257-259 Union St, Aberdeen AB11 6BR
Amarone has re-opened on Aberdeen’s Union Street with, say owners DRG, ‘all the buzz of a restaurant in central Milan’. Fire devastated the restaurant in November 2018 and the decision was taken to mount a full-scale refurbishment of the 300-square metre restaurant. It has been redesigned to incorporate the new cocktail bar and can now accommodate up to 200 diners, with two areas for private dining – including the “Primo Piano” mezzanine complete with its own separate bar. A new luxury cocktail bar to the
re-designed restaurant.
DRG MD Mario Gizzi said, “It was a difficult decision to close the restaurant, but we felt that instead of doing a
quick tidy up to repair damage, we had the opportunity to remodel the restaurant to offer a world class Italian eating
and drinking experience in the Granite City.
“The designs are stunning, taking inspiration from the finest central cocktail bars in the world.”
Involved in the refurbishment were Dimension Shopfitters and Lecs Upholstery, with till systems by Posero Maitre’D.
DRG also commissioned Concept Metals to work on the project.
Some of the design highlights that catch your eye when you first walk into the place include those glazed tile walls
in a vibrant green that pop out against a more muted rich burgundy and softer sage greens. Likewise the open pizza
kitchen and that central island tubular brass cocktail bar, flanked by all the intimate booths.
Here’s a quick walk-through in words. Once through the glass doors of this ground-floor space, you’re confronted
by that big beautiful island-bar with a corrugated wooden bar-front and white marble bar top, above which are gold coloured wine racks. This is all set against a backdrop of a white ceiling, pendant lighting, some of which have white
shades that look a bit like mint imperials, and wooden panelling on the walls – above which are is a line of smoky glass tiles at picture-rail height.
Along the walls on both sides of the square space are dark leather booths, plus around the bar are stools upholstered in leather. The floor here is tiled in a grey coloured tiles.
To the back of the bar, on the right-hand side, is the ‘window’ on the pizza kitchen, complete with a wood-burner, and customers are also able to pull up a stool at this part of the restaurant, as here too has been furbished with a marble-top bar.
At the end of the unit is the main dining area – a split-level space, ground floor and mezzanine and a high ceiling complete with skylights. Along the wall without the mezzanine are arched smoked-glass mirrors that give the illusion of it having windows. There’s also some coral coloured fabric on the walls in between each one that look like curtains, and all set off by a plain wooden floor.
The furniture here and on the mezzanine is a mixture of rich rusty brown leather upholstered chairs and black booths
and it’s a glass divide between the mezzanine and this area. DRG operates 20 restaurants across Scotland and this one sits very well among all the other jewels in its crown.
