Dough. Everyone has raved about this place, it gets mega reviews and is one of the best places in Manchester to eat.

WHY?!

I went along because of all the praise, and was sorely disappointed!

We ordered a garlic bread pizza to start. This was basically quite a nicely baked pizza base... with normal butter spread on it... it didn't taste remotely of garlic!

For our main course, my partner had a pasta dish which he said was tasty, but by no means the best he's had. 

I had the pulled pork pizza, which came out on a thin base, but it was crunchy and burnt around the edges, and had the same texture and taste as one of those ready-made supermarket pizza bases. The pulled pork was dry (we think it was reheated) and generally the pizza was underwhelming. Frankly I've had better at Pizza Hut, and I'm being quite genuine there. 

We had Fentimans drinks, which are always nice, and the menu itself I must admit was not expensive.

The staff were civil enough, but all looked like out of work models who didn't really seem to fit in there. The girl who served us (didn't give us her name) looked like the "get the London look" girl off the TV (not Kate Moss) complete with smokey eyeshadow and gap between the front teeth. She was nice enough, but like the others, just didn't really seem to fit with the venue/job entailed. The best way I could describe the staff was kind of like if you had people on The Apprentice having to be waiters/waitresses for a day... competent but nothing special if that makes sense? Nothing really behind the eyes. No warmth.

The venue itself is modern and comfortable but pretty bland visually. A bit of art or some interesting light fixtures dotted around might liven the place up a little. As it stands, it felt like being in a function room of some sort, sat on office chairs.

Isn't it warm and cosy?  o .O


The toilets I found very unpleasant. When you have a large restaurant like that, you don't walk into the Gents and expect to find it as a single toilet in a single small room with a tiny triangle sink shoved in the corner. One toilet. For all the men there! I wonder if the ladies was the same? Also my biggest advice in this little chamber is DO NOT TURN THE TAP UP TO HOT! The centralised position is already "pretty damn warm". When I turned it up maximum (as you do, to warm water up for hand washing) it went to absolute scalding in just a couple of seconds. I genuinely felt like I burnt my hand. It also seems that it wasn't really done to a great standard... very slapdash, and not overly clean. It didn't feel like it fitted the rest of the venue really!

Cripes, a whole paragraph on the loos! I think I'll move on!

I'm not sure why people fawn over this place aside the unusual pizza varieties I guess. I'd rather have normal pizzas done properly than zany pizzas done badly!
£7.75. You can imagine how crunchy that base is, right?

 We didn't bother staying for desserts when offered, but imagined it'd be another half-hearted faux-Italian offering; maybe a tiramisu and a few ice cream flavours? I bet it was.

So overall, yeah it was cheap, and yeah it "wasn't bad" but we left feeling pretty underwhelmed, and not at all like we'd been out to dinner at a restaurant. The quality generally felt like we'd perhaps been at a food court? Maybe Frankie & Benny's at a push? It just felt a shame considering there's so many great places within 5 minutes walking distance from it, such as Almost Famous, and SoLIta.

Unimpressed. Shall not return :(
Dough
75 - 77 High St,
Northern Quarter
Manchester
M4 1FS 
(0161) 834 9411
www.doughpizzakitchen.co.uk Dough Pizza Kitchen on Urbanspoon

Dough

by on 15:21
Dough . Everyone has raved about this place, it gets mega reviews and is one of the best places in Manchester to eat. WHY?! I went along...
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I'd heard good things about SoLIta from fellow bloggers, and the website was promising too, so I decided to randomly give it a try one lunchtime. I'm very glad I did. 

It was 12pm on a tuesday, and at that point I was the only customer in the restaurant . The only other people there were the barman, a second staff member who was also running about sorting bits out, and two men on mobiles talking to a man sat on a laptop about some apparent problem with the venue's coffee machine, which they were angrily trying to get sorted out over the internet and by phone, as well as reading reviews and the sort about the venue itself (so its nice to see they're interested in such things!). 

Admittedly being the only one there with a few business focussed staff members is not going to be the usual experience, but as the kitchen only opens at 12pm and it was a Tuesday, it's definitely forgiveable. Their twitter feed that evening showed a photo of a busy and bustling restaurant dining room, so its nice to see they're getting the attention they deserve. 

I decided to order a burger, which I ordered was cooked to perfection in the venue's unique Inka Grill, and was cooked with bone marrow too, to give it extra juice, and boy does it! Probably one of the best burgers I've ever had, and the juiciest too without being fat dripping everywhere! In fact, it gives Almost Famous Burgers a run for their money!! The fries that came with it weren't as crunchy as I would've liked, but were still very tasty!


It was nice that as a tee-totaller, I was able to order Fentiman's soft drinks instead of the bog standard Coke/Sprite/Fanta fountain offerings, so I got a lovely dandelion and burdock. That said, they did also have an extensive cocktail menu, for those interested in such things ;)

I spoke extensively with one of the staff members, Matt, who was very passionate about the business, telling me about their Inka Grill, how their food is almost all made on the premises, nothing frozen, fresh meat etc. Really made it clear that he's actually proud to serve the food because of its quality, even raving about their home made ketchup and bbq sauces. It's nice to see someone passionate  and confident in their product.

I told him after the burger that I was full, and might have to forego the cheesecake I was eyeing up... but he told me to have a rest and see how I felt... which inevitably ended up in me ordering said cheesecake! A really creamy and clearly home-made vanilla cheesecake served with a delicious toffee sauce and a generous helping of mixed berries in coulis. Very tasty indeed!!


Since this visit, I've been a couple of more times, and tasted the tempting sounding "Deep Fried Coca Cola", which sadly I thought was a little overrated. It was pleasant, but nothing spectacular.Also since this visit, they've upped their game in terms of offerings, including things like the mouth watering and belly busting "parmo", and the "Big Manc", their signature huge burger! It's also nice to hear that they're still getting a lot of love from new and old customers alike!

The venue itself is modern and fresh, with a great comic book mural across one wall, and a glass window on the other, showing a big "SOUL" sign made of red light bulbs, beckoning downstairs to their larger "Soul Bar" area, which at this time of day was closed, but which was a bar area as well as dining overflow, and with how popular they get, I've seen that bar get pretty full pretty quickly too! Another wall by the bar is a large chalkboard, tempting you with the day's specials and bits of info.



The gents toilets were very small but mostly functional... I say mostly because the soap dispenser was empty, but there were two bottles of nice quality hand soap provided, and the hand-dryer wasn't working, but paper towels were provided too. The staff are friendly and enthusiastic gorgeous young-n-hip types (I'm old, shut up), bright eyed and bushy tailed, and keen to make your visit a good one, which is always pleasant. 

I whole heartedly recommend this place, and when I'm in Manchester and fancy a GOOD burger, this is where I always think of! Pop along for lunch sometime, it's worth it :) They serve food from 12pm until late, and the bar is open a little later still.

SoLIta
37 Turner Street
Manchester
M4 1DW
(0161) 839 2200
www.solita.co.uk



SoLita on Urbanspoon

SoLIta

by on 14:50
I'd heard good things about SoLIta from fellow bloggers, and the website was promising too, so I decided to randomly give it a try o...
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