Restaurant recommendations in Manchester

trippy

Already booking ahead for a girl's night out in December. Need somewhere where we can be lively, with a bit of atmosphere but with decent reasonably priced food. El Rincon is the place that first sprung to mind but I don't find it that economically priced, particularly for a party of 11!

Any recommendations please?

mandyc

Where is cheap in the city centre???

El Rincon is great and has good atmosphere. What about Croma? It's pizza and pasta but quite reasonable. Details here

http://www.cromamanchester.co.uk/main.htm

kittiwoz

We (the University of Manchester Trampolining Society) have a sponsorship deal with Shahenshah whereby we get poppadums, rice, nan, a main course and a coffee for £8 per head. You can bring your own booze and there is no corckage charge. They've really been fantastic over the past year accomodating parties of up to I think about 80. They have an upstairs room with a lot of sapce which they give over to us when we have a lot of people eg. the Manchester Open Trampoling Competition or our AGM. Such occasions tend to be somewhat rowdy and it's nice for all concerned not to have to worry about disturbing the other diners downstairs. The standard of service has always been very good and they have accomodated our playing party games and having an Easter egg hunt in the upstairs room. Other times when we have been there in smaller groups like yours (well relatively) we have sat downstairs. The food is good too though not the nicest I've had in Rusholme (that is Spicy Hut). Obviously it would be more expensive for you without the sponsorship deal but it's still good value especially if you are drinking because it is BYO. Most of the restaurants in Rusholme are good value but some are much nicer than others. Shahenshah has good food and is very accomodating and friendly. Spicy Hut is another favourite since the food is really good and the staff are friendly and provided good service.

Buffet City on Portland St is an all you can eat Chinese buffet. They make their money on the drinks but in fact the drinks aren't too badly priced and they normally have 2 for 1 on Tsingtao beer. It's always very busy. The food is very good and it's a nice place making it much better value than the cheaper Number One buffet on Whitworth St where the food isn't as good and the atmosphere is like a canteen.

Another option if you want something a bit more up-market is Livebait on Albert Sq which has a set menu. I had a couple of very nice meals in there. However I haven't been there in a few years since the price of the set menu increased and it's content got a lot more boring.