Arcaffe

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Relatively hidden down a side street between Kelvingrove Park and Sauchiehall Street, this friendly family owned outlet offers home cooked Italian food in a café setting. With its focus on a daytime and early evening clientele, Arcaffe attracts mainly workers from the surrounding offices and families en route from the park – however the owners have plans to alter the interior and opening hours which may ring some changes. The menu has a smattering of generic dishes such as chicken wings, burgers and scampi with chips; but the emphasis lies on the Italian with a good range of staples such as a hearty minestrone, tasty pizzas on an authentic light dough; salads including tuna fagioli and caprese; a long list of classic pastas such as amatriciana, arrabiata and lasagne; and other typical mains and sides such as pollo milanese and bruschetta. If Arcaffe decided to pitch itself more firmly as a restaurant with regular evening hours and the right refurbishment, the cooking would certainly carry it.

• High point: Great pizza dough
• Low point: Italian radio – authentic but cheesy