corner of West Campbell Street. It wasn’t an area I was familiar with, but I could sniff out trouble in a convent.

It was real quiet that Thursday night. We were the only couple in the joint. But I wasn’t letting that put me off, trying it for size. A friendly gal was at our table immediately and Blondie ordered up a cool glass of white, to start off our date night with a bang.

The place offers a pre- theatre deal of two courses for £12, or three for £14.95. There’s a huge variety on offer, considering the price, with traditional pastas and risottos as well as steaks and seafood.

The joint opened at 6.15am for breakfast and I decided it would be a nice spot to come back to, to do some people-watching while scoffing a plateful of American pancakes. But tonight I ordered up the scallop tempura, which comes with a tasty side dip and a £3 supplement. The portion size was a little small but the Moll assured me that good things come in small packages.

The first bite was heaven, melt-in-the-mouth fresh, but the others were a little chewy for my taste and I knew I’d had better. Toots had eyed the home-made chicken liver pate and demolished it in seconds. The waitress was only too happy to help when she requested more pitta bread.

For the main event, I ordered the smoked haddock risotto and the Moll plumped for the classic northern Italian dish, aubergine parmigiana, layered with parmesan and tomatoes. She said the aubergine parmigiana didn’t set her pulse racing on first glance, but the taste more than made up for the initial impression, particularly the delicious, chewy mozzarella on top.

When my course arrived, I realised my detective powers had missed the mark. I’d not noticed my smoked haddock risotto came with bacon and the Moll had taken meat off my diet this week so I could kill a few extra pounds.

The waitress offered to replace my dish with a meat-free variety, even though it was my mistake. And to the Moll’s delight, the dolly offered her the bacon-filled dish for free. Full as she was from the pasta, she made a meal of the extra course. My risotto was delicious, but a little too salty for my taste.

All in all it was good value for the quality of food on offer and the service was outta sight. Blondie declared she was now too full for the sweet stuff that was temptingly displayed in glass cabinets, so we settled up and split for a taste of Havana on the King’s stage