Gusto Italian - Liverpool

This place is somewhat of a local legend. I’ve been meaning to come here for a while, but I’m quite lazy and I haven’t stayed down near the Albert Dock recently, so it’s had to wait until that came around again.. Anyhow, that time has now come and so I took the opportunity to visit on a grey and windswept summers day, as squalls whipped across the dock and tourists ran for cover. The restaurant itself is in one of the dockside Pavillions - if you’ve been here, you’ll know the score. Beautiful brick buildings that were rescued from dereliction in the mid-1980s; former warehouse buildings, they have brick vaults, low ceilings and loads of character. Some of the refurb is a bit 80s’tastic, as you’d expect, but it has mainly stood the test of time well. Gusto itself is in one of the first pavilions that you come to as you come in the main gate opposite the Hilton, next to the Dockmaster’s office. The entrance is discrete, as they all are here, with corner signage and an inset door. Inside, the restaurant is dark, although there is a wall of glass dockside, with views of the water and the boats. Seated straight away on what appeared to be quite a busy night, the service was good and drinks etc were offered quickly. They had Noam, which is quite a fancy beer that I’ve only had previously in Gaucho - it’s a German-style beer that comes in quite a fancy bottle. Love a fancy bottle. I wasn’t actually very hungry, so I was focussed on smaller meals that packed a punch in terms of flavour, rather than a pizza or something like that (their pizzas are good though - had one in Edinburgh). To start, I chose the arancini - this was an excellent portion, three little arancini with mozzarella and saffron aioli. Big flavours and very rich. Hit. For a main, they had a three-meat lasagna, which sounded good - I actually saw someone else having this, so knew the portion was reasonable. A bit weird it didn’t say what the three meats were - I assume pork, chicken and beef? - but overall the flavour was good. The waiter seemed to think I would need sides, but it really didn’t need sides - I guess I could have had garlic bread, but it didn’t need it. Some people might order chips with it, but that would be greedy. No pudding on this occasion, as I was full, but they do a very nice tiramisu - as I recall from Edinburgh, they serve this from a big bowl at the table. I mean, that’s a degree of theatre I don’t necessarily need in my life, but it does presumably demonstrate that the tiramisu is freshly made in house. That’s nice. Overall I would definitely eat here again - this is a nice restaurant, the food was pretty good value and the service was efficient and friendly - if you like cocktails etc, then there seemed to be a lot of that going on as well behind me, with much rattling of the cocktail shaker. I think next time I’ll have the garlic mushrooms to start and the salsicca pizza for a main - I will even splash out the 45p to make it a diavola with the addition of fresh chilli. Well done, two paws up. Recommended.

Absolutely loved our meal here. We had not booked prior, and the lovely receptionist booked us in an hour from then so we took a little walk around and visited a shop or two. When we came back we waited about 5/10 minutes in the bar before being seated. Wait time was average and we loved absolutely everything we ate, our favourites being the meatballs and the warm Brownie. Our waitress checked in regularly too and was generally very lovely. Would definitely recommend.

Lovely restaurant situated on the Liverpool docks. Served by Lewis who was very polite and on point. The wine selection offered up by Lewis was impressive. Really enjoyed the red wine. Food was really good. The Carbonara was especially good.. recommend 5*****

We had a lovely evening served by Szymon. He was very attentive and we had a good laugh with him. The food and was gorgeous, as always, and we will definitely be back again!

The restaurant itself is very nice. A good ambience, and wasn't over loud like in some when it's busy. We, 11 of us, sat down just after 1830 for a double birthday meal (my daughter and her partner). When I looked at the menu, nothing jumped out me as something I wanted. Everyone had a starter. I had the garlic dough petals. Sorry, and this just my opinion you understand, but they weren't anything to write home about. Don't know what everyone else had but my wife had the wild mushrooms. She said it was really nice. I ended up having pizza. When it arrived I thought it looked dry. There wasn't much sauce on it at all, and I was right, it was. My wife had Sea Bass which she loved, and to be honest, everyone else seemed to enjoy their meals too. Maybe I was just unlucky, I don't know. Dessert was offered and we all had some. Although everything tasted great, it was overly priced. £9.50 for a slice of cheesecake? No need! Sadly, I personally wasn't impressed but that's not to say others weren't. I found the over all experience over priced. We ended up paying over £53 per head (including service charge). Maybe I'm just tight fisted but I just didn't find it value for money. The staff were great. All the meals arrived in good time and there were no mistakes. Can't knock them for that. Sadly, I won't be going back but other members of my party might but I doubt it.