BANDO BOXES — Restaurant in Trafford

This used to be my favourite place for soul food in Manchester, the food is better than TrapKitchen and have ordered countless times. However, after my recent visit, I cannot accept their behaviour. Firstly, the food was absolutely overcooked, no flavour at all to the wings that I always order. Secondly, certain members of staff are absolutely horrible and feel so entitled that they refuse to offer any compensation for THEIR mistakes. And lastly, as you can see from the other 1 star reviews, the company owner or whoever works for their customer service team are rude to whoever criticises their business. They also refuse to accept any accountability for anything that goes wrong. I used to be a fan of this place but now I am never returning. Don't even bother claiming that I haven't ordered here before or some other lame excuse to make it seem like I am lying, exactly like you do to other 1 star reviews. To those reading, go to Flavour Factory instead or other pop up soul food places, this place isn't worth your time.

EDITED REPLY AFTER OWNER'S RESPONSE:

As always, the owner wants to make an excuse that I am lying which is extremely laughable considering they say the same to every single other low rated review placed. Check their trip advisor and you will see the other constant bad reviews expressing the same views as me. And the fact that I made a review of a place in LONDON FOUR YEARS AGO, doesn't have any relevance to my review on this food place. If this review is fake, I would not have complimented your establishment in the first sentences. I placed this review, I generally do not have the time to place reviews anyway, but after their behaviour during my last visit, I had to express my anger and warn others to avoid this rubbish food place with HORRIFIC...

Absolutely shocking experience. First of all we’re given 1 hour 40 wait for the food. We were willing to wait for that as we were really looking forward to it. Time passed and eventually 1 hour 40 was reached. However the food was not ready. We then proceeded to wait a little longer and eventually went inside to see how long it’s going to be. They then gave excuses saying they’re backed up and it’ll be 10 minutes. We then said ok fair enough and waited an extra 10 minutes. We then returned and were then told the same thing again- wait an extra 10 minutes. Eventually this repeated until we’re there for 3 hours. We eventually had enough and went inside. Upon asking why the app was so wrong on the time prediction, we were told to “stop asking, you speaking to me now will make it longer”. We were also told to get out of the shop whilst simply being polite and just wanting answers as to why we had to wait so long. Upon going in the final time, the staff then threatened to cancel our order after waiting 3 hours for asking for the rude staff members name. Overall, the staff were extremely rude and I have never received service like this anywhere else before, the sheer arrogance of the staff members is shocking. Absolutely appalling behaviour by the staff members and I would recommend to NEVER come here. There’s many better similar establishments in Manchester such as Trap Kitchen and Flavour Factory, don’t waste your time...

I ordered from this restaurant on Uber Eats and spent £60 on two boxes. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t order from here again. The jerk wings were very disappointing—they didn’t taste like jerk at all. Instead, the flavour was dominated by what seemed to be cinnamon, ginger, or another overpowering spice, which completely threw off the authenticity. The plantain was also undercooked on one side, and the “Bando Fries” were extremely off-putting—the sauce they used was oddly sour and didn’t pair well with the dish at all.

As a Jamaican, I can confidently say that these jerk wings are nowhere close to authentic and should not be advertised as such. That said, the mac and cheese, prawns, and rice were subpar, and while my partner thought the buffalo wing box was alright, he noted that the wings were extremely spicy to the point where the heat overpowered any real flavour. The only item I can say was problem-free was the corn.

Overall, what I’ve found with these “soul food fusion” type restaurants, like this one, is that they seem more focused on making the food look Instagrammable—throwing a bunch of parsley on top and aiming for viral moments—than on delivering quality and depth of flavour. This is very underwhelming, especially considering the high price point.

If you’re looking for food like this, I’d recommend Trap Kitchen instead—it’s a much...