Manifesto Market — Restaurant in Berlin

The food court feels light and airy, like a large living room. That is why, you have lots of young and hip occupied the entire place in front of the huge screen, as if one is waiting for some karaoke session at Mauerpark, although nothing was going on. But one can sit and eat comfortably at the table or bar. The toilet was already out of order, there is no place to wash your hands. Shouldn't food courts have available sinks for patrons to freely wash hands before eating? I guess, the architect and Playce do not care about this. We tried Shaniu und neighbour stall Chi Kin: Shaniu - We had the beef noodle and spicy beef noodle soup, plus a cold appetizer. The appetizer is ok, as if bought from a supplier, because it tastes the same as everywhere. The spicy beef noodle soup is just the beef noodle cooked with a big chunk of sambal olek. Tasteless although LOTS AND LOTS of msg. I was thirsty for next 5 hours. Udon noodle, instead of chinese noodle, used. Just a handful of beef chunks and a few leaves of chinese cabbage. No fresh green Pak Choy. At 13 Euros per order, it is not worth it, avoid. Chi Kin - Chicken wings with garlic. Literally served with 2 garlic cloves, and the small chicken wings were just deep fried. Tasteless. Kim Chi costs 2,50 €, served in a side small bowl. It looks good, but tasteless. No other ingredients in preparing kim chi in is sight, probably just chili and salt. Again, it is not worth it. Customers are forced to select 10%, 20% and 30% of tips when paying. Why? There is no service involved here. You collect your own food, and the food is just for masses or tourists who will...

I've been to the manifesto since then a couple times and here's an update:

Still a cool concept, nice atmosphere to hang out. Much cleaner and tables are more organized. I didnt have issue of finding table to sit nor with dirty dishes everywhere which i experienced before.

Overall prices are still a bit too expensive in my opinion. But various food options, vibes, plus they often have different events every week, i dont mind as much as before. So the place has definitely improved from my original review, at least based on my experiences the last 2-3 times since then.

Original review:

Plus: Concept is cool in shopping center which is convenient to go to decent amount of food selection

minus even with crowd that relatively ok (monday night), it's hard to find place to sit down that's clean. There's no place to put away your own dirty plates so people just leave their plates on the desk and it's not immediately cleaned (table besides us was cleaned up 20 minutes after we sit down). seating designs are not flexible, i guess its for aesthetic but it leads to inefficient use of space, for example round table with sofa for perhaps 5- peole is occupied by 2. expensive, each plate of chicken below cost me around 6€, thats 1€+ for one small bite of chicken. Doesn't taste amazing either.

Well it got potential. Maybe i will go there if I'm happened to be in the mall. But i definitely say it's not worth of planning your way...

Alright, let's dish about Manifesto Market – the place tucked away in the forgotten corners of Potsdamer Platz. Picture this: a swanky space in a half-empty mall, trying to pull in crowds that just ain't there, especially after the COVID chaos.

You walk in, and sure, you gotta give props to the vibe. They've thrown some serious cash into making it look cool. But does cool pay the bills in Berlin? That's the million-dollar question.

Now, onto the grub. It's a mishmash of everything from sushi to burgers, Korean to Thai, Mexican to African. Kudos to the vendors hustling to make their mark, but here's the kicker – the prices. Oof. It's like they're trying to finance a space mission with their meal deals.

Remember that BBQ joint? Yeah, the one where you needed a second mortgage to buy a brisket sandwich? Well, it's six feet under now. And it's not alone. Seems like keeping the lights on is a real struggle here. Portions are shrinking fast.

So, as a local, what's the deal? Location's alright, food's hit-or-miss, and the overall vibe? Meh. But hey, if you're desperate for a sit-down nosh in a half-decent setting, I guess it'll do.

Oh, and get this – rumor has it another food hall's setting up shop in the Sony Center basement. Talk about bad timing. There ain't enough foodies to go around, and now they're splitting 'em up even more. Good luck, Manifesto Market. You're...