Reviews in Manchester

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.

I visited Namploy on a Friday night with my husband after reading rave reviews and was disappointed to find the food and service left much to be desired! We were expecting authentic Thai food but what we got was extremely bland, tasteless stir fry that could have been from a Chinese takeaway. All our main courses were left hardly touched and nothing was said or done when we commented that we weren't happy with the food. I would never go again as there is a far better Thai restaurant around the corner that I have been visiting for years.

The food was very poor and the staff were rude to us. All in all this was a very poor restaurant - what a waste of money!

I bought our corporate Christmas wine from T Wright and was very impressed with the quality of the wine selected, the knowledge of Natalie who suggested the wines and the price, would recommend

This place is very friendly and has good 'pub'food done really well. It's not pretentious but has a trendy feel, the prices are very reasonable too. I would say this was one of the best places to go out for a cheap meal in Bury town centre.

Bella is fantastic - really lovely food and not too expensive. Start with the olives and tomato garlic bread, then have either a pizza or the swordfish - beautiful!!

I must agree with the previous review the food is just delightful at this liitle restaurant, i went for a christmas meal on a work outing and had a wonderful time. I do agree with heather however that the host is slightly unpleasant and was quite unpatient with the group of people i was with although then again there was alot of us and i can find this understanding. It was more her drunkeness during the evening that i found very inappropriate, although the staff more than made up for it with their excellent service and warmness. The host, i believe her name was lisa made us all have a good laugh, i believe even though she was intoxicated people would be more than comfortble with her humour, although just not children... it's a bit too adult and explicit! Would highly recommend the leg of lamb and would return, it's a nice relaxing yet humourous night out. I just hope the drunkeness was just a bit too much christmas spirit as i don't think a regular occurence would be highly thought of, especially if the host goes pinching mens bottoms, like she did my bosses! ha ha :-)

We visited after looking at the recommendations on this site with people who we wanted to create a good imrpression with. Our experience was not representative of the other reviews. Prehaps our expectation were too high. We visited on a Saturday evening, The downstairs was full and we were shown to our table upstairs. I can only assume that downstairs was reserved for the regular mainly Irainan cliental and eveyone else was seated upstairs. We waited forty minutes to have our order taken and we had to ask twice. Then we waited a further twenty minutes before we recieved our starters then we recieved our main course at 10.45 pm . We sat down at 9.oo pm. We were totally ignored as well as the other customers upstairs, In fact the table opposite walked out. When the food arrived it all looked the same even though we had ordered different things. Even so that the waitress couldnt tell the dishes apart when asked.We were so disappointed and embarassed in front of our guest. The only good point was the price. I'm sorry but those recommedations must be fixed.I am not one to complain but we were made to feel like second class customers upstairs.

Terrible food terrible atomosphere and the place needs a bloody good clean! would rather starve!

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%

Have, or rather had, been going to the Lead Station for many years. The menu was never fancy but that wasn't the point - it did simple food well, and consistently so. With so may overrated eateries in Manchester it was one place you could always rely on. Its now changed hands and I'm afraid the food has gone downhill. The menu hasn't changed much (although there were no specials which used to feature) but the old favourites and new additions are on a theme - they don't taste of a single thing. The atmosphere is still O.K. although it seemed quieter than in days gone by. Coincidence? Not if he food is anything to go by. A great shame.

Wat a great place to eat!! i have been here several times now and the staff are always friendly and willing to get what ever it is you want. The standard of food is EXCELLENT. Definitely recommended for a meal with the other half or after a night out with girlie's(as its open til early hours!!).

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.

I visited the Olive Garden today for the first time. The food, service, décor and ambience were all excellent. I chose Linguini Olive Garden which included the largest portion of divine scallops I've ever been served. Why I bother to write this recommendation, my first ever, is that they were cooked with chilli which I don't normally eat and I found them hot for my taste, although my friend loved them. The waiter offered at least three times to cook them again for me without chilli - even though it was my fault for not having read the menu correctly! I did not accept this offer which I thought was well beyond the call of duty. The French chef then came out to have a word with me - en francais - to make sure I was happy. Needless to say, I will be back - and bring all my friends...

Six of us ate at Azzurro on Dec 8 and I would agree with the glowing reviews of this charming, little Italian ristorante. Lovely atmosphere, attentive and smiling staff, delicious food. Two courses (no pizzas or pasta), two bottles of Valpolicella and a few soft drinks, no desserts but coffees, our bill came to £215 including service. Not cheap but very good value. We'll be going back.

I have been going to the Bi-Lash now for many years. Best Curry house around. Always make you feel welcome and food it GREAT. Also very good prices. Well recommended, service is fast and the take away part next door is quick and fast. You also get 2 free beers with your order and if you spend £15 or more on a take out you also get a free bottle of wine. Worth going.