131 Portland Street, Manchester, M1 4PY [map]

"We often visit Giorgio's and have never, once, had a bad experience, indeed, it has always been superb. The staff are extremely friendly without making you feel uncomfortable and the food is always exquisite. The new decor is great and we particularly liked the new Italian style Gelati section. A good range of menu items to suit all, freshly cooked and always piping hot from the kitchen. Will keep us coming back for more." - heidi, manchester 7/12/08 (visited on a saturday evening)

"Fantastic place, staff very friendly, food was great. When we got the bill, the waiteress had not put on our pre-dinner drinks, we confessed to the error and we were told that they were 'sulla casa' (on the house). Overall a superb evening." - steve curtis, blackpool 30/11/08 (visited on a sunday evening)

"Very nice place, good food, good atmosphere, very good staff, no complaints, would definitely return when next in area." - mick naylor, bradford 8/11/08 (visited on a sat evening)

"This was one of the worst, if not the worst 'Italian' restaurant I've ever been too. My main course was an absolute joke. I ordered a Gambretti Pizza (ie. with prawns) and was given what seemed like a ready-made pizza base with a cold prawn cocktail thrown on top of it, complete with strips of iceberg lettuce and Marie-Rose sauce! The waiter didn't seem to understand my problem with it, and rather than get the prawns heated up (and risk food poisoning) I ordered a more basic pizza, which they got just about OK. I'd already overlooked the dark green slime on the salad that came with my starter, but this 'pizza' was unbelievable. In addition, the staff are overly friendly to the point of acting like 'pantomime' Italians, the room is too bright, and the prices (especially considering the food) are on the steep side also." - dominic servini, london 28/4/08

"Giorgio, on the busy crossroads of Oxford Street and Portland Street is ideally located for both The Palace Theatre and The Bridgewater Hall, with The Opera House also not too far away. It's a busy restaurant and, more often than not, reviews seem to sing it's praise. Unfortunately they got too many things wrong during our visit, which came only a few hours after we'd enjoyed a fantastic Italian meal earlier in the day (at The Olive, around the corner). On arriving, the manager handed us to a friendly waitress who escorted us a few steps (it's a small restaurant) to our table. Before we could even sit down, a more abrupt waiter forcefully instructed her to move us to a different table cramped in next to the wine fridge with virtually no space to breathe. OK, as far as reviews go, such an unfriendly welcome shouldn't put you off - I doubt every customer gets passed around like an unwanted nuisance, however the food wasn't much better. The Garlic Bread (£3.75) was greasy and the Funghi al Aglio didn't compare favourably to those served at The Olive earlier in the day (at £4.95 they were also a pound more), The Pizza Tropicale (£7.50), which you'd be hard pushed to find in Italy, was nice whilst the Pollo Limone (£11.95) was slightly undercooked without being dangerously so. The blood that could be seen inside the chicken breast was slightly off putting although easy to eat around and the dish was very pleasant, with the lemon sauce complementing the chicken perfectly. All in all, from this visit at least, Giorgio's is a nice enough Italian restaurant although they'll have to up their game if they want to compete with the many better restaurants in this area." - neil, restaurants of manchester 16/4/08 (visited on a weds evening)