Vapiano Manchester, Ground Floor - Private Bar

Not been here for a few years but definitely gone down hill in service and quality, firstly the model were you wanted for your food to be cooked in front of you was much better, now ordering from a QR code is not good and one thing that really goat my goat was paying for a meal and a service charge before I’ve even had a food or drink! Not once did someone ask how our food was or if we needed anything. The food did come in good time but wasn’t great, the garlic bread with cheese was pretty good but about 3/4 the size of what it used to be. The bolognaise was a good size as I ordered large but was very watery. The value for money was that great either, £55 for 2 at lunch with one starter and 2 pasta’s, would I recommend here probably not I’d try and find a place that does lunch time specials and a better restaurant, bring back the cooking in front of you made the experience much better and I would be more likely to agree with a service charge! They still do this in the Barcelona location.

I’ve been to Vapiano before to eat in and takeaway and have always enjoyed the food but this recent visit will be my last. We walked in and alerted a staff member that we had a reservation and he just said to go upstairs, didn’t assist us or anything. As we reached the top of the stairs another member of staff asked if we had a reservation and despite giving my name, she just kept pointing to random tables and asking if it was our name. She then pointed to the qr code on the table and said to use that before walking off. We placed our order online (no table service) and paid the 10% service charge, despite the staff so far being extremely uninterested in us. The dough balls starter arrived quickly and were nice but it was the mains where they really let themselves down. I ordered Pesto Basilco pasta and ate two mouthfuls before leaving it. The pasta was undercooked and from the hardness of it implied it was dried rather than freshly made and the pesto was horrible. It tasted almost grassy, it was that bitter. It really was unpleasant. After about 15 minutes a member of staff asked if I wanted to order something else but I refused and he left it at that. My son’s pepperoni pizza was edible but not flavourful. Overall, the service and the food really let Vapiano down. I paid £42 and walked out as hungry as when I entered and paid gratuity for staff who couldn’t contain their indifference.