Umami must hate the dreaded "W" word. You know, "W***m**a." But then, seeing as the restaurant…read moreseems to be almost entirely modelled on the famous Japanese noodle chain, they can't really complain. Sitting in an underground premises on Oxford Road, Umami reflects the students swarming all around the local area. A slightly budget w***m**a but with same bench tables, open kitchen and scribbling-down-your-order-on-your-paper-place-mat kind of vibe. They do great lunch deals, which include a starter and a main for just £4.95, which really is a steal. I went to Umami with two friends for a quick lunch and we all taken in by the lunch deal. For my appetiser I had the king prawn gyoza dumplings. They came with a tasty dipping sauce and were served really quickly. For the main course, I chose the ngaulam gaeng keow wan (I wrote it down!) which is basically a thai green curry. It came with lots of cucumber which isn't really my thing, but it was hot both in a spicy and temperature way so it really did the job for me as it was freezing outside! At times, I did feel that it was so spicy the taste of the dish was lost, but I guess that depends on individuals' tastes. Umami is just fine if you're a student and fancy a quick, cheap bite to eat. It's not as good as Wagamama though. Oops. I said it. Wagamama. And again.

Service here is at times physically as well as verbally aggressive which is...disconcerting…read more Express means express. It will not be acceptable if you are not ready to order. It will be acceptable to serve your main course before you have finished your starter. Lunch deal - £5.95 for 2 courses is good value and I had decent gyoza (3 pcs) and what was essentially won ton soup which wasn't particularly flavourful except I thought the dumplings themselves were quite good. There is a full menu too and basically this place is pretty good, overall though I do prefer eatGoody (it's Korean food though) which is also marginally closer to my office.

so I make it my mission to find good Japanese sushi restaurants…read more. This was on my next hit list..so travelling down on Easter Sunday I was prepared for this place to be closed like everything else...thankfully it wasn't.. You cannot miss this place as it has quite a garish red sign with flapping Japanese banners..ducking under these will lead you into a small sheltered place with laminate floors and pine tables. When we sat, we were facing the open kitchen, where a waiter approached us asking if we wanted sushi..of course! The menu offered the usual sashimi, maki, nigiri and udon noodle dishes , but it was 8 pieces each for around £4-5 mark, We ordered the tuna sashimi, nigiri and salmon maki... After seeing previous reviews I chose the recommended salmon teriyaki which is one of my favourites anyway! I have to admit the thing that kills the atmosphere is the lanky waiter.. who was more wooden than the pine table. There was no emotion whatsoever, when he took the order it was flat, and his face expressionless.. Anyway when the sushi arrived I was impressed with the size of the maki roles. The quality of the tuna was also excellent, beautiful red coloured meat in thick slices...nom.. however I love making a small paddling pool of wasabi and soya sauce,, So I was dissappointed when a tiny shallow dish was presented..in seconds this was demolished, and I asked the waiter for some more...I was hoping he would just give me the bottle. but he brought another shallow dish over instead.. When the mains arrived, these looked divine. The beef in the udon soup dish looked good, but apparently the taste was not your average ramen dish...it was flavoured differently.. My Salmon Teriyaki was beautifully cooked in its nice sticky glaze. The portion was just right for the price. The sake was your averages £6.50 for a flask price but was presented in a nice patterned set. After the meal it was discovered that they don't take card ..and when I asked where the toilet was I was baffled when I couldn't find it..the place is only small! Eventually we found out you had to go THROUGH THE KITCHEN which left me feeling uncomfortable..especially because I'm a klutz.. Overall it was worth the trip for this amazing sushi.. to make it 5 star they need to replace/inject life into that one waiter, offer card payments, sort out the bathroom arrangements and leave a soya bottle on the table!

Dam Yelp with their lack of half a star! I'd ideally give this place 4.5 stars because the value…read morefor money is really some of the best I've seen for sushi. But I'll be restrained because you can't call it nearly perfect. The place itself is quite "down and dirty" and I'd advise everybody to make sure that they nip to the loo BEFORE visiting their establishment, but the food really can't be faulted. All the sushi is made in front of you, and it is fresh and flavoursome. I'd highly recommend the gyoza which are cooked to perfection every time I go and always make me want to order more. As mentioned in a previous review the sashimi platter is fantastic and at £13 for an entire boat of fish, is great value. I'm not going to state it's the best sushi place in Manchester, but I'll say it's the best I've tried so far.

A fine purveyor of Szechuan cuisine, which is one of my favey daves. R&H offers a pretty extensive…read moremenu of tasty dishes, with the ever helpful 'chilliometer' to alert you to super-spicy foods. The boyf swears by the chilliometer, and on one occasion refused to order food until he was given a vocal chilliometer by the waiter. So, you know, good work with the chilliometer, R&H. The menu is very good, offering such delicacies as eels and duck tongue (euwwwww!) alongside the more workaday ribs, prawns and whatnot. The prices here are more than I expected, with it being in a none-too-shiny area of Chinatown, and not being all to sexy itself. Expect to pay over £5 per starter while mains are all around the £7-£10 mark, depending on what you're having. My sizzling black pepper beef (£8.50) really hit the spot, and the boyf paticularly enjoyed his salt and pepper king prawn dish. The egg fried rice was amongst the best I've had in Manchester, so kudos. The atmosphere is OK, but I feel like maybe we came at a bad time, earlyish on a Tuesday. I can see that it does have the potential to be quite a happening place if busy. The staff are incredibly helpful, and service is super fast. Drinkswise, you can bring your own, but they charge £10 if you do so! Shocker. You're better off having the house wine, £10, which is alright. Pints of the usual (Tiger, Grolsch, Bud) are a reasonable £2.50. Cutely, they offer Bacardi Breezers and the like, under the heading "Romantic Drinks", yeah, romantic for a school disco! R&H is good, and well worth a visit for the food alone, but if you're aafter a buzzing, fun atmosphere, this ain't the place.

Wasn't expecting great Chinese food being from Los Angeles where Asian food is extremely good and…read moreaccessible. However, this place surprised me (despite my initial worry with the lack of customers ... granted I came around 9pm on a weekday). Every dish we ordered was packed full of flavor. Kung pao chicken was delicious, though it was a bit too sauced up for my taste. Sliced pork szechuan style was definitely my favorite dish we ordered. I could do without the onions piled up on the bottom though Water spinach was standard My friend who ordered the hot and sour soup said it was the best one he's ever had (but he's white and from Texas so I take it with a grain of salt heh) Pan fried dumplings were also tasty. If you're inkling for some authentic asian food, definitely give this place a shot.

Food was good specially on a cold day Mojitos where amazing…read moreThai salad was just okey nothing special but looks cute looks like a flower Service was fast and the girls are nice Ambiance was quite with music in the background Went in day time so i don't really know how it feels late night

The place is slightly out of the city centre, however, within a walkable distance…read more We went to this restaurant after I have bought a voucher on a groupon, allowing us to have one dish each for a total of 10 pounds. We went on a week day at around 6 and the place was fairly empty. The sign informed us that there is a poke stop nearby, which made me smile. After a polite and smiley waitress explained us what dishes can we have with regards to the groupon offer, we opted for salads. Portions were big enough (for us), and I would also say quite tasty. Overall I enjoyed the experience, the only thing I didn't like was a shabby toilet - only one cabin, and also there was no soap.

I love Red Chilli, but my only critique is that the service can be rather slow and inattentive…read more The food, on the other hand, is incredible! Crispy chilli shredded beef is one of my favourite dishes, and that is how it is. Crispy. Spicy. Shredded. Beefy. Perfect. On my last visit with colleagues for a leaving lunch, I ordered the salt & pepper baby squid for a starter, and it was very tasty. For my main, I ordered the Gongbao diced chicken. Again, quite a spicy dish, with the added bonus and flavour of peanuts. Superb! Red Chilli offer a great lunch deal that comes with a starter and main for less than £10, however, in December they add an extra couple of pound on this, despite offering the same food and calling it the "Christmas lunch deal". Come on guys! Step it up a gear! The decor is quite bold, but offers a comfortable setting, with large round tables for groups, dark wood dividers and booths.

One of our favourite restaurants when looking for some excellent chinese food. This restaurant…read morespecialises in Szechwan dishes, so do expect that most items on the menu will have a chilli rating next to it! This is one our favourite places for Peking Duck, hanf carved right in front of you. i would also recommend any variety of their lamb dishes, including the lamb ribs. If you're feeling adventurous, try the cold spicy platter too. Only gripe about this place is the lack of available parking. There is a multi storey nearby but its not the cheapest place to park!

2 stars for location and pricing. Located in the Spinning Field area surrounded with amazing bars…read moreand restaurants. Pricing is cheap. £8 for a 15 piece rolls and £4 for detox miso soup. Why 2 stars??? The sushi is premade and fridged, self serve. The soup was hot but pretty tasteless even with all the toppings. Just very disappointed with the food. I was looking for something quick, that's how I ended up here. Well, that's what I got, a quick effortless and tasteless food. Oh well, time foe my cruise! Gonna have to try something different after!

itsu is Spinningfields' latest addition - on opening day they gave out free lunches and snacks and,…read moreunderstandably, the queue snaked all the way down to Leftbank. Forgoing that opportunity, myself and some colleagues returned two weeks later for a quick lunch and catch up. It's located in the old Samsi unit and it's a huge space, with lovely large floor to ceiling windows which let in lots of natural light (a nice change from the moody ambience of the likes of Artisan and Neighbourhood). Their array of salads and sushi can be found in the cooler units, along with their drinks selection, and hot pots can be ordered from the counter. They also have frozen yogurt which, come summer, I'm sure will be a much welcome addition to the area. Now, it's easy to feel overwhelmed in this situation; there's so much choice! Not wanting to hold up the busy lunch queue, I decided to pick up a chicken teriyaki rice salad, though the hot pots looks delicious. Staff were very efficient and worked well to keep the queue moving. You pick up your cutlery or chopsticks from a side unit, plus any additional sauces you may want, including hoisin and itsu's own hot sauce. These are also on the table if you eat in. We had a good experience and it was great to see the area so busy, a trend which will only continue with the opening of XYZ. However, their price point is enough to put me off returning - £5.99 for a salad which didn't fill me up, and roughly the same for a hot pot, simply seems too much. If you were to add snacks and a drink you could easily spend £10+. Somewhere to keep in mind for quick lunches in the future, but only near pay day.

We were so sick of seeing Wagamama restaurants throughout the UK so wanted to see what the big deal…read morewas. At some locations, there was a line through the door. Here, we were able to be seated pretty quickly. The seating arrangement is pretty open. It's bench-style seating which makes it good for large parties. With so many menu options, I was struggling with what to order. I asked our waitress what the most popular item on the menu and ended up ordering that -- chicken katsu curry. I am a big fan of katsu curry back home so by no means was I disappointed that the katsu curry was the people's #1 choice. What I was disappointed with was the dish overall. The only thing this dish has going for it is the presentation. It looks magnificent but it definitely looks better than it tastes. The chicken katsu was breaded well but the chicken was razor thin. Not to mention, there was nothing aromatic about the curry. The curry was bland as can be! I was expecting better after seeing so many locations scattered across the UK. I'm glad I checked this place out once and I'm also glad to know that I won't be returning.

I was invited to come here as part of testing their gluten free selection, this is one of three…read moreWagamama locations in Manchester city centre alongside locations in the Manchester Printworks and St Peter's Square. This place does look quite nice and is one of the nicer branches of the chains I have seen, the first I have visited, it has long benches which is typical of most asian fusion places. The service here was excellent - the manageress was really friendly, and so was the person who talked me, we began chatting about football and then Manchester City right back Bacary Sagna, who had actually dined here on the same day as me, so it was a real shame i missed him, he of course now has left City and been replaced by two new right backs, Kyle Walker and Danilo Luiz! I was also told some other football players came in here such as Nice striker Mario Balotelli, when he was at Manchester City. I did have some slight issues with my food, although the sauce was nice, I didn't really like the noodles, they seemed stuck together and the quality of the meat inside wasn't great, and I sadly found the tofu to be disgusting. The food were served in big bowls, some of the things inside made it look like a mess in ways, and a little unappetising. I also ordered some coconut flavoured desserts, they tasted like they were fresh and homemade perhaps, but I found the coconut flavour to be too much sadly The smoothies, however, were one of my more favourite things about the menu, I found them to be quite healthy. I'm struggling to comment further as my visit was a few months ago, but I found the food to be quite poor, although they did have some interesting, innovative concepts but sadly despite the very good service, with the food issues I sadly feel this store probably only warrants a high two star rating.

Service is great. I got right in after being told no by a snooty Italian place across the square…read more Appetizers and mains are solid good food. Place is busy which is a good sign. If you like unpretentious, Asian fusion food and happen to be in Manchester, this is your spot.

After a heavy Friday night on the drink it was time to start thinking about where we could eat that…read morewould be quick and easy. We were sat next door to Tampopo so it was the obvious choice. We were seated straight away and considering it was half 9 it was relatively busy! We were served by a devil (halloween themed) and considering the outfit the server was lovely. We ordered a bottle of fizz and a coke, the soft drink did get lost on route however was soon rectified. I opted for the duck dumplings to start and pitting them against Wagamamas own I was left slightly disappointed. The dumplings had a sticky texture and weren't quite full to the brim with duck and didn't have much of a taste alone but needed a good dip in the soy sauce to add flavour. For my main I opted for the chicken katsu curry (I was hungry!) It arrived promptly and was a super tasty combo of sticky rice, deep fried chicken with a mild curry sauce. I would say it was on par with Wagamamas version even served with the same side salad topped with ginger. I wouldn't come here for a special occasion but its perfect for a quick and reasonable dinner!