Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Bolton
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Bolton restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 93 restaurants in Bolton and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Bolton restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Bolton Restaurants
1. Il Mulino Roby Mill
restaurant in Upholland
60 Roby Mill - WN8
An AA rosette award winning Italian restaurant nestled in the heart of the Lancashire countryside. Il Mulino serves high-quality produce from Lancashire farms and Italy.All of our meat, dairy & vegetables are grown or reared within a 30 mile ...
2. Bundobust
Indian restaurant in Manchester
61 Piccadilly - M1
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, this northern-based operation “still delivers very high-quality Indian street food with super craft beers at excellent value – keep it up!”. Now with two branches in Manchester, one each in Leeds and Liverpool and a new venture as far south as Birmingham, it’s “very good for a quick curry fix” – and nobody seems to notice that the Gujarati food is vegan.
3. Chez Nous Bistro
British, Modern restaurant in Sale
179 Marsland Road - M33
2023 Review: 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.
4. 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”.
5. TNQ Restaurant & Bar
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
108 High St - M4
“An exemplar of city-centre neighbourhood bistros” – this “popular Northern Quarter restaurant” (that’s the NQ in the name) has “settled down into a pleasing rhythm of knowing exactly who they are and what they need to do (kind-of like your favourite comfy pair of high-quality shoes… in the best possible way!)”; and “consistently delivers excellent food that doesn’t cost the earth”.
6. Indique
Indian restaurant in Manchester
110-112 Burton Road - M20
“Simply the best Indian cuisine ever!” – fans don’t stint in their praise of this posh West Didsbury curry house that’s both ‘Indian’ and ‘Unique’… It lives up to its name with a menu incorporating a few dishes not seen elsewhere.
7. Tattu
Chinese restaurant in Manchester
3 Hardman Sq, Gartside St - M3
Aces of expensive, moodily dark wood paneling and other luxurious surfaces contribute to the Insta-friendly scene at this original outpost of what’s now become a national chain of glam pan-Asian destinations. Feedback was relatively limited this year, but raised no complaints regarding its mix of Chinese dishes with sushi and Thai favourites.
8. MUSU
Japanese restaurant in Manchester
India Buildings, 8 Brunswick St - M3
“A real feast for the senses and already very popular”; “a quite incredible fit-out for this newish opening” is just one of the attractions at this October 2022 debut, on the site that was previously Randall & Aubin (RIP), but which has been subject to a £3.5m refit. The name means ‘infinite possibilities’: here, that translates into seven-course or eleven-course Japanese omakase menus for up to £150 per person – “expensive to visit but quite fabulous ingredients prepared by Michael Shaw and his team” (he was previously at a traditional pub in Lydgate, near Oldham so this is quite the change, but his pedigree includes stints at Le Manoir, Ramsay’s Aubergine and Richard Neat). In a March 2023 review, The Guardian’s Grace Dent declared it “gigantically ambitious and pointedly bonkers”, resembling “nothing so much as the Starship Enterprise, albeit one with geishas on the walls” and with “outstanding… Japanese food served in the manner of Le Manoir… Every bowl is a minuscule portion of exquisite pleasure”.
9. Eagle & Child
British, Modern restaurant in Ramsbottom
3 Whalley Road - BL0
2022 Review: “Great food and also a sense that they are putting back into the community” inspires support for this pub-with-rooms on the village green. Run as a youth-focused social enterprise, supporting young people to access training and paid work experience, it has won a string of awards over its almost ten years in operation. In summer, its ‘Incredible Edible Beer Garden’ comes into its own: almost an acre in size and with lots of interest as well as outside seating.
10. 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.
11. The Glazebury
British, Modern restaurant in Glazebury
207 Warrington Road - WA3
2021 Review: South African-born chef Ernst van Zyl and partner Liz Kellett have taken over (and substantially refurbished) this Warrington pub, which opened at the end of 2018. This new place has 60 covers, five rooms and a huge beer garden. Scant survey feedback as yet, but based on his previous gaff – The Lord Clyde in Kerridge – there’s reason to hope for notably accomplished food in this village pub.
12. Five Guys
Burgers, etc restaurant in Manchester
Intu Trafford Centre - M17
2021 Review: “When all you want is an old-school burger”, these US-based arrivals of recent years really “hit the spot” – you can “build your own”, with “tons of accessories”; plus “seriously addictive fries”, “thick milkshakes”, and “more soda flavours than is reasonable”. “The eat-in experience is as depressing as McDonald’s”, though, in fact perhaps more so – “some branches have a strangely gloomy ambience” – but fans feel that “if you don’t mind 1980s-rock, a trip can still be surprisingly fun”.
13. The Black Friar
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
13 King Street - M3
“This old Salford pub has risen from the dead” following its long-time closure after a fire; “the fine Victorian building now has a brilliantly designed dining area incorporating much glass, and opening onto a garden with tables”, but it’s also a proper boozer too. Chef Ben Chaplin’s food ranges from “excellent pub grub” to more ambitious fare and “service and ambience are both wonderful”.
14. 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.
15. Dishoom
Indian restaurant in Manchester
32 Bridge Street - M3
“Impossible to fault and always totally reliable” – this charismatic Indian group has stormed Manchester as it stormed London before it. “The building is fabulous and beautifully fitted out and the waft of incense as you walk into the restaurant sets the scene for what’s to follow” – “extremely authentic cuisine that tastes as good as it looks, with staff who are very informative and helpful when choosing dishes you have not come across before”: “perfect chicken tikka, ruby murray and house black dhal are must-tries” not to mention “THE best okra fries”. Early morning here is an attraction too, but they are “busy! Get there early for the best breakfast naans ever!”
16. 20 Stories
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
No 1 Spinningfields, 1 Hardman Square - M3
“Spectacular views over the Manchester city skyline and beyond” can make this “slick” D&D London operation “a breathtaking venue (but don’t look down – the clue is in the name)”. Fans also hail its “well-prepared” modern brasserie dishes, but for such a landmark venue, reports remain surprisingly limited, so we’ve maintained last year’s conservative food rating.
17. 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”.
18. The Ivy Asia
Pan-Asian restaurant in Manchester
The Pavilion, Byrom Street - M3
“It’s noisy and chaotic” at this glossy Asian-themed operation, upstairs from the Spinningfields Ivy – “but if you want to give your teens or twenty-somethings a good lunch/night out, you won’t go far wrong”. For all the glam styling of the interior – even the floor shimmers with semi-precious stones – some diners complain that the pan-Asian food can “taste a little processed”.
19. The Ivy Spinningfields
British, Modern restaurant in Manchester
The Pavilion, Byrom Street - M3
With the “lovely decor” replicated from the Theatreland icon for which they are branded, Richard Caring’s “always buzzy” spin-offs have found a gigantic audience nationally. But “these places live off the name for sure” and “it’s the ambience that keeps them going” – while fans say the food is “reliable”, more sceptical types dismiss it as “conveyor-belt cooking”; and say service is merely so-so. Some branches are better than others: best in London is ‘Chelsea Garden’, which has the same “distinctly average” standards as the others, but reliably offers an “uplifting” atmosphere and “great people watching” (and “on a sunny afternoon there is literally NO WHERE ELSE TO BE but its large garden. HEAVEN!!”). Also worth mentioning is the outlet by The Thames in SE1: “excellent views of Tower Bridge”, “even better if outside in summer and convenient for The Bridge Theatre”.
20. Australasia
Fusion restaurant in Manchester
1 The Avenue Spinningfields - M3
2022 Review: Grand Pacific's sibling enjoys an impressively posh setting (replete with glamorous cocktail bar) in a basement off Deansgate, making it perfectly “designed for a date”. The food – Aussie/pan-Asian sharing plates – “ranges from average to excellent”, with a shout-out for the “beautiful” bento-box dessert.
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