Italian Restaurants in Greater Manchester
1. San Carlo
Italian restaurant in Manchester
40 King Street West - M3
This “buzzy Italian in central Manchester” (opened in 2004) is one of the better-known locations both in the city and in the national chain of which it is part; and at lunch it “buzzes with business people” (evenings are overwhelmingly social). “Good traditional food is well cooked with delicious pasta and fish” and the old-school service is “friendly, efficient and well organised”.
2. The Spärrows Continental Pasta & Spätzle
East & Cent. European restaurant in Green Quarter
16 Red Bank - M4
2023 Review: 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.
3. San Carlo Cicchetti
Italian restaurant in Manchester
42 King Street West - M3
“Don’t be put off by the tourist location or the gold frontage” if you visit the flagship branch of this successful Italian chain near Piccadilly Circus (which is due to double in size over 2023). For a national group, it and its siblings deliver a surprisingly high-quality formula that mixes “a great range of Venetian-style small plates” with “friendly and efficient” service and “bright and vibrant interiors” which create a “wonderful and buzzing atmosphere”. Top Tip – “super for pre-theatre eating”.
4. Sud (was Sugo)
Italian restaurant in Manchester
46 Blossom Street - M4
“Seriously the best pasta (and great starters too)” can be found at this “consistently excellent” operation from brothers Mike & Alex De Martiis, who changed its name from Sugo Pasta Kitchen to Sud in early 2023 following a legal wrangle with a similarly named Glasgow outfit. “You can’t fault the food at any of the branches – the new one in Sale is our current favourite”; it follows the Altrincham original, which opened in 2015, and the follow-up in Ancoats. The brothers opened a fourth branch in August 2023 in the city centre’s Exhibition building (on the site of the 1817 Peterloo Massacre), which it shares with Basque live-fire restaurant Baratxuri and Scandi small-plates specialist OSMA.
5. Croma
Italian restaurant in Manchester
500 Wilbraham Rd - M21
“Pizza with an inventive streak” – plus all the standards “for those who are less adventurous” – is the offer at this surviving branch of an independent Manchester group founded in 2000. The flagship in the city centre and the Didsbury branch have closed down in recent times, to the dismay of their many fans, leaving just Chorlton and Prestwick standing.
6. Cibo
Italian restaurant in Manchester
43 Spring Gardens - M2
On the site that - for 14 years - was Rio Ferdinand's Rosso, RIP. There are Cibo branches in Hale and Wilmslow, plus sister restaurant Sasso in Disley, but this will be the first city centre opening.
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