Fountain House — Restaurant in Manchester

The trouble with setting high standards and expectations is that you have either meet or exceed them. In this it was good but only close to excellent. Close, but no cigar. Ordering on the website is easy and the frequent offers in my email inbox are appreciated. Having left an Easter weekend order until late and not being sure of my plans, I opted for collection over delivery. A call received shortly after to confirm acceptance and agree a collection day, then radio silence. On the day and as previously, any attempt to call rings out until a recorded message advises that the mailbox is full. From previous orders I have the mobile number of one of the staff so text him to make final arrangements and again when I arrive at the Albert Square location, parking outside Red's True Barbecue in a meter bay. Last time, they brought my order out but this time I'm waiting on the steps until my presence is acknowledged, then El Jefe trots past me and in. He reappears with my order in a box and I'm home to squeeze it all into the fridge. I don't check the contents or recipe sheet. On the day of tucking in, I get it all out of the fridge and loom at the recipe sheet. It's for a different menu. I've got the Easter lunch special for one and the pork belly and sticky toffee for another. The website helps me with some of these but it's then that I also realise that I should have Yorkshire pudding and two gravies. I have one, large, pot of gravy and no Yorkshires. A bit of trial and error and the meals are cooked and served. Once on the plate, it's all good albeit that desserts don't come up to the same standard on size or quality as the...

The first time I ate here, the rib-eye steak was delicious. The second time round, I had a corned beef hash (no complaints) and my girlfriend had a flank steak with peppercorn sauce (at least that's what she asked for). When they brought out gravy by mistake, and my girlfriend asked them to replace this with peppercorn sauce, they promptly brought out what tasted like peppercorn gravy—not off to a great start. Then, with regards to the steak, we both tried it and agreed it tasted off. At this point, we just decided to enjoy what was left of the meal.

None of the waitresses asked how the food was until I was paying the bill (which already had the service charge added on), and then the waitress refused to accept my feedback on the steak. She must have got the saying 'the customer is always right' muddled with the non-existent saying 'the waitress is always right'. According to her, it couldn't have tasted off because of the garlic & thyme marinade? Well it's comforting to know you thought you could mask the taste of stale meat with a bit of garlic butter.

On top of this, we could see the chefs 'at work' in the kitchen from where we were sat; I've seen better discipline from the chef inmates on Ramsay Behind Bars. One of the female chefs I saw licking her fingers while snacking on food, and then picking her ear later on. No attempt to hide it either. The saying 'what they don't know won't hurt them' is completely lost on her. 10/10 for balls, 0/10 for hygiene.

In conclusion, I can safely say I probably won't be returning for...

Went there last week for birthday drinks with my girlfriends as we had a reservation somewhere else and was 1 hour early. Came here for pre drinks, noone attended to us when we came in, there wasn't much staff so we looked for somewhere to sit upstairs but it was full of people with 1 waiter. So we went downstairs and same thing noone attended to us, even thought there was hardly anyone downstairs. After sitting got recognised and was told to go upstairs, no one attend to us still, was told we can go downstairs. Got to a table and had to wait for what seemed like forever to be served. I finally got our orders in. Someone offered to pay for the drinks when if they came. We waited 30 minutes more for the drinks and we didn't want the drinks again. So we decided to leave but as we were leaving the waiter came back with the drinks. We told him we are late for a reservation and we don't want the drinks again. The waiter apologized for the service and long waiting time, told we can have the drinks for free. But we said we have to leave for our reservation, he then insisted we have them for free on the house as an apology. I asked him are you sure as he kept insisting. So we drank them and headed to our reservation, only to get contacted the next day by the person who was going pay for the drinks saying they were contact about the drinks not been paid when we were told we can have it for free.

You need to back check with your workers about these stuff and tour CCTV. As it was not right in the manner how you contacted...