I have eaten at Sul Lago many a time, mainly special occasions i.e. Birthdays, Family get-together etc. And each time, I'm reluctant to go. I try to find many poor, generic excuses one would use to get out of something I do not want to do, however, I can't let my friends or family down, can I?
Arrival at Sul Lago circa 7 PM, the table booking for that particular time for a table of 16. A 20 minute wait to be seated, but not that bothered, as I mentioned above, I'm not the biggest fan of this place anyway and the longer I don't have to eat the food, the better!
After perusal of the enormous menu, I bit the bullet and went for the 'better' options provided, the Chicken Liver Pate for starter and the Seafood Linguine. My better half opted for mussels in a cream and white wine sauce and a Chicken and a Parma Ham dish. A few people ordered the Salt Baked Seabass. Please allow me to provide specific details of the food below:
The Chicken Liver Pate was very lumpy, was served with bitter leaves and toasted white sliced bread. No dressing on the salad at all, so was very, very bland. The dish itself could have fed 3 people as a main, never mind a starter for one. It should have been super smooth and light, served with a really nice warm, lightly toasted bread and a beautifully dressed salad to cut through the richness of the Pate. Technically very poor and ashamedly bland.
The Mussels. What can I say? They were awful! Very over-cooked to the point of they were almost chalk. The uber-thick cream sauce was congealed and custard consistency didn't lift the dish, only made it worse. I wouldn't have gave it to a starving pig in fear of it being returned.
The Seafood Linguine. This should have been absolutely amazing. The description of it on the menu, baked in a bag, served at the table. Mussels, clams, monkfish, prawns, langoustine, a taste of the sea, filling the air with an unmistakable aroma of fresh seafood cooked to perfection. It wasn't those things. Not one bit. It was a bag of super over-cooked matter, in a chili tomato sauce. Not the fresh pasta I had in mind; or the moist, rich seafood. No sign of monk fish at all. All very dry, all very over-cooked. Disappointment all-round.
The Chicken and Parma Ham dish. Oh dear?! I have seen some sad looking dishes in my time. This however, really brought a tear to my eye. Yes, you guessed it, over-cooked. A horrible, congealed, masala sauce drowned the poor thing and to think an Italian Chef put this together? For shame, sir. For Shame! I nearly keeled over, but then, I was not surprised, as I have experience disappointment at this place every time I go.
Salt Baked Seabass - Don't get me started!
Roast Potatoes, Green Beans, Carrots accompany all the main courses. Silver Served like in the in 70's. Outdated, overpriced stodge that shouldn't be fed to anyone, let alone charged for it. Leathery Roast Potatoes, boiled-to-death carrots and veg. and just, well..... Yuck!
It wasn't all bad. The service was better than usual and the wine wasn't poisoning anyone. Service was very charmless, but none-the-less, just ok!
I believe Sul Lago has the potential to be a great neighbour-hood restaurant. It sits quietly outside a beautiful village, Woodhouse Gardens. An updated, modern Italian cuisine would go down a real treat here with the right chef on board, they could half the menu and serve quality fresh food at a better price than what they are charging currently. I believe the locals would really take to it. It would be somewhere people would eat every night of the week, instead of just weekends.
I hope everyone finds this review helpful, and the owners of the restaurant actually read it and do something about the food, They've not had a change of menu for, well, forever! It's still serves the same over-priced, outdated stodge it did 10 years or more ago.
There are so many better restaurants in and around Manchester at half the price of this. Such a terrible waste. My advice, go for a curry instead :)
Janet :-)
Took my boyfriend to Sul Lago for a meal on his birthday, lovely restaurant, excellent food & service... Would recommend to anyone & will definitely be dinning there again soon :-)
Ben23
Oh dear. We took two friends to this over-rated, over-priced restaurant last night and now feel acutely embarrassed. Service was shocking mainly due to the fact that we came a very poor second to the Eurovision song contest ,from which most of the staff were unable to drag themselves away.
I opted for Cozze alla crema to start. The sauce, whilst flavoursome was virtually cold and to my horror one of the mussels came with a most disconcerting clump of black hair attached to it. On drawing the waiters attention to this i was aggressively informed that this was the mussels tail!! In thirty six years as a seafood lover i have never seen anything like this, i was also made to feel like a fool for pointing it out. Sul Lago, if you are reading this the waiter was tall, thin and perhaps of an age where he should be looking for a real job. my advice to you is get his P45 ready.
Main course was served whilst two of our party were outside, always nice to return to a plate of cooling food! my partner was most disappointed with the watery and tasteless veal, also parmesan was tipped over her dish without consent while another waiter shouted "no parmesan on the veal", needless to say this mistake was neither aknowledged or rectified. I opted for filetto pavarotti, the steak was small but had been cooked ok, the sauce however was lacking flavour and added nothing to the dish.
If you are a vegetarian the Sul Lago is not the place for you. I find it amazing that in this day and age the only vegetarian options are the never innovative mushroom risotto and penne alla bland type generic cop-outs. it took quite some time to catch a waiters eye to ask if non-meat versions of pasta dishes were available, it must have been a particularly nail-biting moment on Eurovision.
We decided against desert but did order coffee, whereupon my brandy order was forgotten, and the blame was passed around.
Waiters stared at us in an attempt to make us ask for the bill and made us feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. No apologies were offered for any issue we had.
The bill came to £146, extortionate for the food and service but a small price to pay to realise that we will never come here again.
Sul Lago wake up! You need to take a long look at the way you do things, employ new staff who are customer focussed, source new suppliers as the quality of produce was lamentable and turn the tv off!!!!! Rarely have i been so let down by a restaurant and in light of this i shall be telling anyone who will listen to steer well clear.
Amigos
We had a family meal at Sul Lago. Lovely food, very friendly and efficient staff and great service. Definitely a place to return to. Would advise that you book at weekends as even early on Saturday it was rather busy.
Danielle
Hmmmm, everyone else had a great time? *confused* The food was really quite average, the lighting way too bright and the ambience was plucked out of a scene from Shirley Valentine. Would not go again unless the menu/chef/manager changed.
Stuc
I would recommend SUl Lago to all lovers of Italian food. Good service and good food also just booked for new year eve excellent evening with dance and fireworks ciao
Tinkerbell :-*
my boyfriend and i dined at sul lago and found it exceptional, we are lucky to live right around the corner from it!!!
i always enjoy the champagne cocktails too!!!!!!
Debbie
My husband & I are one of the lucky ones we live 2 minutes away from Sul Lago's. We have dined there on numerous occasions, the food is excellent & the staff are very friendly.
Johnboy.
Just had a friend over from Brescia and we visited Sul Lago twice in a matter of days. I've always found the food to be excellent anyway but it was nice to hear the same views from my Italian friend. He was very impressed and commented that the quality of the food was much better than many Trattorias in Italy! Boy, was I relieved!
Jade Davidson
Me and my partner have been going to Sul Lago since it opened at least once a month and it has always been excellent food never once had a bad meal.
the staff extra helpful and food is delivered in super fast time (just what need with the delicious smells coming from the kitchen) the desserts and the strawberry champagne cocktails are to die for
would always recommend it
