Dakota Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Manchester

Dakota is a high class hotel with a classy bar & restaurant, where you might expect top-notch service. Welcome and general attitude of the staff is friendly, but somehow the efficiency of service is often lacking. Even when quiet, ordered drinks seems to get forgotten or else take much longer than one might expect. The layout of the restaurant (aka “grill”) makes it difficult to get the staff attention, and the end result is a dining experience which just feels a little too much hard work. Certainly not the indulgence it should be. This is our consistent experience over many visits, perhaps 8 times over the past few years. Venue, food and wine list are all excellent, hence why we return, perhaps also in the hope that they have improved service. Seems we are not alone in our disappointment, as we visited yesterday (Friday) evening and the restaurant was virtually empty. Come on Dakota, you can do much better!

UPDATE July 2025: Nothing has changed at Dakota Bar & Grill, service is still well below par. When I say “below par”, I mean below par for any bang average restaurant, and yet Dakota is clearly aiming to be a prestige venue. I can only conclude that the management don’t care, as there seems to have been no effort to improve. Baffling really! 🤷‍♂️🤔 It’s been a while since our last visit and I suppose we won’t be going back any...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5-Star Review for Olivia at Dakota Bar & Grill

We visited Dakota Bar & Grill for a large work event, and I just have to take a moment to praise our waitress, Olivia — she was absolutely flawless from start to finish.

Managing a big group is never easy, but Olivia handled it with total professionalism, warmth, and ease. Her customer service was outstanding — she was attentive, friendly, and never once seemed flustered, even when we made a last-minute change to one of the orders. She sorted it without any fuss and with a smile, which didn’t go unnoticed!

She worked so hard all evening and made everyone feel incredibly well looked after. Olivia is a true credit to the restaurant — it’s people like her who take a great evening and turn it into an unforgettable one.

Thank you, Olivia — you were fabulous! We’ll...

Made the booking very last minute for my husband’s birthday as we were supposed to be on holiday but had to cancel. Dakota managed to fit us in! We were greeted and seated at our table promptly. Not long after we sat down we were given two complementary glasses of sparkling wine (one alcohol free as they remembered I said I was driving). We had pork belly starter, chateau and skipped desert as we were so full. The food was absolutely gorgeous and to top it off, we were brought a happy birthday fruit plate. We were served by Diaz throughout the night who was amazing! We have visited probably a handful of times before and not sure why we never reviewed before but it’s our favourite special spot. Thank you....