Eats

Popular Manchester name shuts huge six-month-old restaurant with immediate effect

It was the biggest sushi bar in the north.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 20th February 2025

A popular name on Greater Manchester’s restaurant scene has announced the immediate closure of one of its most well-known sites.

Unagi has suddenly shut the doors to its huge, beautiful Salford Quays restaurant that has been open for only six months.

Touted as the biggest sushi bar in the north, the brand’s latest location has closed down with immediate effect.

Unagi Media City was the futuristic sushi and Asian restaurant that was the business’s fifth site in Greater Manchester.

It was a stunning space filled with neon and paper lanterns, with an open kitchen to watch the masters at work.

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On the menu were pan-Asian snacks, street food, and the brilliant sushi platters that have been the foundation to Unagi’s empire.

Unagi has expanded rapidly in recent years with locations now in Altrincham, Wilmslow, Cheetham Hill and West Didsbury.

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Unagi in Cheetham Hill
Unagi in Cheetham Hill
A Manc's Guide to Altrincham - Unagi
Unagi in Altirncham
Unagi in Salford Quays. Credit: The Manc Group
Unagi in Salford Quays
Credit: The Manc Group

In a statement shared online, the restaurant shared that unfortunately the end has already come for its newest location in Salford Quays, so that they can focus on their other thriving restaurants.

They wrote that they would aim to ‘redeploy’ as many staff as possible to other roles in the business, thanking their ‘amazing team’

They wrote: “Dear friends, sadly, we must announce that we won’t be extending our stay in Salford Quays and will be closing Unagi Media City with immediate effect.

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“It’s been a tough decision but it will enable us to focus on our thriving Unagi’s in Altrincham, Wilmslow, Didsbury and Cheetham Hill and get rolling on some exciting new openings in Manchester later this year.

“We will redeploy as many of our amazing team as we can and want to thank everyone for all their efforts and incredible service.

“A huge thank you to all our wonderful team and every guest we have welcomed. Onward we roll!”

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Prestwich pizzeria Dokes announces closure as neighbourhood goes through big changes

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Dokes in Prestwich has announced its closure. Credit: The Manc Group

One of Prestwich’s best-loved independent restaurants has announced the end of its current chapter, saying that it’s become too difficult to operate with tighter and tighter margins.

Dokes, a pizzeria that also served arguably the town’s best roast dinner, has said that it’s going to ‘have to call it a day’ after three years in the proudly independent neighbourhood.

The news comes just months after Rudy’s opened its first Prestwich restaurant just across the road from Dokes, though that of course may just be a coincidence…

The restaurant comes from the same team behind Elnecot in Ancoats, and opened in 2022, promising delicious pizzas made with (wherever possible) British ingredients.

In a statement issued today, chef and owner Michael Clay said that ‘it’s just not been possible for us to make the money required for the size of team needed to run as a pizza restaurant’.

He wrote: “We are a small restaurant and the margins that were there pre-Covid are not achievable anymore at this scale and only getting tighter month on month.”

He then teased that they would be keeping the Bury New Road site on, with plans to reopen as a new concept.

Prestwich has been growing in popularity in recent years, with a blossoming food and drink scene and healthily increasing house prices.

It’s on the precipice of a £100m overhaul too, which will see the Longfield Centre transformed and new facilities built near the tram stop, including a community hub, a new village square, a market hall, flexible retail and leisure spaces, landscaped outdoor and green spaces, a new travel hub off Fairfax Road and around 200 homes.

It’s always been a village packed with local small businesses until this year, when both Rudy’s and Gail’s opened up – prompting this heartfelt statement from another local indie.

Dokes’ full statement reads: “After nearly 3 years of trying our hardest, unfortunately we’re going to have to call it a day.

“Having originally taken on the premises in between the two lockdowns (remember them?!), we’ve been extremely proud of what we have achieved under sometimes unbelievably difficult circumstances. Our staff have been the cornerstone of this and we would like to thank them for all of their hard work. The feedback we have received over the past couple of years on their food, service and hospitality has been absolutely incredible and we are extremely grateful for the hard work they have put in and the commitment they have shown.

“We feel like we have created a product that you have absolutely loved and a space that you have enjoyed coming to and we now really feel like a part of the Prestwich community – and for that we can’t thank you enough! You came for the pizzas and stayed for the roasts and it’s been a lot of fun.

“Try as we might though, it’s just not been possible for us to make the money required for the size of team needed to run as a pizza restaurant. We are a small restaurant and the margins that were there pre-Covid are not achievable anymore at this scale and only getting tighter month on month.

“So it is with a heavy heart that we are closing the door on this chapter BUT…we aren’t going to be leaving you completely…

“We have plans for the place which we will be updating you about very soon so please watch this space for more details. We hope you’re going to love it.

“As Dokes, Sunday 9th March will be our final service so please come down over the next couple of weeks, grab a pizza or a roast and say hello. It would be lovely to see you all. Bookings are open and the cellar is stocked so lets fill the little place up and go out with a bang!

“Big love P-town. Michael, Wes and the team x”

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Ornella’s Kitchen, the tiny Italian where people wait MONTHS for reservations, teases new restaurant

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Ornella's Kitchen has teased a new restaurant

Ornella’s Kitchen, the tiny Italian restaurant where people will happily wait months to book table, has teased the arrival of a new restaurant.

The cosy spot has been doing a roaring trade in Denton, where just a handful of tables are squashed in around the deli counter.

Here you’ll find arguably the best pasta dishes in the region, from pistachio carbonara to short rib and parmesan gnocchi.

And Ornella’s Kitchen has become so popular it’s now nigh-on impossible to get a booking unless you like to plan really, really far ahead (or do what we did and eat lunch at 11.30am).

Today, the beloved Tameside restaurant has teased an expansion and a new location, with a post debuting ‘Ornella’s Little Kitchen’.

That’s pretty much all the info they’re willing to part with at this stage, promising more details next week.

Ornella's Kitchen has teased a new restaurant
Ornella’s Kitchen has teased a new restaurant
The size of the existing Ornella's Kitchen
The size of the existing Ornella’s Kitchen

But fans are very quickly speculating on where the new Ornella’s Kitchen could be.

Many are calling for the restaurant to open up in popular foodie neighbourhoods like Stockport, or Prestwich.

And others (us included) don’t care where they go, as long as it gives us twice as many chances at booking a table.

Ornella’s Kitchenall started as a lockdown project for Ornella Cancila, where customers would come and collect carefully-made Sicilian dishes from a bench outside her home.

And now it’s grown to be one of those local spots that Tameside residents are proud of, and everyone else in Greater Manchester is jealous of.

Watch this space…

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Featured image: The Manc Group

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