Read Reviews About Greater Manchester Restaurants

Italian Restaurants in Greater Manchester

1. San Carlo Italian restaurant in Manchester 40 King Street West - M3

Well-known in the city-centre as a posh if pricey destination – complete with crisp white tablecloths and nattily dressed staff – this old-school Italian is part of the well-known national chain and (with over two decades service) is sometimes mistaken as the group’s founding branch (although that distinction actually goes to the one in Birmingham, which opened ten years earlier). Its traditional fare can include “wonderful fish”, but it can also seem too “overpriced”.

Price*

£82

££££

Food

Average

Service

Good

Ambience

Very Good

2. The Spärrows Continental Pasta & Spätzle East & Cent. European restaurant in Manchester 16 Red Bank - M4

“Almost like a speakeasy to get into”, and based in a railway arch, but once inside you’ll find a “totally charming place” that makes for “the perfect cheap ’n’ cheerful night out”. The MO is “fabulous” and “slightly bonkers”: spätzle (a Swabian, noodle-like pasta dish) is the star of the show, with William Sitwell in his June 2025 review – one of many journos to rave about what he called this “Manchester institution” – claiming that “all seems well with the world as you guzzle them”; also on the menu, other “great-value Polish and Eastern European food”, all of which is “wonderfully presented” too. No wonder fans “love everything about this place”.

Price*

£54

££

Food

Very Good

Service

Very Good

Ambience

Good

3. San Carlo Cicchetti Italian restaurant in Manchester 42 King Street West - M3

“Seemingly effortlessly classy and convivial” – these attractive spinoffs from the national San Carlo chain provide “casual dining with Italian small plates in a lively setting” and can be particularly “great for a pre-theatre meal” given their “very convenient locations for the West End” (including a stone’s throw from Piccadilly Circus). There are drawbacks though: “quality of the dishes is a little variable”; “tables are squeezed in”; and conversation can be “difficult” (“this place is described as ’buzzy’, for which I would read loud”).

Price*

£64

£££

Food

Average

Service

Average

Ambience

Good

4. Croma Italian restaurant in Manchester 500 Wilbraham Rd - M21

2024 Review: “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.