256 Wilmslow Road — Restaurant in Manchester

Honestly, last night was awful (Saturday 22nd at around 1am). I went out with some friends, had a couple of drinks, and we decided to go to 256. Everything seemed fine—we waited in line like everyone else. But then the bouncer asked for my ID, so I gave him my Spanish one. The second he saw it, he immediately said, “You can’t come in, you’re drunk.” Just like that. No questions, no actual check, just straight-up denied me. I tried to explain that I’d only had a couple of drinks and was totally fine, but he wasn’t having any of it. His attitude turned aggressive, and he told me to step away from the queue. And let me be clear: I was completely aware of what was happening. I wasn’t stumbling and I was in full control of myself. I understood everything that was going on, and I knew that I was being treated unfairly. To be accused of being too drunk felt like an excuse to turn me away for another reason entirely. At that point, I started getting nervous. I could feel the stress kicking in, and since English isn’t my first language, I struggled to get my words out properly. One of my friends saw what was going on and came over to help. We tried talking to another bouncer, hoping for some common sense, but he just shrugged and said the first guy was his “manager” and he couldn’t do anything about it. Then my friend brought up something we were both thinking but didn’t want to say out loud: “Are you not letting him in because he’s Spanish?” The bouncer got uncomfortable and denied it, but it was pretty obvious something wasn’t right. That’s when things got even worse. The first bouncer—the “manager”—stormed over, shouted at me, and physically shoved me away from the entrance. I wasn’t being aggressive; I wasn’t causing any problems—I was just trying to talk. But instead of treating me with even the slightest bit of respect, he PUSHED me out like I was nothing. I wasn’t even raising my voice. I was just standing there, trying to have a conversation. But he treated me like I was a problem, like I didn’t belong, like I wasn’t welcome. I was furious. My friend left the club immediately to check on me, but I just felt so frustrated and helpless. At that moment, I felt completely humiliated. Not just because I was being pushed around for no reason, but because it was so clear that I wasn’t being seen as just another person on a night out—I was an outsider. A foreigner. Someone who, in their eyes, didn’t belong there. I think they will never understand the struggle to live in a place that is not home with a language that is not yours, and how hard it can be to get your message across in a stressful situation. Manchester prides itself on being a welcoming city, but moments like this prove that’s not always the case. Would definitely not recommend this place—especially if you’re not from the UK. I wish I could...

Twas a cold December afternoon promptly after 2pm, I had promised my friends a nice meal. There were no big tables and we decided to take shelter in the back room, we may as well have stayed outside, it was probably warmer. We had all settled on our dinner, and we went up to order. The poor scouse lad behind the bar seemed to not have a clue about anything, bless him. We sat down with our drinks to begin a long wait for food. The water tasted like pencils (we concluded it was the ice cubes) and my boyfriends beer had leftover gravy on the glass. We were then told that the chicken strips and 256 burger were out of stock and to choose an alternative or get a refund. We decided on 2 burgers and mozzarella sticks, we should’ve just got the refund. 40 minutes later the first plate arrived. It was then another 20 minutes before the second of 8 plates arrived. Half of the contents of the wrap were missing, but it was yummy so I was content, although the ‚side’ of chips was more like someone else’s leftovers. Everything was going mediocrely until the poor scouse lad bought out two bowls of sides. We asked what they were, he said he didn’t know if it was mozzarella or halloumi (it was neither- they were mac and cheese bites). Half of us got our meals refunded as they were cold and also completely incorrect. It was when the chef came out with a very unnecessary amount of sass telling us that we needed to be out of the room. My friend wanted a refund and to leave as he had seen the monstrosity's we were supposed to call lunch, but they told him his food was coming out now. It came out 20 mins later. It was also meant to be a ‚light breakfast’, nowhere did this say this meant you receive a single cremated piece of bacon, chemo sausages and ‚toast’ (it was soggy unbuttoned bread). Needless to say he got a refund anyway. The chef also refused to admit she was wrong, as she claimed the replacement burger was not on the order despite paying. She was very rude, and made the room feel much colder. When we walked out to leave she was swearing at us under her breath. Not our fault your food was bad. My boyfriend also had a chip that was frozen but covered in oil. It felt like a skit from fawlty towers, don’t think I would go back to be honest. Stick to being a club and perhaps get another chef. Typing this in spoons right now tucking into yummy warm food. Sidenote - your pool...

Me and my partner went to this place for their roast dinner. We sat down in their upstairs area. The atmosphere was okay and the bouncers were quite friendly. We ordered our food on their app, after a while we saw people sit on tables next to us, they ordered food and got served in 10-15 minutes. 30 minutes after ordering we saw more people (who arrived after us) get served. 45 minutes after ordering I went downstairs and asked what was going on and i was told that they’d “get back to” me. after an hour had passed i went down again and asked a different member of staff, she said “sorry there’s loads of orders no one is getting their food” which was a lie as everyone around us had been served. I explained this to her and she decided to check and miraculously she brought the food out. The food was completely cold, the only reason it could even be considered “warm” was because of the hot gravy they poured on clearly room temperature food. The worst part was that when i tried the food in the centre it was completely cold, not room temperature more like refrigerated cold. so after an hour of waiting i got served cold, disgusting food that wasn’t even fresh. I will never be coming back to this place and I don’t recommend this place...