Riva Blu Italian Restaurant & Bar, Manchester — Restaurant in Manchester

When it first opened me and my mum were really excited about going. The drinks were lovely and so was the food, especially the lasagna. All in all a good experience. After speaking so highly about this place, I managed to convince my boyfriend to take me for our anniversary. We ordered the spicy meatballs and the chicken skewers and some fries on the side. The meatballs came with pasta that must have literally been just dropped into water and taken back out straight away because it was still hard. The chicken was tasteless and the fries came in a rather small portion (even though they cost like £4). Also we were asked if we wanted some water when ordering but nobody said it was going to cost us over £4 for a bottle. Obviously wouldn't have paid that for water as well as our other drinks. I actually visited this place for a third time with my mum even though I had told her about how awful it was the second time I'd been. We were waiting for around 10 minutes before we were seated. Nobody even acknowledged we'd walked in. When we eventually were seated we must have been asked about 3 times if we wanted to order, a couple of minutes within each other. Eventually we ordered and got garlic bread with half cheese and half tomato. That was really lovely. Once we'd finished it was ages before our mains turned up. We ordered lasagna again after enjoying it so much the first time but this time it was burnt and awful. I left half of mine. When it came to paying my mum wanted to use her Gino card that she had been told would get £20 put on when she signed up. The waiter said there was only £1.25) or something along those lines even though she hadn't used it since the first time we'd been. What a complete scam. We both agreed we wouldn't be coming back here again. Overpriced and...

I usually don’t leave reviews unless i am truly happy with the experience or truly disappointed. I hope this is taken as a feedback because the restaurant has potential. Let me start with saying how disappointed we was. I am a chef and also Italian and This is definitely a “comfort food” Italian restaurant. Troppo fumo niente arrosto in sostanza. Let’s start with the service, our waiter was fantastic, Pedro very attentive, you can tell he has been in hospitality for a long time. But the problem were the other waiters. I believe there is not much structure as every time they were bringing food out no one knew which table they were going. Quite embrassing to be honest. Bare in mind we were only 3 tables outside. Menu is very limited, as i said they have just what you would want to eat as a “foreigner” in an Italian restaurant. Lasagna’s and Carbonara.. very basic. Restaurant design is beautiful but why do you use Kitchen cloths as napkins… we use those in the kitchen. We had a Bellini, which was allright and an Aperol Spritz. Honestly… i am sure they had put wine instead of Prosecco but the Spritz was outrageous. Maybe a mistake, maybe not but at this point just use sparkling water and put actual Aperol in it. We had Calamari as a starter, barely any calamari in it, everything bulked up with Courgette and peppers, so it looks more than what it is. As mains we had Sirloin Steak and Veal Milanese. They were allright. We then ended it with 2 amaro Montenegro. 120£ bill and left disappointed. I am sorry but food is not up to standard for the type of restaurant it is… looks beautiful but the food is a no. Noone is expecting authentic but definitely expected...

Wow…. Wow wow wow wow wow. So when celebrating my 40th in July I went to Piccolino in Manchester and it was really terrible. To compensate, the customer care team offered to put it right - I was adamant I would never step foot in one of their group restaurants again…..

I write this review full of love and appreciation for this group.

Apologies in advance for not taking pictures of the amazing food…. We were immersed in dining!

Arancini, calamari, the tomato garlic and bread dip, fish skewers, gnocchi, seafood linguine and a fantastic pizza!

The wine, non alcoholic options and coffees fantastic too….. 🩵💙

Nindy who arranged this replacement meal and complementary Prosecco and voucher towards food was very gracious, thorough about looking into the experience in July and genuinely wanted to put it right.

That is exactly what happened!

Last night we re dined but chose Riva Blu in the Corn Exchange.

Wow. Firstly the food was exceptional, the service was truly world class - Georgina who looked after us was attentive, efficient, energised, professional and made the entire dining experience so special.

The whole team from front of house, bar, waiting staff were clearly happy to be there and understood the hospitality industry.

We walked out overwhelmed with joy. Some may read this and think it’s an OTT review but actually for a brand to turn around what was a really bad and upsetting experience into one which we will now remember and treasure is no mean feat.

Thank you to those who put this right and to entire team at Riva Blu.

Georgina needs to be spotlighted! Top...