Gorilla — Restaurant in Manchester

We planned to come here at 10am pre Christmas shopping with a group of 9.

We hadn't booked but the restaurant was very quiet (11 other customers) and we were told we couldn't sit together. We asked if we could squeeze on a table and add someone to the end and the bald waiter (Ben I believe) behind the bar was so rude and said it would ruin the vibe! Seriously! He was so rude and condescending and there was no vibe in the place at this time of morning.

He also said the table behind us (that would have fitted us all at) was reserved and the people that had reserved it wouldn't get in and out if we did despite the 1.5m gap at the end of the table. The reserved table didn't arrive by the time we finished at 11:40.

The waitress (blonde, eye shadow) was very rude too. Not very pleasant or inviting at all. Quite abrupt and really not welcoming at all.

The dark haired waitress that brought our food was polite and friendly and was the only member of staff that actually delivered any level of service!

We waited quite a while (30-40 mins) for 7 breakfasts and in that time the bald waiter and the waiter with the curly hair and cap were more interested in making and tasting cocktails than they were in actually paying customers attention and being there to give us a good experience.

The food was really nice and worth the wait so at least the kitchen redeemed you a little.

Other points to mention were dirty glasses on our table and dirty cutlery.

This party (and the 2 that had to sit elsewhere) are all senior retail managers and area managers and this service level in a restaurant is so below par on what we'd offer in any of our retail shops and this industry should be setting the bar much higher.

None of us will certainly be back and word of mouth will certainly have a detrimental effect on your business (given our social and work circle that will be quite a lot of negativity for...

When I was initially seated, the guy sat at the table next to me complained about his breakfast. Silly me, I thought I'd give Gorilla the benefit of the doubt and order a breakfast too. What a mistake.

First, the bacon was as dry as the Sahara. That was one of the many complaints from the guy next to me. Unfortunately I didn't heed his warnings about the breakfast before pressing ahead regardless. And so it proved, the bacon was so dry it was inedible without drowning it in lashings of tomato sauce.

Second, the fried egg was over cooked to an inch of its rubbery life. Blackened and plastic-like.

Also, the toast was so burnt that its deep blackness was like the sun had burnt out all of its fuel, leaving a perfect angular vortex of nothingness that swallowed up any flavour too. Look at the photo, how on earth did a chef look at that and think "that's a beauty, perfectly fine for the customer". Was utterly insulting.

This wouldn't have been so bad were the toast to have been buttered, but sadly it just had a weakly softened and tiny, five pence piece shaped patch of dampness visible. Almost the entire slice was otherwise dry. Who wants dry toast?!??!

The service was unfortunately painfully slow. So many times I thought we must surely be served, only to have our hopes dashed, time and time again.

Finally, I always tip, but we were given a forced service charge of about 15-20%. You can argue it isn't forced as they'd probably take it off if asked, but I don't want to argue about it in front of my date, especially when the terrible service has made us late. This means they've trapped you to the point where you have to reward their terrible efforts.

Maybe that's part of their plan? Maybe they don't actually care about repeat custom? If that's the case, then they've certainly succeeded in making sure I'll never be back.

Go the Trof, wonderful food...

Meal marked as gluten free on the menu isn't gluten free. I have written this review as a warning to those with coeliac and gluten intolerance. There is only one main which is marked as gluten free, steak frites, and it comes with onion rings which are not gluten free. I made the staff I was aware I had coeliac and they made sure the dish did not come with the onion rings, and they seemed to understand the seriousness so I don't know why it wasn't correct on the menu. The steak itself was rare with the middle being blue not medium as stated on the menu. This exacerbated how chewy the meat was. I would have sent it back but we were going to the concert in the venue and couldn't delay so my partner ate it, shocked by how rare and therefore chewy it was. Another guest with us had the veggie pie because they had ran out of fish and chips and several other items on the menu at 7:15. The mushroom top was apparently lovely but it was a thin layer and the rest of the pie was a slab of sweet potato, which was disappointing. My partner enjoyed his meat pie and the fries were very good for us both. My cocktail was also lovely. When the bill came they listed the steak as £5 more than on the menu. Thankful the server gave us time to check the bill and corrected it once we made him aware. Gratuity was added automatically. The place was filled and lively and the music was good but very loud.

The music venue itself had fantastic accessibility seating which was very comfortable with a great view and easy to reserve ahead of time (This was only for ambulant concert goers, I did not see the wheelchair area.) Would happily go to see a...