Laura FVC

This is a typical restaurant with local food. We had Paniscia and rustida with Polenta, they were so tasty! They also have other typical dishes like snails, polenta, Tapulon and stew. Absolutely recommended to any one that wants to try local food. The prices are fair.

MICHELE MARANGONI

Angela number one

Francesco Mennella

Awesome food, always a pleasure to go there and to taste the super rich sweet.

Narayan Rana

Traditional Novarese food! You get the feeling of a family get-together, warm atmosphere! Paniscia is great, but other foods are great too! We had paniscia, tagliatelle cinghiale, tapulone, lumache, rustida, rane fritte, stufato d'asino. All of them were very good.

+2

Giosuè Lucio Delgado

The best paniscia in the town

SportsTribe SportsTribe

Great, honest and traditional food

Maria Concetta Rametta

Top

Marco Petrin

it does give you the feeling of going for a meal to your grandmother: family, warm and welcoming atmosphere. Paniscia is obviously outstanding but other dishes are great too. I will be back.

This is a typical restaurant with local food. We had Paniscia and rustida with Polenta, they were so tasty! They also have other typical dishes like snails, polenta, Tapulon and stew. Absolutely reco…

This is a typical restaurant with local food. We had Paniscia and rustida with Polenta, they were so tasty! They also have other typical dishes like snails, polenta, Tapulon and stew. Absolutely re…

A pranzo con prezzo fisso è d'obbligo chiedere come prima pietanza la Paniscia,piatto tipico novarese a base di riso verza sedano e salumi tritati finemente. Il Circolo della Paniscia è tappa primaria per assaggiare e gustare prodotti genuini del territorio. La sera a cena si mangia con menù "alla carta".

Gentilezza, cordialitá, personale accogliente sono le armi vincenti di un locale top. La vasta scelta del menù permette di scoprire col palato e con gli occhi i veri sapori Novaresi. Nota molto positiva é l'attenzione alle normative anticovid con la confezione del tovagliolo imbustata e la richiesta dei green pass. Piccola defezione é che il piatto della rustida era troppo invasivo col sapore dei chiodi di garofano. A.

Antonio Pezzuto

We went for a lunch out of town in beautiful Novara. We immediately liked it... The place is spacious with comfortable chairs, well-spaced tables, cloth table settings, and sterile napkins. The coat racks at each table are particularly noteworthy. No wrinkled coats, dragging jackets, or worries about an unattended cloakroom. The entrance to the place is wide and aligned with the sidewalk. The atmosphere is simple but very refined, the rooms clean and welcoming. The staff, like the owners, are particularly attentive, helpful, and professional. All the courses arrived well-stocked and in timely fashion. The house wine was excellent, and the traditional dishes were plentiful and delicious, with a touch of flair. The restrooms are separate for men and women... Perhaps they could use some updating. The neighborhood, despite being almost downtown, offers easy parking. Novara residents will certainly know the location, but a couple of tourist signs would be helpful. A truly beautiful day... Also thanks to the hospitality of the trattoria.

Errico Prisco

A welcoming and quiet place, perfect for a relaxing lunch. I booked for lunch, driven by curiosity to try the famous paniscia. I must say that my expectations were fully met: the paniscia was very good and delicate, with a truly unique flavor. The staff was kind, fast, and very friendly, helping to make the experience even more enjoyable. The portions were generous, ideal for those who enjoy eating well and in quantity. The quality/price ratio is good, another reason to recommend this place to anyone looking for a place to enjoy excellent food. Furthermore, the parking lot is located a few steps from the restaurant, making access convenient and practical. May 2024

+5

Leonardo Bacchettini

Great paniscia! Optimal choice for traditional food discovery

A friend took us to one of his favorite local restaurants, one that serves traditional Piemontese food. The meal is centered on Paniscia, a rice soup. The Paniscia offering changes daily so you may…

Il Circolo della Paniscia è una piccola oasi novarese dove l’etichetta resta fuori dalla porta e dentro regna la sostanza. L’ambiente è informalissimo, quasi da mensa di quartiere ben rodata, con un’atmosfera che sa di pausa pranzo condivisa fra habitué: niente fronzoli, solo tavoli, profumi e un ritmo di servizio che funziona perché lo fanno funzionare così da sempre. La paniscia è la protagonista assoluta. Arriva in tavola già a spicchi, dorata, croccante fuori e morbida dentro: comfort food piemontese allo stato puro. Ha quella consistenza “solida” da vecchia scuola, che sostiene il cucchiaio e anche il buon umore. Sapori autentici, puliti, senza invenzioni: riso, lardo, verdure, il soffritto giusto. Genuina nel senso più letterale. Il resto del menu segue la stessa filosofia: piatti casalinghi, porzioni oneste, prezzi più che corretti. Perfetto per una pausa pranzo che non ti svuota il portafogli né la felicità. In centro Novara, un posto che non ha bisogno di Instagram per funzionare. Ci torni perché mangi bene, spendi poco e ti sembra di essere in una piccola comunità dove la paniscia è un rito quotidiano.

fabio franco

When you arrive in the area, the first challenge is parking... remember, we're in the city. If you haven't booked, you'll have to be a bit lucky to find a spot, despite the coldness of the lady you'll talk to. The name of the place is almost a guarantee; the "paniscia" was well-made, while another typical dish, the "rustisciada," was nothing more than a stew made with various amounts of meat and bits of low-quality, not-very-hot polenta. The ambiance is reminiscent of the '70s and '80s, nothing special, neither old nor new. Friendly service, fair prices.

Joerg Hau

We were here in May 2025 with a group of 9 people. Our first impression was great, this seems to be one of the few restaurants where everything is "made by hand" including the menu :-) The deception came with the Paniscia: this is supposed to be a kind of risotto with beans, but in our case it had been cooked like a cake (see photo) and the rice was totally overcooked. The server explained that they do this on Monday and Thursday ... !? Anyway, the following scaloppine al limone were much better. Overall: quite OK but the Paniscia should have been fresh.

+1

Esperienza assolutamente deludente, rispetto alle aspettative. Prima delusione, panissa ordinabile solo x due persone, eravamo in due e per non rischiare di appesantirsi subito e non poter ordinare le altre interessanti proposte della giornata (rane fritte, stufato di asino e merluzzo in umido) davvero a malincuore rinunciamo alla panissa, specialità della casa. Un vero peccato, soprattutto in virtù del fatto che, pochi minuti dopo aver ordinato i tre piatti del giorno, ci venisse offerta la possibilità di avere una porzione di panissa (addirittura sollecitandone con abbastanza insistenza la cosa), molto probabilmente dose "cresciuta" dall'ordinazione appena servita al tavolo a fianco... Rane fritte, come antipasto da dividerci...beh le foto parlano chiaro...asciutte, secche, bruciate, parevano del giorno prima e rifritte, non un pezzo di carne morbida, non è mia abitudine polemizzare o mandare indietro i piatti, ma penso che se questo piatto fosse stato analizzato con un minimo di attenzione dal cuoco o se fosse stato presentato a lui, beh sicuramente lui avrebbe avuto una reazione diversa dalla mia (anche e soprattutto in relazione alla eccessiva esosità dei 20 euro di costo, con i quali in qualsiasi RISTORANTE DI PESCE di ottimo livello si possono gustare piatti ben più curati di un qualsiasi CIRCOLO di provincia). Stufato di asino... morbido, ma riscaldato in liquido aggiunto e slegato e con una crosticina da ossidazione da giorno prima. Merluzzo in umido...qui troppo olio, anche qui slegato dal pomodoro e dalla fin eccessiva cipolla. Finale con il dolce, tentiamo di aggiustare il pranzo con il bunet, decantato come assolutamente imperdibile... bè, più colla di pesce o addensante che cacao... vabbè delusione totale, quasi 80 euro spesi ed una sola sicurezza, quella di non poter consigliare a nessuno questo Circolo.

Andrea Gavioli

Terrible experience. Dinner with colleagues, table of 20. We paid €30 each for a menu with appetizers (a selection of cured meats/cheeses with piadina), paniscia, house wine, dessert, and coffee. I expected at least generous portions for that price, but instead they only brought us six casseroles of paniscia to share. A little embarrassed, I asked if it was finished or if they were bringing more. The waitress looked at me with a smile, not answering, as she began to clear our plates. The owner stopped by to ask if everything was okay, and I politely pointed out that the portions were a bit small. He replied that if we'd asked for more and they hadn't brought any, it was probably finished, because "After all," I quote, "the other tables have to eat too." For dessert, they offered us bonet or panna cotta with chocolate, caramel, or berries. Even though everyone had chosen their own panna cotta flavor, they brought us all berry panna cottas because they'd made a mistake and that was the only one available (and even then, the sizes were small). All in all, I wouldn't recommend it.

Cena tra colleghi da dimenticare, purtroppo. Cena prenotata con prezzo concordato per menù paniscia ( antipasto,paniscia,dolce, acqua vino e caffè ) con supplemento di 13€ per chi volesse il secondo. Portate molto scarse rispetto agli anni precedenti. Servizio scadente e con il dubbio che il cliente sia un pollo da spennare. Per finire il conto non rispecchiava i patti all'atto della prenotazione. A malincuore l'anno prossimo cambieremo locale.

Massimo Porta

The paniscia was poor, more like a risotto with vegetables and beans with no flavour; the frogs were awful, with burnt breading and no flavour, they seemed to have been reheated from the day before; the cassoula was a disgusting broth, like cabbage soup, with two semi-raw pork ribs and four small pieces of sausage. The owner was truly awful, a winded, arrogant and incompetent idiot. There was nothing typical about it. It was a terrible restaurant, a negative experience. The feeling was that they thought the customer was an idiot who needed to be fleeced. We paid €104, and €5 for a cheap grappa was a rip-off. There was nothing typical about it. Novarese cuisine is something else entirely. It was a terrible experience. I would never go to a place like this again. It was truly shameful.