A new seafood-focused restaurant in Manchester, highly praised by Grace Dent for its meaningful and adept cooking, elegant atmosphere, and excellent service.
Joe Otway is a Chef Director and Co-creator of notable Manchester establishments Higher Ground and Flawd Wine. He is also actively involved in Cinderwood Market Garden, growing produce for his restaurants, and is...
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Heard really great things about this place so I was super keen to try it out, but unfortunately our experience wasn’t as good as what I had heard.
Wine offering by the glass (considering the owners also own a wine bar) was limited to one wine per type. White wine was ok but on the dry side.
Service was ok, nothing extraordinary but friendly staff. Concept of the venue wasn’t explained super well which meant that the two of us sharing had received all of our food while the third in our party who was dining solo only got one dish and we ended up having to cancel the final dish because it took so long to be delivered.
Food is definitely on the more expensive side, so value for money is not great. Taste wise, no complaints here; just underwhelming portion sizes for the costs. Most shockingly was paying £3.50 for a singular slice of toast with butter and the scallops being priced at near £14 for two mouthfuls. Our fries and oysters were probably the best part of the meal, which speaks to the fact that it’s likely more of a drinks & snacks focussed venue rather than a nice sit down meal.
There was also a DJ on a Wednesday night, which would be fine if you had intended to go for drinks and bar snacks only, however was very loud and we were sat right by it which didn’t help.
Overall, I think if your intentions are to go here for drinks and bar snacks then it’s probably a much better experience. However, we had booked with the intention of having a nice dinner which wasn’t our experience.
Sat at the bar early eve, delish cocktails, Joe serving up excellent hospitality, giving a perfect drink recommendation. Burger absolutely melt in the mouth, Dexter beef from local Jane’s farm, son loved the cuttlefish sandwich. DJ good tunes, through a bassy system. Also, the padron peppers were fresh and seasoned with what tasted like frazzles salt, and the maraschino cherry soft scoop is fun fruity creamy moreish. Loo clean.
Excellent. Will be back.
5
Great Date Night Location! First time trying a few different kinds of seafood including caviar. Food and Drinks were amazing and really creative! The staff were so kind, bubbly and insightful! Definitely coming back!!!
5
It’s ace.
A really lovely space that feels comfy and relaxed, despite design-wise being pretty stripped back.
Food was a touch salty for my tastes, but super tasty - the buffalo cod was especially good.
Drinks were knock outs; I can’t think of a better drinks list in town right now. I particularly enjoyed the Anchorage from the classics section.
Music, atmosphere and service were all top notch too; it’s an exemplary lesson in running a modern cocktail bar without being overly fussy or trying too hard. Well done to everyone involved, I hope the place is a proper, long term success.
5
As soon as you walk in you feel like you’ve been transported to a speak easy in NYC or a small jazz bar in Paris. Attentive service from all members of staff along with incredible cocktails and exceptional food made this a memorable visit. The stand out dish was the Scallop tartare which was paired with an elderflower oil, as soon as we had one we had to order another, a must order in my opinion.
