I've always been very fond of this unit from back when it was an ill-fated Kiwi café/bakery/diner.  It's a lovely corner unit with a full fat bakery section at the back right.  Lighting was dim, hence we had to resort to the embarrassing practice of using an 'influencer' light to make sure that you get decent/realistic shots.  But we can't really mark down for that as it was suited to the vibe of evening service. 

The tables felt a bit packed in, especially in the area where we sat.  You've got to maximise those covers when in such demand though, right?.

We paid £67 for 1 starter, 2 pastas, 1 Pizzetta, 1 Tiramisu and 2 soft drinks, and a well-deserved service charge.    Pasta and pizza are popular as a restaurant offering because the GP on them is so high since they are cheap to make.  Manchester's most expensive/glam Italian venue charges £18 for a full-sized pasta main course.

Onda's are smaller sized sharing plates, so is £15 for a pasta and £10 for a mini pizza overly expensive; as much as our bill was akin to a visit to Nando's for 2 so still very affordable?  It begs the question; are portions small, or is it overpriced for the size of dishes.  I'll let you decide on which viewpoint you'd like to pick.

The entry level bottle on the carte is a La Chiusa Grande Pinot Grigio, which has an RRP of £12.  Onda peddles it for £36.  A hefty spend albeit a not too crazy markup of 3x, but aside from markups that's probably too pricy for the cheapest bottle.  House wine is available for £22 for 500ml, which equates to £33 per bottle.  A quick and casual pasta bar just off Oxford Road should offer an entry bottle in the mid £20's.    Interestingly, I didn't see anybody else drinking wine on the tables around us.  Maybe there a reason for that?  Charge less to sell more.

In recent years whilst good food has become more accessible and popular, the food world has seen a trend of staff from high end kitchens sporting little red Stars, changing course to do something a bit simpler and no doubt less stressful, yet carrying over those elevated skillsets to make said simpler offering that bit fancier.  Taco trucks across America are often driven by people who wanted out of the Michelin lifestyle, so instead followed their dream to do exactly what makes them tick and be their own boss, and generally it's been a wonderful thing to see play out across the globe. 

Following that transience of operator style, Sam Astley-Dean initially headed up the kitchen at Onda, and previously worked for top level Chefs such as Simon Rogan and Phil Howard so you can be sure that time in such environments led to a certain level of standard. Even now there's a new Head Chef, the product has stayed true to that inital ethos and style.

The pasta is high quality indeed, made freshly onsite and is plated with a minimalistic confidence which nods to Sam's literally stellar background. 

We started with a single Suppli to share (£7.50), which are a form of arancini, filled with copious amounts of cheese sat on a super light, citrus based sauce.  Very good.

For mains it was the ubiquitous favourite that is Carbonara (£14), sporting bucatini pasta in this case.  It was a proper Carbonara with no cream or bacon to be seen.  Rich, silky, smooth, and just a bowl of simple deliciousness.  

Mafaldine with Beef Shin Ragu (£15) was our second pasta course. The pasta itself sung on this plate and was expertly made and then cooked to Italian tastes, as it should be, generously dressed in the ragu.  

Pizzetta with nduja, tomato, mascarpone and honey (£10) was amazingly photogenic, and tasted very decent too.  A well baked crust, brushed with oil for aesthetics, with quality toppings.  

And, of course, we had to end the food section of this review with the Tiramisu (£9), which yes, is served as a scoop from a chiller draw.  It is of course the dish which created Onda's fame.  In fact, it's not even the dish, it's the drawer!   It's the 200-year-old Venetian icon which has seen a recent resurgence and is on menus everywhere.  Im also pretty sure that serving them from a pastry section's chiller drawer is also nearly 200 years old as well in truth, but hey.   And Onda's was a very good version.  A nice amount of booze to temper all that creaminess, with the right level of texture on the biscuits, assembled in good ratios with lots of care.  

The beef ragu's actual sauce was a bit one dimensional and lacked the depth and layered complexity that I'd expect from a sauce based on the cooking liquid of a slowly cooked cut of beef.  It largely just tasted of tomato and aromats.  The guanciale in the carbonara was a bit under-rendered/chewy, and the pizzetta was overly crust dominated, with the topping being a token gesture and was at times hardly noticeable based on that skewed ratio of crust/topping.  But then pizza flour costs about £15 for a 16kg bag, whereas nduja and cheese don’t. Again, it's all GP boosting.

From start to finish, the welcome and service was warm, friendly, efficient and prompt.  We asked to move from our initial table as it was right next to the server's station, so a hive of activity.  The ask was granted without any argument at all. 

Generally, we received great service for the whole evening, at a pitch which was ideal for the formality of the venue and offering. 

A bit of a wait to be seen when we first landed, due to a large walk-up group hogging the greeting section, and us hence sadly appearing to be part of said group.  No biggie.

It's funny how fast a hospitality operator's fortunes can change.  Onda started at Exhibition but quickly moved to their own unit over in Ancoats.  Sadly, the tills were quieter than hoped amidst a tough market, with everyone fighting over the same decreased footfall.

And then low and behold, Florence Pugh who has millions of non-robotic followers and hence actual influence shared a video of Onda's now famous 'tiramisu drawer'.  Im not sure if she actually visited, but that's irrespective.  A massive push of Florence's post came, which you you'd kind of expect since Onda is owned by the same guys who also own a Manchester based food-led social media ad outlet.  So suddenly everyone wanted to visit to the point that Onda relocated to a bigger unit, where they reside today.  And that's the power of true social media influence.

In Onda's case the product is good, but there's no question that the social media driven fuss has gotten a bit out of hand too.  They should give Florence a lifetime eat for free card, IMO.  As a result, snaring a table at peak times has become almost as difficult as El Bulli was in its heyday.  OK so I'm being a tad dramatic, but still, it's a pasta bar not a global food shrine!  Yet here I am saying that after getting in line for a month myself, so call me a hypocrite if you like.

But when the sun is shining you'd better make as much hay as you can as the next Onda is only an Insta share away, and that kind of overamplified focus never lasts forever.  And Onda are indeed making bags of hay as some of the pricing is unquestionably elevated.  Any why not since people are happy to wait in line to pay it.  But at some point the reliance needs to be solely upon being genuinely good and encouraging repeat custom, rather than depending on fickle queue-forming trend-seekers.  Fortunately, Onda is a nice place to eat which is reassuring, but when that wave dies down as it always does, you suspect changes may be needed to some of the pricing and venue capacity.  It's a tough balance for any operator.

Waiting so long for a small £15 bowl of pasta in Circle Square isn't for me personally, but then I'm still feeling a touch smug about having tried and enjoyed it at least once. And maybe that’s the point? Human nature dictates that we want what we can't have/others do, whether or not we'd want it otherwise.

But still, it's just a bowl of pasta/tiramisu right….?