Livebait

This restaurant was recommended to me by a work colleague because of my love for seafood, i was utterly disappointed.

The restaurant itself was a pleasure, as were the staff. The food was honestly the worst seafood I have ever eaten. My partner and I both order the battered calamari rings for starters, the batter was tasteless. There was no taste whatsoever. We just left them after eating a few.

The main course, my partner had the cod in lobster sauce with crushed potatoes which i have to admit, he really enjoyed. I have gamba prawns on a stone baked bread, the stone baked bread was a little over baked... it tasted burnt. The prawns were, number 1 - tasteless, number 2 - the prawn heads were mushy when i peeled the shell off. I ate 3 prawns and left my main course.

I did complain to the waiter when he collected our plates, and the hostess came to have a chat with me. She told me that the prawns were perfectly alright and it was because they had been moved around they were mushy.

I just wanted to go home so we quickly settled the bill and left.
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Riz
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Monday, June 21, 2010

I booked to go to this restaurant for my Mum's birthday as it was recommended me by many of my friends. We were instantly welcomed and had excellent service throughout the whole evening. As for the food- the starters were good, and the main courses were fantastic; in particular the sea bass and fish and chips. Everything was so fresh, and full of flavour. I am surprised to read the below review as our visit was such a pleasant experience. I will be sure to recommend it to my friends, and definately be visiting again soon!!
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Rachel
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Thursday, April 15, 2010

Simply horrible. I actually expected that the food here might be ok, but was I ever wrong. I had "fish cakes" as a starter that were without a doubt the single worst dish I've ever eaten in a restaurant. Mealy, tasteless and truly disgusting. If you'd given me a bite with my eyes closed and asked me to identify what I was eating I would not in a million years have guessed fish cake, or for that matter fish ANYTHING. It would be pushing it to say it tasted like "food" in fact. Really, really bad.

My main was a fish "casserole" which brought out a (this is a familiar tune) virtually tasteless soup, with some bits of fish and some mussels. Again, awful, though perhaps not as bad as the fishcakes.

My companion had fish and chips, which were declared to be "ok, but a bit mushy". That would be ok for £3.95, but for £13.95?? No misprint, almost fourteen Pounds for below average fish and chips that a local chippie could beat for £3.00. If you set foot in this place you have no excuses, you have been warned.
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Adam Roberts
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Thursday, March 25, 2010

Dined out at LIVEBAIT for my 21st Birthday Party and to be honest I have never begrudged giving money for food before. The food was absolutely disgraceful and FROZEN for god sake. I was so disappointed it was a shame and so was everybody else. The service was OK but very slow indeed, more staff needed and the food was just so expensive. I was just so frustrated by the end of the night as I had wasted a good birthday night out and I left the restaurant starving!!!

NEVER AGAIN.
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Mete Dursun
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, May 02, 2009

The bait may be live, but the chips are frozen! £15 for fish and frozen chips? A restaurant that can't be bothered to make proper, traditional fish and chips - it's a disgrace!
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mal fletcher
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Saturday, April 18, 2009

Dined out on 13th Feb 2008 . Very disappointed. service poor, very pricey and the food was just ok
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scottish visitor
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Monday, February 16, 2009

We went to Livebait Saturday 7th Feb, as I had heard a lot of recommendations and because we both enjoy seafood.

The service was ok, but nothing special. The starters were very good, but the mains, whilst both having great flavours were on the small side, which given the price was disappointing. The sweets were not great at all, lacking flavour and again, given the price were dissapointing.

The wine was reasonably priced, but due to the atmosphere we only had the one bottle. It fely as though we were a little bit rushed, even though the room was fairly empty.

I am glad that I went and tried Livebait, and whilst I would go back, I will not go back in a hurry. I was due to take my parents (who both like seafood) but have now arranged to visit a different restaurant following my experiences last Saturday.
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Andrew Dyson
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, February 10, 2009

My wife and I visited LIVEBAIT 3rd Feb. Have been many times before and enjoyed it. Service was very good, from very entertaining waiter Daniel. Had two meals off special menu £28 fair enough. Shock was the bill. £6.90 each, for a glass of wine?? £1.90 for a small dish of peas?? and to top it all although service charge was added to the bill of %10 which is acceptable, the card reading machine asks for an additional tip ! (Be careful the unwary) £48 + in total. Expensive fish and chips?. I have to say that after a very reasonable meal, good banter with the, waiter, I left feeling I had been let down. The restaurant was virtually empty during the time when a lot of people would be going to the theatre as we were. Could this be the cause?
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G Floyd
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, February 04, 2009

came here last week for a surprise meal for my wife. we both loved the food, great service from a charming man, who i think is called daniel. bit expensive but well worth it fantastic. shame their is no fish display or lobster tank. with food and service at a high we didn't even notice until the end. recommend it to everyone who loves seafood, lets face where else can you go in manchester to eat in a speciality seafood restaurant, no-where!!!!! top class!!!!!!!!
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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Visited for the first time Saturday 23rd Feb 2008.

How disappointing, firstly, we moved seats as they put me facing a tiled wall with my back to the whole room. I requested a pint of Boddingtons bitter to start, no Boddingtons, then we ordered wine, didn't have my first choice, settled for a Sauvignon Blanc from Chile which was very good.

Starters: I ordered pan fried scallops at £9.95; my wife had the special scallops and prawns at £8.50. I received 3 scallops, luke warm with a sprinkling of spring onion and mooli. My wife did much better 2 scallops and 3 prawns with carrot and watercress salad to spruce it up.

For main I ordered a halibut steak with new potatoes and seared asparagus from the specials, my wife ordered the masala spiced sea bass with sweet potatoes and mango salsa. Again mine was luke warm, and about enough for an anorexic pygmy, 2 and a half new potatoes hidden under my halibut and approx half a spear of asparagus sliced in to tiny pieces. My wife's bass, though very nice, was again devoid of any substance, a few slices of sweet potato and a trace of salsa.

I know, I'll have a pudding to fill up, £4.75 for the bread & butter pudding with custard. Presented very nicely with a half a strawberry and a mint leaf on top but with custard that had a consistency of tap water with dough balls, the pudding varying on Moh's hardness scale from 2 to 8. Unfortunately I ate it due to hunger and when I then relayed my disappointment to the waiter his retort was that the chefs don't like doing puddings and can't really be bothered. I was still charged. With a cappucino which was good, a side order of rocket and parmesan and one glass of champagne the total bill was £96. I can think of much better places to spend that kind of money on a decent meal for two.
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Stewart from Urmston
Sunday, February 24, 2008