A well-known seafood restaurant, Rogano has been established in Glasgow since 1935.

For a place that’s been in the city centre for over 70 years, I was looking forward to visiting this place and both of us had high expectations. Sadly, the place didn’t really impress us. The reasons:

1. Mains: What ever happened to good ol’ salmon?

I can’t really speak for the main restaurant, but the Café menu has only 6 mains to choose from – only 2 of which appealed to us. Why a well-known Scottish seafood restaurant doesn’t offer a salmon dish as a main is beyond me. Felix ordered chicken and I went for a seafood pasta.

 2. Menu: forget about sharing

We thought we’d share something to complement our mains, but found literally nothing worth ordering. There are oysters and seafood stuff, but no fries, olives, or anything nice of the sharing sort.

3. Portions. Not for the hungry

Both our mains were unsatisfyingly small. We had to resort to desserts, not so much because we wanted to, but because we were still hungry.

4. Quality of food: Meh.

It may be a seafood institution and 70 years old and all, but I expected more from my pasta. It was tasty, but it could have definitely had more meat, or more animals, rather than a few shells and tiny shrimps. The tiny shrimps, by the way, came unpeeled, and I wasn’t given any wipes for the messy peeling procedure.

Regarding Felix’s chicken, when asked about it he said it was ‘just ok’.

5. Price: The off-putting combination of costly & not worth it.

We had an Itison voucher, so we paid £18 for the two mains. Considering the size of the portions, I would have not been happy had I had to pay the full price.

Voucher aside, the bill came to £21.50 for just two beers and two desserts. Now, the desserts were good, they really were lovely – but they were over £6 each. Ouch.

The highlight of the evening

It wasn’t all bad. Thankfully, our desserts – albeit the overprice – were delicious and large (not like the mains). Felix had an iced Toblerone parfait and I had tablet cheesecake. Yum-yum.

How do we rate Café Rogano?

We’re going for a 5/10. The restaurant has a nice vintage setting but nothing particularly special for a place that is over 70 years old. Limited menu, ordinary food. Service was fine. All in? Definitely overpriced.