Circolo Popolare

Rathbone Place fills with queues most evenings, and Circolo Popolare is the reason why. Big Mamma’s Fitzrovia trattoria goes big on everything: a dining room crammed with ceiling-high shelves of tinned tomatoes, hanging hams and gilt-framed portraits, and a menu that reads like a list of dares.

The carbonara, served hollowed out of a whole pecorino wheel and tossed tableside, is the dish everyone photographs, and it earns the attention: the sauce clings properly and the pecorino brings a real tang rather than just theatre. Pizzas stretch to a metre long and come topped with proper Puglian burrata, while the sfoglia pasta, big handkerchief-like sheets served alla Norma, has a good bite. Portions are generous to the point of excess, which suits the group-sharing crowd this place is built for.

The room is loud, bright and unapologetically maximalist, closer to a film set than a neighbourhood trattoria, and that is very much the point. Staff move fast and stay cheerful even when the place is rammed, which is most nights.

The catch is consistency. On a good night the cooking is genuinely accomplished; on a busier one, dishes can arrive lukewarm or a touch oversalted, and the sheer scale of the operation means quality control slips more than it would at a smaller trattoria. No bookings for most tables adds a wait that can run past an hour at peak times.

It is not subtle and it does not pretend to be. Go for the spectacle and the carbonara, keep expectations realistic on refinement, and you will have a genuinely fun night out.

Circolo Popolare is one of several Big Mamma restaurants now open across London, alongside Gloria and Jacuzzi, and the group’s formula of maximalist decor and crowd-pleasing pasta has clearly found an audience judging by how consistently full the Fitzrovia site stays on weeknights. A meal for two with wine typically runs into three figures once starters, a pizza to share and dessert are added, so it sits closer to a special occasion than a casual weeknight dinner despite the informal atmosphere. Booking ahead is strongly advised, walk-ins face a genuine wait even outside peak hours.