Circolo Popolare

"The beauty of Circolo Popolare is that it still manages to feel slightly rustic even though it must have had a budget to rival a Marvel film. From the moment you step out of Soho and into a sea of twinkling lights and glowing lanterns dangling from a thick foliage canopy, you feel like you’re somewhere magical. It’s like an Italian film set—albeit with permanently chipped plates—where movie moments happen over lemon meringue pies the size and shape of a shark’s fin. Ask for one of the romantic, white stone booths where it’s practically obligatory to stare deeply into someone’s eyes, even if that someone is the waiter bringing over your pasta." - rianne shlebak, sinead cranna

"You’ve spent a whole lot of time with this person. There was that 48-hour bender in Berlin, the glorious, five unwashed days at Glastonbury, and an entire week in Magaluf that neither of you can talk about for legal reasons. Circolo Popolare is the perfect restaurant for an extended catch-up with someone where your bond is predominantly based on the fact that you both feel vile after sambuca but love a shot of limoncello. This huge, glitzy Italian trattoria in Fitzrovia is a good times restaurant through and through, and whether you go for the pun-tastic ‘I Wanna Nduja’ pizza or the carbonara that’s served out of a big wheel of pecorino, we can guarantee you’ll have a laugh. Get involved in a couple Rossini Spritz out on their buzzing terrace for peak holiday flashbacks." - heidi lauth beasley

"Meatball burgers, huge flavoured pizzas, and lasagne for four are all available for delivery from Fitzrovia’s Circolo Popolare. You can also order in a huge variety of ham, blocks of Italian cheese, and their Incomparable Lemon Pie, which they claim is as high as the box will allow it to go. Order here." - oliver feldman, heidi lauth beasley, jake missing, rianne shlebak

"The Verdict: Equal parts delicious and silly—in the best way.   Big Mamma—the restaurant group behind Gloria, Ave Mario, Jacuzzi, Carlotta, and Circolo—has cracked the formula. Every restaurant has its own theme, and perhaps the most Instagrammed and sought-after of them all is Circolo Popolare. The massive main dining room is fake Sicily on steroids. The walls are covered in thousands of bottles of spirits, there are more fairy lights than you can count, and carbonara is swirled around a big wheel of pecorino at your table. While the food at this Fitzrovia trattoria is just OK, the stunning interiors are the reason you should set your alarm to book a table. If you want to know what we think of the other spots, we’ve ranked them." - sinead cranna, rianne shlebak, jake missing

"Circolo is from the same people as Gloria and Ave Mario and just like its loud, proud, and Aperol-fuelled sisters, this Italian trattoria is a restaurant to party in. It’s a Disney-ish take on the Italian riviera, with thousands of bottles of spirits lining the walls, fake plants hanging from the ceiling, and enough chintzy tableware to make an Antiques Roadshow superfan faint. The food is the back-up dancer, but that doesn’t really matter because you’re not really here to eat." - team infatuation