Puccini’s Pizzeria e Ristorante

Definitely a hidden gem in Manchester! Puccini’s restaurant is located close to Swinton square opposite the town hall. The buildings around were built in not very nice brutalist architecture style, which kind of lower your expectations from the restaurant straight at the beginning. Well, you can not get more wrong!
As soon as you walk in, you instantly travel to Italian coast. The décor, open kitchen and a lot,… and I mean a lot of helpful staff make you feel that you’re not in England anymore. From the beginning you’ll get proper european gastronomic experience with warm welcome at the door, waiter taking you to the table and takes your coats off and again help you to practically dress you up when you leave. Friendly farewell as you leaving and a handshake from the restaurant manager at the door with making sure, everything has gone well are only small things but make huge difference.
The service at Puccini’s is excellent and certainly something you wouldn’t expect in restaurant of this price range.
Food menu is again — excessive, from Pizzas, Pasta to various meat dishes, including specials of the day. Very reasonably priced pizzas/​pasta in range of around £10, with meat dishes starting at £16 make Puccini’s very good value for money and definitely worth to travel to from even furthest part of Manchester. And what was the biggest surprise all pasta we had — the ravioli, lasagne pasta and probably even spaghetti were home made. All dishes were excellent, nicely served, probably the best Italian gastronomic experience you can get in Manchester. My highlight was roman-​style egg-​drop Stracciatella soup I definitely will return for!
Yes, some people may say that as restaurant gets really busy there isn’t much space to move around and the place feel «packed» and «loud», however I think that is one of the key points which make excellent atmosphere even better.
Overall, if you have forgetten how delicious Italian cuisine actually is, based on experience in «Italian» chain restaurants, Puccini’s will take you on the right track and judging by the pictures on the walls, you’ll be following David Cameron or Sylvester Stallone who dined in Puccinni’s before.

Always have a good experience here, great food, amazing atmosphere, and really good staff

My favourite restaurant! Good food but even better service!
When you walk up to Puccini’s, you’re quite frankly not sure what to expect. Set in an ugly council building opposite Swinton Town Hall you don’t expect a gastronomic experience. However, when you enter you’re greeted by excellent waiters and it only takes a quick glance around the restaurant (spotting Manchester United players, locals, millionaires and even David Cameron and Sylvester Stallone recently (separately of course)) to realise you’re somewhere quite special. Despite the clientele, everyone is treated like they’re the most important person in the restaurant and you’d be very surprised at how reasonable the prices are! Not bank breaking in the slightest.
If you’re ever in the Manchester area, I cannot recommend this place enough! Much better than the pretentious San Carlo’s or Albert Shed’s in the centre of town.

I came here for my mum’s 60^th birthday and luckily we booked. Non-​stop all night, people pouring in.
The owner was very welcoming and gave us free garlic bread as starters which was needed as the green lipped mussels for starters took ages to arrive which they were well aware of and in the end they served us our antipasti without the mussels. Once the muscles arrived, they were big and worth waiting for.
We all ordered different mains and they all came out together. The seafood dishes looked great with lobster on top but the steak looked a bit drab drowning in the sauce and one of the pasta dishes didn’t look appealing but tasted great.
The service was great all night and we had numerous wait staff looking after us and they were happy to take photos of us etc.
When we ordered our dessert one of the wait staff was extremely proud to have made two of the dishes — the panna cotta and the crème caramel. I ordered the panna cotta, although the consistency was thicker to what I am used to it tasted delicious.
Despite how busy the place was for a Sunday night we didn’t see any celebs. I can understand why people keep coming back as the owner makes everyone feel welcome and you feel as if you know him as he wishes and hugs everyone as they leave.
Ample parking over the road but you have to navigate through broken glass to get into the restaurant.

I really adored this restaurant. It’s ran by the type of people who REALLY give a darn about what people think of them, their food and especially their service.
The staff will joke with you as if you were their friend, they’ll make a fuss of you, compliment you and recommend EVERYTHING on the menu. No seriously, don’t ask for a recommendation because they say everything — and you can see why when it arrives!
You have to go for the full shebang here — Starter, Mains and Dessert. Don’t you dare not order one of them! You’ll miss out!
I opted for Duck for the mains — I love Duck, it’s my favourite meat to have for a dish — and it was exquisite. The sauce was definitely homemade, with a tangy orange finish presented with shavings of orange peel. I loved the attention to detail with the dishes even with the restaurant HEAVING. They don’t lapse and they don’t forget. Main dishes (meat) come with sides of roast potatoes, green beans, carrots and broccoli (chef’s choice of seasoned vegetables). The roast spuds had soft centres and crispy coatings — delish! Roasting done right.
For dessert (see pictures) I ordered a lemon sorbet accompanied by the sweetest toffee sauce drizzle in the shape of a flower! Again, presentation is clearly a key aspect here. Loved it.
Being a Tuesday night and celebrating my Dad’s birthday, you wouldn’t really expect a lot of people at a restaurant for starters on a Tuesday night (wrong!) and you wouldn’t expect every other table in there to be there for someones birthday right? WRONG!
EVERY single table was there for a birthday. No joke! They crank up the birthday music every time!
I’d meant to make a cake for this occasion but I hadn’t had time. I asked the waitress if it was possible to wish him a happy birthday and add something special to his dessert. If you look at the picture I uploaded, they wrote Happy Birthday in sauce and added extra strawberries to his cake.
As we were leaving, the staff practically dressed up — wrapping us up in our scarves and holding our coats as we put them on. They joked with us about bringing more people and which football club we supported and made everyone feel very wanted and valued. I do love good customer service and this place has it, under pressure, and doesn’t cease to surprise.

PUCCINI’S TWO RESTURANTS, MANCHESTER, UK
I have just returned from my first trip to England where the weather was horrid, the service was fine, people were great and the food was fantastic … «the food» in this case is referring to the amazing menu, preparation and taste PUCCINI’S that will lift you through the roof and into the stars… with years of world travel under my belt which includes multiple trips to mother Italia; I feel more than qualified to say the following. If you want fantastically delicious Italian food go to England… find Manchester and set your GPS locater to hone in on one of the two Puccini’s Restaurants (the original location at 171 – 175 Chorley Road Swinton … and the brand new location141 Katherine Street, Ashton-​Under-​lyne in Manchester Proper)
The food is Great… and tell them «Papa Angelo» sent you… WOW

This is the very best restaurant in which I have ever eaten. The food is stunningly good and the service is wonderful. Michael and his staff make every person feel like royalty. All my family have been dining here for years and we will for many years to come. The fact that people travel miles to come here tells you just how good it is. Don’t take my word for it — come and see yourself, and you’ll be back again and again — just like us.

Lovely italian. A bit pricey but worth every penny. We have regularly seen Ryan Giggs and other football stars in here. It definitely adds to the atmosphere :)
Gorgeous food!

There’s a reason why Puccini’s has celebrities flocking here in their droves rather than eating somewhere more central. The fact that this place is still difficult to get a table at on the weekends, despite being housed in an old shopping precinct in Swinton, goes a little way to telling you what kind of quality you’re likely to expect.
This is authentic Italian cuisine at its best. The extensive menu covers pizza, pasta, rice, meat and fish. Expect all the classics prepared and served to a high standard and attentive service, the waiters are knowledgable and quick to help. I’m quite keen on the simplicity of the veal cooked in tomato sauce but there are a lot of other veal choices alone if this isn’t your bag.

I have to agree with the last reviewer — the food in Puccini is not as good quality as it used to be. However, the prices have stayed almost level even through the ‘credit crisis’.
Puccini is always completely packed on Fri and Sat nights — which surely must say something. The staff are polite, friendly and animated, and are always on hand if needed.
The food — fillet steaks are excellent here, cooked to perfection with sauce and served with veg and pots. Pasta dishes are also excellent, especially the oven baked lasagne, but if you’re more than peckish be aware that the lasagne isn’t served with anything else. I find that the ‘specials’ are always hit and miss in Puccini, I once ordered a chicken, pepper and cherry tomato dish which arrived with not a cherry tomato in sight! Go for the main menu and you won’t go wrong.
As mentioned before, the desserts are typical cash ‘n’ carry fayre — a big let down, surely an Italian restaurant could at least make their own ice cream or tiramisu??!
Overall,. good value for money and a great selection of wines.
KAT.

I was here last night and can only say that the food has seriously gone downhill since the last reviews. I started with the Brushetta which was 2 pieces of stale bread toasted (don’t even try to get your knife through the crust!) with chopped tomatoes and very badly chopped onions ‘dumped’ on the top (I practically had half and onion with some very large pieces) with a smattering of herbs thrown over for good measure. My friend had the meatballs 3 meatballs in a okay sauce, however you get 4 meatballs in a good sauce in Subway for about a third of the price we paid here!
For my main I took the Hawaian pizza — the base wasn’t cooked fully and the toppings looked like they had been chucked on the top as they were all in the centre and as for the tomatoe base I’m sure someone just squeezed some purée onto it!
The only good part was my friends desert which had obviously been bought in (Choc fudge cake).
The service was WAY over the top with just about every waiter in the place offering us pepper or parmsian at somepoint in our meal.
This was the worst Italian food I have ever had in my life and if I ever want a pizza again I’ll stick with Pizza Express! Why is an established Italian resturant outstripped by a large franchise???

This is a fantastic Italian Restaurant offering good value for money. As others have said it is frequented by Manchester United players — the last time we went my son had his shirt signed by Ji Sun Park. There are also dishes on the menu named after Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs. There is also football memorabilia on the wall, including shirts from Manchester City and the England Squad. When Wembley was being built and some England games were held at Old Trafford, the restaurant shut down to the public and the England squad ate their. As well as good food the staff are excellent.
Pizza’s are fantastic, as are the pasta dishes and desserts. Oh and if you take children they will be given lots of attention.
It is a little tucked away so don’t miss it!!!

This has got to be one of the best Italian restaurants I have ever visited. It is frequented by Manchester United players which adds to the mix. The food is wide ranging and covers all tastes. The service is impeccable with real Italian staff interested in all your requirements, you only have to lift your head and they are there. They are cheery and very welcoming. The prices are not bad and it is a nice place for a special dinner out of the busy city centre. Set on the A6 road it is easily reached and there is parking close by.

This is a haunt of manchester united and england football teams. The pizzas are the best i’ve had and the prices are great. Its it never quiet here but having said that the atmosphere is great and relaxing. The staff here are lovely and have great memory as they recognise me when I return and I don’t go that often!!!

Lovely friendly restaurant in the centre of Swinton. Frequented by Manchester United footballers but don’t be put off! Good alternative to the centre of Manchester. Good food and wine at pretty cheap prices.