Manhattans Bistro & Music Club — Restaurant in Guelph

This past August I got married at Manhattans Pizza Bistro & Music Club, and I know I might be biased but it was one of the best weddings I’ve ever been to. I still have guests who talk about it, so I guess it’s not just me. And all of that is because of this beautiful venue and amazing staff. If you’re planning an intimate wedding (we had about 60 guests) or if you’re just looking for a great restaurant in Guelph, I would highly recommend you book for the following reasons:

The Food: As a long time patron, I knew that my guests would love the food (something that is very important at an Italian wedding!). We opted to do seated service. Guests were served dinner rolls and their mixed green salad. We took orders ahead of time and our guests could choose from any of their fabulous main dishes, most popular choices being the beef tenderloin and chicken Marsala. Desert was their chocolate pecan torte. ALL of my wedding guests gushed about how much they enjoyed their meal. The midnight buffet included several gourmet pizzas and an elegant charcuterie board of premium meats and cheeses.

The Atmosphere: Another one of the main reasons we wanted to get married here, the restaurant creates a classy and cozy atmosphere with its decor and live music. A piano and drum duo played procession music for the ceremony and then serenaded us while we ate. When planning, all I needed to do was put some flowers and candles on the tables and the restaurant’s backdrop provided such a beautiful setting that no banquet hall could come close to. Thomas, the owner, also put out some gorgeous floral arrangements himself!

The Staff: Thomas and Claire made the planning process a breeze. They were happy to meet and answer any questions we had via email along the way and even suggested the song I walked down the isle to! Also the service staff was amazing and not only served the guests their meals but served drinks to the tables as well, saving my guests trips to the bar. They were so professional and attentive! At one point I turned to my husband and said “it’s hot in here” and one of the staff who was walking by happened to hear me and said “would you like me to make it cooler?” and then turned the air conditioning up. Thomas allowed us to come in the night before and decorate after the last guests of the night left. He suggested the band and I’m so glad I trusted his expertise in that area and he saved us several hundred dollars for a DJ by suggesting that we simply bring an iPad. I download a wedding DJ app for a few bucks which blended one song into the next so that there were no pauses in-between the songs and no one had to man the iPod. The dance floor was full all night!

The Cost: While this venue was at the higher end of our wedding budget, I think it was worth every penny. The impeccable service, amazing food and wonderful entertainment made for an unforgettable night. Our costs were a little higher because we had an open bar and didn’t want to close the bar during dinner. When we approached our proposed budget for the bar at around 11:30, Thomas let us know, but we didn’t want to stop or slow down the party at all so told them to keep pouring! We don’t regret a thing.

Overall, if you’re planning an event or just a dinner out you will NOT be disappointed here. I am looking forward to celebrating many anniversaries here for...

I was excited to have a reservation on a Friday night as I know it's normally busy and we couldn't get a table the previous time. I wanted to show my partner my go-to live music spot when I studied in Guelph. The gentleman on the phone was great when he took the reservation as he warned us the table was right beside the band. Actually, turns out, that was an amazing seat! -plus way easier to drop a tip- We were glad it wasn't too loud being right beside the piano. The music was so perfect! Thank you to the band !

The hostess welcomed us right away and took our coats. The server was very nice and I was impressed when she offered GF bread for the muscles we ordered since she noticed I ordered a GF pizza.

I was very disappointed in the food. Never remembered Manhattan's food to be this bad.... but then we used to order a bunch of drinks back then. (they made good martinis)

Had the mussels for the appetizer. The sauce was tasty- a creamy bacon flavour. I found it odd that it was cold. I prefer hot mussels. The Bread that came with it was blackened (was their style, so just our preference that we didn't like the burnt taste). Ok, fine, we ate the gf bread instead, which was a delight.

The cod was ok, can tell it's from frozen. The worst part is that the vegetables that came with it were carbon. I don't even know what vegetables they were because they were completely black. (see photo). This completely made the whole pallette tasting like burnt carbon. You can't even taste anything else after that. Frankly, I'm shocked they even plated the dish. Told the server. She said sorry. It's ok.... the fish was filling enough as the portions were good. Just disappointed about the quality of food.

The GF pizza was the had tomato sauce, mozzarella, soppressata, red onion, shaved fennel basil and hot honey drizzle. The flavours were great especially with the chili oil they provide on the side. Only thing was that it was a bit hard to chew. I was still impressed because anywhere that has home made thin gf pizza, I am already happy. We had to eat the pizza to clear out the char taste from the burnt food.

I originally really wanted Tiramisu, but after the disappointing dinner, we were too scared to order anything else. We skipped coffee too.

Overall, we enjoyed the live music and ambiance. the 2 stars is solely for the great band. I would put one star if it was only for the food. I haven't had such bad food in a long time.

I was glad upon leaving, the kind gentleman, perhaps the owner, noticed I did not overly enjoy the full experience and was still very positive. I'm thankful for that... just don't know if it's...

I had high hopes for this place after reading all the reviews, however, this place was a big disappointment. The reservation process was great. We got seated no problem but this was where the good experience ended. I especially like how the server told us right at the onset that we had to clear the table within 2 hours. So clearly there was a clock running that we needed to eat and get out. As you read my review, you'll find that this is really funny that they give you a 2-hour limit, but don't serve you until an hour and a half into your seating. Also I should mention that we went in for dinner fairly early at 6:15 which is well before the place got busy.

It started with our server not getting our order right, I admire people who try to memorize your order but I think folks should go back to writing down orders so they don't forget. Our server almost forgot our appetizer, but that's fine. We were able to remind her so that got put in and brought to us within about 20 minutes of us ordering.

But then everything went sideways. We ordered pizza which I don't think is very complicated, but after 45 minutes of waiting - during which the server never came by to follow up on us - we flagged her down and asked her what was going on. She went to look into what was taking so and she tried to tell us how everybody in the restaurant had ordered pizza so they were backed up. Really?!? 🤣

After the server came by, a gentleman popped over who I think was the owner and we told him as well that we have been waiting a ridiculous amount of time for a pizza who also went to go look into what was taking so long. On the upside he did manage to speed up the process because the pizza came shortly after him following up.

When it eventually came, and not being too harsh, but was not exactly what I expected or the caliber of pizza from a restaurant like this. Add injury to insult, our server came over and had the nerve to say " so is it worth the wait?" to which my wife politely responded "Nope not at all". The server smiled, said sorry and walked away.

At this point we just wanted to get out of there, plus don't forget the clock is running out and we were coming up on our 2 hours.

We paid our bill, and left - but this is where I found it very interesting. As we are walking out the owner asked us again how our experience was and we told him we were not very happy. It's extremely disappointing that instead of inquiring what was so bad or how he could make or experience better, he just smiled wished us a good weekend and wanted us to get out of...