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VIA Ordeal
I had an unpleasant experience earlier this evening, more so because it was in a very unexpected venue of which I am a regular patron and had come to expect pleasure from, not displeasure! I had invited out my partner for dinner, and I had suggested one of my favourite dining experiences (I’ve been there 20 times plus in 2009 alone), VIA Bar & Restaurant, on Canal Street, in Manchester’s gay village. The bar staff is prompt and the waiters are very attentative and friendly, so much I often tip 15-20% gladly; and the food is really good. The venue which belongs to the TCG Group has a wide and varied menu with loads of options for every meal, in fact I think they have five types of mashed potato alone…

We arrived at approx 8pm and a girl with black and red hair was tonight’s waitress and told us to choose our own table anywhere in the restaurant, so I said to hear “well, I guess we shall have our regular table then”, that should have at least given even a half-baked server an idea what kind of customers had arrived: regulars. The beginning of the meal was uneventful, we ordered a starter and main course, which duly arrived and we both enjoyed, though I felt at the time that my fried ham was a little on the lukewarm side and the fried eggs was rather dry. A frequent diner and an ex Maitrê myself, I know that food sometimes get held up in the server room, so I filed this under staff-inexperience. As we finished our main course, the waitress came over to take away the plates and asked if we wanted some more drinks, I replied with “can we please have the dessert menu?”.

Imagine my indignation when she answered “no”? “No, the kitchen has closed, we close at 9pm” – at this point I looked at my wristwatch, which I am proud to say (part of being a railwayman) is timed to the quarter-second, and the time just then was NINE minutes past nine. I tried “surely you can still prepare desserts?” but she just blanked me, so we asked for our bill instead. At this point I showed her my TCG Group VIP Guest card (it entitles me to a 20% discount), and she smiled and went to the till. Shortly after she returned with our bill – and no discount. When I enquired howcome there was no discount, she instead of apologizing, incredulously asked “oh you wanted the discount?” – at this point I could feel my blood pressure running high and I was about to fire off a tirade about, no actually I would like our third course, but my partner intervened and so we got the correct bill shortly thereafter.

It was going to get worse. At this point I was thinking to myself, “just wait til I tell the regular waiter about this”… Having kept our change, she closed down her till and dimmed the lights in the restaurant to match the lights in the main bar area on the lower level of the venue and disappeared. We remained at our table with our drinks and was sat there talking, holding hands as I saw a man come in from the kitchen area with a steaming cooked dish and sat down at what I assume is a staff table. I’m sorry, if you have staff around qualified in preparing hot food for staff, then you also have the staff to make a pudding or scoop up some sorbet. One of my favourite desserts (priced at two for one) is the stack of American pancakes with ice-cream and syrup. Me and my partner often orders two desserts each! I know for a fact that the pancakes are microwaved ready-made ones, but they still taste decent enough. To say I was disappointed to have been cut short tho-thirds through what should have been a pleasant and romantic meal, is an understatement. Not the least made worse by the incompetence of a waitress who should have had the common sense of enquiring from her customers, before the kitchen closed, if they wanted something else?

After an hour on our own in the restaurant (our iPhone Touches were getting their workout as we tried to synchronise our conflicting Pride schedules for the upcoming Manchester Gay Pride weekend) two black-clad barmen from the main bar entered the restaurant on their way to the kitchens, and as they passed our table one of them simply shouted at us “you’re not allowed in here guys” – not “I’m sorry but this area is closed now, would you please make your way to the main bar?”, no, just a “not allowed”. I tried to explain that we were diners and were still sat at our table, but they just turned and glared, so we stood up to leave. I have been a customer of Via (or Via Fossa as it was originally called) since it opened and was named UK Gay Pub of The Year by Gay Times (an accolade they have won several times since), and never have I experienced such bad service in this place? With my local next door, The Rembrandt, on the wain I have been looking to VIA as the natural successor but last night’s nightmare experience really sunk their chances.

Before writing this I went to a nearby bar to cool off with a drink, and speaking to friends there I discovered that my experience was far from unique or a recent detoriation. Two people told me of experiences similar to our’s where they have been mid-meal and in no uncertain terms been informed that the restaurant (and not just their kitchen) have closed, and could they please leave? With food still on their plates?

Excellent foody places in the gay village are presently Eden, Velvet and if its not too busy, Taurus — all on Canal Street. Velvet do some really nice, large, sandwiches before 7pm by the way. If you fancy some fastfood but don’t fancy salmonella or legionnaire’s decease, you can do alot worse than trying out Shang Hi chinese buffet on Whitworth Street (near New Union). Places to avoid are Villagio, McTucky’s, Maxwell’s and clearly in the evenings: VIA. With the exception of Maxwells (on Bloom Street) all of these venues are on Canal Street, Manchester 1.