"We also visited City Cafe after seeing it on Restaurants Of Manchester. Firstly, the name is off-putting. 'City Cafe' sounds more like a greasy spoon place! But once you make the effort to go there, you find a very stylish restaurant. On arrival we enjoyed a drink in the romantic little bar and were pleasantly surprised to receive free canapes. The restaurant menu is not extensive but most people will find something to suit them. We enjoyed the starters of Prawn Cocktail with avocado(£6.95) and Pressed Ham Hock & Parsley Terrine (£6.50) - both very tasty and well presented. The main course of Buccleuch Steak Frites (£19.95) was a bit uninspiring and could have been hotter but our other main of Aged Rack of Lamb Nicoise (£14.95) was good and nicely presented. The desserts (£5.50) were both excellent and imaginitive. Overall, a very pleasant meal, served up by friendly staff, headed by Kate who made sure we were well looked after throughout." - Ian, Stockton Heath - TRUSTED REVIEWER (25/10/09 - visited on a Saturday evening)

"My husband and I visited City Cafe in the City Inn after hearing about it on Restaurants Of Manchester. We ate on a Sunday lunchtime, but on arrival we took a while to find the restaurant as the hotel doesn't appear to advertise City Cafe outside or even inside the hotel. It was no wonder that there was only one table eating. It was a pleasant day, but no tables were laid outside on the terrace. On this Sunday 15,000 people were taking part in the Skyride Manchester bike ride, right past the City Cafe terrace area and surely this was a chance for the restaurant to advertise to hundreds of potential customers.

The menus offer a really good choice and we decided to go for 3 courses from the a la carte menu for £20.95. The wine list is extensive but also fairly expensive, you can get a house Merlot for £14.95 but we chose a good Cabernet Sauvignon for £18.50. The starters of Goats Cheese Tart and Prawn Cocktail with Tempura King Prawn were very enjoyable, not too filling and beautifully presented. These were followed by the Lamb Nicoise and the Fish & Chips. Both dishes were again very tasty but unfortunately they did not come to the table hot and you cannot help but think that on such a quiet day a bored chef had made them a bit early. To finish, we had the Lemon Tart and the Strawberries & Cream Selection and both were superb.

As mentioned in previous reviews, the service does let City Cafe down. Our waitresses could have done with smiles on their faces instead of the look of people who just wanted to finish for the day. Some effort to be a little friendlier (not over friendly) would be great. To quote the last reviewer, 'glum persona' says it all. One waitress practically grunted as she put down our cutlery.

The conservative decor is a little old fashioned in a pastel mint green colour and the chairs look a little worn for somewhere not open all that long. Unfortunately, due to the lack of people, there was no atmosphere to City Cafe and this will no doubt make both waitresses and Chef bored and unhappy which in turn rubs off onto customers. The toilets are in the reception area of the hotel, which is a little inconvenient but, saying that, they are lovely toilets and worth the walk! We probably will go back again to City Cafe as the a la carte menu is very good value and the food delicious; just hope things liven up next time." - Michelle Knowles, Rochdale - TRUSTED REVIEWER (5/08/09 - visited on a Sunday lunch)

"City Cafe has great potential, the food is lovely and the interior relaxing, but the service, on my visit at least, leaves much to be desired. I would have scored the restaurant 4 out of 5 if only scoring the food, but as good service is central to the dining experience, I felt let down somewhat. The restaurant's central location means a convenient spot for a wide range of dining needs. One problem is that although the restaurant is sectioned off from the hotel, you have to walk through reception to get to the toilets, leaving it feeling more like the hotel breakfast room rather than an independent restaurant. We dined on a Saturday lunchtime and, on arriving, the restaurant was empty apart from one table, resulting in no atmosphere whatsoever - although this may obviously not always be the case. The wine list was pleasing, and the menu varied, with prices reflecting a similar rate to what you would expect in any city centre restaurant serving a similar al la carte menu. The food, although in fairly small portions, was tasty and well presented and, whilst not the best British/European food I have eaten in the city, it was tasty, good quality and interesting.

The waiting on staff were polite and friendly but somewhat inexperienced, and a fixed waiter for our table would have been useful, instead of different people coming over, not knowing whether we had ordered - I imagine this may have been related to the lack of other customers to serve. I felt happy to be offered freshly baked bread whilst choosing from the menu, a nice touch. Less of a nice touch was the 10% service charge automatically included in the bill. I am happy to, and do, tip if the service is up to scratch, but don't expect it to be demanded especially when it is not deserved.

Due to its location, quality produce and interesting menu, City Cafe restaurant has potential. A good starting point maybe insuring all the staff actually know about each individual dish, and are able to answer simple questions such as what is the fish of the day, without running back and too to the kitchen. Although the food was pleasant, the service did not match the image of quality that the restaurant is trying to exude." - Claudia, Manchester - TRUSTED REVIEWER (4/08/09 - visited on a Saturday lunch)

"The sun was beating down hard and our tummys were rumbling even harder but it was hard to think of many decent restaurants allowing you to eat al fresco. Fortunately, City Inn is located just across the road from our Piccadilly office and so we headed there for our first visit, looking to silence those rumbles.

The patio at City Cafe, round the back of the entrance to the hotel and beside the tram tracks, is a real sun trap. The huge glass tables add a touch of class and most were fully occupied by business folk conducting meetings over a large glass of wine. Sadly, on our arrival they seemed a little short staffed as just one waitress seemed to be serving everybody both inside and outside, which could also go someway to explaining her rather glum persona. It took 15 minutes to actually be given the menus, a point at which many office workers on their hour lunch break would have given up and headed to a sandwich shop instead. The menus offered a fantastic choice though and the fact there was 3 of them, the normal A La Carte, a Market Lunch menu and a decent wine list, gave us plenty to read before her next return sometime later.

We opted for a real mixture of dishes, the Steak Frites was definitely the stand out dish though, at just £13.95 for a fantastic 8 oz, 21 day aged beef steak with well executed fries, watercress and Béarnaise sauce, it came with a free glass of wine as a special offer. The Market menu was also equally good value for money, at just £9.95 for 2 courses, you couldn't really complain at the mini Full English Breakfast starter, which consisted of tiny eggs, bacon, sausage, black pudding, and a spoonful of refried beans, all very tasty, fresh and beautifully presented. Certainly quality over quantity. The main courses on the Market Menu certainly made up for the size of the starter and would have been worth the £9.95 alone. The Chicken breasts were delicious and very sucullent, accompanied by plenty of veg.

On this visit, service was the only thing that let City Cafe down. The waitress never asked how I liked my steak cooked, fortunately the chef served it up how I like it. Likewise, she returned some 5 minutes after I ordered my wine to ask what kind of wine I'd like, even though I'd already told her. She was also unsure as to what one of the starters was when asked and, although she offered to check with the chef, we didn't fancy waiting even longer than we already had. One and a half hours for a 2 course lunch is pushing it a bit - especially as we'd forgotten the sun cream. It will be interesting to see how the service compares on the future visits that we've already got planned.

Overall, even with the 10% automatic service charge (why do so many hotel restaurants insist on charging this?), City Cafe was certainly good value for money. Even ignoring the fantastic Market Menu and Steak Frites offers, the a la carte menu ranged from £9.95 for Pea, Broad Bean & Dolcelatte Risotto, to a very reasonable £19.95 for the 12 oz rib-eye Buccleuch Steak, the only dish above £15. Exceptional value for food of this quality. There was an exhaustive choice of salads too, ideal for a sunny day eating al fresco. We're already looking forward to our next trip to City Cafe and, after this wonderful experience, it will not not just be the sunshine that will have us heading there en mass." - Restaurants Of Manchester 31/5/09 (visited on a friday lunch)

"There was a shaky start with the service, we had to ask for bread and remind them to bring the water we had ordered, but overall they were very friendly and knowledgeable of the menu. The food on the other hand was amazing. They have an offer on both the main and market menu, which is on all of the time. We opted for the 2 courses for £15.95. We both had the Mrs Kirkhams Lancashire Cheese Tart to start, which was out of this world. It was the best starter I've had in a long time. Beautiful. Mains of Fish Pie and Fish & Chips also went down well. We finished with a little cheese and oatcakes, which were lovely, but we were offered no explanation as to what the cheese were. City Cafe has a lovely décor but is already a bit shabby even though it has only been open a year or so. I think the pastel colours aren't very hard wearing. With the atmosphere, you could tell it was a hotel restaurant, which was its only downside." - Clare, Ashton-under-Lyne - TRUSTED REVIEWER since July'07 (24/4/09)