Reviews in Manchester City Centre

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.

We visited for lunch and found the food modestly priced . There was plenty of variety and flavours were new and interesting. The cookery course was friendly, professional and inspirational.

Anonymous is wrong. Chinese food is supposed to come at different times and crispy duck is not an authentic Chinese dish so is not a must for a Chinese restaurant. However, Anonymous is right- Yang Sing is not the best Chinese restaurant in Manchester, in fact I think it has become the worst restaurant in Manchester. Let me explain. I have been going to the Yang Sing since it was located where the little Yang Sing now is. Then it was a vibrant place serving inventive Cantonese cuisine frequented by Chinese people. Over time the chefs have left, the prices have increased and the servings have become smaller. The atmosphere is now corporate, no chinese people eat there and the customer service has vanished. I have now had three meals in a row where the food ranged from poor to good, but where the service has been disgraceful. Last week whilst attempting to impress an American guest we were served by a man who told us that they did not serve crispy duck because it was not chinese. Instead of pointing out that they do serve Beiping duck (the chinese version),but that it has to be ordered a day in advance, he belittled us for ordering 'english' crispy duck. He didn't explain why they continue to serve prawn toast, egg fried rice and spare ribs which are not exactly common in the restaurants of canton province. He then became visibly annoyed when people didnt hear him ask if they wanted boiled or fried rice. Yang Sing- what has happened to you? Long Live Red Chilli- a proper chinese restaurant where meals are enjoyable, and the staff don't sneer.

I visited the restaurant on Saturday night 24th of November 2007 with two other couples (Six of us)and the Manager was very friendly and the evening went well. We mainly went for steaks which were cooked very nicely and one of our party had Penne pasta which was spicy but very nice. The Restaurant has a busy atmosphere and has a good aspect with large windows overlooking the Midland Hotel, so diners have good views of busy central Manchester. Our only gripe was the service as two of the waitresses were a bit surly and dint want to wait at our tables when we were trying to give them further drink orders. In summary, the food was good and the restaurant was busy with a good atmosphere and from our experience it was let down by poor service towards the end of the night.

Im feeling a bit dull here, having visited not this branch of EastZEast, but the Riverside one, yesterday. 3 visits to the same chain in as many weekends. OK, very boring, but hey! Anyway, the new restaurant is very stylish, very slick, and definately the plushest looking Indian in town, by a country mile. The main dining area is downstairs, whilst the entrance and bar area is downstairs. The food was upto the usual high EastZEast standards, although yet again, for a 3rd time, my curry was mild rather than medium hot, and Ive got to say, tasted pretty much the same as the other 2 that Ive had. All very samely, but still pleasant. The gimmicks of poppadoms and dips were again served on a huge platter, as with the smaller branch, and the Nann towers have also made it over to this new Salford restaurant. Now the moaning points. Usually I wouldnt be quite so critical when talking about an Indian, as they are traditionally very relaxed, laid back, casual dining places, but for me EastZEast is trying, probably too hard, to be something that thinks its a fine dining eatery, which is will never be, as its an Indian, and not one in the same vein as the Michelin star Indians in London. Service was very attentive, although Im sad to say, perhaps due to it being early days, was very disorganised. At one point I counted 6 waiters at the table next to us, most of whom seemed unsure of what to do. Again, we had the wrong dishes arrive at our table, which is 2 out of 3 times at this chain now. I was with the lads this time, so didnt really mind, but still, this is a review site afterall. Also, all of the tables come ready set with 2 sets of cutlery, a water and wine glass for each person, with napkins in the glasses. As you can imagine, this left little room on the table for poppadoms and dips when you sat down. Im sorry, but hardly anybody drinks wine with Indian food, because it simply doensnt mix on the whole. Sure, people drink wine with Indian food, but then they probably dont understand wine at all. The same goes for deserts. Indian cuisine just doesnt cater for it. So, leave the crockey off the table until its required, as it just over elaborates things. It just didnt work. This is the new Riverside brand of the chain, which sits on the Salford side of the Irwell, sharing the same views as the Lowry hotel, Manchesters (even though its in Salford) best hotel. You wouuld think that they would make the most of this right? Well, no. The river views have been covered up by a semi opaque curtain, so unless it was broad daylight, you wont be able to see a thing out of them. Being on the river, enjoying nice views, really should have been a star attaction of this place. My biggest problem with EastZEast's new branch is that its clearly trying very hard to be an upmarket restaurant. Im sorry, but when you go to an Indian, you spend £15-£20 on your meal, for poppadoms, a starter and drink or two, so its hardly posh, fine dining or upmarket. £20 just about buys you a main course only in a 'posh' restaurant. Brit/Indian food is about causual, fun, eating. You use your hands and a naan bread to pick up your dinner, with Rihanna playing in the background as you eat! A fortune spent on waiters in grandad collar suits, neon lighting, granite flooring, glass waterfalls, and Dyson airblade hand dryers dont make a posh restaurant, just a good looking one. Saying that, no doubt 75% of the customers will disagree with me here, just as 75% of people think that paying an extra 50p for your pint by drinking in the Living Rooms or Panacea makes you rich. Very silly, and totally untrue really. After 3 visits, if youre judging this as a curry house, then its a good strong 8 out of 10. If youre thinking about it in fine dining terms, then its a very sadly lacking 6. Ill rate it somewhere in between, so a 7/10 from me. I do like it here, but after 3 visits in less than 3 weeks, think I should try somewhere else for a while now, and sorry EastZEast, Im leaning towards Akbars now. A stylish Indian with very nice food, but doesnt for a second try to be 'posh', and if you order a medium hot curry, you get one.

It doesn't look great from the outside but don't let that stop you from paying a visit. You will love it. Great food and fantastic people!

we had another outstanding night out at Akbars,wish they would stock some other beers(belgian) ,if they did then it would be perfect.Come on Akbars give a go.

I was not happy & wont be visiting again after we ordered the Lobster & received prawns passed off as lobster in the shell. A sneaky trick!! Im just wondering how many times they have got away with this as some people may not have eaten lobster before. After complaining they did try to make up for it though with complementary meals.

We visited EastZEast for the seconed time in as many weeks last night, after being amazed during the first visit. Whilst the decor and food was upto the same high standards as before, the service was seemingly from another restaurant this time around. I know that Im going to sound picky and backwards, but even forgetting having our lassi spilled on the table, having a tray thrown over the bar, only to be missed and land next to us, having the wrong meal delivered to us the first time around, we lost count of the number of times one particular waiter reached over us to collect plates, without saying excuse me. Fine if its two mates having a meal, but when a couple are holding hands, and clearly a couple, some tact is required. Also, my partner felt very ignored come the end of the meal, as the waiter was only seemingly interested in what I wanted, and didnt even make eye contact with my better half once during the whole meal, instead preferring to ask only 'sir' if we wanted drinks, if everything was ok, if we had finished, etc etc. Madame was paying on this occasion, so I can understand her offense. Maybe we just made the mistake of hoping for a romantic meal, because as much as I love Indian restaurants, along with their inability to make decent deserts, they are also inherently extremely casual and unrefined compared to what you could call an upmarket European or fine dining restaurant, no matter how good the curries and decor are! Id still go back obviously, although probably with the lads, as neither of us could really fault the well cooked and presented food, although my seekh kebabs were a slightly bland but still good, my Mrs' fish curry was very dry, and more of a heavily marinated fish dish than a curry, and both our 'medium' curries were definitely mild. Consistency is what makes any great restaurant great, and clearly EastZEast has yet to attain this, although its still definitely very good. Maybe they a just had an off night? We have now been to Akbars twice, and EastZEast twice. Id have to say that these places are probably about equal following 2 visits to each. Toss a coin!

we pre booked a table for twelve and was told in no uncertain terms when three of our friends arrived 25 mins late that this table is booked again at 9.30pm. we thought this was very rude. it was 7.30 at the time. secondly we were not offered the full menu. we had no idea of this until we saw people ordering things we had not got on our menu. It would have been nice to have had a choice. The food was good, the wine was reasonably priced and the staff apart from the very rude table manager were polite and efficient. The bill was ok. and correct. not sure if i would eat here again. i feel cheated because we did not get the full menu. this must have been on purpose. I cannot think of any other reason.

As we had heard good reviews regarding El Rincon, a group of us went there on Sunday afternoon for a friend's birthday. We were very disappointed. The staff were rude and unhelpful, there were 2 dishes out of the 15 that were liked and dishes came to us sporadically throughout the meal. One dish, "Marinated cheese" actually transired to be chunks of cheddar cheese in olive oil with a few bits of lettuce on top. The price was certainly disproportionate to the quality of the dish. The interior of the restaurant is pleasant and authentic, but it's a real shame about the food.

memories.....I was eating Abdul Kabob's back in 1989 and every time I go back to Manchester I drop by to revive those great memories.....I recommend extra yogurt sauce on anything on their menu.....tastes better after 3 pints of scrumpy jack from the bowling green or 4 pints of Guinness at the Clarence.