Circolo Popolare Manchester — Restaurant in Manchester

Dear Circolo Populare Team,

We booked a table for four people at 8pm under the name Lily Walker to celebrate my friend’s birthday, and we travelled over from Sheffield for the evening. Unfortunately, the whole experience was disappointing from start to finish.

To start with, the gluten free options were very limited. I’m used to that to an extent, but I did expect an Italian restaurant to be able to adapt a few fresh dishes. I asked if the “Nuts for Burrata” starter could be made gluten free and was told yes, with a slight change. The menu described it as “A generous 250g Burrata di Puglia, served with marjoram, basil oil and hazelnuts”, but what arrived was simply a ball of burrata — no drizzle of oil, no salad leaves or tomatoes, and no nuts (which are naturally gluten free).

I mentioned this to our waiter and suggested adding even a few leaves, a tomato, or a drizzle of olive oil so I wasn’t just eating a lump of cheese for £16. He kindly apologised and returned with a ramekin of passata, which really didn’t complement the dish. He said the dish would be on the house, which was appreciated, but the overall impression from the kitchen was that very little care had gone into it.

Our first round of drinks also arrived with three out of four incorrect, but we let that go as it was a busy Saturday night. Then we were asked if we’d like water for the table and requested tap water, but an already-opened bottle of Belu was brought and poured before we realised – which felt like an unnecessary upsell.

For mains, I ordered the chicken and mushroom skewer, which was fine but nothing special. Ironically, it came with a leaf salad – exactly what I’d asked for earlier with my starter. It just felt careless.

Dessert was the final disappointment. I’d been looking forward to the ice cream with homemade caramel sauce since before we arrived, but it never turned up. Two of my friends also didn’t receive their dessert drinks. While it was a lovely touch for the team to bring out a complimentary birthday ice cream with a candle and sing to my friend in Italian, the inconsistencies throughout the evening really overshadowed the gesture.

We had to ask for the bill twice, and when it finally arrived it was incorrect. We asked for the service charge to be removed, as by that point we were tired of chasing things up.

Overall, it felt like style over substance. The restaurant itself is lovely, but the service and attention to detail just weren’t there — and for the prices charged, it left us all disappointed. I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever left a restaurant feeling this hungry or this let down.

I wanted to give you this feedback directly in the hope it can be taken constructively, as the evening was meant to be a special celebration and unfortunately fell very short of expectations. However, I reached out over a month ago via your website contact form and I am still yet to hear...

I'm not quite sure why this place is getting such high reviews, although I did note that one of the reviews said they were offered free desserts to give a good review. I didn't get this offer but it was probably because they made a few mess-ups and didn't think it would be right to ask us to do this!

The place was heaving and had a good atmosphere - you're not squashed in even though it's busy.

No one was rude and some aspects of the service were good, however it's not suitable for what you pay here and errors were not concluded how they'd be at other places.

We waited the longest I've ever waited for drinks in a restaurant, and ages after my friends ordered their bottle of wine, the waiter came back to say they didn't have that bottle, so it started the whole wait again to get the new bottle. My single glass of wine that I'd ordered right at the beginning still wasn't there and I had to wait a good while for that to come. It wasn't too bad for us because we're a group of old friends and had lots to talk about, but it would be really really an issue with a date that you don't know that well or if you're in any kind of hurry at all.

With the food, after quite a while it came but mine was the wrong one. So that had to go and be changed, but we weren't offered any compensation for the fact that I was sat there while my friends were eating. Also, the green salad is a complete joke. I don't mind paying £5.50 for a salad but it was literally about quarter of a bag of rocket and maybe three tiny bits of little gem cut up at the bottom.

Food was reasonable but the 2 people with linguine both thought it was a bit under done and starchy. Maybe they'd say Al dente but it wasn't great at all for £20.

Coffees were fine but they brought the wrong ones out first. So that's 3 wrong orders in one meal - do they not listen or is there some systemic issue.

Oh, one nice thing was that there seemed like every other table had a birthday (or was pretending to as they give you free tiramisu!). As there had been so many, we asked our friend if she wanted us to tell the waiters that it was her birthday, but she said don't worry about it. So we didn't. However, one of the waiters must have noticed that we gave some cards to her so they brought out the pudding anyway, which was very nice of them.

So basically, I think the place is over hyped and maybe it's some kind of social media haunt that people go to because they think they should (not sure if this is the case but I just wondered, with it being so busy all the time if it's got a good presence on socials).

There are some good things about it but the food and service is not worth paying above some honest, Italian places that...

My wife and I visited Circolo Popamare tonight to celebrate her birthday. Overall, it was a memorable evening with some truly outstanding highs, though the restaurant service was a notable letdown. 🍹 Bar Service & Atmosphere (The Highs) Despite arriving early and having a short wait for our table, the initial experience at the bar was absolutely brilliant. The waiter immediately made room for us to sit, expertly guided us through the menu, and even offered a small wine tasting. We couldn't have felt more welcome—a fantastic start! For a Tuesday night, the atmosphere was truly "popping," making for a lively and enjoyable setting. 🍽️ The Food (Mostly Superb) We started with the La Vera Focaccia Romana, which was wonderfully crispy, light, and perfect for soaking up every last bit of sauce. For mains: Spaghettoni al Ragù di Agnello (Wife's Dish): This was the star of the show! The home-made spaghettoni with the spicy lamb and San Marzano tomato ragù was incredibly deep and rich in flavour. Topped with minty salsa verde and grated pecorino, it was an excellent dish that I would happily return for alone. Tagliarini Granchio e Limone (My Dish): This was nice and fresh, but ultimately a little underwhelming. While they didn't offer my preferred dessert, affogato, we shared the Tiramisu, which was light, delicious, and thankfully, not too boozy. 🤦‍♀️ Restaurant Service (The Low) Unfortunately, the service once we were seated was the only letdown. We were sat 15 minutes late, and the waiters were simply not attentive. We had to ask for a simple drink three times, and placing orders was frustrating. While they were quick to check on us after our food arrived, the general attentiveness was lacking. A few times, waiters seemed to be engrossed in their phones—whether this was a system they use or not, it didn't look great. It seems they recognized the lapse, as they generously offered us the tiramisu for free without us even mentioning the slow service. 🌟 Conclusion Would the service put me off returning? Definitely not. The excellent, vibrant atmosphere and the quality of the food (especially the Spaghettoni!) make Circolo Popamare a place I would highly recommend. They just need to polish up their table service to match the warmth of the bar staff and the brilliance of...