Latin Manna — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Being a non-latin person who doesn’t speak Spanish, i was excited to experience my Colombian partner’s culture through Latin Manna. The excitement quickly turned into disappointment which is sad. The first time we visited Latin Manna, we had the 2 kids with us, so we were excited to dine there.

We were seated in the front where the entrance to the restaurant was as this was the only table available when we had arrived. We had no issues with this. The first waitress came around within 5 minutes of us sitting, explained the menu and took our drink/food order without writing any of this order down anywhere. 15 minutes later, a different waitress came to check if our order had been taken. We said it had and our drinks along with the tapas came out not long after.

45 minutes passed after receiving our tapas, we still hadn’t received our main dishes. My partner flagged down a different waitress to ask if she could check on our main meals we had ordered a while ago. The waitress asked what we had ordered to which we explained again our order. 1hour 15 minutes had passed. Still nothing had been brought out to us. My partner at this point wasn’t happy, the kids were starving so we got them a packet of chips from their in-house shop to hold them over till our main meals arrived.

Another waitress (our 4th one) came back to confirm our order (again, no written order) to which she only got 1 dish correct out of the 5 items we were still waiting on. We RE-ORDERED our meals to which my partner asked her to write it down this time so she doesn’t forget or get it wrong again. She pulled out her phone and wrote our order down. Within 30 minutes (nearly 2 hours after receiving our tapas) we finally got our meals. Mind you, everything around us had already closed up at this point by the staff. The front door was closed (even though they kept letting people in to dine), the windows/shutters were closed, the coffee/drink stall out the front was now closed. We ate our meals (which were delicious), paid the bill, said thank you and left a little disappointed with the experience.

1 month later (yesterday Sunday 30th June) i told my partner that i wanted to eat some Colombian cuisine and if we could try Latin Manna one more time (no kids this time). He took me after deliberating over our last experience we had. Again, our experience for some reason was the exact same as the first time we had visited. Waitress approached us within 5 minutes of sitting with the menu. We placed our food and drink order and chatted while we waited. Our drinks and tapas came out first not long after placing them which was great. After this, the same thing happened. 45minutes passed, people that came in after us were getting all their meals first before we did.

My partner went to the counter to ask how long our main meals were going to take and within 20 minutes, we were going to pay for what we were served and we would leave. Mind you, for the 5 staff i saw working, it wasn’t too busy for a Sunday. After stopping our 4th waitress, she reconfirmed our order 1hour and 15 minutes after we had our tapas. Again, she got it all wrong. My partner asked her to write it down so she wouldn’t get it wrong again. She pulled out her phone and wrote our order down. Within 10 minutes, we got our 2nd jug of Lulo juice and our 4 empanadas we were meant to get in the beginning with our other 2 tapas. After 15-20minutes my partner said we needed to leave. Again, we paid for what we were served. Said thank you and left without getting our main meals this time.

As a hospitality professional myself, i couldn’t help but see that this place is a great place to dine HOWEVER, the service isn’t great at all. I could see that the staff seemed very unorganised both times we attended this venue. No one had a particular job that they were assigned to (eg. no sections were allocated, no one manned the food pass at the kitchen etc). They were all just doing everything everywhere. Staff at the counter also didn’t offer an apology for the long wait in both experiences which was...

I have never received such bad food in the few times I have ordered on any of the delivery apps. I ordered from here on Menulog I think it was. I ordered the manna’s calentado at $29.90 so not cheap. On Menulog it says it comes with beans and rice, chorizo, fried eggs, bacon and criollitas. I was at the hospital at this time with my daughter having surgery, didn’t really have anyway of getting food so I decided to order. Anyway the food I received was the worst. Got rice and beans which were cold and hard with a few pieces of chorizo, two fried eggs and what looked like two pieces of tortilla- (see the photos of what it looks like and what I got). I was beside myself, it is most definitely not what the picture on Menulog looked liked and not what I expected. I called them and told them and they tried to blame Menulog for it, they said that they don’t include bacon on it anymore. I told them it’s not their fault if you don’t have that on the menu anymore you are responsible to update it not Menulog, i asked to speak to the manager because the person I was speaking to just didn’t either understand me or she didn’t want to do anything about it and she said that the manager is not there, then she told me the manager is there, the she wasn’t but she will call me back in 5 minutes. Didn’t get a call back at all. So disappointed and I had high...

Latin Manna took me to a sensational gastronomic adventure. I like how this humble gem showcases Colombia through food and murals. Truly makes me want to visit this beautiful country someday. It’s quite distasteful (pun intended 😉), however, when a staff says, “I don’t mean to push but we need the table” when there’s about four empty ones at the entrance, haven’t finished my meal yet and was intending to order hot chocolate and buñuelos for dessert. 🥺 I’d still come back for more delectable Colombian dishes, genuine interest in the vibrant Latin American culture and Luz’s hospitality though. 🫶🏽

UPDATE, 3 months after 👆🏽: Can’t resist an openness to improve and you delivered, Latin Manna team! A lovely and attentive lady served my food and drink on my recent visit. Luz is beaming with warmth and positivity as always. 💛

Mondongo felt like home. Potatoes made the soup creamy and the tripe’s satisfyingly chewy. Whoever thought of making milhojas is brillant - perfect blend of sweet and tangy!

Will bring my friends over...