Circolo Popolare Manchester ★9.9

The room is the event — and it landed on a site Manchester argued about for a decade

Circolo Popolare opened in Manchester on 6 June 2025 as the twenty-ninth restaurant from Big Mamma, the group that treats a dining room the way a theatre treats a set. It seats 280 across two floors, and the ground floor is the reason people book: a ceiling packed solid with eucalyptus and wisteria, festoon lights strung through it, thousands of vintage bottles stacked along the windows, ceramic testa di moro busts, hand-painted crockery and an actual Italian wishing well. This is not a quiet-Tuesday restaurant. You come because the room does half the work of the evening before anyone has ordered.

The Concept · The Story

The site matters more than usual here. The restaurant occupies the base of St Michael’s, the scheme Gary Neville spent well over a decade pushing through planning — fought over publicly, sent back to the drawing board after objections, and finally built only once the old police headquarters facade and the Sir Ralph Abercromby pub beside it were kept rather than demolished. The first phase opened in 2025, and Circolo was the tenant that gave the new block a pulse. Big Mamma’s own description of what it builds is the soul of a trattoria, the look of a film set and the produce of a Michelin-starred kitchen; the group buys from more than 170 small Italian producers and puts «fatto in casa, e basta» — made in-house, that’s all — on the wall. Head chef Alfonso Esposito, from Campania, wrote the Manchester menu, and the interiors were assembled by the group’s own design studio — led by Apolline, wife of co-founder Victor Lugger — from flea-market antiques gathered across Europe.

What to Order

The signature is mafaldine al tartufo: ribbon pasta in a creamy truffle sauce, finished at the table inside a hollowed wheel of pecorino and shaved with fresh black truffle. It is built for two and it is the dish the room turns to watch. Pizza is Neapolitan and wood-fired, available bigusto — half one topping, half another, which is Big Mamma’s way of ending the ordering argument. Around them: gnocco fritto with stracchino, arancini with sausage ragù, burrata from Puglia, prosciutto di San Daniele. Desserts are deliberately absurd, and the lemon meringue pie — a torched tower of meringue several inches tall — has become the single most photographed plate in the building. Pistachio tiramisu is scooped at the table, profiteroles arrive with fior di latte gelato and dark chocolate. Drinks run to large-format shareable cocktails and a three-litre bottle of amaro poured as shots without leaving your table.

The Space

Two floors, two moods. Downstairs is the loud one: the eucalyptus-and-wisteria canopy overhead, and long communal tables seating up to eighteen — the best seats in the house for a group, the wrong ones if you need to hear each other. Past the gleaming quartz bar sits Circolino, a 24-seat dining room that is the contained version of the same idea and the one to ask for when the evening is a birthday rather than a night out. Upstairs is calmer, done in terracotta with alcoves and a counter onto the open kitchen. The restaurant takes walk-ins alongside bookings, though space can be limited; dogs are welcome throughout, and a set lunch, Pranzetto, runs at midday for anyone who wants the room without committing to the full evening.

Good to Know

How far ahead should I book? Reservations release online thirty days in advance and weekend slots disappear fast; if you miss them, arrive at the start of service and ask the team for a waiting time.

Can I get in without a reservation? Yes — walk-ins are welcome, but space can be limited. Arrive at the start of service to maximise your chances, and if the room is full the team will give you an estimated waiting time.

Which room should I ask for? Downstairs under the canopy for atmosphere and big groups, Circolino for a table of up to twenty-four that feels private, upstairs if you actually want to talk.

Is it right for a group celebration? Yes — the sharing tables take up to eighteen, there is a group set menu, and the dessert service is theatrical enough to double as the moment itself.

Are dogs allowed? Yes, the restaurant is dog-friendly and your companion is welcome at the table with you.

Opening hours