Foundry Project Manchester — Restaurant in Manchester

I thought I'd take a few weeks after moving location for a regular event to post a review.

Let's start with the undertone, something has changed in recent months, pretty sure it's new management and it's not been positive, perhaps the owner should get some 'secret shoppers' to witness it first hand.

The food has always been a 3/5, a sort of know what you're getting but it's never going to be amazing, often running out of items or a lot of items being a bit dry. The pizzas are pretty banging and can make up for a lot, and the chilli covered fries, the chicken tenders however would be a hard pass.

Drinks prices are acceptable, they're not offensive, and the drinks selection is fairly broad, but if I'm honest they're charging prime prices for northern quarter but they aren't really pulling in the crowds or vibe for that. So maybe work out how to bring people in 👍

Now the downside, the service from what I believe is the manager and their closest staff, some staff are amazing but there's a few really 'cannot be bothered' behaviour from the manager and some others. It's like they're doing you a favour.

I did attend randomly from time to time but my regular attendance was on a Monday for a board games event and honestly you could tell the manager didn't like it, we used to walk up and order food and they were good with putting it down on the table number, no issue ever..... Until my last visit, just got a real bit attitude of "well go get a number" but in a really harsh rude tone/phrasing.

The event has now withdrawn from the foundry project and gone elsewhere, and I'll not go back on my random trips anymore as I'd rather not give business with the way I and others were treated, sorry to the class acts that some of the staff were, I feel you're going to have a lay off soon.

Given the board game event was Mondays dragging in a lot of people compared to the few other visitors on a Monday, I truly think they've shot themselves in the foot and will start wondering why profits have gone down.

Honestly I think you just need to overhaul the new individuals that don't want to be there, it's just going to drag this venue downhill at a pace.

Good luck to the cool bar staff, you know...

Visited for the first time over the bank holiday weekend. Starting on a positive the food was really tasty, couldn’t fault that and the vibe was good. Overall though we were not impressed. I had booked a bottomless brunch with my boyfriend and our other couple friends for a birthday. Once seated we were told there was no house larger or any larger in the building which is included in the BB. We were offered Prosecco, Bellinis pretty much. Couldn’t really see the two lads drinking these. I understand this may of been out of your control with deliveries etc. but a heads up would have been appreciated as we would/could have booked somewhere else. We were annoyed that the food and drinks then ended up costing A LOT more than the bottomless brunch would have cost. We decided to stay on the basis that we did not want to walk around town aimlessly on a bank holiday weekend trying to find somewhere else to eat and drink. Like I say food was lovely in the end but it really wasn’t the experience we were expecting and there was no other alternative offered to us or discount on main menu. Plus there was black stuff floating around in my glass/drink which was a put off. It was bad customer service really for no heads up and very disappointing as not the visit we had planned. Toilets absolutely stunk too. Other than that it’s a very cool place, love the decor and the lay out and it was busy which was a great sign. Staff were polite. Maybe we just had a bad first experience. Hopefully if we come again it would be totally different. I appreciate that this is unlikely to happen...

To begin with, we were a bit disappointed. We had booked a bottomless brunch with plenty of advanced notice. On the day, we arrived and were placed in the centre of the 'standing area', clearly not surrounded by other 'BB-ers'. It was loud, we were not served for fifteen minutes and staff seemed unphased by our plight.

That was until one person came along who changed everything... Frankie.

I can not speak highly enough of Frankie, offering possibly the greatest customer service I have ever witnessed. Upon hearing of our disappointment, Frankie quickly set to work, finding us a far quieter area of the establishment to sit in. Throughout our two-hour bottomless brunch, he was at our every beck and call, ensuring that we were always 'topped up' with the drinks we had asked for and making sure that our food was served quickly. Most importantly, he always showed an extremely interested and positive manner.

To the people who run this particular Foundry Project, we were ready to leave at 16.15 due to poor service and preparation. Frankie completely changed our experience and made it one of the best bottomless brunches we have attended. If you do not give this man a raise in the near future, you are either a) foolish or b) unkind. Honestly, the best service that I can remember receiving in any customer-facing environment.

Thank you...