Focaccia

West End, Glasgow
47 Bank St, Glasgow G12 8NE
<£20 for two sandwiches and one drink
Visited Winter 2025

Focaccia had been getting a lot of buzz on social media, and a new sandwich spot in Glasgow is always worth checking out (according to Brie anyway). With Brie’s Mediterranean roots, we’re always on the lookout for good Italian food, so we were keen to see if it lived up to the hype.

Tucked away in the university area, Focaccia feels like a proper neighbourhood find even though everybody already knows about it. Walking in and hearing Italian being spoken behind the counter was an immediate relief. It gave us a bit of confidence that this might be the real deal.

This was one of our quicker visits, as we don’t often do lunch reviews, but sometimes a good sandwich is exactly what’s needed. We went for the Parma ham and Caprese.

Focaccia very much delivers what it says on the tin. The bread itself is the star. Light and full of flavour, it’s easily some of the best focaccia we’ve had in Glasgow, although Maple Leaf is still a strong contender. The filling, though, didn’t quite match up. The Parma ham, peppery rocket, sun-blushed tomatoes and shaved provolone were all good individually, Basil loved it. 

The Caprese focaccia was decent, but this is where Brie is hard to please. When you’ve grown up with these flavours, it’s difficult to replicate that same quality elsewhere. The produce here was good, but it just didn’t quite hit the same as back home, which is something we’ve found is often the case in Glasgow. Ask most Italians where they go for Italian food and the answer is usually their own house!

Overall, Focaccia is a solid addition to the Glasgow lunch scene. It does the basics very well, especially the bread, but the fillings don’t quite reach the same level.

Would we go back?
Maybe, if we were in the area and needed a quick sandwich. It’s worth trying, but not somewhere we’d go out of our way for.

Three things to know:

• The focaccia bread is the highlight and some of the best in Glasgow.
• Fillings are good but could be a bit more generous and better balanced.
• Everything is made in-house, which is always a plus.