Madre — Restaurant in Manchester

Where to even start? Let’s begin with the positives. Madre is a beautiful little restaurant on Chorlton st, the entrance is located in a cute little courtyard next to the canal, with fairy lights and greenery. The interior is stunningly decorated. I loved the juxtaposition of modern and rustic. Bare brick walls next to slick flowing furniture, 70s inspired bathrooms and cute tiled stools, Madre is welcoming with a laid back vibe.

On entrance we were greeted by the friendly hostess and shown our table. Usually I’m not fussed about where I sit but I really didn’t like this table because it was next to the door. Kind of made us feel we were on the outskirts. I did ask to be seated elsewhere but they were fully booked which was fair enough.

A friendly server took our drinks order, I had the Picadora, which was a delicious spicy tequila cocktail with cucumber and lime. I had two!

The food came quickly, tapas style. We were also given three small sauces as a freebie. There was a chipotle dip (kinda tasted like it was straight from the tin) a tomato dip which had a strange tea flavour and a really nice spicy coriander dip which was delicious. To start we tried the nachos. While the nachos themselves were crunchy and authentic tasting, they only came with guacamole which was a bit under seasoned and bland. I would have loved a bit of piquancy, maybe some Jalapeño or pico de gallo.

Next up we tried the birra tacos and the cheese tacos. Both were tasty but not authentic tasting. The taco shells tasted more like pizza dough, my friend told me they had Parmesan in which I thought was a bit strange for a Mexican restaurant! There was no garnish on the tacos and I added some of our free dips to really give it some flavour. Again I could have done with some pico or Jalapeño. I loved how the were presented though, the crockery they use is really unique and beautiful.

Next up, Lamb Chops. I was really looking forward to these and I was so disappointed when they arrived. To begin with they looked dry and slightly burnt on the plate. They were covered in cumin spice which seemed to have been applied extremely liberally. I found them very claggy on my palate. There was a nice avocado paste on the plate but again ruined by too much powered spice.

Now dear readers, onto possibly the craziest food experience I’ve ever had. We were offered the dessert menu which had three desserts, two weren’t available which I thought was pretty poor. We decided to try the only dessert which was churros with chocolate sauce. No one can mess up churros right? Right?!

When they arrived at the table we both immediately noticed a very flowery overpowering smell coming from the churros. I tried a bite and I had to spit it out, the flavour was so disgusting. The hostess noticed and immediately came over. She was very apologetic and offered to remove them. My friend insisted we keep them at first because we don’t like to complain. After trying them again (still awful) I put my finger on the flavour. It was more CUMIN! We both agreed it was definitely cumin on the churros not cinnamon. The lovely hostess came over again and told her what we suspected. She took them churros back to the kitchen to speak with chef. Apparently the chef insisted it was cinnamon sugar, I’m sorry but it was cumin. The lovely hostess took the offending churros off the bill and also gave us a discount which was very kind and not at all expected. The staff were all really lovely and I can’t fault them at all.

I would love to go back here for drinks but I don’t think I would ever eat here again. Everything we ate lacked a certain something, there was no kick, nothing exciting. I felt it needed more vibrancy and colour. It’s honestly a shame because I was really looking forward to eating here and I dislike writing bad reviews.

Hopefully this new restaurant will find some new inspiration...

Reviews must be fake. Dreadful experience. Cannot recommend and will not be back. In no way shape or form does this restaurant warrant its current rating.

Service with a smile? Won't get it here. As girlfriend says "I felt like I was on a conveyor belt, not a customer".

Sat us next to a cactus which kept pricking my girlfriends arm so she was uncomfortable whilst I was sat on a hard wooden bench and also very uncomfortable. Why place a real cactus so close to a table? Unsafe and uncomfortable. It's moronic.

Food is ok but just ok and so the prices charged are far far too high for what it is. Our bill came to the cost of a weekly food shop for a family of 3. For that price you expect good quality food and service for an overall positive experience. We didn't get any of that.

The pork belly was presented to us with sauce FAR too hot which burned my girlfriends mouth. This is dangerous. Every piece of food placed onto the table should be fit for safe consumption. This wasn't.

Poor thing then bit into her chicken tacos and bit into a bone! Again... DANGEROUS! Would they pay for her tooth if it was broken? Or what if she swallowed it and choked? The chicken should have no bone in it. Completely unsatisfactory.

We mentioned the food and they took off £4.75 from the bill (1 taco) but then charged us £7+ in service charge (12.5%). The service was cr*p. No smiles... you're in... you're out. We paid it because we're too polite to be honest. But we shouldn't have. There was little courtesy or attentiveness given. Our main female server wasn't too bad to be honest and was pleasant taking the order so I guess this doesn't apply to her but the other 2 who we spoke to have the personalities of rice cakes. I suggest the hospitality industry isn't in their long term interests to stay.

The entire experience was absolutely shambolic. I cannot recommend this place and don't. I won't be back and my girlfriends upset and feels it's ruined the night. I dont feel it has but its a shame she feels that way.

Also, the toilets are completely inappropriate. I couldn't go. 1 urinal and the male toilets is tiny with no door, it's just metal chains and obscure practically zero view. It's very uncomfortable and inadequate for the size of the venue.

My advice.... DONT GO HERE... Go to chiquitos... go to turtle bay... half the twice, twice the quality and at least the food is safe. Just don't go here.

I cannt comprehend how this restaurant has so many high rated reviews. I'm not a complainer and I am always hesitant to leave poor reviews but this one is most definitly deserved.

On the plus side... my girlfriend enjoyed her margarita but it was the only...

I’m sad it has come to me actually writing this poor review as I was very excited to try Madre. We had the beef, chicken, pork tacos, lamb cutlets and the prawns. Beef tacos were super greasy, the pork and the chicken tacos were bland and dry, lamb was simply disgusting and the prawns, although they looked amazing, they were undercooked, mushy and tasteless. We were sat down for 15 minutes at our table before anyone even gave us a menu, we had to ask twice for one! I do have to give credit to the cocktails though, even though our drinks took so long to come (they arrived at the same time as the food arrived), they were very good! As we were finishing off our meal a waiter with a ginger beard informed us that they would “need the table back in the next 20 minutes” we said this was fine, we then proceeded to finish our (disgusting) food and tried for about 10 minutes to get the attention of the same ginger bearded waiter to ask for the bill. He eventually brought it to myself as my husband had nipped to the toilet and said to me “we need the table back now” when I responded “yes I’m aware, we have been waiting for you to bring the bill so we can pay”. My husband came back and paid the bill while I quickly ran to the toilet before we left (literally 2 mins) and my husband said that when I was in the toilet, the same waiter said to him “I know ‘she’ is in the toilet but you need to hurry up because we have another reservation soon and need to clear the table” 😱 so rude! The restaurant wasn’t even at full capacity and it’s not like we were being slow. I can’t believe he had the cheek to try and hurry us 3 separate times. We had spent a lot of money on a horrible meal (we overheard the couple on the table next to us too saying how bad the food was to each other) we were rushed out by rude staff and we will not be going back. Will be telling my colleagues to avoid this place too who work in the office around the corner. All frill, no substance. Very...