Giorgio — Restaurant in Manchester

I went to Giorgio's with my friend being recommended by our hotel concierge. My expectations were high after his high praises about the restaurant but I have to say I was completely and utterly disappointed. As soon as we set foot in the restaurant a member of staff rushed to us and sat us down at a table. After a minute or so a very pretty girl with long, scraped back brown hair (maybe Polish or Ukrainian) approached the table so I greeted her with 'Hello, how are you?' to which she replied 'Just two?' and removed to place sets, unfortunately leaving behind a chipped wine glass in front of me. I did not mention the glass as I am aware it is an easy mistake to make. Just as I was about to order my friend and I a drink she turned around and walks off into the back muttering something to her colleague and laughing together.

The waitress brings our drinks over and once again without asking if we were ready to order our food just turns around and walks off again. Finally the manager came over and took our order.

Starter was ok, nothing special but when we came to mains I can't describe how disappointed I was. Tortellini Napoletana tasted like something you would expect to purchase in a supermarket isle to cook yourself at home and not in an 'Italian' restaurant. Italians pride themselves on their fresh produce and good quality food however the pasta was either previously frozen or stale as the texture was hard and dry and drizzled with a cheap ready made tomato sauce.

The service charge was included on our bill, and I am not the sort of person who would ask for it to be removed but it just felt to me that the waitress knew that no matter what service she gave, good or bad, the service charge would still be applied so why make the effort. There was another waitress on shift also, very helpful, polite young English girl. as soon as she saw my glass was empty she offered me another drink and as soon as i put down my fork she rushed over to clear the table, that is probably the only positive thing i can say about this experience.

Italian is my favourite cuisine so I thought instead of ordering an italian dish in a restaurant, why not go to an Italian restaurant where you would think they knew what they were talking about. but unfortunately here there was no Italian feel at all, food, service and...

I've been sat on inumerable busses passing this place for years n kept meaning to visit. finally did so with my wife one saturday afternoon when it was fairly quiet.

1st off, if you need help getting down stairs or simply cannot manage stairs, consider another venue. fortunately i was able to make it, but the stairs leading in n out are nothing compared to the ones for the toilets. I said fortunately.. n heres why. portions for our staters were HUGE! I had a prawn cocktail cos i was a kid in the 70's n fell in love with the overpriced little glass dish filled with lettuce n a few prawns... except this is Giorgio, so forget 1970's portions n glassware. it's served on a large plate with a huge amount of prawns on a full bed of lettuce n tomatoes n enough sauce to keep them swimming. n is probably, very probably in fact, the best prawn cocktail I've ever had. my beautiful partner had parma ham. lashings of it with a giant slice of melon. which was also delicious. then to the mains... again perfectly prepared n good (though not huge) portions. a tagliatelle and a carbonara which thanks to the starters took some time to eat.

service was very smooth, friendly n efficient thanks to there only being two other couples as we entered. this changed to half full during the meal but there was no decrease in service.

n finally the toilet stairs. lets point out that Giogio's can't replace the stairs. they are from an age before my first ever prawn cocktail when the building had other uses n no one knew what health n safety at work meant n employers could replace crippled staff with ease. another hand rail could help ease the journey for those of us who struggle when rock climbing down stairs.

would i go again? yup, you bet. n we've offered to take some friends. the food, the staff n the layout are worth the safety rig, lol.

OH almost forgot ... the prices. we were expecting to pay the sort of prices in the suburbs.. nope. not even close. no where near as cheap as 1970's money, but not far off. what would usually cost over 80 of our hard earned at our usual italian was just over 50, probably thanks to where Giorgio's is. away from piccadilly n the masses, but within reach of the main theatres. i imagine (no idea) it gets busy later on, but 4pm on a hot sunny saturday was a perfect...

Visited here with my daughter before seeing a show at the theatre. The service was very quick in terms of taking drink orders and food orders and the food coming out. The food was average, probably slightly overpriced for what it was and the wine was expensive at £7 for the smallest glass.

The reason behind my poor score is the manager/owner. I feel sorry for the staff working here (who were all great) because he seems like an absolute nightmare to work for. I sat eating my meal watching him order the staff around while he stood at his little desk thing, I witnessed him speak in an awful manner to one of the waitresses when she asked him if a table of customers could have the al a carte menu instead of the pre theatre menu as they didn't want that menu. I heard him snapping/speaking at the same waitress in a condescending manner on more than one occasion. This brought down the atmosphere and made it a very tense, awkward dining situation.

After we had finished our starters he actually left his little desk thing to come and collect our plates, whilst doing so he said "look at those clowns" and laughed while nodding his head towards some of the staff that were near the bar. Literally speechless that he would even continue to belittle them so brazenly.

He told us he would bring the bill but never did, waited 10mins before asking another member of staff, another 10mins passed before we were given the bill. It seemed like he was the only one that dished the bills out. When he came to take payment he outright pointed out that service charge wasn't included and would I like to pay one, I normally would although I prefer it when they just hand me the card machine and let me decide discreetly without feeling pressured into it.

I didn't leave a tip/service charge as I didn't know if it would go directly to the staff who deserve it for having to work for this man.

Quite honestly the only tip I'd like to give is to treat your staff better as it was honestly...