Asti

Whilst certain Italian eateries in Etown may well be better known, larger, or indeed, part of a famous group of restaurants, Asti, situated at 73 Broughton Street is (by comparison) «Bijou», née petit in appearance.
Upon entering I was greeted in a warm and friendly manner and offered a choice of where to sit, I chose by the bay window in the back room.
I chose a «Bloody Asti» cocktail, which was deliciously evil and deceptive in it’s apparent innocence. The waiter did warn me it was, «Quite spicy», and he was right. The ingredients melded into a serious «Kick ass» drink, the liberal helping of Black Crack Pepper was, a not so subtle reminder that this was a cocktail not to be forgotten.
Starter: Home made Chicken Liver pâté with sweet Onion relish and toast.
Hmmm, oh yes! Nice, smooth, with a creaminess that just oozes class. There was a decent amount of pâté and (most importantly) an equal amount of toast too. The micro salad and sweet onion relish added and complimented the dish perfectly.
Main course: Linguine Mare.
Mussels, Calamari and seafood abound in this beautiful and quite authentic dish. The flavors were taste bud tingly in the extreme, and very well balanced. The pasta was cooked «Al dente», which I like and feel is better than being mushy.
Service was prompt, friendly, courteous.
On every visit to an Italian restaurant I look at the portions and think they’re on the small side, but always I end up finding out that the servings were just right as those two courses filled me to the point of being quite content and happy. I was amazed I didn’t even feel the need to just look at the dessert menu.
I am looking forward to dining at Asti again very soon.
Highly recommended.

Really impressed by this Italian. There was no pizza on the menu, but in a way I’m glad as the focus was then shifted to on to making each dish quality and not making a quick buck off the stereotypical ‘italiano’ label.
Absolutely superb starters, very well presented and a great choice. The scallops were amazing, along with the bread board, some really nice purée and delicious pâté. Similarly with the mains, I believe most of our table took a risotto and they all tasted unique — I think often at Italians the risotto tastes very similar as it’s created from a base and flavored from there, but no complaints on this one! I went for the goats cheese but my brother’s was the winner, squid ink with mushrooms. So good.
The service was excellent and the waiter had a great knowledge of the wines, properly checking to see if it was corked — you don’t see that often.
Great food, atmosphere and price. Well worth a visit!

Conveniently close to our hotel, Asti was the venue for the last night of our short break in Edinburgh. Accessed by a few steps, the restaurant has a homely feel and a lively, friendly atmosphere. Our table towards the back of the restaurant, took advantage of the late summer sunlight and was spacious enough for the five of us. Quite a comprehensive menu, with nothing being overly expensive; a few specials on offer too, chalked up on a board. Starters wise, we just shared a rather generous portion of fresh chunky bread, with black olive tapenade, balsamic and olive oil dip and some wonderfully flavoursome non-​pitted olives — a great start. As were the cocktails, expensive but with great flavours particularly the strawberry cocktail, rich red in colour. Mains wise, two of our party plumped for the special of scallop and prawn ravioli, a popular dish with many diners that night, a smallish portion, but it packed a punch. Between the rest of us, we had a rather generously portioned and hearty risotto, as well as Maccheroni al Formaggio, the best macaroni cheese I have had in a good long time, and Rigatoni Asti — a flavoursome and spicy mixture of Italian sausage, black olives, roasted peppers tomatoes and chilli.
After such rich flavoured and tasty mains, it probably seemed an unwise choice to go for a dark chocolate dessert, but it was surprisingly light and complimented well by the accompanying ice cream. Everybody else had the Tiramisu, which was also predictably light and full of flavour.
Great food, helpful unobtrusive service and a bustling atmosphere, what’s not to like?

In Edinburgh on my honeymoon. My husband and I ate here two nights in a row not only because it was in walking distance of our B&B but because this is REAL Italian food! We were in Rome two years ago and fell in love with the food. Last night we were in the mood for Italian after eating too much «Scottish» food the last few days. We knew it was a risk trying Italian food anywhere other that Italy but we read the reviews and decided to give it a try.
I have to say both times were the best meal of the year so far and my husband and I agreed that this may be the best two meals we have on our entire honey moon and we still have 9 days left!
Try it you will not be disappointed! Did I mention the price is reasonable?!

I must say I was a little unsure about Asti for dinner, as the deli which had formerly been in the building was definitely more of lunch spot and, at least from the street, the basic setup looked unchanged. A small group of us had a table in the back room and, although the décor, lighting and music don’t create much of an atmosphere, the service was friendly and we were made to feel welcome. Not exactly a great spot for a date, but then I wasn’t on one.
What makes Asti really worth a visit (and more than compensates for the slightly odd setting) is the food. The menu instantly bodes well — classic northern Italian pasta, meat and fish dishes, with interesting antipasti and (on the night I was there) a good specials board.
We shared a big antipasti platter and another of crostini. The meats and cheeses were great and the fried polenta (not something I’ve seen very often here) was light and tasty.
Despite generally being pretty wary of specials, I ordered venison haunch on a pearl barley and juniper berry risotto, just because it sounded so nice. I wasn’t disappointed. The venison was perfectly seasoned and cooked — moist and pink in the centre — and strongly flavoured enough to hold its own against the tart, slightly smokey juniper. Everyone else seemed equally happy with their choices, though the saltimbocca was particularly impressive.
The portions were so generous that I decided to skip dessert, though again it was a very tempting selection. Great food, good value.

Unassuming and maybe even a little drab, Asti is actually a whole lot more than meets the eye. Take not of the little things and you’ll realise the food that’s coming out us the product of a kitchen that really really cares. Nice, simple, unadorned and well executed Italian food with not a pizza in sight.
Down sides; nil atmosphere and a wine list that only offers the house wine by the glass. When will restaurants realise that drinking wine by the glass rather than the bottle still means you want a serious drop. Start to offer every wine on your list by the glass and watch your place fill up…

Asti is a nice little place, serving classic Italian dishes to a good standard. Their lunchtime deal of £9.75 for two courses plus coffee represents pretty good value, with a good range of dishes to choose from.
Overall, we said: «I was pretty pleased with Asti. The back room is a very smart setting, with the lovely bay window ensuring it’s bathed in natural light. Dishes were tasty and comforting, and represented a very reasonable lunchtime deal.»

Asti Italian Restaurant lives in the former restaurant called Pani Solinska. It opened some time towards end of 2011 but I hadn’t gotten round to going here yet until a colleague at work suggested she take me there for lunch for my birthday. They offer a 2 course lunch menu with coffee for under £10 per head. The restaurant has changed inside offering more tables and comfier chairs, bit more of a restaurant feel to café and whilst this has been upgraded, it doesn’t feel overly posh, just a nice place to dine in.
I had the pâté, which I recall was duck, beautiful, home made and came with a lovely chutney on the side, large slices of bread, lightly toasted with olive oil. My colleague opted for mussels and I was slightly jealous as she said they were delish, but my pâté was just so good I couldn’t grumble. But next time, I’ll try out the mussels. We both had pasta main courses and they were lovely, freshly cooked and really enjoyable. The menu changes daily as far as I know offering different dishes with local produce available.
As we only had 1 hour for lunch, it was quite a lot of food to eat in a short time, but in terms of getting the food out on time, no problem at all. I’d like to go back here, one evening after work when I have a bit more time to relax and unwind, hopefully over a bottle of wine and sample more of their food.
Overall, I really enjoyed my first experience here and look forward to going back!