Eats

Big Mamma Group opens incredible Italian restaurant Circolo Popolare in Manchester

The one we've been waiting for

Daisy Jackson - 20th May 2025

Circolo Popolare, a lavish Italian restaurant from Big Mamma Group, is now ready to open in Manchester for the first time.

This incredible space marks the first time the acclaimed restaurant group has ventured up north, with restaurants already thriving in London and other cities across Europe.

They promised big things from their interiors, and they’ve certainly delivered on that.

As you step inside this two-storey restaurant just off Albert Square (it’s at the foot of Gary Neville’s £400m St Michael’s development), you’ll feel like you’ve been whisked off to an Italian island.

Downstairs in Circolo Popolare in Manchester is a twinkling paradise with a jasmine-clad ceiling, reels of festoon lighting, and antique trinkets tucked into every corner.

The large windows are lined with thousands of vintage booze bottles and on each table you’ll find hand-painted crockery designed especially for Big Mamma Group.

Upstairs, there’s a cosy, ivy-covered space inspired by a Sicilian courtyard, with a huge open kitchen at one end where you can see the chefs at work.

Circolo Popolare in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group

They’re working on dishes like gigantic bowls of truffle pasta, authentic Neapolitan pizzas (made the traditional way with thinner crusts, rather than the puffed-up contemporary style we see so much of these days), and Italian small plates.

As for dessert, the star of the show is their six-inch-tall lemon meringue pie, crowned in a wobbling tower of torched meringue.

But you also shouldn’t skip out on their tiramisu, scooped straight into your bowl table-side.

Circolo Popolare officially opens on 6 June – to book a table, sign up to their newsletter HERE.