WOOD Manchester by Simon Wood

Elegant and high quality. It is a pleasure to eat here. My friends and I spent a pleasant night here. Because the atmosphere gave us a comfortable feeling and we talked a lot. To be honest, the dishes are not outstanding, but they are good. But I remember that they often change the menu, and I will try new dishes next time.

It must have been the best oyster I’ve ever had! It took it from a 4 to a 5 star. The dessert as well. Great combination taste wise and beautifully presented. Through those two dishes I was in heaven. The rib of beef was good and well presented as well, but the wild mushrooms on truffled toast was a bit too heavy for my liking. It was too cold in the room, and the service could have been better. It didn’t seem that coordinated or interested in their guests. Though the guy at the entrance was really friendly. This was in June.

What a place! The location, the decor, the welcome, the staff, the service and of course the food all out of this World. Warm welcome, knowledgeable sommelier who exudes positivity and tells you a fabulous story about the wine, I could listen to him all day. The food is served and explained and is of an exquisite nature. I often don’t even read the ingredients and just try it - and I’m never disappointed. You’d be surprised how small dishes can fill you so much. A fabulous place, and a credit to Simon Wood. We will be back again and again.

Fantastic food with excellent service, in a very relaxed atmosphere. The staff were super attentive, polite and friendly. We even had a good chat with the sommelier about desert wine. An absolute gem of a restaurant - we loved it all, and we’ll definitely be back.

I’ve given some real thought towards posting this as I rarely leave negative reviews and understand the impact they can have. However, there were several elements of our experience that I feel should be highlighted. Firstly, we did receive a very warm and kind welcome from the front of house staff who saw that we were celebrating our engagement. Sadly, it was downhill from there. We were seated at 8pm and it was almost an hour before anyone even came to take a drinks order despite our attempts to catch their attention. I’ve never been to a restaurant of any standard with service this slow. There was also no apology for this. In terms of the food - enjoyable, but the portions were SO small. I’m no stranger to small plates at higher end restaurants but we left so hungry that we had to get a second dinner elsewhere. Fair enough for the starter portions/bread, but we ordered two vegetarian mains and they were both absolutely tiny - particularly the celeriac shawarma (see photos). I really don’t believe that this can or should be classified as a main. I’ve wanted to come here for ages and this could have been a really special experience, but overall the service and portion sizes really let it down.

Visited Wood for my birthday with my partner. Overall, we were both so impressed with our visit! We loved the atmosphere, the music, the staff and the selection on the menu. They were playing nostalgic pop rock music and it just felt so relaxed and non-pretentious, really added to our enjoyment! The staff were all super friendly and couldn’t do enough for us! The food was absolutely delicious, very wide selection - we were struggling to choose! Highly recommend the venison tartare, the pork main and the salted caramel tart! Also the cocktails are fantastic!

Went to Wood for my birthday dinner, when we came in we were greeted by staff and they were very pleasant and friendly. We were seated in the waiting area while we waited on our table and ordered a bottle of wine, the table we were sat at was very wobbly and the wine was shaking out of the glasses as it was being poured. Little things I usually wouldn't take heed of, but with the higher pricing of the wine and food I feel it's noticeable as part of the experience. My partner and I are vegetarian so decided to order several of the vegetarian dishes to share as we didn't fancy one of the vegetarian main courses. I must say I can't knock the food on flavour, everything was cooked exceptionally and the ingredients were truly used to extract the best from them. I will however say the portion sizes are extremely small for the price of the plates. The Pomme Anna was four very small sticks in a jar, the broccoli side was in the smallest container and although extremely delicious there was very little of it to enjoy, and the cous cous/rice portions with the courgette main were tiny. Another thing to mention is most of our food was quite cold nothing was hot. I really did enjoy the flavours but I don't think we would rush back, it lacked in areas that you expect more of from fine dining.

Have wanted to visit WOOD for some time and was treated for a meal there by my lovely wife for my birthday! We received a very warm welcome on arrival and were seated in a great spot overlooking the restaurant and kitchen. I was really pleased to see Simon Wood there in person as wasn’t sure if he would be working, having enjoyed watching him win on Masterchef! My wife’s rum cocktail was delicious, we were also treated to a couple of Negronis on the house which were best I’d ever tasted! The rest of our meal was delicious and we really enjoyed the sommelier’s enthusiasm and knowledge for wine, my favourite course was probably the stone bass which was amazing! Would love to come back and try more of the food again, I’d definitely recommend a visit!