PHONES are ringing off the hook at a plush new restaurant in Leigh with the “overwhelmed” owners receiving 100 calls a day for bookings.

Picante, in Leigh Broadway, has officially opened offering a wide range of cocktails as well as a varied food menu, including burgers and pizza.

The restaurant is already proving a huge hit and the owners insisted they are struggling to keep up with demand already.

Alongside the restaurant, the venue also includes a cocktail lounge area.

Co-owner Hamid Oukili - who also runs the Brunch Co in Leigh - is behind the restaurant alongside his business partner Daniel Mead.

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Mr Oukili, 33, said: “It’s been going amazingly well, we knew we’d be busy, but we didn’t expect to be this busy.

“The feedback has been fantastic and our evenings are pretty much full.

“People are booking well in advance to get a table. We didn’t want to have too much of a niche and think you’ve got to widen it out a bit.

“You’ve got to offer a bit of a wide variety to capture as much of the trade as possible. We do not want to just be a restaurant, and offer somewhere for people to have a drink before their meal and a few afterwards too.

“We wanted a good vibe and aim for something you would get in an Ibiza beach club. The business has neutral colour scheme and a calming vibe and feeling.”

The new restaurant has been hotly anticipated after Picante was given the green light to open a new restaurant back in April 2022.

Bosses were also granted a license to sell booze in the site which is located in the former Tui travel agents.

Mr Oukili added: “About 90 per cent of our drink sales are cocktails, our smoke old fashioned is a best seller and quite a spectacle too.

“It’s made with spiced rum and cinnamon that we light and our customers love the show. We have bar snacks, small plates of food, a grill section, pizza and much more.

“Our best seller for our food is our flame grilled lamb chop and our signature pepperoni pizza is popular too.”

The business is holding DJ nights twice a month with the owners saying it’s a “chilled, background music feel”.

The business has seating for 58 with plans for 12 additional seats outside.