PLY

My favourite pizza place at the mo! Love the stone baked pizza and the range is great, we went when they had the half price deal on and talk about goof value for money! The oven has been made up to look like a huge disco ball which is pretty cool

Ply’s a great little place, whether you want a drink with friends, a quick lunch, or a ‘proper’ pizza. Always packed on the traditionally busy nights of the week, I like to drop in on a weekday.
The bar is well-​stocked with an excellent rotating range of guest beers. I’ve never seen such a hipster name as ‘Flat White’ for a beer, mind you. There’s an inventive cocktail menu, which combines the short and strong with the tall and quaffable. Chilli, bourbon, apple and vermouth is a great mix; if you’ve got a very sweet tooth (think Love Hearts), you’ll enjoy the Kid in a Sweetshop, if you can bring yourself to order it.
The starters work well for nibbling and sharing, with quality ingredients. The recent addition of an octopus, caper and potato starter is one I definitely refuse to share anyone else, and is a delight for a seafood fan.
The main event, of course, is pizza. There are a lot of giant wood-​fired pizza ovens knocking about now, but the team at Ply make the most of it with some lovely flavour combinations. Bianca and rosso pizzas (solely mozzarella or tomato-​based respectively) are worth trying, if you haven’t. Fennel sausage and broccoli is a great pairing; onion, courgette and flowers really stand out well on top of a great mozzarella.
The staff are always charming, and even when once I visited to find a missed delivery had left them short on stock, they papered over the cracks with endearing wit. Ply is among the best pizza places in a city that’s fast becoming a pizza-lover’s paradise. Put it on your list.

Came here for a bite to eat after work one Friday evening, the waitress was friendly but felt a little bit rushed to order drinks and food. There was a dj on as well which was quite cool. We had pizza and pro secco, two of my favourite things in life! You can even see the pizzas being made in the oven so you know it’s cooked fresh for you !

I’m late to the party once again as everyone in Manchester has checked out PLY months ago. The reason for our visit was work drinks, and the main reason for choosing PLY over other places is that they let us book a large table without paying any deposits. However, it will be much higher on my list in future when choosing a NQ venue for drinks end food.
Staff were great all night, happy to let us sit and drink for a while before ordering, and happy to vegan-​ise a pizza for us. We ordered a courgette, portobello, roasted vegetables (without cheese), and a margherita. In particular I liked the courgette one which had a white sauce instead of tomato sauce.
Prosecco was £15 a bottle during happy hour (£23 otherwise). I can’t remember the other happy hour deals but I think they were decent.
The space itself is great — huge and airy with lots of places to sit including a raised area with sofas.
Overall I really enjoyed it and I hope I’ll return soon.

Had a very good experience at PLY, although I’m conscious that they weren’t desperately busy at the time of my visit. Dropped in for food on a hot and sunny Sunday afternoon. I think they were quiet because everyone wanted to sit outside and PLY don’t have any outdoor seating.
Plenty of seating was available so my group decided to take up one of the ‘half-​booth’ arrangements which was comfortable enough. Menu choices are pretty much pizza or pizza which is fine for me, I love pizza! They do have an amazing pizza oven, which I regret not taking a photo of — perhaps reason to go back again soon.
I ordered a Vulcano pizza which was basically pepperoni and n’duja sausage — it was delicious, perfectly cooked, the base was crispy and thin. I thought that the £10 price tag was reasonable for a pizza of this quality in Manchester city centre. £4.20 for a bottle of beer isn’t the cheapest, though it was a Camden pilsner which I’m very much a fan of.

I don’t know how I managed to put it off for so long but it was high time I visited PLY as a paying customer after tasting their amazing pizza at the #pizzaoff!
I popped in yesterday for lunch and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of free seats and table space — meaning I could work through lunch and kill 2 birds with 1 stone!
I plonked myself down on a tall bench and set off working away actually getting through a lot of work before I had my order taken (the only downside to my visit). I went for the Margherita as I wanted this to be a lunch of pizza purity without too much added flavour — it was brilliant — better than I remember at the pizza-​off!
I washed this down with a sparkling water and 40 minutes later I was on my way: work done, belly full and only £10.20 worse off than when I came in — pretty good value.
As mentioned the service could’ve been slightly more prompt — but then again it was 1 girl serving the whole place so you can’t be too harsh. I also didn’t mind being left alone to get on with work!

I went to Ply with another Unilocal friend. My friend recommended the pizza after the Unilocal pizza off event. With Ply’s pizza being one of her favourites. I must say I was not disappointed in the slightest.
The pizzas were a decent size, certainly big enough to fill you up. They were generous on the toppings and based was as good as any I have had. All in all I’d say this was the best pizza I’ve had whilst in Manchester.
The deco in the restaurant was minimalistic and modern, with an open kitchen so you can see you’re pizza being prepared. I also approved of the background music they played.
The only down side was that the service could have been significantly better. We had asked to be seated after waiting by the door for a few minutes. Also had to flag down a waitress to get our order in. To be honest I think that they may have been understaffed that day so hopefully this isn’t a reoccurring problem.
I will repeat: best pizza in Manchester!

The 3 star is for the fact they forgot our order and we was waiting 25 minutes for our pizza and the table was dirty when we sat down.
The food and wine was really good and the venue itself is very nice and modern

Looks like I have a new favourite pizza place in Manchester! After trying only a slice of Margherita at the Unilocal PizzaOff I realised that Ply had huge potential, and indeed it didn’t disappoint.
Pizzas are sensational: perfectly cooked, the crust is well yeasted and not too big (so that there’s enough room for a generous amount of topping), while the dough is not too thin. What really strikes me is the selection and quality of ingredients: I cannot help citing the most particular that I tried, that are ‘nduja (a sort of spreadable spicy sausage typical of Calabria) and broccoli (but not the tree-​shaped ones, I mean the kind of broccoli that are used for pizzas in Napoli). Moreover, the cheese and the tomato sauce are fantastic!
The place is very pleasant as well: lights are slightly dim, but the main room is very big and airy, with the minimum amount of furniture necessary to have a great meal and enjoy the place. I also liked the choice of music, not too loud!
The ones among you that bothered reading up to this point would be wondering why I’m giving just four stars to such a paradise. Basically is because of the staff, that I didn’t find very nice and caring. Even though the room was almost empty when we arrived it took a while for getting a table, and the service has been slow for the rest of the evening.

So, I finally got around to going to PLY… It was an odd one as had only decided to go out for food after getting back from work+shopping and feeling crappy. Didn’t wanna just get delivery so went for a walk and just as walking past PLY, I remembered that they had delivered pizza to a previous Unilocal event and it was pretty good. Tried my luck… Payed off a storm.
This was one of the best pizza’s I can ever remember having… I had spicy ‘Nduja’ pizza that lived up to the term spicy, something that pizzas often fail to do, while not burning my taste pallet clean off.
The atmosphere is fantastic, music at a good level so you can hear the people in your group talk but not hear other groups conversations. The staff were friendly and our waitress was very smiley and seemed very genuine, something I really appreciate these days as a bad waiter/​waitress can be the difference between a lovely evening and a crappy one.
I thoroughly recommend this place as it may have just become my number 1 pizza in the city!

Unmissable space right in the heart of the Northern Quarter, the pizza here is stunning, plus they dealt so very well with my vegan gluten free friend. The staff are lovely and will even make good recommendations on wine or beer pairing with your food. I like that Ply’s menu is not set in stone with items changing weekly like the Salami of the Week (which I have had twice now it is delicious), I am also a fan of there small but antipasti menu (the marinated vegetables are yummy). The white wine is good, and holds up against the strong flavours you get on pizza, which means your won’t be stuck if your not a fan of the reds (like me).
The space is welcoming and comfortable, there are sofa’s, good tables and comfortable booths. I like that it feels spacious and comfortable in Ply, I find it is especially good mid afternoon on weekends as its is less full.

Located in the Northern Quarter, although not exactly a new boy in town any more its most certainly worth a visit. The restaurant floor is very interesting with a side seating area running high around the perimeter and a sofa area in the very centre.
The menu was’t the best choice in my opinion, limited and not spoilt for choice, which is sometimes a good thing for sure, but for me in this instance this time it wasn’t, but I get it and thats a personal thing. The pizza base was fantastic, thin and not too crispy which is excellent, cooked in their distinct pizza oven, looking like the biggest ever disco ball you have seen, sat behind the counter (you will understand what I mean when you see it).
With full table service, the staff was slow but professional. Nothing more to say really, but for me, I wanted a pepperoni pizza, but had the brunch special which seemed to be the nearest thing with an egg, which I asked specifically for a non runny yolk… they were not able to oblige!

I love PLY.
Ive been in a few times now, Its basically a Pizza Restaurant/​Trendy bar hangout, Its just a great place just to hangout with a pizza and have a few drinks with friends in this large open space, It feels like youre in a magazine of habitat or ikea with its cool furniture and layout, I love the chill out vibe to the place and its one of my fave places at the moment.

PLY is a great looking restaurant, spacious with a modern and clean feel to it.
The poor server was new and it seemed hadn’t heard me ordering a drink but he and another very pleasant member of staff rectified this. Generally service was good. I liked the style of the menu which is colour coded for simple people like me.
I think since Penny’s visit they have added two more veggie pizzas to the menu (total now 4) — one with portobello mushrooms and a courgette one that sounded really good. Oonagh and I shared the broccoli and sausage one and the nduja sausage one. We liked both but definitely preferred the former, the ndjua itself being a bit of a non-​event. It was nice to look at a menu and be excited by a number of different options. Next time I come back I may be greedy and have the aubergine and burrata starter.
I like this new NQ trend of bigger places (like Foundation) to balance the intimate feel of many other old favourites — keeping up with demand while maintaining the general vibe.

Very VERY good pizza in PLY.
The place is such an excellent, large space, situated on the corner of Lever St and Stevenson’s Square in the heart of the Northern Quarter.
I ordered the Margherita pizza and some olives — I like to keep it plain and simple sometimes when it comes to pizza, and it was very good.
The food was served very fast out of their ‘disco ball’ pizza oven and the staff are friendly.
I haven’t been in the evening, where I’ve heard it can get a little livelier at the bar, so i’ll be sure to check it out for drinks sometime.

After a recommendation by my colleague I came here to investigate their pizzas…
Stepping in to what felt like a vast roller disco with students. we grabbed a seat. From the far end of the pit a waiter spotted us and graciously cleared our table and presented us with menus.
The cocktails were intriging and I bizarrely chose this kid in a sweet shop one which left me with a need to get a repeat prescription in insulin.
The menu consists of pizza and salad. this place is reknowed for its disco ball clay pizza oven. so I had a salad. joke. of course I ordered pizzas
Right if you are vegetarian you are limited. I think there were a grand total of two toppings. Margarita. or a goats cheese and sundried tomato. .if you love a fishy pizza then you are also scuppered. as they are fishless.
Anyway I chose the goats cheese Himself had the meaty one. these were epic… really tasty and good value for money.
Overall I would come here for pizza, but maybe with a group and before 10pm as they turn this place into a disco. a very noisy place too, so don’t cone here with any romantic intentions.

This was my first time in ply and from the outside it doesn’t look much, but as soon as you walk in its bright and spaces. I like the way they had lots of seating areas some long tables, sofa areas, a raised area near the windows were you could have something to eat and an area with books.
We only went in for a quick drink before a Unilocal event and I’m really glad we did. It’s a nice relaxed atmosphere and would definitely go in again. They had a big pizza oven which looked good next to ther bar and the pizzas look really good and taste amazing as tried them at federation coffee shop.
Definitely a place to try.

Great space, good menu BUT my guts were NOT happy…
Ply is a nice big open space up a few steps with big windows on two sides. On the Sunday we were there it was very chilled and nice and quiet. I’d want to come back at a busier time to see how much atmosphere there is on a regular night (it was pretty thin with only a few tables occupied).
They’ve got an interesting rotating beer/​ale menu but to be honest it all looked ludicrously strong — if you’re only serving your guest beers in ¹⁄₃ or ²⁄₃ pints you’ve probably got a pretty strong selection on your hands.
The big, mirror ball-​ed pizza oven caught our attention and the pizzas we ordered were actually really good.
If I hadn’t been up all night (won’t go into detail), I’d be giving Ply ⁴⁄₅ for sure.

I really, really, really like what they’ve done with PLY — at first I probably was a bit sceptical as the building outside really does look a bit bland and the name didn’t exactly fill me with excitement but it’s on the inside that counts and it’s somewhere I really enjoyed my lunch at.
The pizza was fantastic — sausage and broccoli all the way for me and this with a coconut juice came to £13 which I thought was pretty good value as the pizza was pretty damn big. The drinks selection is also quite impressive, especially the beers on tap (great to see Magic Rock Clown Juice on sale)
Only bit of feedback I would say is that if they’re going down the pizza route so much then some of the hipster staff could do with some experience on how to work in a pizzeria — I wasn’t offered black pepper or parmesan and when I eventually manage to get some parmesan brought over, a giant bowl was dumped on my table with no spoon… then the guy ran off…
Overall a really nice experience and can’t wait to go back.

In need of something quick and tasty to eat, we stumbled upon PLY whilst walking towards Soup Kitchen (where we were thinking of grabbing a bite), so decided to take a leap of faith.
Through the sets of glass doors it’s light, bright and spacious inside, with a Scandinavian-​inspired feel. Their large bar almost covers the entire back wall, sharing the space with their truly unique-​looking wood-​fired, mirror-​tiled, clay pizza oven. I’m calling it the ‘Delishco Ball’.
There are plenty of tables, soft sofas and booths — some of the tables are around the edges of the restaurant on a slightly raised level so you can look out on to Stevenson Square.
As the name suggests, there’s a lot of plywood on view — especially the tables and the bar, but it certainly doesn’t look cheap and tacky.
On the menu are about a dozen sourdough pizzas (£8−12), and thanks to the oven are cooked in less than two minutes. We ordered three different ones and they were all very decent, though admittedly the Sausage and Broccoli Bianca was overly oily for my liking.
For drinks, they have an Italian wine menu and also offer a number of draught and bottled beers and several cocktails.
Service was warm and friendly, though a tad disorganised (we had to wait surrounded by empty tables for a few minutes whilst three staff members deliberated over where we could sit) — they also use tablets to take your order, which I’ve found tends to take longer and is more hassle than trusty pen and paper.
A lovely new space for the city; you can never have too many pizza options IMO.
Tip: There’s a small book exchange library here.