Azuma — Restaurant in Manchester

Honestly? One of the best restaurant experiences I've ever had, no doubt. I originally planned to come with friends for the hotpot but when booking the table in advance, I had found out that with a group of 4, you can get both hotpot and BBQ without extra charge. £22 per person, with a 2 hour limit and an £8 takeaway charge for any leftover food, to avoid waste. The staff have been absolutely brilliant both leading up to the meal, during and after. I had booked a week in advance and whenever I needed to go back during the waiting week to ask about the menu in regards to allergies and dietary requirements, the staff have been patient and gave me everything I needed.

Once the day finally came and we arrived, we were seated at our table and were excited to begin. The menu came as two sheets of paper, one for the hotpot menu and one for the Korean BBQ menu. Coming from a Cantonese family, I was pretty familiar and confident with the hotpot but less so with the Korean BBQ. Regardless, we decided to try everything. When the food came out, the staff were happy to show us how to cook the Korean BBQ properly before letting us take over. The food was absolutely great, it all tasted fresh and delicious. Both of the hotpot broths were great, the spicy Sichuan broth especially, which had the best spices added in, including the Sichuan peppercorns. We only ordered one more plate of meat for the BBQ afterwards since we had received so much food on the first order that we were full after it all.

Apart from the food itself and the basic standard of service, the owner also went more than above and beyond. He was such a funny guy and it really felt like a casual and fun atmosphere with him around. Really seemed to enjoy himself too and made our group laugh and it was such a comfortable environment. Not to mention, doing free baijiu shots with him! We honestly couldn't believe it was happening, I had just told the group that I had read about it in reviews but we never thought he would actually offer to us. Truly a fun and friendly atmosphere. He also had no problem with the two in our group who decided not to drink for that night and was fine with just the 3 of us doing the shots, no pressuring into it.

This is definitely a place I'd come back to again and as can probably be seen from comparing with my other reviews, this place will definitely leave you with so many more stories than your typical restaurant/buffet. If I could rate more stars, I'd definitely at least add an extra one more. Cannot wait for the next group that I'll be bringing...

From the food and buffet lover's point of view, i strongly dont recommend this restaurant, the owner or manager or something is so nice but for waitresses they cannot speak english properly and they didnt even try to commmunicate and their voice were too strong too use in a service industry, they should speak smoothly with customers.

And sometimes their inefficiency in using english made troubles and misunderstandings or worse it was led to misleading of the price!! This totally drove my friends crazy because at first they said they will not charge anything for extra sauce but at last they charged us many pounds and informed us about that they will charge one pounds extra for every sauce we ordered. This was totally mess, they should have informed us first. And the menu is also in chinese with some little english description and didnt provide enough information about price.

The food was also not that good, even worse than i expected for this price (average 20 gbp per person) we expect more quality...

The service is incredible, I was immediately seated and greeted at the door upon arrival!

The friendliest of staff assisted with telling us how the hot plate worked, the service was rapid and consistent! They gave us advice and always checked up on our wellbeing after each round!

The buffet is immaculate, the food is pure heaven, tastes just like a traditional hot plate platter. The variety is fantastic too you have a range of all meats, veg, and seafood that are freshly prepared in the kitchen and brought directly to you. The drinks menu is no different, there's a variety of Eastern, alcoholic, and non-alcoholic beverages on the menu as well as some fun house special drinks.

The cleanliness of the venue is on point, not a single spec of dust was found anywhere near the tables, and the toilets were refreshing!

I will be going back again and I can highly recommend this place if you're looking for both a great meal and a fantastic...