Soup Co | Malatang Hot Pot Noodles 麻辣烫 — Restaurant in Manchester

Upon entering, there was no hostess or staff around the entrance or round the tables so we assumed its self-serve (as no signage anywhere such as “please wait to be seated”) and sat down at the nearest free table. One of the hostesses (fluent in English and not Asian I need to add so there’s no argument about language barrier, linguistics, culture etc) almost ran to us to tell us in a manner far from polite that we are not ALLOWED to do this and demanded we take our bags from the seats. We asked what to do she said you take a bowl, get ingredients, pay and then sit. We said there’s not many free tables, what’s the guarantee that went we pay there will be space for us. She said not to worry and just get a bowl and help ourselves.

We did as instructed. There were no prices anywhere. We started just picking what looked interesting and decided to worry later. The hostess then rushed to us and another couple of people behind us, pointed at us with her finger and went “you sit together, there” pointing at one of the tables. Both us and the other two were a bit confused and shocked. My friend asked me if I was comfortable sharing a table and I wasn’t; not in a space with small tables (there are restaurants where sharing tables is expected like Mackie Major but they are also significantly larger).

We tried to find the lady and say we don’t want this but she’s stood outside the restaurant watching a protest go down outside and actively shouting and jumping. We gave our half-filled bowls to very unhappy till staff and left.

Good that we did because reviews said the bowls can cost £40-£50 a person and it’s a...

I’ve been seeing ads and posts about Soup Co all over social media since it opened, and it always looked incredible so I was genuinely excited to finally try it yesterday. Safe to say, it absolutely lived up to the hype.

Everything in the fridge looked super fresh, and tasted just as good. There was a board explaining all the soup bases, which proudly claimed that their Tom Yum is the best in Manchester. As a certified Tom Yum lover, I was curious and I can confidently say it was the best I’ve ever had. No exaggeration.

I filled my bowl with seafood, tofu, loads of veggies and mushrooms, and every single bite was delicious. I went heavy on baby octopus, squid, fish roe dumplings, plus a mountain of fresh veg and mushrooms and my bowl came to just over £18. I’ve seen some people say it's overpriced, but honestly, I don’t know many places where you can load up on that much squid and octopus for under £20. It felt totally fair for the quality and amount.

I try to stick to a low-carb diet due to being diabetic, so I was also thrilled to see konjac noodles as an option. Having the option to build a meal that works for me without being stuck with foods I can't really eat without a lot of stress was game changing for me.

I genuinely can’t wait to go back. If you’re in Manchester and can’t decide what to eat, this place has something...

Predatory tactics. After weighing both bowls (which were around £15) and adding 2 drinks we were charged £50?? Nowhere does it say that they'll charge you extra for broth or for the "cooking process", unless our 2 cans were suddenly a tenner each. Paying 30 for premade broth and filling would be fine but 50? What am I paying for? The cross contamination and lack of hygiene standards? But once youre at the till you cant really say "actually no thanks" and go somewhere else. Someone who seemed like the manager was restocking the raw food items with her bare hands (she had long acrylic nails on. Big red flag for food service). There was also a baby left mostly unsupervised at 1 of the tables near the till. The baby was not happy to be left with a phone in a loud place and so was screaming the entire time we were there. The baby seemed to belong to the manager but there were other staff who were trying to calm the baby down too. Tldr: suprise upcharge, bad hygiene standards, and left...