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Opus
One at the Radisson Edwardian Manchester - reader comments |
"It has to be said all the reviews of Opus One seem to say
the same thing - it's too expensive for what you get. And
our visit confirmed this. The food menu is on the expensive
side without being too out of reach (from £15.95 for
Butternut Squash Risotto upto £23.95 for Fillet steak,
with most dishes being around the £17 mark) but it is
the drinks that are heavily over-priced. A bottle of Bollinger
Special Cuvee costs £80, some £32 more than Epernay
next door, where we had drank earlier, and the excellent bottle
of Trimbach Gewürztraminer was a good £10 more
than Nutters, where we had spent the previous evening.
The food was beautifully presented and with a Raviolo courtesy
of the chef, there was some excellent touches. Sadly, the
raviolo was too hard - which defeats the object of the amuse
- and the starters of Seared Scallops with Belly Pork (£8.95)
and Corn-fed Chicken Pressing (£5.95) were also very
disappointing. The scallops over-cooked and the belly pork
lacking any resemblance of this normally tasty cut. The Chicken
Pressing was more enjoyable without being memorable. With
a good selection of mains and a few stand-out fish dishes,
we opted for the Monkfish (£17.50) which was very nicely
cooked although slightly over-salted. The Oven Roast Cod (£17.25)
was also well cooked and just as beautifully presented. At
these prices and the fact the restaurant is in a 5 star hotel,
you would expect slightly better though, especially as a side
dish of Hand Cut Chips (£2.85) was needed.
On the plus side, the service was fantastic and efficient
throughout. The food arrived very quickly, even though the
restaurant was reasonably busy with hotel guests. We were
more than happy to pay the automatic 10% service charge although
the prompt for a further gratuity when paying is a bit cheeky,
as is the 10% service charge at the bar, which isn't cheap
to start with.
Whilst the decor is plush, deep reds and blacks complemented
by large mirrors, the feeling of being in a hotel restaurant
is everpresent, not that's a bad thing. Sadly the same can
not be said of the food at 5 star hotel prices. As Chris says
in the review below (which seems to mirror our experience)
'with a few tweaks, this place could be in the top 5 in town.
As it stands, it doesn't make the top 15'. For a city with
only two 5-star hotels, Manchester really needs to up it's
game." -
restaurants of manchester - (16/3/10 visited on a monday evening) |
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"Its been a while since we've been for a slap up meal in town,
and we've long wanted to try Opus One, as Ive always liked
the look of the dining room, the menu is very British
and regional, and in a 5 star hotel, surely it couldn't
fail to be anything other than good quality? With the Hi
Life card subscription about to expire next month, we
thought that a trip here was well timed. Usually they dont
accept Hi Life on Saturday,
but after a phone call, they managed to fit us in at 7 luckily,
so off we went!
The welcome was quite friendly, and the restaurant is sitated
just beyond the bar area, which was quite busy and noisy,
full of businessy looking patrons. The music was a bit loud
for a restaurant of this type, but then we were sat pretty
close to the speaker so probably got the loudest of it.
The dining room itself was just as striking in person as
it is in photos, decked out in red and black, in a Chinese
style fashion. High ceilings and plenty of space made this
for me, one of the best looking dining rooms in town.
Im not sure about the 2 Chinese tops which are on the wall
in perspex covers, but hey.
A charming French gent who appeared to be the head waiter
tended to us, and he was extremely professional indeed.
We ordered 2 half bottles of wine to complement our choices
in food, and both were very good, albeit slightly pricy for
what they were. The wine list as a whole was average, with
not much under £20, and anything around this mark available
from Odddbins for £5.
Our order of Pigeon (£7.75) and Lobster Ravioli (£8.50)
(starters) and then Pork Cheeks (£17.95) and Sea Bass
(£16.75) (mains), were taken along with the wine. All
in all, service was very good from the head waiter
(Didier), but I did get the impression after looking at the
other tables that his standards didn't carry over to the rest
of the waiting staff, even though everybody was very helpful
and friendly, but lacked that extra bit that you expect
from a supposed top end place.
Soon after ordering, we received some complimentary bread,
which was very disappointing. The dough was very heavy and
short, so felt/tasted more like a scone than bread. We ate
it anyway, but felt like ordering a cup of tea and some jam
to go with it. Not to worry, it was free. Then, the chefs
amuse bouch landed, which was a chicken terrine with sweet
chilli sauce. Again, this was also very disappointing. The
sweet chilli sauce was excellent, but the chicken was bland,
under seasoned and very flat indeed. Kind of pointless, and
didn't do what an amuse is supposed to do. Even if its free,
you're better off not doing it than doing it badly. We were
starting to worry that this place was style over substance,
even if all we had eaten at that stage was free. Our starters
landed, and I hate to say it, but they were also well below
par. My pigeon was again under seasoned, a little chewy, and
overall very disappointing. The lobster ravioli, which came
as a single disk, was badly split. This is completely inexcusable
and it shouldn't have left the kitchen. Despite splitting
in the middle, the pasta was too thick around the edges, hence
slightly over al dente. The filling however tasted fine, as
did the accompanying sauce and crab's claw. Overall though,
two very disappointing starters, and had it not been for the
Hi Life card, I'd have sent
the ravioli back. Nobody asked if all was OK during the starters
unfortunately, even the previously excellent Didier.
By this point, I was feeling very disappointed after looking
forward to visiting Opus One for so long, was already thinking
about what I'd be writing in this review, and it wasnt going
to be good, but hey, we just enjoyed the wine and pretty dining
room, whilst gossiping and debating the possible reasons why
the couple facing us where seemingly not getting along at
all, and joking in bewilderment at how half the people in
view seemed to have ordered the beef with a side of chips.
Anyway, to interupt our nattering, the mains landed, and surprisingly,
they were excellent. The transformation was so profound that
it felt as if we'd been moved to another restaurant. My sea
bass was perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned, and came with
spinach, samphire, and a really brilliant champ mash. The
Pork Cheeks were also on a totally diferent level to the starters.
The pork was bursting with flavours, fell apart in your mouth,
and came with lovely langoustine tails, and mini roast potato
disks, which were a tad undercooked but still pleasant enough.
We were very happy, and this was the standards which you expect
of a restaurant who charges about £20 for a main course.
Of course, Hi Life made it
much more appealing.
For desserts, we were feeling more confident, and opted for
the 3 Cheese Board (£7.50) and a Bakewell Tart (£5.95).
Both were very good. The cheese board gave you a choice of
three from a menu of about a dozen. The tart was really good
too, with Amaretto ice cream. We had a very good dessert wine
and decent glass of port with them to round things off nicely.
Overall though, we left having mixed feelings, ranging
from excellent, to awful. Without Hi
Life, the bill for two people would have come to about
£130, which really would have been too much for the overall
experience. It saddens me to say that I probably wouldn't
recommend Opus One, and not for the reasons that people mainly
seem to moan about, such as the chips being expensive for
only a handful. If you want steak and chips, why go to places
like this? Anyway, apart from the excellent mains, nice
dining room, good desserts and service from the head waiter
Didier, the rest of the dining experience was decidedly poor
to average, and Opus One really should think hard about
the little things which it needs to do if it wants to be considered
amongst the top places in town. Letting people use their Hi
Life cards on a Saturday surely must be a sign of punter
shortage, and since hotels are having a tough time at the
moment too, perhaps the on tap businessman custom from the
Raddisson isn't there for Opus One at the moment? Small things
add up to a massive amount, and with a few tweaks, this
place could be in the top 5 in town. As it stands,
it doesn't make the top 15, and had the mains and dessert
been on a par with the bread, amuse and starter, this would
been graded as a 2 for food, and 2.5 overall, as the food
is what really matters.
Food 3/5 ~ Price 2.5/5 ~ Service 3.5/5 ~ Smartness 4/5 ~ Overall
3/5" -
chris handley, salford - TRUSTED REVIEWER - (13/9/09 visited
on a saturday evening) |
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