glo London has four floors–level one is a casual bakery and café, two is the lounge bar, three is the restaurant proper (the “gastro grill”) and four is the rooftop bar. We tried the gastro grill level, and though it has potential, it’s still got a ways to go.

To start, we ordered the delicious-sounding crab croquettes (RMB70) and the bleu cheese, avocado and pear salad (RMB70). These were the two most disappointing dishes of the night. Three bland crab rolls, served with three squiggles of sauce and an onion-heavy side salad, were dwarfed by the plate. The salad, with good bleu cheese, pear and bare slivers of avocado (10 percent) on a bed of defeated mixed greens in pesto dressing (90 percent), was not as memorable as the silver-tongued menu writer would have you believe.

From the mojito-centric drinks menu, we ordered a fresh blueberry mojito (RMB65) served with a fresh kebab of blueberries and a lemongrass wokka (RMB65) that tasted like lemongrass, lychees and summertime. Both are divine.

Our entrée, slow-cooked, hickory-smoked ribs (RMB145), was slathered in an addictive, sweet, homemade barbecue sauce, and we appreciated that glo wisely gave us a gravy boat of it along with some onion rings, roasted cherry tomatoes, steak-cut fries and salad on a charcuterie board. Dinner was becoming enjoyable, until our waiter, intent on removing the charcuterie board for some essential purpose, seized the board and smushed a used napkin into our remaining food before we could protest.

We moved quickly onto dessert, a big slab of moist chocolate brownie (RMB60) with honeycomb ice cream. The chocolate dulled our irritation considerably.

New restaurants always have kinks to work out and glo is no exception. For now, we’ll stick to the barbecue and drinks.

Our rating: 3/5

DETAILS

What: glo London

Where: 1 Wulumuqi Lu 乌鲁木齐路1号

Tel: 6466-6565

City Weekend is the only online magazine in Shanghai to review restaurants according to a transparent process vetted by local food & beverage professionals. Check our Restaurant Review Process here.