Maray Manchester — Restaurant in Manchester

Sadly, a real disappointment.

I'll pre-empt this review by advising that this is the first review I have been compelled to leave online for a restaurant, ever. I worked for many years in the hospitality industry and understand the challenges that teams face - a public review offers no benefit to either party - customer or business.

However - we were extremely excited to dine at Maray in Manchester to celebrate my birthday. We've read countless great reviews from the Liverpool site and had keenly kept our eye on the Manchester launch.

We arrived to a short delay in finding our table - though this was very quickly resolved.

We ordered drinks, and the first hiccough arrived when trying to order the Falafel sharer, unfortunately none was available. We hadn't been advised this when given menus but no problem, we went back and re-ordered.

We ordered in total 9 dishes, inclusive of Mezze options.

However, in reality, only 5 ever arrived, most of these the Mezze. We knew the order went through correct as the server checked the order through to us.

Initially, the Flatbread, Hummous and Labneh were the first things to arrive.

The flatbread was completely uncooked - freezing cold, stale, not warmed through. They'd added some oil and parsley, but even bought in bread needs to be warmed through. It was stale, cold and barely edible.

The Hummous was poorly presented, underportioned but overglazed with oil and I assume parsley. It was passable.

Further to this - we then only received the Disco Cauliflower and the Chicken from the main remaining menu dishes that we ordered over the next hour. No wait time was advised, no delays indicated.

The Fried Chicken was burnt, fried for far too long, and poor - you can tell it had been left under the hot lamps for a while. The Disco Cauliflower, to their credit, was great.

We received no checkback, and when we asked for the bill (we never complain where not necessary), there was only disinterest, and no attempt to make things right. The remaining food (Pork, Carrots, Chickpea Dopiaza) never arrived.

At this point we were gutted - a birthday celebration ruined.

The bill arrived - however 3 of the dishes that we ordered that never arrived, plus the service charge were still added to the bill.

We asked for these to be removed, and were met with dismay, a shrug and no hint at an apology.

It really spoiled a birthday experience - and as mentioned, we have never, ever been compelled to write a review or complain beforehand. If any attempt at resolution would have been made, we wouldn't have felt this necessary.

We do have photos that can show the poor quality of the dishes but we won't share these publicly as we understand the impact this can have on a restaurant. I just wish we'd been shown a similar level of respect. Poor customer experience happens - it's part of the industry, but it's all about making things right.

I think perhaps it's best waiting until the restaurant gets its operations running a little smoother before visiting, and I personally don't think I'd visit again.

There are countless quality, independent middle-eastern food producers in Manchester that will offer better value and take genuine care in the experience of...

Pre-Gig Dinner Stop

We picked here because it was conveniently close to Albert Hall before a gig, and I’d pre-booked a table. We were running a bit late, but thankfully they have a really handy WhatsApp service where you can keep them updated, which took the pressure off.

On arrival, we were greeted warmly and seated straight away. The place has a modern, stylish vibe with nice lighting, definitely a great setting for a chilled evening. The cocktail menu was impressive, with plenty of low- and no-alcohol options too. I went for a jungle rum-style cocktail, strong, with a proper rum kick. My friend, who was driving, chose a sage, pear, and ginger drink, which was light and refreshing.

Food-wise, the menu offers small plates, mezzes, and mains. Our waitress was really helpful, walking us through the menu and making recommendations. One of our friends is vegan, so we all shared the mixed mezzes (£6.95 each), which included olives, tabbouleh, hummus, and goat’s cheese. As the waitress put it, it was “very dippy”—a nice spread, but for the price, the portions felt quite small (three falafels, a handful of olives, etc.). Flavours were good, but I’ve had similar elsewhere for less.

Our vegan friend had the falafel and flatbread, another friend chose the buttermilk chicken with cucumbers, and the fattoush salad I had a medium-rare steak with oyster mushrooms and what I think was a shakshouka-style dish. The mushrooms had a nice kick but were slightly burnt in places. My steak was pleasant, though I personally would’ve liked it cooked a bit rarer. The chicken looked great!

For dessert, I tried the cheesecake, which leaned a bit too savoury for my liking, okay but not memorable. My friend had the date bread and butter pudding, which was absolutely delicious. Wish I’d gone for that instead, though I was pretty full by then.

Overall, it’s a great spot: friendly, attentive service, a good drinks list, and options for vegan diners too. It started to get busy as we were finishing, so I was glad we’d booked. I’d definitely go back, but I’d pick different dishes next time—some felt a little overpriced for...

It’s taken me a few weeks to sit down to share my astonishingly perfect restaurant experience I had at Maray Manchester, but don’t confuse that for lack of enthusiasm! I will try to be brief to cover as much as possible, because I was so so impressed by every detail.

I wanted to have my birthday party at the restaurant, and from the beginning the restaurant (particularly the amazing manager Becca) had such warm ease in resolving my questions and some serious hurdles.

On the night, our main server Meg created such a special & friendly atmosphere. To have a birthday card on the table, asking all about the desserts I’d brought and really making a huge effort to present them attractively, never hovering or interrupting the flow of conversation, being around whenever we needed her and arranging for the ENORMOUS feast we ordered to arrive in a smooth, continually successive waves that all just felt so natural. That last part has been SO rare in sharing places I’ve been to!

It was so lovely to not be rushed to pay, let alone to leave; this was the case for so many tables around us chatting well beyond “close time” and again that is not my usual experience.

Even the level of friendly respect and very casually giving us space to sort out payment. Often the splitting of the bill or discussion of service charges is so awkward but again, the staff really treated us like humans.

I haven’t even mentioned how amazing the food was; it feels almost redundant! But my god is it drool-worthy. We ordered the entire vegetarian menu and quite possibly it was the best decision of our lives. You can see in other reviews how attractive the food is - I have no photos to offer because every plate was simply licked clean 🤤 I HAVE to mention the carrots and sweet potato as unexpected standouts!! But literally nothing is not worth ordering.

ln short, I will be shouting about the staff, the dishes and Maray in the streets. I had such a special birthday and I am...