Common — Restaurant in Manchester

Update to previous visit: I was contacted further to my complaint raised with the venue. Subsequent correspondence and handling felt genuine and professional. I was invited back to discuss further and a personal apology given along with explanation of what was being done to remedy some of my concerns. I was also invited back to have a meal with drinks on the house which I obliged. I believe the venue is making genuine efforts to improve and have acted impeccably since my complaint. I have adjusted my rating accordingly in appreciation. I've been back to common since and feel things have improved. Give it a go! :)

Visited 20/10/18 I agree with previous comments about staff being indifferent. We found a table and asker the girl clearing it if it was taken or reserved. She abruptly replied that she was clearing it, which wasn't what I was asking. We then waited ages for our table to be cleared even though we were stood waiting next to it. The girl went off to clear another table even though I asked. I ordered a a beer at the bar which took ages to, returned and the table still wasn't cleaned. The girl appeared indifferent and if I'm honest a bit cold and abrupt. I ordered the food at the bar after waiting again and was asked where we were sat. I stated at least 3 times, clearly that we sat on the far side next to the window and she seemed to understand. I was not given a number of and there is no number on the table we sat at (see photo). We then waited ages for our food and despite a member of staff working in that area I had to go and ask someone where our food was. The girl came TWICE with different food but nonetheless didn't bother to actually check our order or to bring the right food. When food came, accusingly we were then spoken to that we had moved! The service was non existent, no attention to detail (like serving food to the right people!) and food was cold. I had to take all the food back. The service at this point was friendly however it was too late. We left after nearly an hour, starving. I left embarrassed at bring my parents out for food, this affected our entire evening. This is not the first time I've had problems with here. In my experience, staff are just not 'with it' and seem to be in a world of their own! Surely, it is basic organising when knowing who ordered what? Just give people a...

from the moment you come in it's like they are putting the extra effort to give you the worst possible service and experience. I honestly have no issues with "hipsters" and wanting to dress nice and eat organic, each to their own, but seriously it takes the same effort to just do your job than to be so indifferent about your surroundings cause I am sure you are getting paid and it's not charity. We booked but honestly no need no one it's even going to ask, the servers act like you are not there... you don't even need a hostess, who ever is serving the hot drinks can say "hi just sit wherever and order at bar" done! Doesn't take very long! All the tables were dirty so I honestly have no idea who is actually working in the place. I went to order before my friend and was charge £1 for asking to have my eggs scrambled and told they were not serving any hot drinks anymore, and got zero explanation on both instances. I was starving to I just gave up, when my friend ordered she was told that the food was taking 30 min at the moment, but literary order 5 min after me. Of course my plate arrive before and was half way through it and my friends food was still nowhere to be seen. I asked about th hot drinks and got "in 15 min" "in half hour", which one is it?! Went to ask about my friend's food and it was just there waiting to be picked up by the server while they were having a nice chat by the counter... you could have saved us all the trouble by simply closing the restaurant while you get yourself together... it's obviously you don't want to be there or work at all and think you are doing us all a favour! I am going to say the food was good but the food is also good in most restaurants around where common is. We completely regretted not leaving as soon as we got no acknowledgment from anyone. We went for coffee next door and it was lovely. I don't need servers to smile and be fake polite just to basically do their jobs while they are...

Update- many of the issues I experienced below were seemingly a one of and just a bad coincidence. A member of the team reached out and explained the situation. The food really was very good and i have no reason to not believe the member of staff who wrote to me. I'd now be willing to give the place another go based on what he's said

Firstly, the food was lovely, I have to start with that. There were issues, quite a few and more than enough to stop me coming back.

The app based ordering system was slow and I struggled with the mobile data strength for this to run effectively. Also the idea of having a dedicated app to save to my phone for a one off visit is radiculous. Why not just a web page?

Next up, item availability. We had a table at 7.45 on a Saturday night. A significant proportion of the menu was "unavailable". I would estimate a quarter of the pizzas were unavailable and 2 of the 5 starters were unavailable. The when I ordered my pizza and paid, a server came back to tell me that things that were included in my order, that appeared as available, were also unavailable.

Overall I don't see how having a waiter take your order wouldn't have been easier than this process above.

The atmosphere was a bit loud for me but that's maybe just my preference (live DJ in house).

Lastly, they use an obscene amount of disposable plastics. Our starters were on polystyrene plates and our drinks in plastic cups. In today's world it blows my mind that somewhere that is some otherwise cool and forward looking is so backwards when it comes to an environmental policy. Frankly it's terrible.

None of this would take...