Manchester - Mid week

[hacksaw]

Looking for ideas for somewhere mid week in Manchester.
A group of us have an early flight the following morning, so travelling to Manchester the night before and looking for some food and a few drinks. Indian, Thai, tapas, pizza, whatever, but somewhere "nice".
What's making it tricky is numbers, There's likely to be between 15 and 20 people in total.
Any thoughts appreciated.

[djsmith74]

Mackie Mayors might be your best option with those numbers. A decent selection of cuisines to choose from, along with drinks, and you can then wander through Northern Quarter afterwards taking in a few bars.

[Brent Hoffmeister]

Enjoyed a visit to Society on a recent trip to Manchester, great choice of street food, Vocation brewery tap, decent setting and can handle the numbers. Might be a bit too informal though for what you’re after.

[Countdown]

As well as Mackie Mayors you might want to try New Century House. It's a similar sort of set up (several outlets, shared dining area)

https://newcenturymcr.com/new-century-kitchen/

[JQ]

djsmith74 said:

Mackie Mayors might be your best option with those numbers. A decent selection of cuisines to choose from, along with drinks, and you can then wander through Northern Quarter afterwards taking in a few bars.

Meanwhile I could think of nowhere worse. You can’t book tables and for a group of that size everyone will be eating at different times. Ordering drinks would be a nightmare.

I love Mackie Mayor and eat there regularly, but it’s not great for large groups. Society is the same, although I think you can reserve an area, we certainly have in the past.

Places we’ve done with large groups that has worked well -

Piccolino- lovely Italian with private dining area
Hawksmoor - great steak place with good wine list
Dishoom - very good Indian
Indian tiffin Room - Indian tapas style
San Carlo - another Italian Manchester institution
Fazenda - Brazilian eat as much as you like - great private dining area
Ramona - deep dish Detroit pizza and good Margaritas

The above is definitely not a list of the best restaurants in Manchester, but they all can accommodate large groups in a lively atmosphere with decent food.

[Countdown]

JQ said:

Meanwhile I could think of nowhere worse. You can’t book tables and for a group of that size everyone will be eating at different times. Ordering drinks would be a nightmare.

You CAN book tables (we had a team lunch there 2 weeks ago, 25 of us) , Ordering drinks is exceptionally easy (either use the App for table delivery or just wander across to the drinks outlets) and there are usually plenty of tables which can be pulled together for large groups

It's a bit rough and ready but

- there's a wide choice of eating options
- flexibility in terms of numbers
- everybody pays for themselves so no faffing about with the bill

[JQ]

Countdown said:

JQ said:

Meanwhile I could think of nowhere worse. You can’t book tables and for a group of that size everyone will be eating at different times. Ordering drinks would be a nightmare.

You CAN book tables (we had a team lunch there 2 weeks ago, 25 of us) , Ordering drinks is exceptionally easy (either use the App for table delivery or just wander across to the drinks outlets) and there are usually plenty of tables which can be pulled together for large groups

It's a bit rough and ready but

- there's a wide choice of eating options
- flexibility in terms of numbers
- everybody pays for themselves so no faffing about with the bill

My experience of a group of 10 -

4 people got their food 5 mins after ordering. 4 people got their food 5 mins after the 4 had finished their meal and the final 2 got their food 20 mins after everyone else had finished. Transpired they’d ordered from a kitchen with 1 chef that had just received a large order.

Personally for large groups I’d just rather have the order taken, the food to arrive so we’re all eating at the same time and save the faff of constantly ordering on apps. But may work for the OP, certainly doesn’t work for me.

[Countdown]

JQ said:

My experience of a group of 10 -

4 people got their food 5 mins after ordering. 4 people got their food 5 mins after the 4 had finished their meal and the final 2 got their food 20 mins after everyone else had finished. Transpired they’d ordered from a kitchen with 1 chef that had just received a large order.

Personally for large groups I’d just rather have the order taken, the food to arrive so we’re all eating at the same time and save the faff of constantly ordering on apps. But may work for the OP, certainly doesn’t work for me.

You are right in that the food does arrive at different times but I don't think that's unexpected given that people are (for us at least)
- not all arriving at the same time
- not all ordering at the same time
- not all leaving at the same time

For us the flexibility and informal nature of the place works. But I agree that might not work for everybody.

[hacksaw]

Thanks all, good few to go at. Mackie Mayor et al, I've eaten at Mackies before, its OK, my kids enjoyed it, but, probably not what we want for an evening dinner, but will put it to the group.
Hawksmoor, eaten there before, not Manchester though, this is on the shortlist.
Fazenda, another good call, been to the Leeds one, but not Manchester, also on the list
Piccolino, had a brunch there previously and was nice, also on the list.

[JQ]

Countdown said:

JQ said:

My experience of a group of 10 -

4 people got their food 5 mins after ordering. 4 people got their food 5 mins after the 4 had finished their meal and the final 2 got their food 20 mins after everyone else had finished. Transpired they’d ordered from a kitchen with 1 chef that had just received a large order.

Personally for large groups I’d just rather have the order taken, the food to arrive so we’re all eating at the same time and save the faff of constantly ordering on apps. But may work for the OP, certainly doesn’t work for me.

You are right in that the food does arrive at different times but I don't think that's unexpected given that people are (for us at least)
- not all arriving at the same time
- not all ordering at the same time
- not all leaving at the same time

For us the flexibility and informal nature of the place works. But I agree that might not work for everybody.

Agreed, when we go to restaurants for a meal, we tend to all want to eat with each other.

My list come from countless evenings out I’ve organised, some have of which have been shockers. It’s stressful being the organiser and getting a stress free venue is a high priority for me.

We booked Sterling for a drinks event (my favourite cocktail bar) and they got very upset when people wanted to stand up and talk to each other. It was forbidden to stand and drink. It ended up being a great night with everyone constantly having to swap seats to mingle but it was very weird at the start with some awkward conversations with the manager. Created a Dunkirk spirit. And in hindsight I understand the rule, it would have been great if they’d let us know at the time of booking.

Browns was the same, no standing or opening a tab, but they’d placed us in a very narrow area so it was very difficult to swap seats and stifled the night and someone was constantly having to go to the bar.

Taste couldn’t cope with a large booking and we ended up leaving after 2 hours with still no sign of our main despite having pre-booked all our food.

Freight Island (like Mackie Mayor) was another shocker - 40 of us and they wouldn’t let us open a drinks tab and no ability to order of the app as it was down. Basically meant there was someone standing in the large queue for the bar the whole evening taking drinks orders with runners going backwards and forwards with the drinks and orders.

[JQ]

hacksaw said:

Thanks all, good few to go at. Mackie Mayor et al, I've eaten at Mackies before, its OK, my kids enjoyed it, but, probably not what we want for an evening dinner, but will put it to the group.
Hawksmoor, eaten there before, not Manchester though, this is on the shortlist.
Fazenda, another good call, been to the Leeds one, but not Manchester, also on the list
Piccolino, had a brunch there previously and was nice, also on the list.

If you like Hawksmoor then Blacklock have opened a place in Manchester. Been to the one in SoHo and it was very good, just not sure how big the one in Manchester is, you don’t want to dominate the venue. But possibly worth a look.

San Carlo is comparable to Piccolino and is a real Manchester gem, although we had an event at Piccolino a few weeks ago for 30 people and the service was superb, it worked really really well.

[JQ]

Another option would be Albert Schloss. I’m not a fan, but I am clearly in the minority. Food is ok, but it’s always very lively every night of the week. If you eat there you’d not need to leave.

The younger one’s in my office love it, I find it too busy, but I’m old and grumpy.

[towser44]

Sapporo Tepinyaki? Went with a large work group once, very entertaining 🙂