Paesano Pizza West End

The West End Paesano cooks in a converted art deco bank on the corner of Great Western Road and Otago Street, and every table in it is sighted on the open kitchen.

Why go

Paul Stevenson opened this room in spring 2017, two years after Miller Street, and gave it the same short menu: ten Neapolitan pizzas, a few sides, and a daily specials wall (Glasgow West End Today). The dough is long-fermented and goes into a wood-fired oven hot enough to char the rim in about ninety seconds, which is what gives the crust its structure. Freya Herring reviewed this address for Time Out in 2019 and found the margherita crust "fluffy, chewy and charry-edged," with a sauce she called "loose and soupy" under buffalo mozzarella (Time Out). The building is the difference from the original: "all white Italian marble, high ceilings and dark timber," where Miller Street is benches and tile. DRG, the group behind Di Maggio's, bought the Paesano sites in June 2024, and The Glasgow Bell spent late 2025 asking whether the cooking survived the sale (The Glasgow Bell).

Order this / avoid

Order: the margherita, because three toppings and a ninety-second bake leave the dough nowhere to hide, and because Herring's read on it was "a ludicrously joyous mess fest" of buffalo mozzarella ref. Then the No. 7, Tuscan fennel sausage with friarielli, the bitter Neapolitan broccoli that cuts the fat; Ava Richardson's line on it was "Salty dough, sweet tomato, juicy mozzarella" ref. Fresh chillies were 50p extra.
Avoid: treating the bigger room as a guarantee of a table. The Skinny records "a queue crawling out the door onto the street" as normal for Paesano even with its "no reservations" policy, and Great Western Road is no exception at Friday and Saturday peak ref.

What locals & experts say

Time Out Glasgow (Freya Herring, 2019), on this site: the room is a "beautiful former art deco bank" where "every table has views of the open kitchen." ref
The Skinny (Peter Simpson, 2023), in its Glasgow West End guide: "If you want something quick, head to Paesano (471 Great Western Rd) for pizza." ref
50 Top Pizza Europa 2026, Best Pizzeria in Scotland: awarded to Paesano after multiple anonymous visits, with the judges commending the dough, the atmosphere and the value. The award names the brand and not a branch. ref
The Glasgow Bell (Robbie Armstrong, 2025), the dissent, quoting comedian Christopher Macarthur-Boyd in The Skinny: "The Di Maggio'sification of the brand has been sudden, jarring, and unwelcome." ref
Local rec: Jeff's save, his note below. REAL.

Good to know

Timing: open from midday through dinner, seven days. Check the Maps pin for exact hours.
Booking: walk-in only. No Paesano site takes reservations, so go at opening or after 8.30pm if you want to sit straight down.
Getting there: Kelvinbridge subway is about five minutes on foot, and the door is on the Otago Street corner.
Groups: it works for one, since everyone orders a single item and it lands in minutes. Great Western Road is the West End site; Miller Street, Pollokshaws Road and Edinburgh's George Street are separate rooms.
Hygiene: the Food Hygiene Information Scheme rates this address a Pass, inspected 18 October 2021. ref

Jeff's take (his words)

Note: "West end branch of the Paesano institution"

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — Same dough spec as the original, in a better room, with a shorter queue. The West End site puts a wood-fired oven and an open pass inside a converted art deco bank, and Freya Herring's Time Out review of this address describes a crust that is 'fluffy, chewy and charry-edged' off the long ferment. It sits below must-visit for the same reason the Miller Street entry does: ownership passed to DRG in June 2024 and Glasgow is still arguing about whether the standard held, with no post-sale review of this branch to settle it. Cheap, fast, walk-in, and it takes a group without a booking.