Sicilian NQ - Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Manchester

There's something a bit odd about this place. I can't exactly say what. I hope things get smoothed out, but pandemic plus Brexit and economic crisis makes this a tricky time.

The food was okay. I appreciate that the restaurant uses genuine Italian ingredients and makes things in-house, but at these prices, Mancunian diners would expect bigger portions or for prices to be lower. The service was all right. The place and space felt a bit tight.

I'd booked online early friday evening, but neither I nor the restaurant had record of the reservation. Maybe I forgot to hit the fundamental 'reserve' button. Luckily and kindly, they were able to accommodate us on some bar stools.

Note: my dining companion and I don't eat meat.

For starters we ordered pistachio arancino and mushroom arancino. They were nice enough and came in on a plate of white sauce.

For our mains we ordered fennel gnocchi and tagliatelle porcini. The fennel gave a lovely flavour to the tomato sauce. The tagliatelle seemed quite ordinary. There were juicy chunks of porcini mushroom in it, but they didn't really taste of much.

For dessert, we had an affogato and a piece of fedora cake, made with layers of cream and light sponge and flaked almonds. It was tasty and and something I haven't seen anywhere else, but a big for one person. There was no vanilla ice cream available for the affogato. I'd keep some in stock; the typical Mancunian diner isn't adventurous enough to mix coffee with egg liquor or cherry flavours.

Talking of ice cream, I passed this place in summer and wanted an ice cream to take away and was told it would be £6. I don't know how much I would get for that amount, but all I wanted was one scoop, so I didn't get any. Maybe I should have haggled, but I was a bit too shocked and left without getting one. It's a shame, because the fridge in the front makes it look enticing.

I'm puzzled about what price range or market they are going for or what kind of atmosphere they are trying to create. The cover versions of pop hits followed by what seemed to be original Bowie was a bit jarring. The printed menus looked a bit cheap and the overall service neither brisk and efficient nor particularly friendly. Some food products were available for sale like the pistachio cream and the chocolate hazelnut spread. I love chilli oil, but there doesn't seem to be any way to try it on any of the mains. My dining companion has been reading books about a certain Sicilian inspector so I was disappointed that the Montelbano Ate Your Heart dish was not available and neither was the Parmigiana Siciliana. The menu on the website needs updating.

However, the restaurant was full and as we left, peak dining time approached and the place started to fill with younger women who looked like Instagram influencers all flawless makeup, pale trousers and mushroom-coloured winter coats.

There's a reason Italian food does well in the UK. A lot of it is fairly bland and safe, but appears foreign enough that English people think they are being sophisticated and cosmopolitan when they are eating it. If you showcased the best of Sicilian food here, I'm not sure British people would not really appreciate it.

It was fine, but I'm not...

We pre paid for a 3 course meal for £30 online weeks before & was super looking forward to it as the food photos looked great. It took ages to get a drinks & to order our food. The front of house chap didn’t seem like he’d ever worked in a restaurant before, his colleague seemed to be running around doing drinks, running food etc, it was all a bit disorganised. Starters finally came & we’re ok, we had to keep asking for garlic bread, 3 times & it never came. Then the mains arrived. My portion was a child like portion, I had to check the menu as it was listed as £17:50, I’ve never seen such a small bowl of food. My friend complained as her dish was cold, the waiter then put his finger in her food to feel it!!!! Enough said! We waited ages for our food in the first place so was surprised when her dish came back within minutes, obviously hot from the microwave & after having someone’s finger twirling round in it. Grim. We then ordered desserts to be told they didn’t have what we wanted so went for the Lotus biscoff cheesecake, it was absolutely revolting. Pre bought probably from Costco, soggy biscuits & a gelatine tasteless flavour, again I checked the menu, it was vegan. Nobody touched the desserts, such a waste of money. After this we’d had enough so got the bill which was £234!!!!! We’d already pre paid, 3 garlic breads were added that we never received too. The quality of the food & service was not up to this ridiculous bill, luckily we’d already pre paid so only just paid for our drinks. We each used the bathroom which was dirty & no handwash. We did tell a member of staff but he didn’t seem to even know what day it was. The chap on the other table complained to me about his experience & remarked on “framing his bill” I’ve never had such a terrible experience & I never leave bad reviews but in this case I must. Especially after 2 of us were poorly the day after. On previous reviews its mentioned many times about the lack of handwash in the bathroom. Come on, this is the basics of what you need to do for gods sakes. Clean up your act, this is a shocking establishment. Also take your Halloween decorations down,...

I have never been so appalled by staff in a restaurant - AVOID at all costs because honestly no amount of good food can save you from having to interact with the most rude wait staff I have ever come across.

I booked a table a week in advance to take my dad out for Father's Day for 19:30. After a recent medical diagnosis I wanted to make it extra special for him and mentioned in the booking notes that can we do something to surprise him as he is having a tough time currently.

We arrived at 19:25 and were straight up ignored by all three waitress' for WAY longer than we should have been. When I finally managed to call one of them over she said 'Well you ARE two minutes early" in a nasty tone. Never have I been told off by a staff member for being early before, let alone by two minutes. We hadn't even spoken a word and her back was up which was honestly very jarring.

She sat us at the bar, in the walkway and opposite the dishwasher on some tall wooden stools with no back. We were sat there for 20 minutes and nobody even came to take a drinks order from us. Eventually I managed to flag another girl down and I asked if we can move tables as my dad will struggle to sit on a stool with no back as he is poorly and also what person over 60 would want to sit there anyway. We felt like we were massively in the way. She said "You can sit here or there" and pointed at what was basically a plank of wood fixed to the wall covered in receipts and card machines so calling it a table would be a stretch. I said I was confused why we aren't at an actual table when I had pre-booked. She shrugged, rolled her eyes and said "Well it's here or there."

By that point I was genuinely so horrified that I had brought my dad here and how we had been spoken to we said we were going to leave, we were still polite. I've worked in hospitality and would never be rude to a staff member but my GOD did I want to be. When telling her that we were leaving she literally shooed us out.

Absolutely horrified and looking at the reviews I'm not the first person to experience this. We ended up in Riva just down the road and it was gorgeous from...