Reviews in Manchester City Centre

Everytime i am shopping in manchester, i stop in Cafe Metro for a bite to eat. It has become a little tradition for me and my friends. The service is excellent, the food is lovely and its great value for money.

I hate food courts. No, i loathe food courts. The smell, the constant noise, the crappy unappealing food. Yet every time i go into a shopping centre I end up eating in one of these bloody things as they are fast, cheap and convenient. However last week my life was been transformed (small exaggeration perhaps), when I stumbled across a small place called barburrito. Located in the Trafford Centre - (I think this is a new restaurant) - they sell great, reasonably priced fast food in a great environment. I had a burrito as big as my head, stuffed with shredded beef and spicy salsa, cheese, sour cream and lots of other stuff with a refill drink for £6. This is the best dining experience I have had for some time and restores my faith in fast food. Bomb Mcdonalds, set fire to Subway, trash KFC (please note none of these are subliminal requests, more a statement of dissatisfaction). In Barburrito there is finally a fast, tasty, healthy and good value alternative.

I worked there for four months three years ago. They paid me £3.80 per hour and we were not allowed to take the tips we earnt. I was called "fat girl" by the restaurant owner. The kitchen condition was the worst I've ever seen. Sweet sour chicken was placed in dirty basket on the floor and the duck sauce was placed in disgusting bottles. The workers were treated like dirt and most of them are illegal immigrants.

I worked at Buffet city for 4 months in 2004. They paid me £3.80 per hour and they kept any tips that were earnt. Also the standard and hygiene of the restaurant kitchen was awful. I struggle to believe that they washed the kitchen more than once a week. As well as this the workers were treated like dirt.

We visited the lovely chic NEW EastzEast on the riverbank just along from the Lowry Hotel. Big tip for the year here, this place will be the main competition for Akbars.Definately during the summer when you will be able to use the Riverside Bar. Food.. excellent as per the other branch. Service.. excellent as per. Price.. just right. prediction....will be in the top ten by July

We went to Sweet Mandarin for Christmas Eve and it was a wonderful experience. I would highly recommend this place, even though it is off the beaten track. We went for the banquet and I think it was the best hot and sour soup I have ever tasted. Actually, it was the best Chinese we had in a long time. We loved the aromatic crispy duck which was just crispy and chewy enough without being dry. In particular, I would recommend the Lily Kwok's curry. Its quite a different curry from the Indian curries. This one is creamy and mild, very flavoursome and unique to Sweet Mandarin. I will be coming back in the New Year. Thanks for taking the stress out of Christmas.

EAT HERE AT YOUR PERIL - this restaurant is truly APPALLING. The food is disgusting, the service verges on the downright insulting and the standards of hygeine are highly questionable. I went to Sweet Mandarin in a party of three on Christmas Eve and it was the most horrendous dining experience in memory. This is not an exaggeration - we have all suffered with illness since we ate there. My girlfriend and I were unable to eat anything at all on Christmas Day, and are still feeling nauseaous as I write this. I intend to make a personal visit to Manchester City Council's enviromental health department as soon as they re-open. Although we live round the corner from Sweet Mandarin and eat out regularly, we had never eaten there before, mainly because common-sense tells you not to dine at a place that never seems to have any customers. But on Christmas Eve we were stuck for somewhere to eat and took a chance on it . What a terrible mistake. Upon arriving, my girlfriend visited the ladies toilet and was disgusted to find that the hand-towel was completely sodden and BLACK with dirt. We should have taken that as a warning, but our hunger got the better of us and we ordered the £25-a-head banquet. From the off, it became clear that the kitchen was re-heating old food and trying to pass it off as fresh. The opening course was a foul-tasting hot-and-sour-soup, and my friend commented on the prawns - which tasted off. The prawns were supposed to be 'king-sized' but had shrunken to the size of tiny shrimps - a tell-tale sign that they have been cooked for a very long period of time. We couldn't eat our soup - but we hoped the other 'starters' would be better. We were disappointed. The spring rolls had obviously been deep-fried several times and were dark-coloured and dripping with grease. The seaweed was very heavily salted (presumably to hide the true flavour) and the spare ribs had virtually no meat on them. Then came the crispy aromatic duck. What a joke. There was nothing aromatic about the duck - because it HADN'T been cooked in the oven. It had been dropped into the deep-fat chip frier! The meat was dried-out and sinewy and was virtually inedible. To add insult to injury, the 'pancakes' that came with it were ROCK-HARD and COLD! The texture was akin to playing cards. We complained to the waitress, who said she would inform the chef, but she then simply walked back to her position in front of the bar (there were NO other customers) and left us with our dirty plates and un-eaten duck. After complaining again, she eventually cleared our table - five minutes later! We decided to hang around for the main-courses, as we were still hungry. And the food could only improve, couldn't it? No. It didn't. The beef in black bean sauce was so chewy it was inedible. The 'clay-pot' chicken was luke-warm and had absolutely NO flavour whatsoever - and the 'speciality' 'Lily Kwok curried chicken' consisted simply of pieces of pre-boiled chicken put into the type of cheap green curry sauce you find in your local chinese chippy. It all came served with fried-rice - which contained more of the 'off' smelling prawns. Needless to say, we ate very little of it and complained to the waitress/manageress - but we found her response truly appalling - even more so than the food! We were not rude and calmly explained why we were dissatisfied, but she offered NO apology, NO explanation and made no discount on the bill. She simply arrogantly shrugged her shoulders and walked off, refusing to make eye contact with any of us. As we left, I told her we would tell all our friends just how bad the food was. But she just carried on ignoring us. It is, of course, clear why Sweet mandarin is always empty. And after experiencing it for ourselves, we can only imagine that they will probably go out of business soon. And that would be no bad thing - because I wouldn't wish the experience on anybody. What a disgrace.

Fantastic. Best place to get some food in Manchester. Very unique and there’s always something for everyone. Even if your not satisfied with whats on the menu, the considerable choice of sandwich fillings can be made into a delicious sandwich which will full you up for hours. Recommendation from me! 120%

I went to the Pacific for a birthday meal and was initially impressed. As far an China Town restaurants go it was visually pleasing with comfortable seating,pleasent decor and a jovialatmosphere. The service seemed rushed, one of the waiters spilled an entire glass of wine over a friend of mine, this was fine ,accidents happen and the waiter apologised profusely, however no replacement glass of wine was even offered. We brushed this off not wanting to cause a fuss however the real drama of the evening was yet to come. When it came time to pay, the waitress loudly announced at the table that my card had been declined, a little sheepish I replied that I had just been paid and there was no way the card could have been declined. I accompanied her to the front desk where I was gruffly barked at by the manager (I presume) who declared that my card had been declined. I insisted he try it again but I was then told that the card machine was now broken and that they had called my bank who had told them of this. I asked them to call my bank again but they refused and told me they had closed for the evening! moderatly annoyed to say the least I went to the bank machine to withdraw money. During my time away from the restaurant the same manager chastised my friends who were still at the table asking them had I ran off without paying!? When I finally came back to pay I told them that my card had worked as I had insisted and that whoever they spoke to (if they had spoken to anyone at all) at the bank had been incorrect. They accepted my money and thanked me but by this point I was sorely disapointed and embaressed at being treated like I was attempting to rip them off. This manager should be ashamed!

Really disappointed with this place after reading such rave reviews. After arriving 20 mins late due to city centre traffic, to find they had given our table away (after requesting a £100 deposit on booking) the staff were surley, unhelpful and the food was average. Much better places to eat out in Manchester, give this place a miss.

Lovely food, great atmosphere, tasty wine! Love San Carlo! We were served promptly, and the staff were so polite and friendly, I was so impressed! The food was gorgeous - it truly tasted like an authentic Italian meal! Looking forward to my next visit already Lilly

Food, service, etc were OK and the house red was nice. But the bread was stale and, for example, six quid for four meatballs and a spoonful of sauce is a rip-off. Poor value for money. At the very least it needs a more inventive menu.

very nice restaurant shame they stopped doing pre theatre menu when moved no longer stands out as being very good value

Room is housed in a magnificent building and has an ambience to match. Pre dinner drinks were very slow to be served, however the restaurant service was very efficient and friendly! The food was good but i found there takes on Paella and Fish Pie ludicrous and pretentious. The cost was modest with the £7 main course offer. All things considered would return.

I know people who would rather perish than visit Manchester without sampling once more the legend of Abdul and his kebab creation. Anyone found the perfect technique for eating one though?

as far the best restaurant i have been to amazing food and outstanding decor and the new restaurant has opened as well that is awesome never seen a restaurant like that in the heart of Manchester it is attention seeking the way it has been designed very spacious .... everyone should go there and akbars will get a good competition now

What can I say... My girlfriend and I arrived at 6pm on a Wed night and I had a table booked for 7. Thought we could have a drink first while we waited but the head waiter took us straight to a table! The wine was lovely (Pino Grigio Rose) and the starters and main meal were of excellent quality. You could tell time and effort were put into them. The waitress we had for the evening was very pleasant and kept the wine flowing for us. As the evening progressed the restaurant got very busy but was still a very pleasant atmosphere. I WILL be re attending Gio's without doubt, and it will be soon. Thanks for a lovely evening

Seven of us aged from 18 to 70 enjoyed a lovely meal on a Friday evening. The decor is smart but plain in keeping with the modern food influences. Service was first class from very pleasant and helpful staff. The fusion food is first class and very reasonably priced. The sushi is fresh and very inexpensive. Two main courses were considered a little bland but you need to go to make up your own mind. Handy when visiting kids at the university. Highly recommended.