Piccolino

I just want to start off by saying. I’ve worked in the food and beverage industry for 8 years. And I have never come across a restaurant that has come close to the standards of piccolinos west didsbury. I have to say before I start on the food. Your staff are thee most welcoming team I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. And I love how you promote with in. It’s very noticeable how genuinely happy your staff are. Kudos to the person in charge of hiring staff. You really can tell the difference from a good or bad egg.
Every time I come you make me feel welcome but like it is also my first time. Which some people might read this and think what the hell am I talking about. But as a regular customer it is very easy to be unintentionally neglected. But alas you never fail to make a fuss and sit me and my partner at my regular table. Which I love. The best seat in the house… The booth facing the front door… its Devine.
Right the food. Succulent, and well portioned. I never go home hungry or peckish. Always satisfied. The mussels in white wine garlic sauce. To die for and always a need for extra bread to mop up the remains. I recommend everything myself I always get some kind of spiced linguine with every kind of sea creature possible. Try it. Its insane.
I love this restaurant. And when ever anyone asks where is good to go in didsbury I couldn’t praise this place high enough. I worked in the vast majority of bars and restaurants in the didsbury sector. About 12 at a guess. Guys. This place is the bomb.
It’s the perfect date

A couple of years since my last visit here, and I think as enjoyable as the first time. We were a table of 6 meeting for our social group on an early evening and sunny Saturday evening. Most of us opted not to go for a starter, and I chose the Farfalle Al Salmone my mains, which I had enjoyed previously. It was as good as before, but only slightly disappointed that they has substituted the billed asparagus for peas — which I am not a lover of ! However the lemon and herb mascarpone and pasta made for a creamy dish, with smoked salmon. Washed down nicely with a glass of Pinot Grigio Blush Rose. Some of my fellow diners noted that their pasta was a little salty, but I didn’t notice in my dish. For my dessert, the classic Tiramisu and a nice end to our meal. Service was good, and the restaurant did start to get busier once the clock turned 7pm — with families out for special occasions. A nice location in Didsbury, with other restaurants to choose from as well as more eclectic bars — should you wish to extend your evening.

Piccolino is a nice standard Italian restaurant, which although overpriced, has some reasonable set menus. Unfortunately we then detonated our bill by foolishly ordering wine by the glass after the first bottle, eventually ordering what was essentially a third bottle. I rather hoped the management might decide to charge us for three bottles but alas no. Error.
Meanwhile, calamari and garlic prawn starters, while not earth shattering, were enjoyable. I wasn’t crazy about my sea bass main but it was pretty good. I also liked the pizza we eventually got as it turned into dinnertime (yes, we were there a while).
Piccolino has a good outdoor terrace which now has a cover presumably meaning it will be in use all year round and in all of Manchester’s terrible weather.
What really made the experience for me was the great wait staff who were consistently charming and attentive over very many hours and provided us with exacting the kind of relaxing convivial atmosphere two long separated gal pals needed to catch up!

We were really hungry after last minute Christmas shopping and needed a lot of food. Having heard a lot about it and having been to the city centre branch, we decided to try our local piccolino at West didsbury.
We were very impressed by the staff who were very friendly, polite and gave us tables despite we not making any reservations. Lucky we, cos the place filled up by the time our starters arrived!
The food itself was well prepared and presented. We went for the bruschetta, olives and tomato garlic bread, all of which looked good on the plate, tasted well on the palate and felt amazing in the tummy.
For the mains I had the fusili al pomodoro, but asked for spaghetti instead and they were happy to do it for me. My wife had the trofiette alla genovese and was pleased with her choice of main also.
We were happy with most things but the bruschetta was slightly overdone, hence only a 4 star.

Went here for a family meal on a Sunday lunch time. We chose it thinking it would be quieter than other west didsbury haunts being more of an evening place and we weren’t disappointed — there were perhaps 4 or so other groups during the 1230 to 1430 time period we were there.
Today all our food was spot on. We tried the spinach salad main, king prawn pasta, clam pasta and crispy duck. It was all beautifully presented and delicious. Then we treated ourselves to rhubarb and almond tart, strawberry cheesecake, tiramisu and vanilla icecream. We left stuffed and happy.
This place is pretty close to a 5 for me. Knocked a few marks off for the acoustics which meant we needed to shout on occasions and for the other 2 or 3 times I’ve visited when the service was lacking.
Looking forward to going back and seeing if five stars is deserved!

Amazing! Esp the service!

Last week, my lovely young man and I decided to go for some nice scran around West Didsbury, which is never a bad way to spend the evening. Yet upon actually getting to West Didsbury, I took it upon myself to no longer be quite easy about where we ate, instead poo-​pooing pretty much everywhere for one reason or another: «I don’t want any of the veggie stuff on that menu, it’s booooring», «I’m not bloody paying a tenner for a salad», etc. etc. I’m not really sure what got into me, as I frequent the fine eating establishments in the area often and rave about them to anyone and everyone who will listen. However, my lovely and astoundingly patient boyfriend (who had been happy to just eat what I had in the cupboards, the poor poppet) wandered around West Dids with me until I was FINALLY content to eat at Piccolino.
As it was a lovely warm evening, we chose to eat outside in the heated terrace. The service was fabulous, the menu extensive, and even I (in my super fussy and contentious mood) was um-​ing and ah-​ing about the choices for my veggie self for a good ten minutes, in the good way. The manager came over to us with each course to check if we were happy with everything, which was lovely as it made us feel as though he really cared that we were enjoying our experience in his restaurant. The waitress was attentive, yet never lingering, and the food was beautiful. The other half opted for steak and chips (which cost a jaw-​dropping £22) and I was assured that the steak was cooked perfectly to his request of being «as rare as possible», and having stolen a few chips myself, I can safely say they were very tasty. I went for soup and two starters as I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry, and ended up with a ridiculous amount of food! The veggie minestrone soup was stunning, hearty, full of flavour and HUGE! That alone would have sufficed for me with my small appetite that night, and I look forward to ordering it again as a light supper. I also ordered the tomato, mozzarella and avocado salad which was unspeakably good. The mozzarella was the creamiest I have ever eaten, and the cherry tomatoes and avocado balls were delightfully fresh and full of flavour. I also opted for the tomato bruschetta, a favourite of mine in any Italian restaurant, and was duly impressed. Some of the freshest tasting tomatoes I have had in a long time.
Unusually, I also ordered a dessert which was the ideal pudding for me; fresh summer fruits with lemon sorbet (which I THINK was homemade — it certainly tasted it), topped with Proseco. Yummy! And it was reasonably priced as well, at around six quid. The young man ordered the tiramisu, a dessert I personally cannot stand, but he loved it and wolfed it down, so I think it’s safe to say that was also a pretty damn good end to the meal!
Overall I was very impressed with this restaurant as at no point did it feel as though we were dining in a restaurant which was part of a chain; it very much has it’s own personality and a unique feel to it. The food is quite expensive though, hence the four rather than five stars, but it’s a perfect choice for when you want to spoil yourselves a bit!

Fantastic food and great service, was pleasantly surprised at just how fantastic the food really was and def look forward to next time already!!! Decent prices for brilliant food and attentive staff 4.5÷5

There’s always great atmosphere in Piccolinos but the food never seems to hit the spot for me. The staff however are very friendly, great with recommendations especially when it comes to wine.

This Picolino’s is just fabulous! It’s setting alone forces you to instantly have a soft spot for it. Underneath a big tree with an outside terrace, Picolino looks smart and inviting. Now don’t get me wrong, Picolino’s isn’t the cheapest place in the world, I mean come on, it is in West Didsbury after all!
The restaurant itself is beautifully done out, it almost has an earthy feel with whitewashed walls and a beautiful wooden floor; it manages to feel bright and airy in the summer and warm and cosy in the winter. And although it is a chain, it feels completely unique in it’s own right. Genius!
The service here has never been anything other than excellent, with the staff being attentive without being menacing. This place always seems to be buzzing, it has a great atmosphere and although is always busy, it is never feels too busy or stressful to be in. It offers a really great dining experience. Also when I last went they had these wonderfully oversized wine glasses which made it feel like you were «just having a drop».
The food is a mixture between traditional Italian and a modern twist on the classic. The portions are perfectly sized so that you feel comfortably satisfied. One dish that sticks in my memory was a melt in your mouth risotto of roast pumpkin, smoked pancetta and blue cheese. It was a-​mazing! The prices range from around £12 for a pasta dish to £20 for a meat dish, however the quality of the food far out weighs any reservations about this place being a little too pricey.
I really couldn’t recommend it any more, they have got EVERYTHING right. 5 stars.

Piccolino in Didsbury is to be found in a busy street under the lovely name of Lapwing Lane. It is a trendy, if not posh, place to wine and dine in Italian style. I had a Christmas meal there in 2008 with a few friends, we had a huge table, and were served by the real Italian staff. Let’s face it: after traditional English chippies run by Chinese ladies and popular Italian restaurants where waiters and cooks are British one has to make a notice of a place where it all suddenly comes together: Italian food — Italian staff.
They served us olives and ciabattas for a starter, and I personally opted in for a mushroom risotto, which was delicious, especially accompanied by white wine. Thanks to festive time, the restaurant was busy, but the service was impeccable. Oh, and coffee was awesome!

It’s a fairly common occurrence amongst medics to organise gatherings and social meetings for whatever group they happen to have been shunted into by the shifting, swirling nightmare we call the Medical School. The last one I attended was held in Piccolino, and turned out to be a nice deviation from the far more common curry night.
Although I turned up around an hour late after wandering around in the wrong half of Didsbury in the rain, the meal and company itself turned out to good enough to offset this rather disheartening start.
Now, I’m one of those lucky people who sport a completely unremarkable palate, so for me fine dining can be practically anything I didn’t make myself or just see die, but Italian food is still something I’m picky about. I ordered the Margherita, because I like to keep things simple, and it was honestly one of the nicest I’ve had. For £6.95 there’s nothing to complain about.

Part of a growing chain of italian eaterys this is one of my favourites. It offers a large restaurant, with open kitchen (so you can see what’s going on) and an excellent menu.
The staff are very friendly, helpful, go through the specials etc. The menu is biglots of choice, variety something for everyone and the deserts (all made on the premises) are very good.
On the night we went they were very busy and wanted the table back quite early. The manager was excellent however ‘bribing’ us with free chocolates to be enjoyed at the bar with our coffee nice touch making us still feel wanted.

Lovely food with a great buzz in the place, both at lunch and dinner. Delightful helpful staff and delicious puddings! Only complaint — absolutely nowhere to change a baby — the disabled toilet floor was not especially enjoyable! Apart from that pretty child friendly in the day.

The restaurant is well decorated, big enough to serve a lot of people, with a good atmosphere and nice waiters. The food is really very good, whether it is the main courses or the desserts, and the prices are average (not too cheap, but not too expensive). I would definitely recommend it if you want to go to a good Italian restaurant in Didsbury!