Nardini

This place is very popular and considering how busy they get, the staff are always friendly, chatty and helpful. Tables get cleared quickly, coffee is great (I’ve only ever ordered espresso or americano) I’m not even mentioning the ice cream — come try for yourself!
It does get quite warm and sweaty inside when it’s full. Table menus could do with a refresh. Otherwise, great atmosphere every time I have been in! :)

yummy ice cream. flavors didnt taste fake. waffle cone was light and crisp. décor was welcoming

When Nardinis arrived on the Byres Road I couldn’t wait to get in there. Who wouldn’t? The prices were a bit of a challenge for my student budget, but fast forward a few years and I’m now able to afford myself the occasional treat from the takeaway. Two scoops is about the right amount as their ice-​cream is super rich and creamy, even for a sweet tooth such as myself. The hardest part is deciding which flavour to choose. If pushed I’d say the scottish tablet is my favourite, but they’re all good really. Cakes and sandwiches made with Italian breads are also available, but for me Nardinis will always be about the ice-​cream (or occasional milkshake).
Prices are a bit steep for the café considering a lack of table service, but for a rare treat I’m happy to push the boat out a little for a good quality product.

Finally found cannoli here, ended a 3 month search of Glasgow for them and my niece was delighted and of course we had to stop for an ice cream too, so many options and so delicious!
Only downside can be waiting on a seat when it’s busy but the staff are very friendly and well the ice cream is just yum!

Smile!!! It wont hurt you know?
That is what I felt like saying to the staff at Nardini’s. Rarely have I ever seen a more unhappy looking bunch of staff in… well… ever?
I am a HUGE fan of ice cream and the more piled high it comes in glass dessert bowls the better. I love loads of flavours, toppings and sauce. The idea of a knickerbocker glory brings back great childhood memories. You can get a great dessert here, but sadly the desserts are let down by a variety of other things.
Firstly the extremely unfriendly staff who would struggle to raise a smile even if the café was flooded with a gang of ten comedians giving out laughing gas. Then there is the general look of the place, it is all a bit run down and… well… fusty perhaps?
Finally the price. £7.95 for a dessert that would elsewhere cost about £5.95 max. If your going to sell desserts at a premium due to the name at least make the whole experience when you visit the café a good one.
If you really want to go, you will probably enjoy the actual ice cream, my tablet one was tasty enough. I just doubt you would want to go back as it is missing the extra little touches that make you a fan of a place.

Lovely little place. Food range is very small but enjoyable. I have a mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich, can’t fault it.
If I wasn’t on a diet I’m sure I could spend a fortune in here buying ice cream and fresh biscuits/​sweets.
I will be going here for lunch more often!

I can’t eat a lot of ice cream. I know I can’t eat a lot of ice cream! Yet when I came in here one afternoon, I still ordered a chocolate brownie sundae. It was massive and a bit pricey and I think I only got through about a third of it before I admitted defeat. It was good and I always enjoy chocolate and brownies, but I think maybe a baby sized ice cream would suit me better.

I hate to do a negative review, I really do, but Nardini’s is just disappointing. Maybe I was hoping for too much. I have very fond memories of sun-​drenched day trips to Largs, the beautiful Art Deco building, eating delicious ice cream by the sea. I know that this café on Byres Rd has little to do with the original in Largs, and you can’t create that old seasidey magic of-​new in the middle of Byres Rd, but this café just misses the target on so many fronts. The faux-​art deco stylings are annoyingly neither-​here-​nor-​there. They missed a trick. If you are going to go for it with no original features to start from, you really have to Go. For. It. Ramp it right up, carry the theme throughout, create a destination! A bit of curved canopy and some pictures of the original ice cream heaven in Largs is not going to cut it when the rest of the space looks like the old Aulds Bakers Café in St Enoch Centre — run down and depressing even in the 90s. I’m sure there’s something much more imaginative they could have done with the space — the seating seems cramped even though there is also plenty floor space. Booths, maybe, to lend a more comfortable and convivial air and accommodate more people, and to make you feel you are getting a bit of a luxury treat for you (not inconsideable) money, rather than the cafeteria tables. The lack of care with the surroundings means that the prices really annoy me. I’m sure Byres Rd rents aren’t cheap, but if you are churning people out as fast as they are (ice cream MELTS, for a start so the clock is ticking from the minute you get it in your hands and in any case, one does not ‘eat’ ice cream, one ‘hoovers it), do they really need to be charging the prices they are? The indicative price scale on their Unilocal reviews page says it all. This is an ice cream shop, and the guide price is £11-£25. That said, the ice cream itself is decent quality, always interesting flavours and always presented beautifully in the cabinets That’s not enough to leave me feeling anything other than a bit disappointed and ripped off any time I’ve been though. Sorry, Nardini’s, I wanted to love you.

Only got a single scoop waffle cone to go but it was damn fine blueberry cheesecake gelato.
Apparently this is one of three famous/​old/​traditional gelato places within walking distance of each other that you must try.
Meh, it hit the spot on a warmish summers eve in June.

The Bitter Sweet Taste of Ice Cream…
The Nardini name may have been sold off a few years ago and the gelato recipe may, or may not have changed, but it’s still sublime. What a pity the café seems to be run to suit the management rather than the customers. Try asking to substitute a chocolate sauce in a sundae for caramel — «Nope!» Or ordering 1 scoop to sit in — «Nope!» But ask to omit a topping then, «no sweat, but you’ll have to pay the same». Sadly Nardinis has the best ice cream on Byres Rd, so we’ll be back :-/

First time at Nardini’s on Monday and was very disappointed. 2 sundaes and 2 drinks was nearly £20. For that price we got a tiny table and indifferent service.
My sundae was the super knickerbocker glory and they forgot the strawberry and nuts so it was basically 3 bland scoops of ice cream, grapes and bitter chocolate sauce. Was gutted at the waste of money to be honest. Not impressed to find ice crystals in the chocolate ice cream either.
I don’t see what the fuss is about. I’ve had better service, value and product elsewhere so won’t be back.

Nardini’s is the closest you will get to the real gelato experience in Glasgow.
Since i attend a school in the west end i have popped into this little Italian wonder around three times and i haven’t been disappointed yet. They have ever changing flavours in this place and so if it ever returns i recommend the coffee flavour and the coconut flavour mmmm!
The place is always full which is always a great sign of a good business, however getting a chair can be a little difficult at times. The atmosphere is very friendly and it really is just a lovely place to sit in.
Sitting in the heart of the west end as really helped its sales as this area is where families come to for a day out, or drunk people come to when they have a sweet tooth!
Pretty expensive so make sure you cash in the pennies, but i’m sure it will be worth it (-:

The ice-​cream in here is good but the three times I’ve been in the staff have been less than friendly. It’s a busy place so you get the feeling that they get frustrated with people choosing & are concentrating on getting the queue down but smiling & being friendly seems to be lost here.
Also, the menu is small and behind the counter so difficult to see thus why so many people haven’t chosen before they reach the service area

No Table Service.
The name Nardinis occupies a special place in my memory as does its iconic art-​deco café at Largs seafront. I’ve partaken of the occasional take-​away scoop of ice-​cream since they got their prime spot on the Byres Road, and it tasted just as good as it did in the olden days!
Never been lucky enough to bag a spot inside their café before as its always been rammed, so the other week when I spotted a few empty tables I insisted we head inside for an ice-​cream and a cuppa. I was a little surprised to find no table service at the café but perhaps that helps them get customers in and out quicker.
Takeaway comestibles are served from the counter at the door. Customers who are sitting-​in make their order at the rear counter. Its all very clean and comfortable and the air-​conditioning is just at the right setting.
The coffee was as good as you’d expect from an established Italian café, but for the first time I was a little disappointed with my ice-​cream. I chose the Daim Bar flavour but there was so little of it in the ice-​cream that it just tasted like vanilla. The other two were very happy with their choices but I’d have preferred a Mcdonalds McFlurry at a fraction of the price. Ho hum.

Strange as it may sound but I’m no huge fan of ice cream or gelato as they call it in Italy. Sacrilege you may say? Crazy man I hear you yelling! But aye, it generally doesn’t do much for me, but my pal was raving about this place so I went along to try it out.
As a fellow Scot-​Italian I thought I’d see if Nardini could compare with the quality of the cold stuff from Italy itself. I popped in with a group of friends just after 9pm to be told they were closing but we were told we could take it away if we wished.
I was a little surprised at this. If they are going for the typical Italian «gelateria» they should really be open till later, after all this is a busy and bustling west end street they are on and should get plenty of custom from people heading home from restaurants, work etc. So we ordered or ice cream and proceeded to eat it on their doorstep (in the cold).
Anyway, on to the creamy icey stuff. It was pretty darn good actually. Very rich, creamy and dense, kinda like the stuff that they make in Italy. I opted for the caramel shortbread flavour, and it was pretty yummy and certainly tasted homemade. However, I was charged more than my friends because I bought a cone, seriously, what the cheese is with that?
Another criticism again is that the selection was small. With only about 8 flavours or so to chose from, this didn’t ‘t really blow my socks off. Again, if they are going for the Italian gelateria style they need to offer more flavours and definitely stay open later.
On a positive note, the place looks fantastic and the ice cream was pretty fine, despite my general apathy for the stuff.

I went into Nardini’s with high expectations and it lived up to some and failed others. There’s no denying the ice cream is delicious and the sundaes are virtually impossible to resist but at around £7−8 each I felt they were a bit on the pricey side. Staff are friendly and helpful and service is fast which is definitely appreciated when popping in on your lunch break. The sandwiches are, however, disappointing. I ordered the pepperoni, jalapeño and mozzarella panini and it managed to be dry and yet greasy. It could definitely have benefitted from twice as much filling. I’d recommend Nardini’s if you are looking for a sweet treat on a special occasion but it’s perhaps a little expensive to be an everyday destination.

MMMMMM…
Struth, I’ve been to this place thrice already within the last week. The ice-​cream here is really tasty. I’ve not had chance to sample true gelato (i.e. going to Italy), but wow it’s good.
As mentioned by my girlfriend Morag — the ‘Don Vito” — cinnamon ice-​cream is really good. Admittedly, I can’t complain over any of the flavours, everything I’ve tried is amazing.
Anyway, Nardini is a really good ice-​cream parlour that is open quite late — (still open at 10pm on a Sunday). I whole-​heartedly recommend making a trip there!

Well I must confess I went to Nardini’s twice this weekend. Firstly for pudding whilst out with my boy celebrating a small injection of cash, where we had for the first time ‘Don Vito’ flavour ice cream. HAWT DAYM that is some fine ice cream and no mistake. I’m sure the waiter said it was cinnamon flavour, with cherry and chocolate pieces. It reminded us of some of the great ice cream we had in Spain this summer.
Second time around we opted for sundaes, and they allowed us to create the sundae we wanted, (more Don Vito and Pistachio with cream and fudge) and even put a tiny pinwheel in the top when I asked!
The staff were attentive and the waiter that served us was helpful and downright jolly if I do say so. I’m so glad there’s a place like this in Glasgow, where you can hang out on a Sunday night and eat ridiculous sundaes at 10pm. How very continental.

I love the yummy ice cream with fresh fruits.

2^nd visit — the waitress asked us if we wanted a free ice-​cream sundae as they were doing some training with a new girl. ‘Aye aw right’. They were going to bung it oot if we didn’t want it.
She gave us a lemon, sorbet, ice-​cream, meringue, wafer combo. I was in 2 minds whether to eat it or take it hame fir the sideboard (work of art it was).
Good timing to blag a freebee!