Pizza al taglio returns to Manchester – and I’ll be returning before long
Ciaooo By The Slice, on Shudehill(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
Around this time last year, I went on holiday to Rome. It was everything I hoped it would be.
And of course, the food was superb. Trattorias and osterias serve up carbs by the bucket-load, staying true to traditional recipes that have been mastered over decades.
One particular highlight was served in more casual surroundings, with customers often queuing outside the front door to get their hands on it.
Pizza al taglio is a staple of modern Roman cuisine. Shops across the city serve up pizza, cooked in a rectangular shape, which is then cut into slices and served warm to hungry customers.
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Diners can pick and choose from a variety of different pizzas to make their ideal combination. Some would eat their meals in-store, while others would take boxes away filled with slices.
When Ciaooo By The Slice opened its doors on Shudehill earlier this year, I was delighted to see pizza al taglio make its comeback in Manchester.
Ciaooo By The Slice, when the M.E.N. last visited(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
It’s not the first place to serve up Roman-style pizza by the slice in the city centre. I still miss Slice on Stevenson Square, which was the perfect end-of-the-night grub after a few drinks in the Northern Quarter.
It closed in 2019 and returned in 2021, from a hatch outside Oxford Road station, but the comeback was sadly short-lived.
Ciaooo By The Slice follows the same tried-and-trusted pizza al taglio formula that keeps businesses booming in Rome.
Inside Ciaooo By The Slice(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)
So when I popped in on a recent Monday lunchtime, I was surprised to see that I was the only customer.
Admittedly many offices are quiet on Mondays in the days of hybrid working, but Shudehill was busy with people waiting for buses or going about their day, so I would have expected more people coming through the door.
Especially when the food is this good – and, for 2025, very good value.
Ciaooo By The Slice serves up a lunchtime meal deal for £8.50 – with a slice of pizza, a drink, and either fries or a cannoli. Yes, you can get a meal deal at the supermarket for less, but you won’t be remotely as satisfied.
From left: The pepperoni and the ligure(Image: Manchester Evening News)
I decided to get the meal deal, plus an extra slice of pizza (at £6) – all in the name of journalism, of course. I wanted to try more than one type of pizza, but I definitely didn’t need the second slice.
I went for the ligure – with a pesto base, mozzarella, Italian sausage, mushroom and cherry tomatoes – and a pepperoni that also featured a few generous dollops of nduja.
The ligure was a triumph. The base on both pizzas was beautifully fluffy inside, but crispy on the outside, and the toppings on the ligure were packed full of flavour.
The base was delightful(Image: Manchester Evening News)
It was also more filling than I expected, and after starting on the pepperoni, I had to ask for a box to take the rest of it away.
The pepperoni and nduja were flavoursome, while the torn basil leaves were a nice addition too – but I preferred the more delicate nature of the ligure, which seemed a bit more like the pizza al taglio slices I loved back in Rome.
I opted for a lemon cannoli over the fries, which was bursting with delicious filling and the ideal size to round off a filling meal.
The lemon cannoli(Image: Manchester Evening News)
For the price and quality of the food, I’ll certainly be back at Ciaooo By The Slice before too long. I just hope a few others will be there too.