Brasserie Rouge in Liverpool

We visited the restaurant because we wanted the Tantanmen Ramen we are both very familiar with and is our meal of choice but unfortunately when it arrived it bore absolutely no resemblance taste wise to what we were used to in various other branches of Wagamama, as well as the one we were in. The stock used for the dish was tasteless and under-seasoned and when explaining to the waitress why we were returning it I made it very clear the stock was to blame and no amount of the kitchen staff adding the likes of salt to it was going to make it better but we would let the dish be remade. When the meal did come back to the table it was Luke warm and all that had been done to add a taste/flavor to it was the addition of enough chilli sauce to make this chilli lover cough, and enough of some kind of salty flavoring to strip the roof off of a persons mouth. It was inedible and very obvious nothing had been done to add genuine flavor to the base stock and they had done what I’d suspected they might do - disguise the flavorless stock with salt (and chilli). After speaking to the waiter we declined the meal and agreed to speak to the Manager even though it wasn’t necessary - we just wanted to pay for the food we had eaten and for the Ramen to be removed from the bill. And this was when everything changed because it was very obvious the ‘Manager’ took our unhappiness with the Ramen as a personal affront and rather than take a cue from us and put it down to an unfortunate experience; the tasteless, then blow your head off/acrid salty Ramen was our fault because we didn’t know how it was supposed to taste as his 2 head chefs had told him the Ramen was properly cooked. When the chefs were brought into the conversation I asked if he really did think the chefs could be objective about a meal they’d perhaps cooked? His reply was yes, they were, and when I asked were they the 2 chefs who’d earlier had a shouting match in the kitchen he said, ‘I didn’t observe that’. Yet we’d all heard it as had the waitress who was sitting at a table close to the kitchen refilling condiment bottles - she turned around to see what was going on After politely bringing the discussion with the ‘Manager’ to a close when he implied we should be grateful the cost of the Ramen had been removed from the bill as the head chefs said it was perfectly cooked, I also felt he was perhaps thinking we wanted more than that and we were perhaps a pair of chancers. It was something he said about - but you’ll still have to pay for the starters and your drinks, and this was when I told him that every time he spoke he was making the situation worse and that at no stage had we wanted anything more than the Ramen to be removed from the bill. Interestingly enough the ‘Manager’ was the person who’d taken our order and when I took a sip of my already poured before reaching the table sparkling water, I discovered it was a diet sprite instead. The waiter who I then asked to confirm if I had perhaps ordered the wrong drink checked and said, no mistake, you ordered sparkling water, and he very obviously rolled his eyes when telling me. I was asked if I’d like to change the drink but as a gesture of goodwill, mistakes happen, I kept the sprite. And our starters? They were very good. But I’m not sure what was happening at another table who also returned a meal after we did. Unfortunately the ‘Manager’ just couldn’t recognise a customer who wanted absolutely no fuss at all made about having to return their meal, and could only ‘manage’ the situation by making it worse. All in all, apart from the starters, it was a very poor and disappointing show.

Excellent food, fresh, home cooked high quality food

Was a superb restaurant, I met Anto before he opened , he was in Liverpool looking for a location and found Rodney st .. unfortunately it has had to close , not sure why , it's a shame , I hope they sort out the staff if wages are owed, sad to see a nice place close times are difficult..much bigger restaurants than this have closed there doors. Hope the staff find jobs , Anton I hope you are ok , it's a tuff time ,