We tried Glasgow's coolest new pizza spot with Berlin vibes in southside lock-up

Sub Rosa Pizza has just opened in the south side
-Credit:Sean Murphy


When we found out that the entrepreneur behind one of the south side's best loved former pizza spots was making a return with a new venture, we just had to try it out.

Southside native Dom Morton, 40, the original founder of the popular Canotto Pizza, which began in Cathcart in 2020 and moved to East Kilbride in the summer of 2022, is back with his new project, Sub Rosa Pizza.

Not only that, but it's opened as a restaurant and takeaway in the south side, in *checks notes* an industrial estate called Enterprise Park on Drakemire Drive in Castlemilk.

READ MORE: Glasgow's best bars and pubs as chosen by the city's bartenders for top awards

ADVERTISEMENT

READ MORE: The park near Glasgow offering a winter wonderland walk for families and dogs

Excited to reconnect with his former customers, the new spot is open Wednesday to Sunday, from 4.30 pm until 8.30 pm, so we headed along on a quiet Wednesday evening to try out what is honestly not so much as a hidden gem, but more like a deeply buried treasure in a very unique location.

When we arrived at the outside of the dark Enterprise Park, there was plenty of parking spaces, and though it took us a moment to get our bearings, it wasn't long before some other happy-looking pizza fans came out of one of the side doors pizza boxes in hands, helping us to find the entrance.

What's it like?

Heading in, it's a bit of a Crystal Maze-style quest to get to, with three flights of stairs and an ominous and industrial-looking corridor to navigate, which to be honest, only added to the anticipation.

The long corridor to get to Sub Rosa Pizza
The long corridor to get to Sub Rosa Pizza -Credit:Sean Murphy

Finally, after following some epic sounding beats – adding to the Berlin-style speakeasy vibes – we discovered, hidden behind one the homogenous grey doors, the tiny and cosy Sub Rosa restaurant, which with its small tables, red and white gingham table clothes, and wooden chairs, might be more at home in some quaint Italian village and couldn't be more juxtaposed to the corridor outside.

The tiny Sub Rosa restaurant is not so much a hidden gem as a buried treasure
The tiny Sub Rosa restaurant is not so much a hidden gem as a buried treasure -Credit:Sean Murphy

So far, so cool, but did the food match the vibes? As I perused the small menu, a group of three sat nearby happily tucking into their pizzas and what looked like a couple on a date having a great time added to the ambience.

What can you get?

Dom and his small staff, are more than happy to talk you through the menu, which features three main options, the White (£14) and Rosa (£13) pizzas, and the thicker deep pan Detroit-style, which is served a sharer and comes as a full tray (£28), something the pizza team were keen to do to ensure the focus was on the quality of the ingredients used.

Sub Rosa also do the deep pan Detroit-style pizza which Dom has perfected via his pop ups in recent years
Sub Rosa also do the deep pan Detroit-style pizza which Dom has perfected via his pop ups in recent years -Credit:Sean Murphy

With all three bases featuring Fior de latte Mozzarella, 24-month aged parmesan, Calabrian oregano and Spanish olive oil, the team explained that the white comes with extra Buffalo mozzarella and Sorento lemon while the Rosa is simpler with just San Marzano tomato added.

ADVERTISEMENT

Both come in 12 inches, and are cooked to perfection by the team, with options to 'add your own toppings' (£1.5/£2) such as thin cut pepperoni, Guindilla chillies, Serrano ham and gorgonzola.

The Detroit-style pizza is cooked in the traditional deep pans used in the automative works in the famous US city by Italian immigrants to create a much thicker, doughy base.

There's also a range of dips including chilli honey, garlic and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (£2.50), as well as sides like the epic sounding buffalo burrata (£10), Nocellara olives (£3.50) and balsamic onions (£3.50).

What did you get?

With everything sounding delicious, we wanted to compare the White and Rosa pizzas, as well as grabbing a Detriot-style slice and of course, we couldn't not get some of that famous sweet BBQ dip.

ADVERTISEMENT

Dom, who first started making pizza over a decade ago, revealed that they are open "until they sell out", which has been pretty regular of late, even though it's January. He added that he plans to offer more once they establish they get the word out that they are back and are able to see what their customer base is.

He recommended we stick to the basic with the Rosa, to see it in all its glory and if we wanted to add pepperoni (we did) to do so on the White.

The White arrived first and man oh man, this thin-base Neo-Neapolitan was a cracker, with the pepperoni, some of the most flavoursome we've tried anywhere of late.

The Rosa pizza was fully packed with flavour
The Rosa pizza was fully packed with flavour -Credit:Sean Murphy

However, the Rosa was next level, packed with huge waves of flavour from the sauce, it really reminded us of that traditional Italian style that we absolutely love and as expected Dom was right, it really didn't need any toppings to shine.

The verdict

We won't lie, we definitely got lost both trying to find Sub Rosa and leaving it too (some signs of where to go probably wouldn't go a miss) but this kind of added to the fun of the place and really did give it that "in the know" vibe that's also fun when trying to impress friends or a date.

ADVERTISEMENT

Another absolutely belting addition to Glasgow's pizza scene – which, by the way, is really exploding of late – Sub Rosa is more than worth seeking out, and if you can't be bothered trying to find it, then don't worry, they do deliveries too.

Sign up to our daily Glasgow Live newsletter here to receive news and features direct to your inbox

Join Glasgow Live's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.