Manchester235, Vega Lounge

Extremely slow service & cold plates gave a disappointing experience. We only had one course & despite telling staff that we had a show to go to it still took almost 2 hours to take our order, serve the 3 dishes of steak carrots & chips, us to eat it & pay. There was only one other table with customers, 2 like us, early on a Tuesday evening. The plates had arrived fairly warm but another 5 minutes until the food arrived meant they were stone cold by the time food was on them. Only the chips stayed warm. Cold carrots & steak are not tasty. £80 for a shared porterhouse & this experience unfortunately means that I wouldn't recommend eating here. Sorry James we expected better.

Sorry to say that 235 has really gone down hill for some of the following reasons …… They have got rid of the Royal Flush jackpot. It used to average between £3000 right up to over £20,000+: If you hit the Royal Flush, you used to get about a third of it and your fellow players used to also get a percentage. Now they have got rid of the jackpot and replaced it with ‘The Wall of Wins’. If you win a specified hand on the ‘wall of wins’, dependent on the hand, you get between £100 - £500. They change the winning hands around weekly. Recently I went in and you could win a measly £500 for a Spades, clubs or Hearts Royal Flush and absolutely zilch for getting a Royal Flush with diamonds ! The Royal Flush jackpot used to inspire you to visit 235 in the hope of winning or sharing it - not anymore. Believe me, unlike the jackpot for the Royal Flush used to be, the ‘Wall of Wins’ is no incentive at all to visit 235. I spoke to many fellow customers and a few of the dealers as well in regard to the casino not having the Royal Flush jackpot and replacing it with the Wall of Wins and not one person was in favour of the Wall of Wins. They really need to bring back the Royal Flush jackpot or will end up losing customers. Another thing they have changed is that they have got rid of the soft drinks and hot drinks self service area and seating area in the poker lounge. Apparently because a very small handful of punters abused it and got themselves a soft drink they weren't entitled to! Because of the very very small minority, the majority have to suffer. You can still order a soft drink or a cuppa tea from a valet but it’s just hassle waiting for a valet and then waiting for your drink. And besides no valet can make me a cup of tea the way I like it. These points along with other changes that have been made i.e getting rid of the high hand of the week payout, the free parking, only now allowing one person to win the rake free on a table, an increase to 10% rake per hand dealt; really doesn’t set 235 poker lounge apart from any other casino in Manchester and they will definitely start losing regular customers as well as not attracting new customers. The only positive thing I can say is that the door men, the reception desk, poker lounge desk supervisors/manager and the dealers are really nice and friendly people and the punters they get in there are also a great bunch. However if they don’t at the very least reinstate the Royal Flush jackpot and the help yourself soft drinks/tea bar with seating, then I can honestly see regular punters going elsewhere. Real shame to be honest as it used to be such a good poker lounge. In future before implementing changes, it maybe worth doing some market research and asking the actual punters that keep the place running, what they would like or dislike - just a thought.