Glenbervie's new Italian restaurant is on course to tantalise tastebuds

The Cirillo family have had to persevere through a lot of adversity over last 20 years with everything from raging infernos robbing them of their beloved restaurant to recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, all that will have been worth it when Ciro and Nikki Cirillo join with children Fabi (22) and Cameron (20) for the grand opening of their stylish new restaurant

Ciro’s at Glenbervie Golf Course , in Stirling Road, Larbert.

Ciro’s is not just for golf club members to enjoy, it is open to everyone to come along and sample culinary delights like the famous haggis lasagne with black pudding, spaghetti lobster and Ciro’s own carbonara.

Nikki said: "We survived a recession, we survived a fire and now we have survived a pandemic. We have worked really hard on this new restaurant. It was just a function room before, we have added the bar and everything else."

Ciro has been in the restaurant business since he was 12 and always dreamed of having his own restaurant. He met Nikki in Switzerland and the couple teamed up to open their first restaurant, Ciro’s, in Callander back in 2007.

Everything was going great – the business had battled back through the recession years – but then disaster struck when a fire broke out in the flats above the restaurant.

Nikki said: “The whole roof of the building just disappeared, but it wasn’t the fire that destroyed the restaurant, it was the water that was used to extinguish the fire.”

While many people would have called it quits after such a soul destroying incident, the Cirillo family is made of stronger stuff and they were soon back in business – this time at a holiday lodge centre in Loch Tay, where they won themselves Best Family Run Italian Restaurant of the Year at the Scottish Italian Awards in 2018.

Then an opportunity came up that was too good to turn down – the chance for Ciro and Nikki to run a restaurant again on their own terms.

Nikki said: “We were sort of employed to do a job at Loch Tay and we wanted to run our own business again in our way. We had a friend on the board of directors at Glenbervie and he said they were looking to sort the club’s food and beverage situation out.

"They wanted someone to come in and run a restaurant – not just for members but for everyone.”

And, from Tuesday, Ciro’s will be open to the public for lunch and dinner.

Ciro did most of the cooking at the family’s other restaurants, but now he oversees a team of top Italian chefs at Glenbervie – although he does still keep his hand in, creating some delicious dishes and always comes out of the kitchen to chat to customers.

The next generation of Cirillos, Fabi and Cameron, are both students, but they have been helping their parents out at the family restaurants since they were in their early teens and will be working at the new premises over the summer break.

To book your table at Ciro’s call (01324) 554964.