The Albert Square Chop House

Went for a Family birthday party in the middle of January avec the the 50% off voucher !! Don’t get me wrong, the food was tremendous and the service was average along with the waiter with a terrible attitude !! Less than happy to accommodate my brothers 21^st !! I’ve had a few shandys at the time of posting but I won’t be rushing back !!

We came for team drinks before our work’s Christmas do elsewhere, so I’m only reviewing the bar upstairs. People voted to meet here for convenience so I had to relent, even though I had many other suggestions. Moral of this story: ignore the Unilocaler at your peril!
As you can imagine the place was absolutely rammed to capacity with other festive drinkers, but that wasn’t the main reason for the below average scoring — it was the awful, awful beers they have on tap. Possibly some of the worst I’ve had in Manchester. I couldn’t finish their Albert Square Best Bitter and had to endure one from Joseph Holt after that. When you contemplate joining your colleagues in having a bottle of Corona instead, you know it’s bad.
You can gather I wouldn’t recommend it as a drinking spot — there are many far better places nearby, such as its namesake Albert’s Schloss.

We headed here for our work Christmas dinner, and I was pretty excited from having pre-​ordered our meals as everything sounded delicious. On the night the disappointment wasn’t the food, it was the service. Read on…
So we arrived to our table which was really weirdly set up as it was jutting out from a booth. That meant the people in the booth were pretty much trapped. Most of the restaurant seemed occupied with Christmas parties and it was nice to sit down and get some wine under way.
The waiter had a really strange manner and started trying to upsell us on a multi-​buy of bottles of wine which I just found really awkward in what I thought was an upscale restaurant. He also quoted the incorrect price for the wine per bottle when I had the page open in front of me which really bothered me. The wine menu here is the worst wine menu I’ve ever read — it’s pretty much unreadable as it’s split into sections, so you can’t just quickly look at what wines they have by the bottle. We went for a bottle of Zinck pinot gris which was nice but I could only have a couple of glasses as it was a very powerful flavour.
Onto the food. The amuse bouche soup was lovely and served in a cute little cup although the waiters got frustrated/​rude about trying to collect them due to the ridiculous set up of our table — perhaps better not to make it feel like it’s the customers fault? I had the ox cheek and scallop for starter and again, a beautiful tasting dish but presentation was a little haphazard and it kind of looked like it was just thrown onto the plate.
Our waiter had checked how we wanted our steaks done (⁸⁄₁₀ of the table ordered steak) and the choice was rare or well done (um, ok? I’ve never been told there’s only two options for steak in a restaurant before). We all went for rare. When the steaks came out it was a rib eye fillet on the flat with a tomato and mushroom, and a side of chips. Sauce was an afterthought and as such, by the time we got the sauces, the steaks had cooled down significantly. I’m not sure why our waiter didn’t ask about our preference for sauce when he took our orders for how we wanted the steaks cooked. This was a very middle of the range steak for me — just ok, nothing to rave about and it definitely needed a sauce.
Finally, I had the cheese course. This was a very small portion and there was pretty much just one bite of each cheese. By this point I was pretty annoyed (as was most of our table) so we were happy to up and leave to go somewhere else.
At nearly £40 a head I expected a lot more and was pretty disappointed in a couple of the dishes. What really made this a disappointing experience though, was the rude service. We’d been eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner across Manchester and I understand that Christmas is a busy time, however this restaurant just seemed incapable of handling a full restaurant in a polite manner. Granted, a couple of staff members were lovely but on the whole, I found that the waiters looking after our table were incredibly rude. I wouldn’t go back.

Well our Christmas party was finally upon us and we were PUMPED! Christmas jumpers at the ready and enough merriment to fill a cracker — so off the the Chop House we went!
And this is where the merriment began to drop. We were seated in a rather small space on a long table making it difficult for us all to chat properly. We were then greeted my the house wine expert who offered us an unusual deal on the white wine — ‘if you buy 2 I’ll give you them for £30′. Does this happen in restaurants during a meal?! Very odd. I asked for my usual glass of rose and when I asked to double check if he’d written it down (after all the white wine weirdness), I was given a frosty reply if «yes, it’s coming». Humph.
We were then provided with a small cup of soup for an apéritif. I was told it was celery but it definitely didn’t taste that way — it was rich and creamy and due to the fact that I was starving, it was gone in approximately 30 seconds!
I might point out here that my food experience wasn’t actually too bad but my colleagues had many complaints including cold and over cooked steaks, rude replies from the waiter and having to wait quite some time for sauces/​condiments.
So my food experience:
Starter: Ox tongue and scallops.
This was honestly wonderful. I’m always skeptical when I choose an unusual part of an animals body to eat but when accompanied with the perfectly cooked scallops and sweet jiu it was just a little taste party in the mouth!
Main: Venison stew and dumplings.
Here is where Jody and myself triumphed. We were the only two who didn’t order steak and I’m rarer glad we didn’t. We were served with a whopping portion with a lot of large chunks of melt in the mouth venison and well cooked vegetables. Sadly we were only given 3 small dumplings which was a bit upsetting but I enjoyed the ones I had.
Dessert: chocolate cheesecake with honeycomb
I did enjoy my dessert however I almost think the honeycomb was TOO much. It accompanied the sharpness of the cheesecake well but it was a huge piece and I couldn’t eat it all!
Overall it was a very average experience which was a shame. We left slightly deflated and disappointed so sadly it has to be 3 stars for me.

So lets give this some context before I dive in, normally when I visit a restaurant and the food is fair to middling, they can often up their overall score in my head pretty significantly by having exceptional service.
Service to me is extremely important and having spent a few years in the US (if you didn’t know from the 110 other reviews I mentioned it in) I have somewhat an expectation that when I am paying for something, the service should be up to scratch.
Unfortunately on this particular visit to Albert Square Chop House it was not up to scratch.
I hate to just vent negatively about a business but I have rarely had a waiter seem so rude and off put when serving us. The fellow that served us made it feel like he was doing us a favour by serving us drinks and when I politely asked for some water for the table, he told me to give him a few minutes because we’re asking for too much. An interesting take on a customer service for a high-​spend group.
It was our Christmas dinner, 10 happy jolly folks rocking silly jumpers and eagerly awaiting a well recommended restaurant and we were well and truly let down. The food is a saving grace here and helped them jump to 2 stars as it was enjoyable, however you cannot pride yourself as a top level restaurant if you cannot provide service to match!

First off I have to say that I can’t give this place more than one star after the extreme disappointment of the experience and the embarrassment of choosing this place for my 9 friends and colleagues Christmas do.
Poor quality and cold food across the table, some of the worst and rudest service I’ve ever had and for what was supposed to be a Christmas meal — no atmosphere at all. They talk a good game on their website about celebrating the festive season but not a cracker in sight and massively inappropriate music (mission impossible theme was on three times in a short space… a trying to be funny ironic Xmas present joke? I doubt they’d have thought of this based on the lack of attention to detail)
This was all a shame as I’ve had some great food at their Mr Thomas Chop House over the years and Albert square did great food when we went there last year so I’m not sure what the hell has happened… something is seriously wrong here as the venue was only half full…
Waiting staff were dashing food across and out like it was a soup kitchen canteen, no smiles, rushing, very rude in their approach in communication to our table. Deary me — here comes that wave of embarrassment coming over me again… The sommelier seemed to think he was Del Boy trying to cut deals with our table all night on buying multiple bottles of wine (even though we looked at the menu and the price he was offering was standard for one bottle), the same with trying to bring me 2 – 3 pints at a time — to «make it easier for me» (I’m alright with one at a time thanks…)
The scallops to start were rubbery, the steak barely warm (one of our party sent it back… I just couldn’t be arsed as was already looking at how quickly we could get out of there…)
Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don’t when picking a place for dinner — unfortunately this is one that got away… if only Mr Coopers wasn’t fully booked…

What a disappointment this place turned out to be. We went here for our team Christmas party, expecting great things as members of our team had eaten here before and liked it.
The major issue was staff. We were absolutely rushed from course to course with hardly a break in between. It was a Tuesday night with dinner at 8pm and no one after us, so no turning over the table needed — why the rush? The staff were brisque and rude (with the exception of one younger guy), and the service was generally all over the place — items being brought out at the wrong time, bottles of white wine thrown on the table with no cooler, reset of plates being passed around rather than placed properly, pepper sauce for the steaks coming out ten minutes after the steaks landed on the table, etc.
Speaking of the steak. There were a group of 10 of us, of which 8 got the steak. The waiter simply asked us all if we wanted it pink or well done — as a group. I would have appreciated him asking each person individually and with proper terminology — what does pink even mean? Medium, m/​w, m/​r, rare, etc? Turns out in the Chop House it means medium/​well. Mine came out stone cold so I sent it back, and thankfully it came back a little less done.
I failed on all my selections as other people seemed to have better luck — the pâté starter was the worst I’ve ever had. So dry — it was more like luncheon meat slammed together into a block, and the theme continued to the dry as Ghandi’s flip flop Bakewell tart for desert which came with some ice cream (thankfully) and some biscuit crumbs. Dry x dry. Yum…
In the end, I was happy they rushed us out as I wasn’t keen on staying here an awful lot longer than we did which was a shame.

Well…
So we had a giant team dinner here. Ten people, all eager to celebrate the end of the year together. And everything was pre-​booked and we were psyched, who doesn’t love a good chop house.
And things started… well, badly. We were sat in a space that was a little awkward. It was a table shoved up to a booth, so everyone at the far end was stuck unless four people got up to let them out. They didn’t have two tables to put together so no one had to be inconvenienced?
And then the staff was bad. Really bad. Rude. They had a hard time taking our order (even though everything was pre-​ordered), they were brisk, they seemed annoyed when we asked for things like water. They didn’t ask if we wanted sauces with our steak and then again seemed annoyed when we asked about it. Yikes.
And then on top of this, the food had all kinds of issues. They asked if we wanted our steaks pink or no pink (the only two options), which is a little weird way to ask it. And then when they came out, some of them were overdone and a lot of them were cold. Blarg.
The rest of my meal was ok. I had the pâté to start, which was dry but did come with some nice and juice bits of fruit and the chocolate cheesecake with honeycomb was good. But not good enough to save the meal.
Very disappointing, especially for a nice Chrsitmas meal where they knew we were coming. Sad.

The promise was great but for me the overall experience disappointing. I love chop houses and their finally hewn English fare. The bar restaurant is on two floors with a nice terrace space outside. The interior is quite eclectic and modern, away from the traditional mould of its kind. Nothing wrong with that but I can’t help but feel that’s helped it take it’s eye off the ball. The food sounded right, potted pork, corned beef hash, smoked mackerel and locally sourced lamb and beef, but the presentation was dry to the eye and palette. It’s not over priced but not cheap either and attention to its niche should be crucial. Wine was priced above the quality of the food and for me added to a sense of not being in the right place at the right time. Maybe I caught them on a bad night.

Had a lovely sunday roast here and a couple of glasses of red at the weekend. We went around 6pm and they had unfortunately ran out if the chicken and the pork so it was roast beef all round. Not an issue in my book! Beef was served lovely and pink with a nice yorkshire pud and individual gravy boat. Roast potatoes were to die for gorgeous and crispy on the outside but fluffy on the inside. Small amount of veg (could have done with a little more) savoy cabbage, mashed carrot, green beans came with meal as well. I opted for the treacle tart for dessert which was very sweet but was just the right amount. My friend opted for the banna loaf which looked really tasty and was served warm. Pleasant meal in nice surroundings. Nice bar area upstairs as well if you just wanted to have a drink. Staff were attntive without bring over bearing and we were able to take our time which is leays nice on a sunday :)

Here for a birthday, family occasion. Really really enjoyed the food and good service. A very reasonable £14 for 2 courses. Recommended. English cuisine with a twist. Familiar but engaging menu options and good veggie options too.

A hidden gem of Manchester I went last Saturday staff where fantastic food you could go and spend a lot of money or you could spend not a lot I think everyone should try the corn beef ash for a starter I just think it’s fantastic everyone should try it at least once you can also see the chefs cooking the food book early as the tables go quick

Went to Albert Square Chop House last night for friends birthday meal. Its about the 3^rd time here but the first for a «normal meal». Previous times have been just for a drink and another time was for a Unilocal event.
There was 9 of us in the group — which meant a fairly big long table. We all had a starter. I had the scallops and belly pork which a few other people had.
I was a bit disappointed by this. The portion size — which was just a couple small scallops and 3 pieces of belly pork. It tasted OK although the belly pork was rather salty. For £9.50, I expected more.
For main, I had the Lamb Barnsley Chop. This was quite tasty and tender — although nothing ‘special’. It came with mushrooms, a tomato and some chips on the side. The chips had a nice crunch/​texture.
The service was a bit average unfortunately. It took a bit longer than expected for the drinks to arrive. And also, other little things like not taking away glasses which were not being used.
One thing to note, our table was right next to the kitchen. It did mean could see what was happening but we got all the smell (and smoke) from the kitchen.

Went here for the first time last night and I think I’ll stick to the other Chop Houses from now on. Sorry for the impending rant, but I’ve never met a more miserable and sour-​faced set of bartenders, than those at the Albert Square Chop House. The hostesses seem jolly and even the doormen are keen to engage in some light-​hearted banter, but one or two bartenders on the main floor could do with a personality transplant. Someone needs to tell these guys that bartending involves a little more than pouring beer in a glass and that they must understand how to talk to people and how to deliver a great experience to paying customers. Didn’t try the food and won’t be doing anytime soon.

I have been living in Manchester over a decade now and I am still trying to figure out how the typical British restaurant looks like. Then I had a vision of that, which is the velvet/​leather couch, leather/​wooden benches, and dark carpet in a cottage in the countryside.
Albert Square Chop House is a typical British restaurant as you can tell when you entered the premises. It’s a bar on the ground floor and a restaurant downstairs. There are leather couch and benches with wooden tables in the bar and tasteful contemporary and classic paintings on the walls all over the house. The staffs were friendly and helpful, and you felt like walking into your local pub while in a bright and chic venue. We finished our orders in a chat with the waitress. She went back to check twice in term of our request on drink and food. It felt so relaxing and pleasant the minute we sat in.
The classic Corned Beef Hash was a perfection of corned beef with potatoes and onions. The soft poached egg is a nice touch. I am not a big fan of bacon but the crispy bacon is actually quite nice. This was a traditional dish and it’s really heavy and greasy in the taste and it was worth trying. The Roast Cod was alright since the cod was a bit hard and dry which doesn’t quite meet my expectation for white fish.
The Gin and Tonic was good and the waitress checked with us beforehand that they used cucumber instead of lime so it might come from the Hendricks gin.
They charge Gin and Tonic water separately, which was new for me and they also have a 10% service charge and the service was good.

I’ve been previously to both Sam’s and Mr Tom’s Chop House, albeit a few years ago, but I’ve always remembered the food being good, warm, hearty pub food and I’ve loved it. I had the same expectation of The Albert Square Chop House when i went a few months ago, and it didn’t disappoint.
We were seated downstairs in the main restaurant, rather than the upstairs bar where they also serve food. The décor is modern and doesn’t have the ‘pub’ feel like Sam’s or Tom’s does — but rather a real formal restaurant feel.
It was a Sunday and i was, initially, out in search of a roast — but quickly changed my mind when i saw the menu. And what a menu it is! — all classic British dishes with contemporary twists.
For starter I opted for Potted Rabbit on Toast — Potted rabbit, sour dough toast & pickled spring vegetables (£6.50) and it was very good, if not rather small. My friend opted for The Famous Chop House Corned Beef Hash Cake — home-​made corned beef & potato, served with a soft poached egg & HP sauce (£7.00). Both dishes arrived quickly and were just as expected — very good.
For main course i decided to try their Home-​made Corned Beef Hash — similar ti may friends starter, but not baked into a cake. It was mixed with sauteed potatoes & onions and served with a soft-​poached egg & crispy bacon on top. (£13.00) It was brilliant. The Steak & Kidney pudding was also ordered (also £13.00) which came with mushy peas and chips. Definitely filled a corner.
Overall the meal was lovely, not too expensive, and the service was fast and friendly too. There was so many dishes I could have tried on this menu — so I most certainly will be back.

Another great experience at this particular Chop House, this time on the last Bank Holiday Monday with my parents.
We booked a table downstairs for 4, though it was basically empty so we had little need to do so. Perusing the menus — slightly different to our Sunday lunch experience but with some familiar faces — it took us a while to decide, especially with the extensive wine options to look over!
Eventually we decided; I shared the pork belly and scallops to start, then had the lamb with courgette and broccoli. The pork belly was really soft with a slight crunch of crackling, working really well with the scallops; it was especially nice to have something other than black pudding alongside this one exception to seafood that I am willing to make!
The lamb was very tender and the sides worked very well, with plenty of colour on the plate and flavour to go around.
My stand out dish was the dessert — raspberry soufflé with a deliciously tart raspberry sauce. The soufflé had dipped in the middle slightly by the time I had found my phone to take a snap, but it had a very impressive rise on it.
My dad had a rum served with a selection of chocolates, and Josh went for the ‘dipping dog’, a whisky served in a particular holder based on the fact that people working in distillery’s would dip this container into the barrels and carry it around with them to sip during the working day — man’s best friend!
So, an educational lesson and a brilliant meal. What more could you want?

The Albert Square Chop House was a delight to visit.
Delight is exactly the kind of vocabulary that fits in for this place, not great grub.
It’s not a casual place and definitely the kind of place you could imagine having a wine tasting evening, a classy dinner or even a cosy bottle of wine with a close friend you’ve not seen in a while.
As I looked around on the day, many were there for business lunches, including ourselves, and the staff waiting on us couldn’t have been nicer. The Maitre D’ was so professional and made sure that we were happy every step of the way.
I saw duck on the menu and felt my mouth water. On arrival, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t just a tiny duck breast, but half a duck! I expected less and immediately felt guilty for doing so. Albeit the duck was supposed to come with seasoned new potatoes and instead it arrived on a well sculpted bed of creamy smooth mash potato. I didn’t complain or question it because it complimented the half duck, plum sauce and caramelised vegetables so well.
The chef (s) clearly know what goes well together and how to add that extra «mmmmm» to their dishes.
I would definitely pay that little bit extra to eat here more often. It’s not extortionate, the portions are not small and I am counting down the days to go again to smell that delicious steak aroma coming from the kitchen!!!

Having been lucky enough to get tickets to the cocktail menu launch and knowing this was the latest venue in the expanding Chophouse chain I was keen to get inside and check the place out.
The venue is elegant and has the advantage of being more spaceous than its brothers Sam and Thomas’ chophouses. It has two floors, one being the restaurant.
We tried the mojitos which were good but I’ve had better, id assume catering for large volumes took the love a little out of the drinks but they were still enjoyable.
We were served with gorgeous canapes of corned beef hash balls, scotch eggs, goat cheese and salmon fishcakes, all lovely and delicate and if this is a sample of the food on offer I can’t wait to go back.
I didn’t see the bar menu but if its anything like Sams I know it will be good.

Albert Square Chop House — could you please move down to London? exactly how you are.
We were initially planning to go to Sam’s chop house but our hotel directed us here since it was on the way and it was newly opened and really glad we went.
The place has 2 floors, the ground floor has more casual/​pub food with mostly pies, sandwiches and burgers. The lower ground floor is the nice restaurant — depending on your mood, take your pick. We decided to go with the restaurant.
I loved the décor with the exposed brick — it felt fancy without it being pretentious. There is a good wine selection and lots to chose from. There is an early evening menu where I think it is 2 courses for 15 pounds. We all pretty much went with the rib eye steak… it was AMAZING. When a UK restaurant gets medium rare right, we are automatically BFFs.
ASCH — I will be back