Lameizi in Manchester

Very disappointed in the dishes available and the flavours. The staff were great but they could not make up for the poor cuisine. Go elsewhere.

Amazing food. First time we have been for lunch and I defo will be back the tofu with Chinese mushroom and pepper was amazing and the tofu noodles - thank you so much

The share is very big so that maybe just one dish is enough for two persons, which leads to a very limited choice of dishes. The spicy hot pot and beef with Tofu are of average taste.

We enjoyed the special set menu prices specially for students. The restaurant is in the 1st floor just above a supermarket which sells mostly Chinese but they also have Thai and other asian food specialties available. Food was delivered promptly and was served very hot and tasting very good. They have many options for hot pot also. Worth the money, ambience is good not too fancy though…

I’ve ordered 2 soups and they lost it. I was in the restaurant and they refused to make me another one. Please don’t order from these people as they laugh in my face telling me to “fxxx of”.

Due to a power cut in our chosen restaurant elsewhere, we walked up the road here, and we should have carried on past. On walking upstairs the place was empty and we were shown a table with no tablecloth. The staff were unsmiling and silent but took our orders. My friend had a tofu dish and she appeared to enjoy it. The meals came within about 5 minutes, the rice in clumps on a cold white plate so this went cold within minutes. I had Korean style pork belly which was a plate full of greasy slices of fatty bacon drenched in oil, slices of chilli peppers but no other fresh vegetables. I didn't eat very much of it. They didn't seem bothered about bringing the bill and we had to go to the till and waited an age for this. It really isn't a pleasurable dining experience at all.

The food is ok. If you are in the area and don’t want to venture anywhere else (Chinatown 10 mins walk) it will do. The atmosphere is lacking and the service average.

We visited Lameizi as a family and had the most amazing meal that could not be faulted. A range of starters were ordered on recommendations from the staff including ribs, chicken and delicious crispy duck pancakes. This was followed by an array of sumptuous mains which were all shared as a table. The service and standard of food were faultless and we will definitely be returning soon. Highly recommended.

Extremely convenient if, like we did, you get off the train at Manchester Oxford Road station heading for a show at the Manchester Academy. This restaurant is in a block of three, the others being a Nando's and a steakhouse. We went upstairs to the Lameizi restaurant (over the supermarket of the same name) at just before 7 pm last Saturday and despite the lights being on we managed to wander round and not stumble over any humans, neither staff or customers. Thinking they weren't actually open we left but the other two restaurants both had 30 minute waiting times. It was your typical wet January Saturday evening in Manchester and we had show tickets so we went back up to the Lameizi. This time there were a couple of staff there so we stayed. As others have commented it all seems a little haphazard; despite no other customers we still had to gesture to the staff to please come and take our drinks order. The food was OK, we shared salt and pepper ribs followed by sweet & sour pork and chicken with cashews. Like others we did find the meat slightly chewy but couldn't argue with the prices, especially the drinks; £3.60 in the middle of Manchester for a pint of Fosters. We left at about 8 pm and even then the only other person dining was a member of staff on his break

We, family of four, visiting Manchester found this place by accident on a Friday evening . Service fast and friendly. Food hot and and not too expensive. Would go again. We shared a special platter and a quarter of crispy duck for starter. All very good. For main course we had several dishes including chicken and cashew, crispy beef and Moroccan style lamb. Not a lot of flavour to the chicken and cashew but everything else was nice. With drinks bill came to about £20 a head.

Abysmal food! Would strongly advise going to any other Chinese restaurant in Manchester over this one. Food was chewy and bland. If you risk going here... Good luck

The food was tasteless and they used kitchen foil to serve the sizzling. Kitchen foil is considered unhealthy for cooking. Moreover, despite the fact that it was 19:00 they started mopping the floor using cleaning products with strong odour.

Ich war für mein Studium zwei Tage in Manchester und kannte mich in der Stadt nicht aus. Abends bin ich dann umhergestrichen, um mir ein Restaurant für das Abendessen zu suchen. Auf Lameizi traf ich eigentlich nur, weil ich in eine Seitenstraße einbog um dem Wind zu entkommen. Alleine hat man ja echt oft Hemmungen, in Restaurants zu gehen, wo man erstmal eine Treppe hoch muss bevor man irgendetwas von dem Laden sieht. Die Beschilderungen und die Speisekarte wirkten aber so einladend, dass ich mich traute. Der Laden ist absolut modern und ohne Kitsch ausgestattet. Alles war ultra sauber und angenehm. An vielen Tischen gab es Steckdosen, was mich wirklich erleichtert hat - wenn in einer fremden Stadt das Handy ausgeht wird es schnell mal stressig. Ich wurde schnell und freundlich bedient und durfte mein Handy dort aufladen. Mein Essen kam super schnell. Der Hauptgang, ,,Black Pepper Tofu" mit Reis, war wirklich lecker! Der Tofu war gut zubereitet, das Gemüse war knackig, frisch und geschmackvoll und die Portionen waren großzügig bemessen. Die Frühlingsrollen, die ich als Beilage hatte, waren nicht ganz mein Geschmack, da sie diesen typisch-chinesischen, leicht süß-zimtigen Beigeschmack hatten. Das lag aber an meinem persönlichen Geschmack - die Qualität und die Portionen waren hier auch top. Lameizi ist jetzt nicht das beste Restaurant, in dem ich je war. Aber ich habe mich allein natürlich auch nicht quer durch die Karte futtern können. Ich war aber voll und ganz zufrieden und das Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis stimmte einfach. Ich habe für Hauptgericht, Frühlingsrollen und Softdrink 14.20 GBP bezahlt, was ich voll in Ordnung finde. Dass man mich als Nicht-Chinese anders behandelt hat, habe ich nicht erlebt. Zu den jungen Chinesinnen am Tisch daneben war man genau so freundlich wie zu mir.

We just happened to be in the vicinity of this restaurant and my friend fancied some Szechuan food, so we gave it a try. Unfortunately, it was not such a good choice. The fact that it was practically empty on a Friday evening should have been a good clue. My wife’s chicken was fried using oil that had been re-used multiple times. The noodles were simple, lacking much of the meat or vegetables that had been promised, just with red chilli broth. I would not recommend this place.

特别难吃，奶茶就是立顿奶茶冲的，很久没吃 过这么难吃的中餐了。没有提前告知不能刷卡导致付款的时候特别不方便。再也不会来的一家餐厅。

多數的餐點都太多的勾芡且「炒」與「燉」的 滋味完全沒有做出來。一個五香牛肉米粉五香味淡薄如水，僅有淺淺的氣味，品嚐之後僅是鹽巴與醬油的味道，連胡椒香氣都沒有，絕對可稱食之無味啊！

Female server took my order and recognised I did not want my starter and main course together and respected my wishes. My biggest complaint about Chinese restaurants is they do not understand that English want to enjoy their food, not throw it down their neck. Always I have to say....don't start cooking my main course until I ask you to. Then the main course arrives even before I asked for it to be cooked. If you order food together expect the server to bring the food together. On the first visit the female server respected my wishes and allowed me to enjoy my starter then main course. On my second visit, when I was the ONLY customer in the restaurant the young male server took note of my request but aggressively was in my eyeline immediately after serving the starter to try to force me to eat quicker even though it was 9.30pm and restaurant did not close till 11 pm. After continually badgering me to tell me they closed at 11 pm, it was only 10pm, he insisted as soon as the last morsel was in my mouth for my soup that he should aggressively thrust my main course on me, completely ignoring that I wanted to have a breath or two before being faced with a main course, a British thing for everyone. I requested he leave me alone until 10:35 pm to give me a break between courses. He defiantly brought my main course at 10.25 pm. At the point I had lost my appetite, aggressive service is unacceptable for me if the restaurant is full; I was the ONLY customer in the restaurant. Clearly the staff just want to go home, not provide quality customer service to complement the good food the chef provided. I had enough and made a formal complaint. The manager acknowledged the server's attitude and said this is not what the restaurant wants. I know understand why I was the only customer in the restaurant; Zouk's was rammed. Try that one instead, clearly they offer better service and food.

Visitamos a lameizi en nuestro almuerzo del trabajo, primero el personal era muy poco hospitalario, creo que esto era porque o no éramos chinos o teníamos nuestro trabajo puesto, nadie explicó cómo funcionaba el menú del almuerzo, era muy confuso, pedimos algo del precio completo menú que he tenido mil veces en otros restauraunts chinos. Cuando llegó, no pude comer un bocado, era muy extraño y el pollo era como el caucho. Cuando pedimos la factura diez minutos más tarde, la weitress nunca preguntó si había algún problema, los platos estaban llenos y felizmente tomaron nuestros 14. Primero y último

The service was absolutely rude, did not say hello thanks or please. We did not even get knives and the food was basically soy sauce with chicken. It came after literally 2 minutes so probably waste from the other day. Would never go there again.

Recommended by an Asian colleague, I found the food here to be very tasty indeed. However, the restaurant is let down by an abrupt/poor standard of service and by a TV which is constantly on in the background. Would some traditional music be better?

The staff are the rudest restaurant staff I have ever encountered. The have no idea about customer service whatsoever. The food wasn't inspiring either and it was served at very different times.

He estado aquí dos veces. El servicio es rápido y el menú parece variado. Una cosa que no podía evitar notar era que los clientes de China - los lugareños, estudiantes, etc.- parecía tener la misma platos sólo con cortes de carne, sabes bonito cubo pulgadas de pollo, por ejemplo. Yo y otros clientes parecen conseguir más centímetros de un byte, por lo que, si tiene un plato frito, la pasta sólo significa que es difícil en una salsa bien.

Desde Singapur, sin duda no tome el frío bien en Manchester y a menudo me encuentro deseando bowl de sopa caliente a caliente mi estómago. La Mei Zi tiene una buena selección de sopas y platos de arroz lo que sirve comida china para mi antojo!

6 libras por un plato de arroz o fideos muy sabroso. Auténtica comida sirvió como su lista Más que como su mesa está lista.

I live nearby but have never been to the restaurant even though I use the excellent Asian supermarket below regularly. I popped in for the lunch menu and was really impressed. Loads of classic Sichuanese items served with huge amounts of rice for £5.50 and a huge pot of jasmine and other Chinese teas is just a quid. Lots of Chinese and Asian students were eating there, which is always a good sign, and the main menu includes a shared hotpot and all sorts of extravagent dishes. No idea what they are like, but based on my twice-cooked pork, I suspect they are really good. I'll definitely be back soon. The pork dish with think slivers of meat was great - not as fiery as I thought it would be but delicious nonetheless. Moreish! This little place is between the excellent Panchos burrito place and the really fantastic Lebanese Backchich. With Zouk (and even a Nandos) on the same block, Chester St is really a bit of an underrated foodie destination!Contrary to what a reviewer below said, both staff that served me spoke English very well. There was a TV showing Chinese TV on the far wall, but the volume wasn't on, so it's not obtrusive.Do pop into the shop below afterwards too - it's great...

High expectation for shan zi dishes which suppose to be hot with chilli. Dishes all came very quick is impress. The taste was not that great as expected. Service quite good. Reasonable prices. At the end disappointed about taste.

Authentic Chinese food, beautifully prepared, politely served, good value for money. I love this place. I am a very cynical, stubborn, and fussy old China hand constantly disappointed with much of the unpalatable gloop that passes for Chinese food in many UK cities. This restaurant has never disappointed me, and I would go there everyday if I could. The menu is varied; the lunch deals are great value for money. It targets Chinese students primarily, so might seem unaccommodating to non-Chinese. The food is so much the better for exactly that reason. I've been going there for nearly three years and have never had reason to complain. Some of the staff don't speak much English, so just point at the menu. Why not just splash out and order something big from the main menu? There is much to chose from - I have eaten everything on the menu at least twice and enjoyed it all.

We were tempted into Lameizi on a Sunday lunchtime by the menu (there were things you don't see so often) and the appearance (clean & contemporary). THE FOOD....Generally the food was over-priced, not tasty & not as described on the menu. We had:Crispy Wood Fungus (£6.50). The only thing we really enjoyed....except it was moist - not crispy at all. Basically re-hydrated wood fungus with sliced chillies & vinegar; 3 Combination Seafood with Crispy Rice (£12.99). This turned out to be mostly crispy rice with the occassional tiny prawn or piece of squid or pepper. The squid, when you found a piece, was actually competently cooked. The sauce was very very bland. Neither of us are chilli addicts but we had to ask for some chilli sauce - anything to give the dish some taste. Underwhelming and way overpriced;Chives Dumplings (£5.00). These dumplings were made with short pastry and were a bit like the English (Cornish) pasties ...if pasties were filled with chives and not much else. Lameizi's dumplings lacked seasoning and balance compared to those we've eaten in many Chinese restaurants. They had the short pastry novelty value but once was more than enough.Rice Dumplings with Rice Wine & Egg (£3.50). The menu photo showed some rice balls/dumplings in a stock. What we actually got were individual grains of rice. So you couldn't have a mouthful of rice dumpling seasoned with however much stock you wanted to add to your spoon. Instead you got a mouthful of stock with some grains of rice. Given that the stock lacked seasoning & the stock's rice wine content was overpowering this wasn't good.Fried Pumpkin Cakes (£4.00). These were served with a dipping "sauce" that appeared to be straight out of a tin of condensed milk. The cakes had a sticky rice texture & there was certainly pumpkin...amongst all the grease. Yup, the menu did say they were fried, but no attempt to drain off the grease. Too greasy! Particularly unpleasant & unedible. ATMOSPHERE & SERVICEWe visited on a Sunday lunchtime. It was quiet when we arrived. The food came quickly enough but we had to ask the unsmiling waitress several times for chilli sauce.Much loud, agressive sounding, shouting from the kitchen certainly gave the place a certain atmosphere as did 3 TV screens all showing different Chinese programmes. Toilets were clean as was everything else.It may be that Lameizi's "hot pots" or that their £5.50 lunchtime specials are tasty & offer value. But, on this showing, it's very difficult to believe that. RECOMMENDATIONGo somewhere else. If it's Chinese you're after then Chinatown is less than 10 minutes away on foot.

Excellent service and great quality food. Much better the the standard we get use to on tour. Parking outside is ok with a coach in the evening but the street is a it narrow. Great friendly staff and the decor is modern and clean.

about 10 of my family went there on monday night, we were put on a big tablet , then we waited about 15mins before someone came and put the menu down, we then ordered drinks and 2 of us ordered cold tea but it came hot, so we told the waitress , to my horror the waitress said she will get some ice for us to put in,so i said that's not the right way to do that,so we told them we don't want the tea, that was one thing , then the food came , the food didn't look anything like the picture from the menu at all specially the cold spicy chicken, so we question the waitress again but then she turn around and said that's is what it is like and she said maybe we never had it before, how rude. of course we had this cold spicy chicken before. overall the food was so bad we didn't bother eating it, we end up buying McDonald's on our way home.

The service was a bit slow, but the food was excellent and very reasonably priced. They also do take-out if you'd prefer to eat at home.

Nandos was full so we tried the Chinese restaurant next door. A big mistake. We won't be going back. The place was empty yet it took nearly an hour for our food to arrive. The noodles were cold, soggy and mushy and the sesame toast as tough as microwaved cardboard. My sweet and sour sauce was plain nasty - far too salty - and the vegetables virtually raw. The tiny bullets of fried pork were gritty, like chewing through ground-up Doritos. The chicken was swimming in grease, and the chili prawns came disguised under a huge mound of indigestible chilli flakes. The beer was flat, though ostensibly bottled. Not cheap either. And there was a minor row at the end because their card machine wasn't working. Because I wouldn't pay cash I was made to feel like I was some sort of swindler. Awful, just awful, the worst meal I've had in years.

Authentic, really good Chinese food, we eat here every week at lunchtime from the special menu which is varied with a lot of choices we have NEVER had a bad meal! Most of the clientele are Asian but we are always made to feel very welcome and the staff are very helpful and friendly. I have eaten here at night off the regular menu and the food was brilliant!Can't praise this restaurant highly enough!!!!

The food is quite good, unfortunately the service is unfriendly and unwelcoming. I'm not planning to go back. There's lots of other places in Manchester which offer the same quality of food for the same price; and throw in a friendly service and a smile for free!

Didn't really enjoyed my dinner here.Staff wasn't friendly. Rather rude. Food wasn't the best and a bit overpriced. Not worth it.Food took ages to arrive and the restaurant only had 2 other tables.

Went to the restaurant during lunch hours. Ordered a few lunch sets. Some of them come in great portion but some of them are really little. It is generally good.

We visited this restaurant with our son who studies at manchester metropolitan university. We thought we would try it as it is very close to where our son lives. We tried the lunch time special at £5.50 for each meal served with rice and the meals did not dissapoint we also had a portion of salt and pepper chicken wings which were the nicest we have ever tasted. Looking forward to returning soon.

We were on our way to Zouk indian restuarant when we walked past Lameizi (almost next door) & as the menu looked interesting decided to stop here to eat instead. It was early evening so when we arrived there were only ~ 8 people in the resturant so thought service should be quick (we were going to the theatre afterwards so didn't want to hang around). Ordered a starter to share & then a main each. The starter took about 30 mins to arrive which is difficult to understand for a near empty resturant & we had to ask twice about when it was coming (how long do spring rolls take to cook ?).It was difficult to tell from the menu description & pictures exactly what the mains were but we ordered chilli prawns & mongolian lamb. The prawns arrived & were battered (& very good) but no sauce or dipping sauce & covered in shredded dried chillis (I like hot spicy food but this was mega hot). The Mongolian lamb arrived after another reminder & again had no sauce or dipping sauce, so another dry dish. it was also rather oily as I think it had been deep fried. We had difficulty eating it all as every mouthful had to be washed down with lager due to the lack of any sauces. The rice we ordered was not eaten as the dishes were dry enough without dry rice as well.Maybe we were unlucky & picked dry dishes but its not obvious from the menu what comes with a sauce & what doesn't. While we were eating the resturant filled up almost to capacity & all of the people were chinese so clearly its liked by the local chinese community. We were sitting underneath a wide screen TV showing what looked like a chinese version of 'X factor' which I could have done without. I'm not a fan of TVs in restuarants whatever their nationality or programmes showing.Incidently, we should have carried onto Zouk (& will next time) as this does excellent Indian food & has no TV !

We spotted this place as it was near our car park so we thought we'd give it a try. Pleasant décor with only a few other couples in. We order a set menu for 2 and the soup came fairly quickly. However, as we were eating the soup the crispy duck was put on the table. Needless to say by the time we'd eaten our soup the duck and pancakes were cold. The main meal was reasonable but nothing special although the portion sizes were large. Not sure we'd bother again.

My two friends and I saw this restaurant and thought we would try it out. We thought the pricing was reasonable and it looked fairly busy inside. Once we sat down and made our order we started to get excited for our meal. Our starters arrived and were relatively pleasant, but nothing too special. After waiting over half an hour for our plates to be cleared, our mains started to arrive. First to arrive was the small portion of sweet and sour chicken, which was stone cold and covered in grease!! Then what was meant to be crispy friend noodles in soy sauce was a bowel of soggy WET noodles swimming in cold water!!!!!! We then had to re order the other dishes as the waiter had forgotten to bring them! As we were waiting for them to arrive our food proceeded to get colder!! When the other orders did finally arrive everything was completely cold and not worth eating. Opposite our table there was a wide screen tv which was playing a program of a group of people having sex and doing drugs. It was unbelievably uncomfortable and SO off-putting whist we were eating our meals. When the waitresses took our plates they were talking loudly in a different language and laughing which I thought was extremely rude. To conclude the meal was utterly revolting, if you’re looking for a microwaved frozen Chinese ready meal then this is the place for you.

If you really want to try something authentic, brilliant, affordable, then I whole-heartedly recommend that you come here and expand your culinary horizons. I promise all of you who have eaten in China that you will recognise things here that you thought you would never eat in England; and, if not, but you have the imagination to try something unusual (but fanciable) you will not be disappointed.

We visited today and had an amazing meal. Food delicious and really authentic. Massive portions. Definitely recommend this place! Spicy too!

I found this place by accident when tagging on to lunch with colleagues recently. I quite liked the restaurant itself, and found it well decorated and very relaxing and this in itself inviting return visits. My food however, was pretty unexceptional on this visit, and nothing to write home about. Tasteless, odorless, steamed rice, indicative of its quality. For me Middle Kingdom do the best szechuan food in the city centre, although in more functional surroundings than here. This is what will bring me back to try more food at Lameizi, as as well as being in very nice company for lunch, I found the place itself well thought out and very relaxing, nicely lit, and ideal for romance. Give 'em a go.

Tried so many chinese restaurants i think this is the best one (for sezchun style)!!Decent real Szechun food!!And i am sure i will be back shortly!!

Very disappointed. Took my fiancé for a meal last night, we're staying at the radisson blu hotel to celebrate our engagement so I wanted to take her somewhere special. We arrived at the restaurant at about 10.15pm after many good recommendations. Upon arrival we were treated like a burden to the staff. We were told we had to eat in half an hour! So they seated us and handed us a menu. We hadn't even opened the menu before we were rushed into ordering. We then were told that we weren't allowed starters or deserts, just a main course each. The food came in a very worrying 5 minutes so probably hadn't been freshly prepared. One staff member then watched us as we ate our food. We felt rushed and felt that we weren't greeted in a friendly, polite manner. We had awful indigestion, but finished our food by 10.30pm. Even before the time we put our forks down, the bill had arrived and our food was being taken away. They also charged us £15 for an unsatisfactory bottle of wine. The bill totalled £40, for what I would consider to be a budget, low standard eating out experience. Do not enter this restaurant past 10pm, for your own benefit.

solid sichuan menu , but for me the place stands out for its hotpot, the staff even help you with your dip they can make it as hot as you like or you could go 50/50 and have half huoguo (sichuan hotpot) and baiwei (mld chicken stock) , but for me baiwei is for wimps. they are fully licensed but its not a great range of wines. the dishes are better with beer anyway. only downside is the early closing time about 1030-1045

We found this place by chance whilst en route to a gig at the Academy. The food was exquisite - really tasty and, in my opinion, truly authentic. I had a delicious tofu and chili starter followed by a squid and greens main course with rice. Really good service. To top it off we didn't know which direction to head off to the Academy - the waiter kindly found details for us on his maps app. Really great restaurant - hope to go back next time we are in the area!

Tried the restaurant after recommendation by a friend. We ordered for starters: Mixed Starter Platter and Salt & Pepper Pork Ribs, best ones ever! Very meaty, chunky and thoroughly cooked unlike some places. Since it was our first visit we all ordered a main dish each (4 of us) plus 2 extra orders. Wow! When the main courses came, they were huge portions. Should have just ordered 2 dishes!Absolutely delicious ‘hot’ as chilli taste and very spicy (not for the faint-hearted). I love spicy food. My son is supposed to be a spice addict, he was sweating loads and could not finish his 'Dan-Dan' Noodle Soup; my wife finished it off. He eats 'Vindaloo Curries' with no hesitation. This dish defeated him.I ordered the ‘thinly- sliced’ pork belly in chilli sauce, this was magical! Hot, spice and with shredded slices of radish. Also ordered the Chinese favourite stir-fried beef in ‘Rice-Sticks’ (Hor Fan). This had an unusual twist and should have realised that this would be hot and spicy as well!There was so much food left over we took half of all the food home and had a second meal the next day.The staff were very friendly and helpful and spoke: English, Cantonese and Mandarin. Definitely will visit again, soon.

A real Chinese! A really enjoyable meal with real Chinese food and chopsticks. It was so tasty and with 3 dishes personally recommended by the owner, we were so full and satisfied by the time we were leaving. Most of the customers in the restaurant were Chinese which is a good recommendation. Really recommend this restaurant if you want a real Chinese meal!

Had a quick Friday Lunch searching for Korean Restaurant and instead found ourselves in Lameizi... Ordered Beef Brisket Noodles and received Minced Beef Noodles! The waiter said it's Beef! OK! As we're in a hurry and no time to argue, let's get it on. Noodle is not so bad but greasy... my colleage ordered Chilli Oil but received Salted Anchovy! What the heck! :/

I've eaten at this excellent Chinese restaurant twice now, both times using the special offer lunchtime menu. The food is really good, the service is speedy and friendly. My friends were as impressed with their choices of dishes as I was with mine. Authentic Chinese food very good, we will definitely be using this restaurant regularly now that we have found it!

I have recently had a party in this restaurant . I and my friends all enjoyed time in this place.it is clean and spacious restaurant with friendly customer service staffs. food is also good.I recommend to other people if you want to have some good Chinese food in Manchester.

When I first visited this restaurant in 2010/2011 I loved it, the food was incredibly fresh, with large portions and a genuine authentic home made feel. I came back a couple of weeks ago (June 2012) after recommending it to a friend, and was incredibly disappointed! The menu has shrunk to about a 3rd of the original one, the food seemed a bit plastic and oily and it lacked any of the wow factor that I'd originally experienced. I was raving about this place 2 years ago, but I would be ashamed to take anyone there now. I wonder if they have new management??

We are Chinese food lovers and our favourite Tai Wu being closed for refurbishment, we decided to try a new restaurant so ended up going to Lameizi. The menu outside indicated BBQ'd dishes, which we found original and exciting so we decided to go in. The room is fairly big with new and cheap furniture, but the restaurant being located near the students hall, that did not bother me too much. What did though, was the loud Polish music channel screaming horrid songs while I was eating. But that was just about tolerable compared to the rest of the experience. My partner went for the barbecued mutton and chicken wings skewers while I let myself tempted by a 'sizzling beef in black pepper sauce' as the picture on the menu looked very appetising. I started suspecting something when the mutton skewers came within 3 minutes of us placing the order. They were cold and tastless and cost £6 for 4/5 skewers so that a nice profit is made. When it came (roughly 10 minutes after my partner finishing), not only was it not 'sizzling' at all but the pieces of shredded beef were swimming in oil. Yuk! Five minutes later came the chicken wings skewers, who were the death of us: dried and tastless. Probably straight out of the freezer, rolled in 5 Chinese spices and microwaved. I have never known my partner not being able to finish any meal but he had to leave most of it. As we were in a hurry, we were unable to send the meals back which was a real shame as even a penny would have been a luxury price for that disgusting food. Needless to say that we were ill after that. Conclusion: An outrage to Chinese cuisine altogether.

There was only one not tried restaurant left on the Chester street so wee decided to get in ;) Both starters (soups) were nice, but mains were like just beeen warmed in a microvawe. Ive tried a lot of Asian food places and can honestly say this one was one of the mistakes. Service was nice tho!

Having had a craving for Szechuanese food, my friends and I decided to take a trip to La Mei Zi for lunch (a friend of ours had already been there and suggested we try it). We ordered the chili water-boiled fish (which is one of the signature dishes of Szechuan), fried frogs' legs, spicy tofu and beef and another chicken dish which I can't remember, along with a side-helping of boiled rice. The fish was good, though the frogs' legs were too small and dry for out liking.The waiter who took our order was helpful as he gave some suggestions on food, and between the 5 of us it wasn't majorly expensive when it came to splitting the bill (about £9 each, although we only drank chinese tea). The restaurant had simple decor so I can't really say what the evenings are like. However, they don't have a dessert menu (and we're not sure if the waitress understood much English as she brought us the bill when we asked for the dessert menu). Overall it was an okay experience. I wouldn't take someone there on a special occasion but it's definately worth trying if you're around in the area.

This restaurant is somewhat hidden away on Chester St. (on the 1st floor above a chinese supermarket , between Blue Ginger and Nando's). But, once up the stairs, you enter a large dining space where the decor is bright, clean and modern; and the welcome is friendly. Many of your fellow diners will be mainland Chinese (as opposed to Hong Kong) students, and there are TV screens tuned to Chinese satellite channels. The menu too consists mainly of Beijing and Szechuan dishes (like the also excellent Red Chilli on Portland Street), and many of the dishes pack a punch, even those not accompanied by a chilli symbol. There are also a fair few 'unusual' offerings, such as 'pig fat ends', 'shredded pig's ear', 'cow's uterus', etc.; but also the more usual cuts, as well as fish, seafood and vegetable dishes. The hot-pots and barbecued skewers are popular, and the 'lamb pancakes' (minced lamb between two pie-like crusts!), are delicious, but take some time to cook, and so are best ordered as soon as you are seated. The prices are very reasonable for the portion sizes, and so this place is a most welcome addition to Manchester's 'ethnic' restaurant scene.