Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Greater Manchester
Hardens guides have spent 32 years compiling reviews of the best Greater Manchester restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 86 restaurants in Greater Manchester and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Greater Manchester restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Greater Manchester Restaurants
1. Chez Nous Bistro
British, Modern restaurant in Sale
179 Marsland Road - M33
Needing to eat in Manchester’s plush southern ’burbs? – this ‘suburban bistro with urban attitude’ (their words) doesn’t generate huge feedback in our survey, but such as there is rates it as excellent value.
2. WOOD Restaurant
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
Jack Rosenthal Street - M15
“The food is quite stunning and the wines… wow!” – Simon Wood’s “impressive” three-year-old is a “special” venue for all who comment on it, some of whom had their best meal of the year here. “The tasting menu is exceptional” and “most times you go it changes, which is fantastic”. “You can also go upstairs afterwards to Homage where they do matching cheese and wine, which again has an extensive menu”.
3. Indique
Indian restaurant in Manchester
110-112 Burton Road - M20
A plush curry house in posh West Didsbury that’s both ‘Indian’ and ‘Unique’ (geddit?). It only attracted limited feedback this year but such as we have continues to declare it as outstanding all-round.
4. Tattu
Chinese restaurant in Manchester
3 Hardman Sq, Gartside St - M3
“A great-looking restaurant” – this glossy Chinese was the first outpost of a glam-looking national chain that hit central London this year occupying a striking building on Oxford Street. One or two reports suggest it can “fall short on food and service” but others acclaim it all-round.
5. TNQ Restaurant & Bar
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
108 High St - M4
“What neighbourhood bistros should all be about!” say fans of this long-established venue, named for its location in The Northern Quarter, which on nearly all accounts “always delivers great food at reasonable prices”.
6. Bundobust
Indian restaurant in Manchester
61 Piccadilly - M1
“Terrific vegetarian Indian street food” specialist that “wears its shabby-chic location with style” – it’s also “great value”, and the craft beer “isn’t too bad, either”. “Don’t be put off by the service rating as it’s largely self-service – which is part of its charm”. The hit formula has led to branches in Leeds and Liverpool, and most recently a cavernous brewery-restaurant across town in Oxford Street. It’s the “best casual dining space for a single diner” while also catering well for groups through its (almost) everything-on-the-menu-for-£100 deal, that should feed 6.
7. San Carlo
Italian restaurant in Manchester
40 King Street West - M3
“An Italian classic where lots of local celebs go, especially the footballers” – this Italian stalwart (opened in 2004) is nowadays something of a local stalwart, and is one of the city’s better traditional eateries. “Never letting you down, it is generally packed to the brim with rather inebriated people and decked in fairy lights providing a great atmosphere and where the dress code is ‘dressy’. Food is always of high quality ingredients, many of which are flown in from Italy. There are authentic, typical Italian dishes including pasta, pizza and seafood. All the waiters and staff are Italian and the food comes rapidly. It’s a bit pricey, but you have to pay for quality!”
8. MUSU
Japanese restaurant in Manchester
64 Bridge Street - M3
Open from November 2022, this exciting-sounding arrival occupies the site that was previously Randall & Aubin (RIP), now transformed into a very ambitious Japanese restaurant, under chef-patron Michael Shaw. Musu translates as ‘infinite possibilities’ – here that’s translated as an à la carte, 7-course or 11-course kaiseki menu; or an omakase experience delivered at a special six-seater counter, looked after by head sushi chef, Andre Aquiar. Delicacies will include A5 grade wagyu beef and wild, certified bluefin tuna. At the weekends a more drinks-led operation is planned.
9. Osma
Scandinavian restaurant in Prestwich
132 Bury New Road - M25
2022 Review: Chef Danielle Heron, who has worked at L'Enclume and Maaemo in Oslo, opened her first solo venture in the midst of the pandemic in autumn 2020, serving Scandinavian-style open sandwiches and salads, with evening meals served four nights a week. The name comes from Osla and Manchester, the home cities of Danielle and co-owner Sofie Stoermann-Naess. No feedback as yet, but it sounds promising, and was shortlisted as a potential newcomer of the year in the Manchester Food & Drink Festival Awards.
10. The Spärrows Continental Pasta & Spätzle
East & Cent. European restaurant in Green Quarter
16 Red Bank - M4
This “unusual and unique find” – “hidden away in a railway arch near Manchester’s Victoria Station” – offers “a wide selection of pasta and dumplings from south Germany, Switzerland, Alsace, Austria and the German-speaking parts of northern Italy”, washed down with an interesting variety of beers, wines and Japanese alcoholic drinks. Even the occasional critic who finds it “not entirely to my liking” concedes that “the very interesting menu has good and unusual food”. The same team is scheduled to open a sake bar and shop called Suzume.
11. The Black Friar
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
13 King Street - M3
Closed for 15 year following fire damage, this handsome late-Victorian tavern in Salford was transformed for its 2021 reopening, and now “feels like a country pub when you walk in but then morphs into a very smart restaurant at the back”. Chef Ben Chaplin (ex-20 Stories in Spinningfields) has put together a menu that addresses both sides of the equation – winning plaudits for some ‘serious cookery’ from the Observer’s Jay Rayner, among others.
12. Mackie Mayor
International restaurant in Manchester
1 Eagle Street - M4
“A great street food experience, with wines and beers to match” – Smithfield's Grade II Listed 1858 market has been refurbished and reimagined as a food hall by the folk behind Altrincham Market; ten food and drink stalls serve up a range of interesting fare, and there are over 500 seats.
13. Glamorous
Chinese restaurant in Manchester
Wing Yip Bus’ Centre, Oldham Rd - M4
2022 Review: “Busy”, huge and gaudy Cantonese that sits over the Wing Yip Oriental supermarket, where you can choose from over 300 dishes on the menu. It’s one of the few places left in town (in the country?) where dim sum still comes on trolleys.
14. This & That
Indian restaurant in Manchester
3 Soap St - M4
This legendary cheap ’n’ cheerful Northern Quarter curry canteen is “still the best-value food in Manchester city centre” – as it has been for almost 40 years. “If you’re a veggie you can choose rice and 3 curries for under a fiver: an absolute bargain”. It even inspires poetry amongst some fans: “steaming-full plates of flavour-packed nosh, all of them served for v little dosh”.
15. Solita
Burgers, etc restaurant in Manchester
37 Turner St - M4
2021 Review: “Good-quality, well-cooked and inventive burgers – and some genius specials” (remember the ‘Spam Allardyce’?) draw a steady stream of salivating carnivores to this Northern Quarter joint, “although the trademark barrage of social media seems to have calmed down last year, as has the constant invention/reinvention of new burgers”. “The steaks are also some of the best around, and they make a decent bearnaise”, as well as four different meat-free burgers. Outposts in Prestwich and Preston have closed down, but there’s still one in Didsbury.
16. San Carlo Cicchetti
Italian restaurant in Manchester
42 King Street West - M3
These “slick and professional” Italians (offshoots of the national San Carlo chain) are “buzzy and convenient sorts of places, where you can enjoy an upbeat bite without hanging around too long”. They serve “an extensive menu of small Venetian sharing plates”: “at best they’re excellent” and almost invariably a meal is “good fun”. The best known outlet is steps from Piccadilly Circus – “it might look like a tourist trap in its prime location but it’s a reliable and smartly decorated venue”.
17. 63 Degrees
French restaurant in Manchester
20 Church St - M4
2019 Review: “A taste of France in Manchester’s Northern Quarter” and thus sticking out a touch amid the burger and pizza joints, the Moreau family’s classy brasserie relocated to this larger, more prominent site two years back; by all accounts it offers Gallic cooking “at its best” and ably accompanied by “fine wines”.
18. Sam’s Chop House
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
Back Pool Fold off Cross Street - M2
“Now reopened and feels like it has never been away” – this local landmark (LS Lowry’s favourite, dating from 1872) has emerged unchanged in its essentials from a recent refurb which included the addition of some outside tables. “Pubby in the bar, and comfortable in the restaurant, with pleasant service, the traditional northern English food (such as Corned Beef Hash) is well cooked and very enjoyable, though not something to eat every day if you’re planning to live long and prosper!”
19. Sud (was Sugo)
Italian restaurant in Manchester
46 Blossom Street - M4
“Simply stunning pasta” heads a menu of “absolutely delicious southern Italian food” at this Ancoats spin-off from a smaller Altrincham original – and makes “a perfect antidote to winter blues, if needed!”. Top Menu Tip – “the house sugo is to die for” (orecchiette with 8-hour beef shin, pork shoulder and nduja ragu).
20. Mana
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
Sawmill Court - M4
“Undeniably one of the UK’s top tables” – Simon Martin’s “fabulous airy space within the foodie hotspot that is Ancoats” shot to national fame in 2019 when it secured Manchester’s first Michelin star since 1977. On practically all accounts, “exemplary cooking” with an emphasis on fire and fermentation and British ingredients “comes out of that entirely open kitchen, and the team work methodically alongside each other to produce it”. “Flavours are knock-out and every dish is evocative of place and origin, with evident care and attention to detail. This level of refinement usually knocks all the oomph out of the produce (ahem, France, ahem) but here it only adds to it. Who on earth would carefully fillet and re-stuff a mussel? The result, in its bath of smoky butter, is amazing”. And “wine pairings are interesting and varied” too. “Being seated adjacent to the open kitchen and able to view the focused choreography of the chefs adds to the delight” – “there’s such a great theatre and occasion”. With stardom has come higher prices, however, and doubts are creeping in about the ultimate level of value it delivers. One in six now consider it notably overpriced. The remainder that “it’s not cheap, but you pay for what you get”.
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