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The best Italian restaurants in Manchester

Confidentials    1 year ago

Italian restaurants have long been seen as the easy and obvious option with some chains expanding faster than a belly full of pasta. Here we’ve swerved the mediocre contenders in favour of the best Italian restaurants in Manchester; the ones that really should be celebrated. Inventive and authentic, these places remind us why we fell in love with Italian cuisine in the first place.

Updated for 2023, the list includes several new faces that have earned their green, white and red stripes on the foodie scene. Read on for inspiration on where to eat next.

  • Book Now Northern Quarter

    Ciaooo Neapolitan Pizzeria

    Restaurant - Italian

    Cult pizzeria Ciaooo may not be as well-known as some of its beautifully blistered-based brethren, but that’s all to the good. At least there’s a chance of getting a table. As it is, it’s often full of savvy locals who know just where to get some of the best pizzas in Manchester – on Swan Street at the top of Great Ancoats Street it transpires.

    Service is excellent and the pizzas are even better. There is a wide selection with a mix of classics and modern inventions. Most importantly, the dough rises above its competitors. It is puffed-up pillowy perfection.

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  • Book Now Manchester City Centre

    Piccolino Caffe Grande Manchester

    Bars

    With its terrace overlooking Albert Square and Manchester Town Hall, and a beautiful interior featuring a 40-seater private dining room, an open kitchen, and an oyster bar, Piccolino Caffé Grande Manchester is a real destination restaurant. (And, notably, it’s one that doesn’t price people out of the experience.)

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  • Book Now Northern Quarter

    Sicilian NQ

    Takeaways

    Located in the Northern Quarter, this friendly neighbourhood bistro and bar is the place to avanti if it’s a taste of traditional Sicily you fancy – from authentic street food snacks through to big plates of pasta to desserts and holiday memory gelato, eat in or take away.

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  • San Carlo Bottega in Selfridges, Manchester
    Manchester City Centre

    Bottega

    Bars

    With its floor-to-ceiling views over Exchange Square and chic Selfridges setting, Bottega is  a stylish spot for cocktails, lunch or dinner.

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  • Book Now Levenshulme

    Cibus

    Bars

    Once a stall at Levy Market, then a pop-up pizzeria above Fred’s Ale House, Cibus took baby steps to get to where it is today – a fully-fledged and much-praised Italian restaurant and bar on Levenshulme high street.

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  • Exterior of the restaurant Alfredo's Social with its famous clock
    Book Now Stockport Town Centre

    Alfredo’s Social

    Restaurant

    Alfredo’s Social is a buzzy bar and restaurant in the parade of independents on Little Underbank in Stockport town centre. It’s a charming location and Alfredo’s Social is the most charming of them all, housed in the historic Grade II listed Winter’s building.

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  • Neapolitan-style wood fired pizza at Double Zero in Chorlton
    Chorlton

    Double Zero

    Restaurant - Italian

    An authentic Neapolitan-style pizzeria, Double Zero in Chorlton has been lauded as one of the best in the UK.

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  • Bar at Gusto Manchester
    Manchester City Centre

    Gusto Italian Manchester

    Bars

    Gusto Italian Manchester may be the jewel in ever-expanding chain’s crown, even if the menu is the same everywhere from Heswall to Edinburgh. It’s a very polished affair with a definite Art Deco feel. This is a place that seems designed for good times and the service is slick.

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  • Chorlton

    Lucky Mama’s

    Restaurant - Italian

    Lucky Mama’s is a vibrant Italian restaurant on Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton, Manchester serving fresh Roman-style pizza, Veneto-style pasta and a range of Italian-inspired sweet treats.

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  • Produce from Lupo caffe Italiano
    Prestwich

    Lupo

    Restaurant - Italian

    Patiscerria and small-batch Italian hand-roasted coffee – that’s the name of the game at the award-winning Lupo Caffe Italiano.

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  • Noi Quattro Pizza Northern Quarter Manchester
    Northern Quarter

    Noi Quattro

    Restaurant - Italian

    If it’s a taste of Italy you’re after, think NQ for proper pizza – Noi Quattro, to be precise. Meaning “us four”, Noi Quattro is owned and run by four friends from Turin who wanted to share their proud Italian heritage through the food they put on your plate.

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  • Onda is a popular Manchester pasta bar at Oxford Road's Circle Square
    Oxford Road

    Onda

    Restaurant - Italian

    Onda, or Onda Pasta Bar, to give it its full name, is a new Italian restaurant at Circle Square. It isn’t new exactly – with pop-ups at Exhibition amongst other places, Onda has already made a name for itself. With stints in impressive kitchens like Chez Bruce and Claridges, Chef Sam Astley Dean isn’t exactly a street food trader made good, either.

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  • Denton

    Ornella’s Kitchen

    Restaurant - Italian

    Ornella’s Kitchen is owned and operated by Ornella Cancila, who was born in Castel Di Tusa on Sicily’s north coast and later moved to Bologna at the age of 19. With her extensive experience and deep roots in traditional Italian cooking, Ornella has created a menu that truly captures the essence of Italian cuisine.

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  • Pasta dish from Ortica Plant Based Italian in Urmston, Greater Manchester
    Urmston

    Ortica Italian Plant Based

    Restaurant - Italian

    Ortica brings the south of Italy to the south of Manchester, minus the meat and dairy. Their 100% vegan menu is served from breakfast through to evening, and includes bar snacks and aperitivo for those who want something light with drinks. House spritzes and negronis are served all day, as is Ortica’s selection of Italian wines.

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  • Spaghetti with asparagus sauce, crispy onions & stracchino cheese cream at The Pasta Factory
    Northern Quarter

    The Pasta Factory

    Restaurant - Italian

    The group of friends behind The Pasta Factory’s story originally hail from Turin in the northern region of Piedmont, so this is the place for authentic Italian food full of flavour, with dishes created from scratch using only the best fresh ingredients in season.

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  • Seafood at Puccini, an Italian restaurant in Swinton, Salford
    Swinton

    Puccini

    Restaurant - Italian

    Puccini has been serving up authentic Italian food to the people of Swinton since 1982, with signor Pucci at the helm for the full four decades.

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  • A carbonara from Salvi's
    Manchester City Centre

    Salvi’s | Corn Exchange

    Deli

    Salvi’s – or Salvi’s Mozzarella Bar & Restaurant, to give it its full name – claims to be Manchester’s first independent Neapolitan restaurant and deli, and it is certainly somewhere to head if traditional, authentic Italian cuisine is on your mind.

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  • Steak at San Carlo - one of the Hot 50 Restaurants in Manchester for March.
    Deansgate

    San Carlo Manchester

    Restaurant - Italian

    San Carlo is Manchester’s most famous and, some say, best Italian restaurant. Run by the Distefano family, it’s said to have one of the largest turnovers in the UK. It’s also the place to be papped and you’ll sometimes see a bank of photographers outside to prove the point.

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  • Fresh tomato and olives on a Neapolitan-style pizza at Tre Ciccio - an Italian restaurant in Altrincham
    Altrincham

    Tre Ciccio Altrincham

    Restaurant - Italian

    Translating as ‘three chubby friends’ (a self-effacing reference to owner Francesco Scafuri and a pair of his portly pals from back in Campania), Tre Ciccio Altrincham doesn’t look much from the outside, or even the inside, at first.

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  • Pappardelle al ragu’ bianco di agnello e crema ai funghi
    Salford

    Vero Moderno

    Restaurant - Italian

    Another fab addition to the clutch of good, independent Italian restaurants in the city is Vero Moderno. Situated on the regenerated Chapel Street just inside Salford, it joins Salvi’s, Pasta Factory, and Lupo on our list of ‘proper’ Italians which swerve the standard carbonara and bolognese in favour of something a little more considered.

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