Exhibition — Restaurant in Manchester

The food we had was absolutely to die for (Onda Pasta) some of the best pasta I’ve ever had. Service however was really awful. I’ve worked in hospitality for almost 10 years and have been a restaurant manager. What we experienced was just not up to par. If it wasn’t for the food I would give 1 star.

I had been trying to book a table for 3 days and could not get the website to work for me. I could see availability and could get through to add my details then it would crash every time, unable to go any further. I asked the person I was dining with to try and reserve an table and they had the same issues over multiple days. I tried to ring multiple times and I got no answer.

We turned up on a Thursday evening around 5pm so pre-dinner rush with no reservation hoping to get a walk in. As we got to the host’s station we got no welcome or hello, and only “do you have a reservation?” To which I replied “no actually we rang and tried to book online and I think the website might have been down”. The host audibly started laughing at us and replied “no we’re just really busy that’s why you couldn’t book”. There was about 6 tables seated and the rest was empty at this point. She then looked at the booking system where I could visibly see gaps (again, I’ve worked in hospitality for years) , and groaned as if she was working excruciatingly hard to find a gap. She then told us there was a table for 2 which we could use “but only for an hour and a half” which was fine with us.

We were then seated on one of the many empty tables, and within about 30 seconds had another member of staff ask us what we wanted to order. I said we were not yet ready and to give us a couple of minutes, this waitress made us feel as though this was a chore for her rather than her job role, and then walked off for 10 minutes before returning. We ordered drinks and food and then the waitress came back as the wine I had ordered was not in stock. I then said I’d have a white wine.

Food came out and was amazing, we had no check ins from staff regarding the food. Then after 45 minutes to an hour a man came up to us clearly trying to get the table flipped despite us being told we had an hour and a half. He asked if we needed anything else and we said no. At which point he stood at the head of our table awkwardly for about 30 seconds. To end the awkwardness I said “we’ll take the bill please” and he replies great. The bill came out and I was floored that the waitress decided to pick the most expensive glass of white wine on the menu, when I said any white wine would do as an alternative. Odd upselling technique, given I wasn’t informed of this. I was also pretty floored by the choice to charge us a service charge given the poor service we had received and the staff making us feel that we were a burden rather than paying customers.

We asked for a card machine and then sat for an another 10-15 minutes waiting to pay, while the the staff that had been rushing us stood around chatting. As we left we got no goodbye or thank you for coming.

I was really excited to eat at Exhibition and sadly will not be returning. It is a shame that the institution seems to think they are too cool or exclusive to teach their staff basic customer service skills beyond...

I was recommended their sister restaurant Sur in the north of Manchester, but decided to try this new location - and I'm very glad I did. It felt energetic as soon as I walked through the door, with a DJ in the middle of the room, three food market stalls around the main seating on the right, and a large bar on the left. The welcome was immediate and warm, and I was very quickly escorted round to a group of more intimate tables in the corner facing the bar, which suited me perfectly. From there, I could watch the world go by, and I didn't feel awkward about eating on my own (I was in Manchester for one night for business). I was given a menu - three different themes, matching the three food market kitchens I had seen when I entered: one Scandinavian, one Basque, and one Italian. There's a good selection on each - you can order across menus (Scandi starter, Basque main etc) but I was in the mood for Italian, so ordered from the Sur menu. Drinks order was quickly taken - a carafe of Northern Macedonian white, which was excellent - and a bottle of clear fresh water added to my table, with a glass poured for me. I asked for some help to order, and Sophie - who waited on my table and was fantastic all night - helped by discussing options. We settled on the orecchietti with house sugo for main, with the fennel & radicchio orange salad as a side, and the rosemary & garlic sourdough bread. I have to say, writing this two days later, my mouth is still watering - the salad and bread came out first, and the two flavours worked so deliciously together, I could have eaten that all night! Aside: a lot of reviews mention the saltiness of the food. I loved the full flavours, but they are strong and the salt in the bread draws out the sweet and sour taste from the dressing on the salad. The orecchietti felt almost bland after the taste assault of the bread and salad, but actually it went really nicely with the wine. I decided, after a discussion with my partner in crime Sophie, to have the tiramisu dessert (frequently recommended) along with an espresso martini. I usually steer clear of strong coffee in the evening, but this combination was exquisite. I loved the thick coffee texture of the cocktail, and the tiramisu is split into its constituent parts so you can choose to combine them as you wish - biscuit, mascarpone and alcoholic sauce. Delicious.

I honestly had a real treat here, and I'd love to come back and try the other menus. The atmosphere was great, staff were friendly and helpful, and the food was fantastic. Highly...

Mixed emotions about Exhibition MCR. At first glance, the restaurant's gastronomic proposal struck me as bold yet daring. The execution in combining three different cuisines into a single menu, I must say, was competent and precise. I opted for three dishes: the Calamarata allo scoglio, Idiazabal cheese, and Padrón peppers. The Calamarata allo scoglio was excellent, with a superb selection of seafood and perfectly crafted pasta. Idiazabal cheese met expectations. However, I can assert with some certainty that the Padrón peppers were not the original Galician ones, as the genuine Padrón peppers are smaller and have the unique quality of being spicy for some and not for others, a characteristic these did not exhibit. Although I must add that these peppers were by no means bad.

While most of the issues were related to the service, I will attempt to provide a fair and constructive review. It is true that the waitress who served us during dinner was competent and pleasant, but there are a couple of key details that a good restaurant cannot afford to overlook.

I understand that by making a reservation, you reserve the right to charge £10 per diner in case of a no-show. However, what is unacceptable is that, with such a policy in place, the customer is made to wait for 20 minutes in the restaurant's foyer until a table becomes available. It is not professional. It is your responsibility to have the table ready at the agreed-upon time.

The second issue was that, upon finishing our dinner (just minutes before 10:00 PM), a waiter denied us the opportunity to order dessert, citing the kitchen's closure. I find this to be a lack of respect, especially toward customers who began their meal 20 minutes late due to a delay caused by the restaurant. Desserts are pre-prepared dishes that do not require extensive preparation, and the least they could have done was to offer us the dessert menu.

The last issue was the deafening music. I believe that, for a restaurant, the music was ear-piercing. I loved the ambiance of the place, but the music was neither suitable for the occasion nor was the volume reasonable. It suites the bar but not the restaurant, so the reasonable thing is to wait until everyone has finished dinning to start with the DJ.

I conclude the review with a message. It's a restaurant with great potential that gets lost in...