Decent food & drinks but awful service. After spotting a 50% off offer for the brunch at the Mal on twitter we booked in. I'd heard good things so was keen to try this out. We got there a little early but as it was very quiet they seated us straight away. Despite the fact there were a lot of very good tables we were offered one in the middle of the restaurant. There was left over foods (quite big crumbs) all over my chair so we asked for a different table. The waitress again ignored all the nice tables and took us to another pretty average one. We immediately ordered drinks then had a good look at the menu. The format for Sunday brunch/lunch is an all you can eat starter buffet followed by a main and dessert that you order off the menu. The buffet has lots of great options on it. I had things like artichoke hearts, Caesar salad, couscous, Camembert, olives and some fantastic bread. There were also a lot of meat and fish options. After we finished our starters we still hadn't received our drinks and had to ask for them. Our waitress got confused and thought we wanted more drinks until we had to point out we still wanted our original drinks.... While we chose mains still no drinks appeared. We had to ask for the specials rather than being told about them. I ordered the lamb roast dinner and Dan went for the cooked breakfast. Then a good ten minutes later our waitress came over and asked what mains we wanted again - she obviously hadn't put them through yet. At this point I wandered back to the buffet and ordered some pancakes off the station at the end. They also do waffles! Amazing, I want this for the flat. The drinks were really good when they finally arrived - the Bloody Mary was great, very spicy and delicious. When the mains came they looked great. The breakfast comes with fries, steak, sausage, mushroom, black pudding, eggs and tomato. My roast dinner was good but I'd have liked mash as the roasties were a little dry and the veg was a bit over cooked. For dessert I ordered an ice cream sundae and Dan had the creme brûlée. The sundae was not good. The ice cream was melted and there was far too much cream on top. The cream was fairly tasteless and just sloppy so not pleasant. I sent it back. The bite I had of Dan's cream brûlée was good though. Some of the other staff seemed ok (although one waiter tried to give us a bottle of water when we asked for tap water - cheeky) but certainly our waitress was really struggling, we were told she was new. They took off one drink as compensation which was fine. A point to note here - they put a service charge on the bill. My pet hate in restaurants. We had not had good service and to have to ask them to then take the charge off didn't improve my overall experience. I can see why they are having to do 50% offers as overall based on today it wasn't an experience I'd rush back for. I do think that they could do better another day though and Dan really enjoyed his meal so we may return. Lots of small things they need to improve on. Hopefully they can. read more

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Just a quick stop at Malmaison for a cocktail before heading out for dinner. This place does a mean (good) Black Forest Martini, one of my favourite off the menu. Male moody boutique feel is perfect for a romantic drink with a special someone. The food from the SMOKE restaurant is delightful too but this is only a flying visit today sadly. read more

After wanting to go and check out their awesome sounding (pretty much all you can eat) Sunday brunch for a while, we decided to go for Mothers day on a day when I wasn't feeling very well so really didn't take advantage of the whole spread - saying that my wife loved it and I definitely saw enough to want to go back again. The massive buffet starter is amazing with loads of cold meats, seafood, soup, cheese, breads etc and then you get to choose from their mains which has around 5 breakfast choices, plus the same for traditional mains. I wanted something light so went for pumpkin ravioli (V) and my wife had the fantastic beef roast. Throw in included desserts and it's not bad value at all (usually it's £20 per head, it was £30 for mothers day with champagne). Plus very little kids eat free with being able to have anything off the buffet. Just echoing a few reviews - the service did seem a bit sloppy even though all the staff were very friendly. i.e asked if we wanted to order a drink without being offered a menu in advance, constantly having to grab attention of staff members for ordering food/drinks etc even though it wasn't packed and there were loads of staff. Improve the staff training and it could be close to a 5 stars from me. read more

Holy gastric band, batman! Smoak's Sunday brunch has defeated hunger forever. I am a big lover of a good breakfast. And this is an epic one. It's a 3 course extravaganza that begins with a buffet table the like of which I've not seen this side of Vegas. Roasted veg, cold meats, fresh omelettes, pastries, salmon, pancakes, waffles and more... I'd died and gone to over-eater's heaven. After a modest 4 trips to the groaning counter of starters, I turned my attention to my main - I chose a full roast dinner (Mr Creosote's got nothing on me). Rib of beef was served pink (of course) with a towering Yorkshire pud and some decent veg too. After that, a rich and ice creamy chocolatey marshmallowy concoction for dessert. Then a leisurely flick through the complementary Sunday papers while I waited for the sick feeling to go away. Bill for 2 came to just over £50, with coffees and soft drinks. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday. And definitely won't need to eat again today! read more

Not the best experience I've had. Been to smoke a few times not bit on this occasion the service failed. 30 mins for cocktails to arrive. Longer for food though the quality of the food was lovely as ever. Never been on a Saturday nigh before, was busy and as we were a group of 9 dining we had to prepay a £10 deposit per person!l when making reservation. read more

Smoak Bar & Grill - Lovely Mal burger :)) so tasty :)) - Steakhouses Near Me - Manchester, XGM

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My table (for a dinner date) was booked for 8pm but on arrival they hadn't a copy of the reservation - fortunately I'd kept a copy of the email to show them. They dealt with this well and we were seated in a few minutes, albeit not on the best positioned table but somebody had to have it. There's an interesting display of beef taking centre stage in the restaurant - after seeing this I'm not sure if it's possible to go to Smoak and not order steak. Considering I'd been to TGIs just 4 hours earlier I'm not sure why but I went for the 24oz T Bone with Bernaise which came with a mushroom and some unexpected bone marrow (a nice surprise). It was a good steak but not one of the best I've had in Manchester (although I probably ought to try it again when I'm more hungry). The best steaks I've had in Manchester have been at Gaucho, Restaurant Bar and Grill and (perhaps unexpectedly and this was 3 years ago) The Lowry - I'm slowly but surely working my way through the Top 10 Steaks on Manchester Confidential. I did like the ambience of the restaurant and the open kitchen and the urinals are certainly unique and worth a viewing (if you're a lady just peek round the door) PS despite the size of the steak and lack of hunger on my part the plate went back empty (7/10) read more

Went here for Brunch. The way it works is that you have an all you can eat buffet. This includes a soup of the day. A selection of unlimited hors d'oeuvres and chef's cook station featuring eggs, omelettes, waffles and pancakes prepared just for you. Various cooked meats - hand carved serrano ham, salads, pates, terrines, smoked salmon etc. Plenty of choice! Dont have too much though because you need to save room for the mains. Actually, you get a choice between either Brunch after the buffet. Brunch is either a big English breakfast or an eggs benedict with salmon or spinach on a toasted muffin. Or you get a choice of between 6 mains including a burger, steak or a roast (beef or turkey) I went for the roast beef - which cames with a Yorkshire pudding, gravy and all the trimmings. The beef was really nice actually. The rest of it was "OK". If you come for brunch here, take you time eating. Have a nice relaxing Sunday. Read the papers in-between each plate. Be prepared to stuff your face! Overall it gets a 3/5 because the service was pretty good - nothing special but good. All the food in the buffet was nice and as I said the actual beef was nice. read more

Positioning itself as a high-end grill / steakhouse, Smoak replaces the previous velvet gothic feel of Malmaison's restaurant with a quirky cross between US diner and robot butchers. Whilst some have been critical of the new decor, I rather like it - it's nice to have something a bit different. The place was very new when we went, and it seems clear it's still finding its feet: service was a bit all over the place, although they were friendly. We started with a round of cocktails. Their take on the old-fashioned is very good, rivalling the city's best (namely, the Alchemist's version). Leaving aside the stupid advertising about Mr Sharp and all that (nearly enough to put me off like that Rosso advert), let's talk about the food. First challenge was navigating the bizarrely confusing menu. I started off with their shrimp cocktail, which was decent: nice big juicy shrimp and a decent sauce. But worth £9.50? No way. Thank goodness for our 1/2 price offer. I ordered the rump steak alongside some chips. Despite what the menu might suggest, you will actually get a mushroom and some tasty bone marrow with the steak. The chips were very good: tasty and cooked to just the right consistency. The steak was pretty good too, and LARGE (400g). On reflection I didn't really need all that food. But we noticed to our surprise that two steaks ordered rare and very rare both came out identical (that is, fairly rare). Strange for a grill to not get this right, even in the UK. I hear that they attempt to serve you wine in those metal beakers you have on the table. I don't even want to drink water out of those: a quirky step too far, methinks. Overall, the place has promise, but needs work. Most importantly, their pricing structure is totally out of whack. read more

I have to say, Smoak does the best steak I've had in England so far. The place was completely booked out when we arrived, but they were happy to place us at a seat at the bar to avoid the 40 wait we'd've apparently had for a table. Then again, they apologies for taking 40 minutes to cook the Steak, so maybe we should've placed our orders and joined that queue... I split the Tomahawk between 3, although I could've eaten half of it myself, especially with that taste, though at £65, I'm glad to've shared the cost a little! I think if the waiters had been either intelligent enough to bring our Sides out while we waited, or had communicated the delay so that we could've specifically asked for them in the interim, I may well have given this place 5-stars. read more

Maybe I wasn't expecting much. Usually, I save hotel restaurants for when I'm too tired to go out. And after a long trip, that's exactly what I did. I opted for a lighter meal, on an Asian theme, and ordered the fish cakes and the Thai soup. The starter was pretty disappointing - even the accompanying chili sauce was bland, and I had to heavily pepper the little bugger to get it to taste like anything. The main soup, on the other hand, was wonderful. The broth was a combination of complex flavors that were missing in my starter. There were some nice vegetables and a good amount of noodles to make the soup filling, but as a vegetarian offering, I felt that there could have been more. I finished with a delightful scoop of lemon sorbet with a couple of fresh berries that ended my meal on a high note. Service was OK - nothing too special, but there were an awful lot of servers for the number of diners in the restaurant when I was there - could have been a little more attentive. If you're in the hotel and want a quick bite, give it a try. But there are better options a short walk away if you have the time. read more

Went there for lunch.The soup was very good,Personally,didn't really like the sauce.Still quit great.People there were very friendly. read more

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Enjoyed a few well made cocktails at the bar before dinner with its quirky decor and eclectic mix of clientele; as much fun for the people watching as for drinking. I have eaten here before but it was the first visit for my partner and he particularly liked the low bar top with its surrounding comfy chairs. I had tomato and mozzarella salad to start - nice selection of tomatoes and well dressed but skimpy on the cheese. Adrian had prawn cocktail, nicely presented and he enjoyed but quite a price at £8.50. For mains we both had steaks - cooked on the restaurants trade mark Josper Grill which we went over and asked with the chef about. They use two types of charcoal to keep things running smoothly and the grill/oven can reach temperatures of 600 degrees. The chef was in the middle of cooked a 900g steak whilst talking to us which he said was going to take 45 minutes to cook to medium and involved repeated removal from the grill for resting to stop over charring (not for diners in a hurry) Both our steaks were tasty but we both agreed slightly over-cooked for the medium rare we requested. I am guessing that really accurate steak temperature cooking is pretty tough on the "Josper" Nice garnish of flat mushroom and bone marrow but potato choice extra - a bit stingy at the prices they charge here. Both had fries and alioli, good but not remarkable. We both enjoyed a luscious sticky toffee pudding for afters (we asked for extra sauce on ordering) and then retired back to the bar for a couple of liquers. We avoided coffee as last time I dined here it was the most heinous black treacle like substance - I can't possibly quote the description of my dinner companion on that visit as it is just too rude! Overall, attentive knowledgeable service, a posh but casual style and great atmosphere added to our evening and we will definitely return - probably more so to the bar and occasionally to eat. Rates as one the better places to eat a steak in the city centre. read more

A friend of mine booked four of us in on a Saturday night for 9pm. We arrived before 9pm and were told to have a seat at the bar and wait for "a few minutes". 30 minutes later it turned out they'd forgotten about us. To be fair, they gave us each a free glass of Prosecco which was a nice touch (and the staff were over-apologetic). We all ordered steak, unfortunately three of the four were nowhere near as good as we'd expected. The meat was chewy, grisly and quite frankly tasteless. I wouldn't expect that at a Whetherspoons! Again, the waitress was apologetic and reported it to the kitchen staff, but by that point it was too late. The icing on the cake was during desert. One of our party ordered an Irish Coffee to cap off the evening. A different waitress brought over the drink on a totally unbalanced plate (for some bizarre reason), and surprise surprise, the second it was put down it tipped over covering me in a hot Irish coffee, over a dress I'd only just purchased that day. I was soaked, hot and stank like a brewery! That may have been unfortunate, but it just capped the evening off as terrible. It's a shame as when one thing happens, everything seems to follow suit. The best the manager could offer was for my dress to be drycleaned - How? I don't know, though I could have stood there in my knickers to entertain the other customers! 50% was taken off the food bill, leaving the bill at a (still) staggering £200. (Ouch!) read more

Amazing Sunday brunch, from the buffet starter to the mixed brunch for main course. All topped off with a signature Bloody Mary.

I had a good experience here at the bar on my own. The goat cheese salad and fishcake were both nice, service great and the wine is good by the glass, which is rare here. In a town seemingly underserved for foodies, a decent place to get a bite. read more