IKEA

Does what it says inside the box… As always Ikea lives up to being Ikea, I bought the sideboard I wanted and managed to assemble it when I returned home. I was also pleased with my shopping experience I got the right level of help and the friend who kindly brought me seemed happy with the breakfast we had in the morning, (next time we will attempt to come a bit earlier as they had run out of a few items), still they coped fairly well considering it was new years day.

Come for the furniture (and family arguments), stay for the rack of lamb
New on the menu is the very tasty and succulent rack of lamb on a bed of seasoned mash and French beans. It’s a nice change from the meatballs and still very reasonable.
IKEA, as always, is busy so even if you come in the middle of the day, there are families galore, plenty of couples squabbling and older people. Get yourself an IKEA Family card and you’ll get deals on hot drinks and some meals.
Oh, and there’s a new catalogue out, filled with new and useful things to salivate over: wireless charging phone cases and furniture are the current stand-​outs.

IKEA is a Swedish furniture cum gadget, diner playground adventure superstore theirs a lot going on on my visit today because its school holidays boy was it packed
They queue up for those meatballs on a regular basis I’m told I was only having the free, yes free coffee
They have a family card system which you can get discounts
When you first go there on the wall there’s a sort of machine to register for your family card they give you a temp one until you get the hard type in the post
There’s a playground cum child minder service on ground floor, good for the younger ones
The place is very light and has a lot of displays to see how you set up your home nice
Then there’s the different departments of things to buy as you follow the long and winding path mapped out for you however there is maps and shortcuts if you study it .
The restaurant is very good they have the usual suspects plus one veg option and one today’s special not to be missed, don’t forget your free drink Monday though to Friday happy shopping doll

I don’t have a frame of reference for this Ikea because unlike everyone else in the world I did not go for trips to Ikea as a child. Whether because there wasn’t one near where we lived or because my parents took us to better places (sorry guys) I don’t know. Now I no longer get to see the look on people’s faces when I say I’ve never been to Ikea. Honestly I was expecting some kind of adventure wonderland the way people talk about it.
So it’s a shop. It sells things for your home. Mostly flat-​packed, mostly affordable. We managed to get everything we wanted and also lots of other things that we didn’t necessarily need or want but ended up coming home with us anyway. It is kind of fun how the shop is set out but it does mean that you’re in for the long haul.
We stopped off at the café and I felt like I just had to go for the meatballs and the Daim bar cake. This was actually all really tasty so well done Ikea.
I’ve now been to Ikea twice and hopefully won’t need to go again until I move house next but I’ve had the experience now at least!

TL;DR — It’s an IKEA; what’s not to love?
If you’ve visited one IKEA, you’ll know the score. Massive furniture showroom designed to make you follow a particular route so you see everything… opportunities to buy food and accessories on the way… then if you like something, you collect it from the warehouse and take it home with you.
This IKEA is a bit unusual in that it’s tall, so the car park is on top and the showroom is split across different levels, but other than that it’s the usual drill. Nice furniture at a variety of price points and certainly nothing you’d consider overpriced.
Don’t forget your IKEA Family card for free tea and coffee in the restaurant, and don’t forget to indulge in those meatballs and gravy (lingonberry jam is now with the condiments after the till so you can have as much as you want!).
My one gripe is that, depending on the direction you approach from, the entrance to the car park isn’t especially well signposted — but that’s not Ikea’s fault; it’s the road layout in the area.
Personally, I love IKEA. If you do too, you’ll be happy here. If you hate flat pack furniture and busy stores, maybe look elsewhere.

This store is great and really everting you want for a stylish looking home (and also a whole lot of other stuff you didnt know you needed!)
From chairs to beds, to blinds and cutlery there is literally everything here. As well as furniture they sell a huge load of great garden stuff like plants, seeds and fired compacted compost!
The restaurant is great too the meatballs and mash is amazing! They also do great curries, cakes and coffee which will keep you going when on a big shop!

IKEA is a massive warehouse in Ashton, mainly specilising in furnichure.
It is so big, that is is hard to navigate as well as lack of signage and it being difficult to sometimes find staff, it means you have to result to asking normal people. One guy even offered to take me where I was going, and we had a friendly conversation on the way, which is better than some staff do at other places.
IKEA just gives a sort of dissapointing feel, the food I found was awful which is shocking as I have read reviews on here that the food is supposed to be good, I had high expectations which were not met especially with it being a swedish company.
IKEA has a lot of parking space, some in the store and a little bit of parking on the front of the store with views of sunlight and Ashton, although not the place you want to be parking in heavy snow or rain, this is one of the nicer car parks which makes me forget it is from a big, commerical company in a way.
IKEA has a loyalty scheme, the family card gives you money off certain things and free tea or coffee in the café.
They is some nice furnichure here at good prices but some items are overpriced in my view.
If you have to go to IKEA, please remember to try and see it all, they is a hidden away part so just feel free to ask a fellow shopper or a member of staff if you find one, after all if you have traveled all that way you will be wanting to see it all.
IKEA just gives me a dissapointing feel, it is somewhere you will only really want to go once, with the lack of staff and signage I feel it only deserves 2 stars.

Always love coming here. We buy properties to rent out and try to furnish them using Ikea where possible. The furniture is durable yet cheap enough to replace should it become necessary

The thing I love about Ikea is that they just get it right — you can go cheap, you can go expensive but overall everything is still stylish, efficient and you think it would look amazing in your house.
I really get caught up in it all as I find myself getting more and more obsessed by design as the years go by (I can blame Grand Designs and a subscription to Wallpaper for that…) — but you do just forget sometimes that your house isn’t a minimalist beach shack in Malibu and that most things won’t go in your 1930’s red brick northern semi.
This place is huge, multi-​levels with everything for every aspect of the home.
Although this wasn’t the plan when we set off we actually ate here too — the meatballs and mash always going down a treat (and a large plate for £5.95 really did hit the spot)
Overall I wouldn’t want to go here too often but it does definitely seem like a treat when you haven’t been for a while.

IKEA, the huge Scandinavian chain selling ready-​to-​assemble furniture and housewares, in a warehouse-​like space over a few levels with different sections. Thy sell items for living space, bedrooms, kitchens and almost everything else you would want for your home. It has everything you need for all your home furnishings.
There are one or two IKEAS in each big city around the UK and the World. It is very reasonably priced and they are usually very up to date with everything they sell. They also have a café in each store which has very reasonably priced breakfast and scandinavian style foods. They also have the IKEA family card where you can get discount on Breakfasts, Complimentary Tea and Coffee and great benefits for this great company.
The Ashton IKEA is very easy to get to with great motorway links and a direct tram from the city centre of Manchester.

Can you think of anything worse than a Bank Holiday trip to Ikea? I sure as hell can’t. However, when you’ve moved flat and need three times the amount of storage in your new place, there’s also nowhere better to head.
It’s hard to say much about inside Ikea — they’re all designed the same, with that handy arrow to reassure you that, at some point, you will find the end. It’s hard not to shop spontaneously here; after about 5 minutes, I’d picked up 4 tribal print glasses and a stuffed toy dog. Needless to say, it was good my parents were there to point me in the right direction…
We got some food halfway round to refuel; I had a vegetable pasta dish, and the other half went for meatballs with fries, the parents going for a smaller portion of the meatballs and a sandwich between them. The pasta was actually quite tasty, if a bit bland, and the meatballs were tasty enough.
Getting through checkout was easy, though it’s never fun to see that final receipt! Walking to the car was difficult due to the sloping pavement, so I would suggest bringing the car around if you’re not feeling too strong.

Normally IKEA would be ⁵⁄₅ as I love the showroom aspect to seeing what you’re going to buy in a real world situation.
Unfortunately I bought the IKEA poang chair and footstool only to find that upon unwrapping there was an incredibly pungent fishy smell! Half a can of febreeze and two days later its still here! Not happy.
Apart from that I had a nice couple of hours there and picked up some bargains as well as having the Swedish meatballs in the café.
Top tip: try the apple cider in the restaurant, it’s beautiful! Or pick it up in the shop at the end if you’re driving you won’t regret it.

This IKEA truly tests your knowledge of the Manchester bus system. Take one into the city centre, hop onto another (hope it’s even there), and then you drive… for ever. and ever. while you wonder whether you’re being taken out to an abandoned field and left for dead.
Some 45 minutes later, after driving through cities full of rundown bars and shoppes (the recession sure hit hard here.), you finally make it – or so you are told. «We’re…here?»
You get off in a random city and walk, peeking through after every block hoping to see the familiar blue and yellow building… and you finally do. PHEW.
Now, if you’re without a car like me, the traditional IKEA experience will come with a challenge; how do you buy all those great cheap goodies and get them home with you? You will learn to be practical for the first time in your life.
The café is pretty great and does a good job of charging you up for shopping. We decided on spinach and cheese pancakes (YUM!) and meatballs — my friend got those so I could try (they didn’t look appetizing enough for me to get some) and… well. I tried.
Shopping here is a full-​on project. The store layout is even more confusing than those in the States (how can it be?!) but the usual wonders are there if you only have the patience to look long and hard enough. Any random housewares, bedding, or kitchenware you could possibly need will be found here and not break the bank. Cheers, IKEA!

Ok folks here goes the update. The eating experience at Ikea has always been the Robin of the Batman saga. The jelly beans of the Blockbuster saga. The popcorn of the cinema saga. A secondary experience, well not anymore!!! Realizing the footfall the canteen gets at the place, they have cranked it up a notch. The variety has expanded somewhat, and the spinach and cheese pancakes are an absolute delight.
What’s more how’s this for an offer, now grab your reading glasses and read carefully, because I’m only going to write this once:
«Eat in the IKEA restaurant between 8^th November — 4^th December 2010 and we will give you the same value off your store bill when you shop between 6^th — 23^rd December 2010»
Now if you go to this place half as much as I do, you will realize there are, some pennies to be saved here people!!! So persuade your friends to bob along, just make sure you casually ask them for the receipt afterwords!!!