The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum — Attraction in Scotland

Fantastic building and exhibits completely ruined by cafe staff. Visited on Sat 5 Aug 23 around midday with my wife and son. Had a great time viewing the art and various exhibits then went to the cafe for a coffee, I visited the rest room whilst my wife took my son to the cafe to get a table, staff member shouted at, and chastised my wife and disabled son for sitting at at a table for three and tried to move them, my wife explained that there were indeed three of us and that I would be there in a few moments, within minutes another member of the cafe staff chastised my wife and tried to move her to a table for two, my wife explained again that I would be there in a moment. Shortly thereafter the first staff member returned and asked my wife if she was sure I was appearing! All this in a matter of a few minutes. I only wamted a coffee, what I received can only be described as dishwater, I tried to attract the attention of a staff member to complain but she ignored me and another staff member (the original one that shouted at and chastised my wife) shouted at me 'I said I'd get to you in a minute'. She did change my coffee for me but replaced it with something even worse! What I received was worse than a Witherspoons machine coffee and that takes some doing!!! Sadly this whole establishment is ruined by the cafe staff and dishwater they sell as cofffee, there ought to be a...

Cafe attitude ruin the museum visit. Came in on a weekday Tuesday 1:15pm and was trying to get a seat near the window with the Cafe area. The seats in the Cafe were 30% filled, and staff insisted that all window seats are reserved for 3 people, which was not the case. Based on observation, I said only two people were sitting in other tables of the same size near the window (they are round tables), then staff explained that all window seat are reserved for people with disability. This sounds very strange because (1) change of narrative and mismatch with what actually is the case and (2) ironically, all window seats are furtherest away from the museum entrance, disable toilets, and it has a relatively smaller table size or behind the back movement space. These window seats are very packed together and best suited only for one or at max two persons. This sounds like a very unfriendly policy to both disable and nondisable visitors too because people who are not disable are then forced to not sit at all window seat, whereas disabled people are forced to sit at the window seats that has smaller movement space and with their backs hitting the other customers sitting behind them (and furtherest away from entrance/disable toilets). I ended up leaving the cafe because staff insisted no window seats allowed even when the cafe is 30%...

The dundee exhibits in Maccmans are very interesting. However, going up stairs to the international exhibits with Egyptian and African exhibits made me feel a little sheepish as you never know how they were acquired and from what was seen in the gallery. It was hard to tell the validity for them being there or explanation into how they were acquired even if was unknown it’d be nice if they acknowledged their ignorance in the exhibition hall.

Particularly, there was some out dated and pejorative wording “oriental splendour”, and texts implying the “exotic” nature of East Asians with a quote by a White person saying “Chinese people are natural born cooks” which is a major generalisation. As an Asian, it was extremely disappointing and racist wording. It is a depiction of Asia in a stereotyped way. It made me feel very uncomfortable and left with a bitter taste in my mouth. I hope your director sees this as a way to change and improve the gallery to be more inclusive and not take it as an attack. I hope you do better as an museum and...