Don Marco

This place has the best food I have ever eaten. Authentic Italian hidden away at the bottom of deansgate this unassuming place contains hidden treasure. The beef carpaccio is outstanding and the ribeye melts in your mouth. Every mouthful I eat I do so with my eyes closed because my brain doesn’t know what is happening it tastes so good.
So why not 5 stars? There is a catch … while the service is super friendly you can be waiting for attention. Here’s the big let down … even if you book a table for a given time you can be waiting over an hour in the cold to be seated. People jump the queue and in general it is chaos. Be prepared to be unbritish and make a stand for your taste buds. The flip side is that once seated they never rush you to leave.
Even with that I’d go again and wait for an hour in the cold because the food is worth it.

This is my favourite go to restaurant in Manchester, tucked out the way in the centre and is perfect for all occasions. I brought my parents here when they came to visit but it’s also great for meeting with friends or maybe even for a cosy date! They have a gorgeous outside covered area with outdoor heaters, it really is a lovely relaxed environment, it can be a bit squashed in the inside area If they are busy.
The food is really reasonable and you get a really good portion! I would recommend the Panna Cotta for dessert, it is so creamy and will end your meal perfectly!
I can’t fault this place, every time I have been I have had really good service and amazing food. It is not pretentious or hipster in any way which can be refreshing in the city centre.

Fantastic food, great staff and relaxing atmosphere but always let down by a poor website and booking facility.
This is the third time I have eaten here and been impressed with the food and the service, the prices are very reasonable and the staff go out of their way to please the customer.
On the down side is that each time (I have booked online) they are never aware of the booking but do seem to be aware that the online system doesn’t work very well and therefore squeeze you in: after a 10 – 15 minute wait.
I would definitely recommend this restaurant but please be patient with your booking. My advice to the restaurant is sort out the booking process, it is letting down what is otherwise a great place.

Nous devions aller au Manchester House sur les conseils du webzine Time Out mais ce restaurant etait complet jusqu’en octobre. Nous avons donc demande aux personnes qui s’occupaient des reservations, si elles né connaissaient pas un autre bon restaurant dans les alentour. C’est ainsi que nous nous sommes retrouves au Don Marco.
C’est un petit restaurant italien, cache dans une galerie avec une salle a l’interieur et quelques tables a l’exterieur, occupant toute la surface de la galerie. J’avais peur d’avoir un peu froid a l’exterieur en soirée mais grace aux lampes chauffantes reparties un peu partout il faisait tres bon ! En terme de decoration, j’ai beaucoup apprecie les tableaux sur les murs et le dressage des tables, l’ambiance etait tres calme, romantique et les serveurs etaient tres charmants.
Concernant les plats mon compagnon a commande du canard et moi des Penne al Norma, mes pates etaient bonnes mais la garniture manquait un peu d’aubergine. Le canard de mon compagnon lui etait excellent avec des petits quartiers de figues autour, et une petite assiette de legumes verts a cote, c’etait un vrai regal ! En dessert nous avons partage un tiramisu, il etait egalement tres agreable mais manquait peut-​etre un peu d’alcool.

Great atmosphere, great service and fab food. Food portions are very generous and therefore you (well I) can’t enjoy a three course but the price etc is appropriate. The lasagne is very good.

I ate here on a Thursday night with a large group (16 of us!) The service was very efficient given the large group and the staff were helpful in the run up to the meal — I wanted certain tables in the restaurant and the table layout a certain way which they were happy to do!
As always the food was fantastic — its great value for money — my recommendation would be to go for the pizzas over the pastas (my husband loves pizza and says it is great here but the pastas/​risottos are better! :-))

I went here for a Valentine’s meal with my boyfriend and two coupled up friends. We ate from a set menu which was £30ish for three courses which was actually great value for what we received, especially as I spotted that some of the mains were £17−20 full price.
Service was a bit blank to begin with as we walked in and weren’t greeted by anybody even as several members of staff walked by. It seemed that they were waiting for one particular waiter to appear. It wasn’t too long before he did and we were shown to our table, which was decorated with two heart shaped balloons (you would think they’d have guessed that we were three couples and have provided one balloon per couple, but that’s a non issue really).
Service was swift and friendly throughout the night, even when I swiped a bottle of beer across the table! I ordered caprese salad, turbot with clams and asparagus, and profiteroles. The mozzarella in my caprese salad was incredible, and tasted super fresh and indulgent. Even though my companions ordered beef carpaccio, smoked duck and calamari, which all sounded more interesting than my choice, I had no food envy as mine was so good.
The turbot was simply and beautifully cooked and presented and the asparagus was delicious. Main courses came with dishes of roast potatoes and veg which I appreciated as otherwise the portion might have been on the small side. Others ordered steak, lamb, and seabass and were all very pleased.
Profiteroles were also great, just what I wanted. Other options chosen by my table were lemon mousse and chocolate and hazelnut cake. Overall I was uninspired by the dessert selection but then I’m never very excited by desserts at restaurants so that was par for the course.
Wine was good, and the bill was quite reasonable at the end of it, even with two of the men at the table engaging in a competition to see who could drink the most Peroni.
While I’m not sure I’ll rush back to Don Marco of my own accord, I really enjoyed all my food and will mentally file it under «relatives/​special occasions/​something more refined than burgers».

We went here on a whim and were blown away. Even before you try the food, you can’t help but be impressed by the setting — if you get to choose, you want to be in the covered alley between the main building and the hall where Castlefield Market takes place once a month.
The menu is fairly typical of what you would expect from an Italian restaurant, but it’s all freshly cooked and of an incredibly high standard. Staff are friendly and attentive and the prices are very reasonable.

I first visited Don Marco as part of a Unilocal Brunch Event, but decided that it wouldn’t be fair to review Don Marco as they knew we were coming.
So I went back for a second visit a couple weeks later.
I didnt find there was any difference in service, the staff were really efficient, welcoming and extremely friendly.
I didnt know what I wanted on this visit but the waiter was able to recommend his own person favourites so decided to take a punt and go with his recommendations.
I decided on the Funghi Al Caprino which consisted of a baked field mushrooms, spinach, goat cheese, served on a tuscan bread dressed with pesto and olive oil for starters which was delicious.
I then had the Ravoli Al Tartufo which is a Pasta field with Ricotta and Porcini Mushrooms, Butter and herb emulsion finished with truffle oil and pine nuts. Again this was nice but slightly dry.
The one thing I didn’t like was that they were unable to seperate the bill for a group of people.
I would definitely recommend Don Marco to friends.
Meal cost me around £18.00

Nice ambience, very generous portions, the squid starter is absolutely delicious and something I’ve never tasted before! I also loved the main course and their service!
Good place for first dates, family meals or even quiet girls dinner date!

Don Marco is nice but, I mean, it’s just nice.
I think the interior/​exterior is a touch out of date now and feels like you’ve stepped inside to the shisha bar down the Curry Mile which is full of plants. When we arrived it was a Wednesday lunchtime, sat promptly, but soon interrupted by dance music coming from the restauraunt next door — seriously? Who needs to hear bodyrockers at 3o’clock?
We all ate from the lunchtime menu which was very reasonable, but it all got a bit lacklustre with service; we all ordered a glass of white with our meals but were presented with four whites and a red. My brother ordered a certain pizza with extra chicken and the pizza came, no chicken, and as soon as the waiter came to the table he recognised that he’d forgotten the chicken — maybe worth a double check at the pass? My pizza was tasty but, unfortunately, the tomatoes weren’t roasted as promised, just cherry tomatoes cut in half. The taste is very different and I was quite sad because I really like roasted tomatoes! Something happened in terms of the waiter misunderstanding/​ignoring our coffee order when he bought one of the party a cup of tea instead of a cappucino.
The inside seemed nice but, when going downstairs to the toilet, they appeared to be doing a stock check so the floors were covered in items, making it very hard to actually get your way to the bathroom. Not the most welcoming sight.
Overall the food was tasty and the drinks (once we got the right ones) were pleasant, but I would hate to see what Don Marco’s would be like one a busy night. Oh, and they shoudn’t lie about pizza toppings, they’re something I take very seriously.

As I said in my last review, we planned to return to Don Marco and did just that last night 28^th Jan 2011, again we went early evening before it gets busy.
As we had Pizza last time we decided to sample the main meals this time.
We were shown to a great window seat looking onto Liverpool Rd at Castlefield, and once again we had excellent service from the waiter in the red tie who I thought was Italian is in fact Spanish, his name was !!! Hannibal, not sure if that is correct or not, and the other great waiter a small bubbly guy. Both gave us first class service and were very friendly.
We both had the same wine as last time as we had enjoyed it, with the Stuffed Mushrooms for starters, followed by a Steak and the Crispy Duck, served with a small portion of new potatoes/​vegetables, both meals were perfect, and we did manage to share a dessert this time of Strawberries and ice cream.
If you have not tried this pace can certainly say worth giving it a try.

This is an Italian restaurant just across the road from the Deansgate Hilton Hotel.
I went there with a group of 15 people from a conference. We hadn’t booked, but they coped with our arrival very well, seating us with the minimum of fuss in the section alongside Liverpool Road.
We ordered a mixed range of antipasti which arrived quickly and were very tasty — a mixture of garlic, tomato and cheese semplini (a bit like very thin pizza), bruschetta and olives. Mains were also good — my pizza rustica was the best I’ve had in the UK. The wine list is reasonably extensive, although nothing to write home about, particularly. The Sauvignon blanc we ordered was perfectly OK, if rather unmemorable.
Service was good on the whole, and was friendly, although one or two requests had to be repeated. But, overall, I came away favourably impressed.

This place is classy. The dark wooden interior is contrasted against the musically placed candle array, with the long collection of wine bottles lining the walls around me. It oozes sophistication. Christened Don Marco, I was falling in love with this Italiano.
Again the lunch menus just get me into these places. These days it’s a £7.95 for any pizza pasta or salad and a choice of drink between 12 – 4. Before this, £9.99 for two courses. Watch this space for the next superb food for value offer. But what completed this lunch visit was the waiter’s interest in who we were and how we found ourselves here. Now some may find it creepy, I felt it was a nice touch, getting to know the custom right. Mr Don Marco (not sure if it was himself) engaged in the story of travelling the South coast before he opened his little empire here. I liked this bit of history to warm me up for the final course.
If you don’t get to engage in such conversations per se, you just have to look at the place, with the arcade area for dining al fresco style in the summer, the bustling happy custom (seriously every time I walk past) and venture in and be delighted at the traditional Italian offerings, a selection beyond pizza.

Don Marco’s is an excellent Italian restaurant just by Deansgate Station that deserves to be considered one of the better Italians available in Manchester, alongside the Pizza specialists Croma.
Don Marco’s is not in serious competition with Croma though, as where Croma specializes in Pizza and offers the odd other thing, Don Marco’s specializes in other Italian delights and offers the odd Pizza.
The pasta, for me, forms the core of the Don Marco’s menu. The range is excellent and whilst I previously thought that pasta was a strange thing to have in a restaurant, as you can make it at home, I was forced to change my mind once I’d had one of these beautiful dishes. The Penne Picante, a pasta with spicy Italian sausage and onions, garlic, chilli and spinach, sounds simple but it an absolute joy. As main meals the pastas cost around £8−9. In keeping with Italian tradition though, all the pasta dishes are available cheaper, as a starter, freeing up the main course for a gorgeous steak, halibut fillet or roasted duck!
Basically this restaurant is excellent for two reasons, one because the food is beautiful and two because you have the choice of whether to have a lovely large bowl of pasta for a good price or whether to splash out on a special meal for a good £20. Consider both recommended.

Excellent new Italian opened June 2009. Nice outdoor seating. Food very reasonable priced and fresh — its all Italian lots of great pasta dishes, no pizzas.
Satuday night was really busy, they managed to squeeze us in, its refreshing to see a new place so busy and it seems independent which Manchester really needs.
I believe they do good lunchtime deals too.
If you like Italian food at great prices then give this new dining experience a go. Garlic bread really tasty, pasta fresh not too rich and Deserts outstanding.