Vincenzo Trattoria — Restaurant in Manchester

Booked here on Christmas Eve, and glad we did as it filled up rapidly. My daughter and I had researched “best independent trattoria in Manchester” and the name of this place appeared repeatedly. There seemed to be a few Italians dining while we were there, which I think is a good sign. The layout inside is quite higgledy-piggledy being an old building, with tables tucked in nooks and crannies, between pillars, on raised plinths, but that makes it feel really cosy, charming and interesting. Just a very nice atmosphere. I believe it is a family run business, and it shows. The staff are so friendly, attentive but not overbearing, and basically very good at their jobs, you feel really welcome and cared for. And now for the main part, the food! In the last few years I’ve become somewhat disillusioned with eating out, things just seem to have gone downhill since the pandemic and, to me anyway, it seems to be increasingly hard to find genuinely enjoyable restaurant food at a reasonable price. Don’t get me started on chain restaurants - I’m absolutely done with them. But here is a place that restored my faith. We shared tomato garlic bread to start, which was just delicious, and I went for minestrone soup as well, which was beautifully flavourful. For mains my daughter ordered Penne Vodka & Salmone, which she devoured (and found a new love for capers 🥰). I went for Pizza Quattro Stagioni which was extremely tasty! Pizza dough is a very important part of a pizza right, and can make or break it; let me tell you it’s sublime here - light with just the right balance of crispiness and chewiness, lovely. The tomato sauce tastes wonderfully fresh too. After, we shared an Affogato al Caffé (vanilla ice cream with amaretto, espresso and cream poured over) - wonderful. And finally, a large espresso. I’m no real connoisseur, but I’ve tasted two great coffees in my life, one was in Toarmina in Sicily, and the other was here - my daughter thought I was having some sort of revelatory awakening experience 🤣. And the price; it came out at a surprisingly reasonable £32 a head - admittedly we didn’t go overboard with drinks, side orders, etc, but we came out feeling satisfied and full; so I think in this day and age that is a remarkably low price for such a top notch all round experience, and I applaud the business for offering such excellent value for money. These days, I quite often get the feeling I’ve been fleeced, but this was the polar opposite, genuinely worth every penny. When you find somewhere which makes you feel warm and excited about coming back, it’s a great thing. That’s what we have now in Vincenzo...

An unpleasant welcoming was saved by a great member of the restaurant’s team. I arrived at the restaurant with my wife and two daughters on Sunday as we were meeting some friends there. As we walked in, my wife spotted our friends and was heading towards their table when one of the staff members, a lady with short hair and American accent, almost jumped in front of my wife saying repeatedly “No, No, No ma’am, you cannot enter with a pram!” We tried explaining that we would need the pram next to our table as the baby was sleeping but she said it was absolutely impossible. When my wife said that this is the first time she heard about something like this, the lady told said that if we would have called she would have informed us beforehand. Then she continued by saying the classic never to be said phrase in customer service, “It’s Not Our Fault”. As we were already very hungry, though upset, we complied and left the pram at the front of the restaurant. Putting this aside, our night continued perfectly thanks to a gentleman who waited our table throughout the full evening, a very pleasant individual from Italy. This man was everything that you would hope for and more in terms of kindness, respect, competence, good humor, politeness. He handled the situation of having to engage with upset customers masterfully. He approached us after a few minutes allowing us to calm down a bit, engaged us with smiles and showing a lot of patience in going through the menu for us and brought me the best coffee I always wanted in a restaurant but never received until then (a perfect in-between an espresso and an americano). At one point he even made the extra effort of speaking to the manager and offer a solution for the pram situation. If anyone from management is reading this, please value and take care of this gentleman who is working there as he is an extremely strong and important part of your restaurant’s team. In doing so you might also consider talking to the lady I mentioned in the first part of my review as the only thing she managed to do is make her colleagues evening a bit more difficult than it should have been but which he managed with grace. Food is absolutely delicious as well as the atmosphere...

I'm vegetarian. I ordered what the menu said was a vegetarian dish but which in fact turned out to be stuffed with chicken mince or pig mince (some of which I ate). The waiter insisted it was not meat. But it definitely was. Sickened. The replacement dish was disappointing also; pasta not fresh (likely dried pasta from supermarket) and tons of salt. I suspected the starters were not fresh either. Microwaved?

The atmosphere was embarrassing. Loud Italian pop music, waiters singing happy birthday, shouting and children running around. No class! The decor is cheap and tacky; print outs of paintings in golden picture frames, jars of unopened store bought mutti pasta sauce lined up on shelves (not a good sign. Why would you display the fact that you don't make your own sauce?), plastic flowers etc etc

It felt like being at a Eurovision after-party sponsored by Butlins masquerading as an Italian restaurant.

Awful, embarrassing experience for me and my date. I wouldn't bring my dog to this restaurant.

UPDATE: The reply from the restaurant shows that THEY DO NOT LISTEN TO THEIR CUSTOMERS.

You do not need to be an employed chef (which I am) to tell the difference between fresh food and microwaved and/or rubbish, dispassionately prepared food. That being said, it would seem that your "chef" and wait staff haven't a clue about the difference. Do not attempt to insult my intelligence. And VERY CLEARLY, the dish I chose was marked vegetarian on the menu. I even asked the waiter to hand me the menu after eating the meat to check again how the dish was advertised. It said vegetarian. I have eyes! Your interpersonal skills are abysmal.

Not returning. Ever. Best of luck staying afloat,...