Ti Amo

I was dragged against my will to this unfortunate restaurant by over-​enthusiastic british friends, who have clearly not learnt enough about Italian cooking.
Italian food is more often than not very cheap to do, and therefore, as an Italian, I am always outraged seeing how disproportionate the prices can be in Italian restaurants abroad.
I presume that it’s because of the fame italian cooking has achieved internationally, and because of the fact that only 60 million out of 6 billion people are italian, that outside Italy you can get any sort of expensive crap, labelled as «Italian». And people will probably like it just because they presume they are meant to: it’s Italian food, afterall!
Not so.
Italian cooking has traditionally evolved from the lower classes diet, therefore it is rarely over-​complicated and requiring expensive ingredients (I find vegetables and some cheese much cheaper in Britain than in Italy…).
That said, one cannot simply accept to pay £6 for a luke-​warm, microwaved lasagna, not when the ingredients are worth less than a pound altogether and are assembled so poorly.
I was served a risotto which didn’t look like anything of what I am used to at home, and let’s be fair: a poorly cooked punch of rice plus a couple of sun-​dried tomato and a few other bits of vegetables for £8?
The restaurant is excessively elegant, a quality that my fellow country-​men regard with suspition: it might mean that they need to compensate for bad quality food. If they make good food at earnest prices, people won’t care if the tables and chairs are not matched,
I won’t go on about the food, I think I’ve already said enough.
I just want to enphasize that this rant does not come out of national pride, but of sympathy. I’d like everyone in the world to be able to taste REAL Italian food at adequate prices –that said, you’d be much better off trying to do something at home: Jamie Oliver is the best help one could find ;)

Great food (calzone, spaghetti Gorbachev ;-) etc.), though we didn’t have time for dessert, and lovely Italian service.

Ti Amo’s décor isn’t really all that appealing and the statue in the window gives me the creeps. The ormaments and pictures inside feel mismatched and out of place amongst one another. Nonetheless, it has a friendly atmosphere, pleasant, efficient service and some great food to offer.
The menu has an extensive range of classic Italian dishes, as well as some lesser known ones. In particular, their pizzas are amazing with thin, crispy bases and tasty, generous toppings. I went for the mushroom and parma ham which was suprisingly big more than adequate for a filling evening meal.
In total our meals came to about £10 each, including drinks which was more than reasonable. Well worth a look despite the strange décor!

Ti Amo is one of a few Italian restaurants in the Southside Newington area. Like Ciao Roma down the road, it attempts to pull you in with its use of classical/​renaissance aesthetic, but this time with a contemporary, smarter, maybe more sterile, touch.
This restaurant offers a fairly standard Italian fair food wise. The menu is large, but the food appears to be fresh. In all honesty I’ve only ever tried the vegetarian pasta dishes at Ti Amo, all of which have been decent, reasonably filling, but occasionally not as portionally large as other similar Italian restaurants (though my standards on this front are quite high). All the pizzas that my fellow diners have tried looked very appetising (and quite big) and I’ve only heard good things.
I think I prefer Ciao Roma down the road. The place has an extra charm, particularly the staff, whilst at Ti Amo they are perfectly friendly and polite but lack a certain enthusiasm.
Overall the place is definitely fine. And as others have pointed out, the meals never come to very much, even for multiple courses.

Ti Amo from the exterior does look like all those other Italian restaurants in Edinburgh. It tries to combine the rustic Italian cultured look with modern flair, a look which has not been pulled off to any great success. Inside, the place is surprisingly large, with two levels and the toilets are a trek down two flights of stairs!
However, take away the average décor then this restaurant has a reputation for good service and decent food. Its menu is extensive and the dishes are suitably priced. You can order the typical Italian themed meals. I have tried a few pizzas in Ti Amo and they have never disappointed. On top of this it also sells a good selection of wines at pleasant prices.
On top of this though is the very good service, orders are taken quickly and courses are delivered to your table promptly.
A good Italian restaurant, few other Italian restaurants are better in the Newington area.

I have been to Ti Amo several times over the years and it never fails to deliver.
Situated in the centre of the busy and bustling Nicolson Street, Ti Amo is just across the road from the main University campus George Square and it is just a short walk from the city centre and so it is a convenient place to reach.
The décor inside is very authentic Italian, with Italian music playing in the background which gives the restaurant a great atmosphere. It looks quite small from the outside, but the restaurant is on two floors so it is very spacious inside and has a large capacity so it would be an ideal place for a big group of people.
Ti Amo offer a very extensive menu with authentic Italian dishes, including pizzas, pastas, risotto and a good selection of different meat dishes. I had the marinated olives to start when I came here which were really tasty, and too oily which was good. But my main course was by far the superior dish. I had the Four Seasons pizza which was absolutely gorgeous. The pizza base was really thin and perfectly cooked without any burnt bits and they didn’t skimp on the topping and cheese, which always gets a bug thumbs up from me. The portion sizes are really decent and the prices are really reasonable too with most main course costing about £7.
The staff are really friendly and accommodating and make you feel that nothing is too much trouble for them — amazing! A great Italian restaurant which I am definitely going back to.

This place looks like it’s jut going to be yet another of those fairly mediocre cheap Italians that are everywhere these days. And it is, in part. By trying to combine the traditional rustic décor with modern and stylish, it ends up not really being either, but the service was good and the food was great value for money.
And on that note, it doesn exactly what it says on the tin — a cheap Italian. The pizzas ranged from around £5 to roughly £7, and they were more than big enough to leave you feeling nicely full at the end. The ‘Sofia Loren’ was definitely worth recommending — it had parma ham, black olives, mozzarella and asparagus, which made a nice change from the usual boring options you often see on menus.
I always judge a place on it’s loos and it’s house wine. I didn’t see the loos in here, but the house wine was surprisingly good. Granted, it’s never going to win any awards or anything, but at less than £11 a bottle you can’t really complain.
Pizza, red wine and something still left in your purse at the end of it all… can’t really go wrong. It’s never going to be the fanciest meal you eat, but it doesn’t pretend to be. It’s just good, honest Italian food.

I’ve been going to this place since I was a kid and it has never failed to deliver, it’s got everything you could want from an italian restaurant, great food, warm and friendly staff, a nice layout and design and just an all-​round great atmosphere. Whenever friends go up to edinburgh it’s my first recommendation and those that have gone have loved it just as much as me.

Absolutely knockout pizza, very fast service, lovely staff and a really nice atmosphere. The restaurant looks tiny from the outside, but in reality it’s split across two floors, so it’s a fair size.
We found it by chance and went back again later the same week!

TiAmo is small but really great Italian restaurant that I visit often with my food-​loving family. They have a good range of pastas and pizzas but its their surprisingly wide range of fish and seafood dishes which I enjoy best. The bass dish is wonderful and its worth visiting this place just for that alone. The staff are great with larger groups, and its great value for money too. A really warm, friendly and reliable Italian restaurant in a good, busy part of Edinburgh.

Ti Amo is a small italian restaurant in the heart of newington, opposite the large festival theatre. A great place for a pre-​theatre meal, it serves a variety of italian dishes. Risotto, pizza and a range of pasta dishes provide the healthy yet delicious meals that can only be italian. Be sure to try one of the range of desserts, there are some scrumptious sundaes on the menu, and they won’t break the bank.