The Refuge by Volta in Manchester

Excellent 'birthday meal for seven' on Sunday and the roasts were great. We were well looked after throughout by Vaishnavi who was attentive and made sure we had an enjoyable afternoon.

We had an amazing dinner at this restaurant in Manchester. Good service and delicious food. We ordered the big plate.

Staying in the hotel and popped in. Food was good - service was great, Rebecca was excellent!

Visited this evening ahead of going to the theatre. We were sat in the winter garden which was stunning and had some small plates and cocktails. Nothing is too much trouble at refuge. Even though it wasn’t on the menu they still happily made me a paloma. Our waitress vaishnavi was outstanding, she was so attentive to our order especially my partners allergies and a real credit to the company. And the food was incredible. I will definitely be back.

Booked a table for drinks in the Winter Garden. Ebony B who served us was amazing, very hospitable & great service throughout. Thank you

Service was good but I didn't really like the cocktails. There are not a lot of choices. Atmosphere was a little bit cold ( people...) I won't go again

Very good experience in the refuge, cost atmosphere and good food. The Sunday roast for individual is great I like the beff and bread.

We had such an amazing experience, it was my father in laws 50th birthday, and had asked if they could bring a birthday cake out with candles and they did it amazingly! Not once did any of the waitresses not have a smile on their faces, absolutely fantastic food, even brought us some plates and spoons for our cake without hesitation! Out waitress Vaishnavi was fantastic also, always making sure we had everything we needed! Keep up the good work! ❤️

First time in The Refuge today for Sunday lunch easy to book online. Walking in was amazing so much to look at and a great feel. Got seated straight away to a table for two. Server came straight over and greeted us with a big smile and asked us if we would like water and we gave our food options. Rebecca the server was so amazing I love to walk into a place where the server is so helpful and all with a big smile. She really made us and our experience more enjoyable. Not many places these days have servers like her which was a bonus for us. The food was out of this world the beef cooked to perfection and the gravy oh my god was the best one of the best Sunday lunches I have had in my 36 years. It’s a must try and will be back when we are visiting again. Champagne was cooled for us which is also another bonus. Thank you again and a big thank you to Rebecca you need to be thanked for your big smile and amazing customer service. I have travelled a lot around the world and your service was amazing and all with that big smile. Your a credit too the refuge and I hope this review gets you noticed and you get told about it. Thank you again and everyone please give this place a try it’s really amazing the atmosphere also.

We had a great evening at The Refuge! The ambience is truly breathtaking - we would recommend a spot in the winter garden. The dishes are served like tapas to share. Delicious! Great drinks and great service!

Really lovely meal, diet pudding was amazing. Lucy was so welcoming and accommodating to our dog and cocktails were delicious! We will definitely return!

Special pre show meal with daughter and grand daughter. Lovely food, and superb service from Vaishnavi who looked after us superbly.

Really great decor and ambience. Food is great too. Big thanks to Vaishnavi for her king and attentive service!

1st time here. Food was delicious. My dog loved the place. And had excellent service from Lobato. Recommended!!

What a beautiful, classy place. Food was really good but prepare yourself for a very unusual and unique menu. Staff was incredible, we were lucky to have Vaishnavi, so lovely and took good care of us while giving us some of the historical background of the original building that the restaurant and hotel are in. I can see this place getting very ramped up on a Friday or Saturday night as they've got an epic lounge and well educated bar staff! Cocktails were 🤌 go and enjoy!

Great food, delicious and very quick to arrive. Our waiter Saukhyad was friendly, and very competent, he did a fantastic job, keep it up :)

Look at the beef cheek, see how tender it is. I didn't need to use knife. The sauce was sweet gravey with remoulade tasted like I had in Japan, it sauce was so good that I cleaned the dish with flat bread. The small plate chicken liver parfsit does not small at all with 4 slices. It was cheesy, the crispy skin crumble added extra flavour on it. The Caesar salad with the little sour fish and the vegs brought nice balance. The Iberico Nicoise Saladwith cherry tomatoes brought me new experience of salad, the peeled cherry tomatoes was soft outside but crunchy inside, I thought it got put in salted water a little bit so it brought the sweetness of itself. The ham tasted like Chinese sausage, which is not the taste of salty and meaty, a little bit sweet. It worked very well of pairing the other ingredients in plate. Definitely will visit again, highly recommended. Good service, they are friendly!

Great food, great atmosphere and great service from Vaishnaui

Great after work drinks location.

Waited ages to b served staff not rude or friendly just there definitely no job satisfaction there 🥴 share r u taking the mic food sizes tiny, no way big enough to share, commented this to member of staff and her answer was u are ment to order a few we did, the stark was £45 and was a single serving and as the chips they were hard and under cooked, and these was a extra charge also, the prawns were £13 and I got 4 how is this to share 🫣 came out still hungry a £100 lighter what a rip off 😡

really yummy food and our lovely waitress Vaishnavi was super helpful!

Great food and atmosphere at The Refuge! The service was exceptional too. Vaishnavi was very attentive, polite, bubbly and kind. We will definitely come back!!!

Fish bouillabaisse was a tiny piece of fish in what looked & tasted like Heinz tomato soup

It's a 10/10 everytime i go. Highly recommend

Really nice place but gets very busy as close to Oxford road station and palace theatre if you try to get a drink before or after a show you'll be in for a very very long wait.

Really cool spot, they had a separate bar and dining section. The chicken dinner was great, as was the bread pudding dessert - Saukhyad was our server and was attentive and helpful. Would recommend!

First of all I want to start with the cocktails. They are out of this world… just amazing. The foods are to share and delicious. The servers are really kind and helping. The atmosphere in dining room is amazing aswell. 100% recommend.

Great service provided by Lobato. Amazing food!

Went to the refuge with no expectations but it was superb! The food was amazing and our server Noemi was lovely. We tried the croquettes and fried chicken small plates, and the slow-cooked beef cheek and beef fat mash potatoes and everything was delicious!

Noemi was so friendly and nice Highly recommended!

Great place with impressive architecture. The food is good in my opinion 👍. The price/performance ratio is fair. The service, however, is unfortunately not professional or attentive enough for a restaurant of this standard (given the price and size). We waited 15 minutes to order our food and drinks and then didn't see any service for another hour. The reaction when paying (10% is automatically added to the bill as a tip) was also cool due to the lack of an extra tip. So we were left standing without a "nice evening" or "thank you." Since we work in the restaurant industry ourselves, that's a no-go. As I said, the food and drinks were good. But the service also makes a repeat visit worthwhile and highly recommended. The ambiance is great, the architecture is great...the dining room is very loud and very cold due to the high ceilings. The guests at the neighboring table also complained about this. Overall, it's a shame because there was definitely potential for a 4-4.5 star rating.

Lobato is amazing, he gave us wonderful recommendations, the bread pudding was the greatest of all.

The dinner was so delicious and the restaurant was also beautiful inside! Lobato was our server and he was so attentive and gave us such great food recommendations. Would 100% come back again!!

We ordered the croquettes, which were delicious and full of cheesy goodness, definitely recommend if you are looking for a starter. For our mains we ordered the mix Sunday roast, which meant you get a bit of everything. The pork had crispy skin and tasted extremely tender, the beef was soft and not overcooked, just pink how I like it. I was also surprised the chicken wasn’t dry, was very succulent and juicy. The only thing that let it down was the food wasn’t warm enough, the potatoes felt a bit cold for our liking, otherwise everything else was good. Love the ambience of the restaurant and friendly staff.

The Sunday roast is the best in Manchester. We visited as quite a big group on a Sunday afternoon and had a great time celebrating with friends. The food is fantastic and the service from Vaishnavi was first class. Thank you for looking after us and making our visit really special! We’ll be back soon!

Lovely Place right next to the Kimpton .. NCP car parking just down the road .. Evening Meal was lovely but there's a but .. why serve a Main Dish in a Cereal Bowl ? Wasn't worthy of a foody shot of a limp salmon in a bowl (not impressed) Dessert however was something to behold would highly recommend your trifle nom nom .. Booking Highly Advisable in Advance as we noticed a few Walk In Customers being turned away 😳 yikes I thought .. you've just sent away Potential £££'s ? Our meal x 4 incl Drinks £310.00 .. lovely place and a stunningly architectural wonder .. will probably go back but there's more eateries to explore 👐👋😬

It made our first visit to the Winter Garden, great atmosphere, you really don't feel like you re in Manchester. Vaishnavi looked after us all evening and made a special effort for my Birthday. She was so lovely and helpful with everything we needed, she really made it memorable and we will be back again

L’endroit parfait pour un apero a la social hour avec un excellent live jazz band suivi d’un très bon dîner au Refuge servi par la charmante Vaishnavi , tres gentille et souriante

Great food but the service was exceptional. A lesson in how to be a professional waitress. Thank you Kath [our waitress]. For creating a fantastic atomosphere and great service.

Went today for pre theatre drinks. Service shockingly slow, with barely any staff around. No concept of who was due to be served next. Wouldn't recommend.

Vaishnavi was very helpful and service with a smile. We were concerned that we hadn’t left enough time to get to the theatre across the road but she made sure that our meal was ready and served in time. Food was delicious and place is lovely

This is a beautiful building, nicely refurbished and very atmospheric. But the food, beer and service leave a lot to be desired. The menu is very limited and very expensive, which would lead you to think the food would be excellent - not so I’m afraid. A £45 steak just cut up on a small tray, not even a salad leaf garnish seems a bit much. The chips were only OK and the vegetarian choice very limited. The lager was flat and there was no ice for our drinks. A pleasant young lady, her name began with V, served us and she was the only member of staff that was doing a good job, the rest seemed to be in a hurry! We moved to the bar after the meal and there was a young man who served us a few times who was downright rude and unobliging. I feel some serious staff training would not go amiss. We would not return here despite the lovely surroundings, which is a real shame.

Potatoes were stale and not crispy but the rest of the food was deliciously cooked

Amazing food, amazing service and amazing atmosphere. Our waitress Vaishnavi was a star. Would highly recommend, and I will be back again soon.

We sat in the winter garden for dinner and had a beautiful spread of small plates and a risotto accompanied by a great bottle of green wine. Our server Vaishnavi was very friendly even greeting my partner for happy women’s day, and made the evening very pleasant. There are both quiet and relaxed, but also atmospheric sides to the venue, so much to suit all crowds.

Great place, special thanks to Suma B who really has taken a good care of us. All the best!

We came for the Afternoon Tea and the whole experience was wonderful! Special thanks to the amazing Vaishnavi who made our experience the more better with her friendly hospitality

Great bar with a beautiful interior comfortable seating, sometimes has a DJ on.

How can a place so good looking be so terrible? We had seen this place on social media and so had booked for a meal on the back of that whilst we were in Manchester. The setting is lovely but its so big it makes for no atmosphere. We were given menus for the food but not drinks so the waitress went and got us the drink menu and we ordered a cocktail each. They then took our food order and we had 2 of the small share plates and 2 of the big share plates and some sides. The barely warm teeny little starter and main "sharing" plates arrived before our drinks somehow. Something that tastes bad in the first place tastes worse when its cold and they were the croquettes. The main "big" share plates were beef cheek and risotto and I could have eaten both on my own with the chips and still walked out hungry. It is obvious to me what is happening in this place and it is an arrogance that because of the style people will be happy with what they're given but we definitely were not happy. Also, both of the £13 cocktails would have had no more than 50ml of liquid including mixers which is unbelievable. We left £91 worse off and headed somewhere for food and a drink.

Saturday night dinner. The restaurant was not that busy. Service was poor, really slow and below par. Had to flag someone down for our first and then further rounds of drinks, to place a food order, for the bill. We might as well have not been there at all as the waiting staff just ignored us for the majority of the time (they automatically add a 10% service charge). Disappointing and will think twice before another visit.

Lovely Sunday lunch! You need to book to get in, and I would really recommend when you do asking for a table with dining chairs - several have armchairs and they are just too low to be comfortable

Wonderful experience and delicous menu. A great venue for gatherings and dinner parties. Our server Ebony was pleasant and gave 100% [10 out of 10]

Great service in the refuge bar today the guy behind the bar was great and easily sorted out a little problem for us. Great vibes and the music was fab. Will visit again, thank you.

It's nice and lively in the city of Manchester.

Cracking vibes and great whisky

Beautiful restaurant, with great ambience and excellent food. Very dog friendly as well, even for dinner. The brioche bread and butter pudding was unbelievably good!

suma was a great host, jazz band playing through the evening was top 💫

We had a fantastic dining experience at Refuge. From the moment we arrived our waiter Saukhyad was incredibly attentive, ensuring our glasses were never empty and checking in at just the right moments. His friendly demeanor and professionalism made us feel truly valued as guests. Saukhyad’s excellent service was worth a mention. Small menu but high quality and one of the best meals out we have had in a long time. Highly recommended!

I came yesterday with my son at lunch time the food was amazing. Loved the croqettas .We was served by Vaishnavi she was lovely very happy at her work made our experience more pleasurable. Can't wait to return.

Great Sunday roast. Quality service

Great food, nice place and a very professional waitress named Vaishnavi!!

A weekend visit to Manchester and what a lovely venue to take family for dinner..our waitress Lucy was great and made our evening very special,recommending cocktails and pointing me in the direction of one of the nicest bread and butter puddings I've ever eaten(and I've had a fair few!)..I'd highly recommend and will look into staying when we next visit the city..x

Excellent food and service. Lucy was fabulous thank you so much!

We only ordered 4 items, 1 was forgotten. This was pointed out straight away but we then had to ask a second time. Portion sizing is as bizarre as the bill format! Why have a parfait without anything to put it on, luckily we ordered a side of flat bread ( which it wasn't ) , but you would of thought, when ordering, you would of been advised of this. Also the salad nicoise was meant to come with Iberico ham, it may well of been, however I've never actually seen it in sausage form before. Definitely gone downhill since our last visit I'm sorry to say.

Great atmosphere for an afternoon cocktail or wine.

suma B is sooo kind and patient! Love her so much~ the dishes are gorgeous as well~ recommend beef cheek

Valentines Day 💌 We had a lovely spread of food here, it was a relaxed casual atmosphere and our waitress was lovely. We had a wonderful time.

Called in for drinks and to see the art exhibition. Lovely place and friendly staff

I took my son here for a nice meal before we went over to the palace theatre. Service was good and Vaishnavi couldn’t do enough for us. My son had the chicken and chips children’s meal and I had the steak. Steak was very nice and chips seasoned at the right level. We would have stayed for dessert but had to go to watch the production. Looking forward to coming back to bring my wife before we visit the Palace Theatre again later on this year.

Beautiful place and good service. They're also great with dietary restrictions, but unfortunately much of the food was inedible. The butternut squash was raw and somehow still tasted burnt since they'd blowtorched the outside or something. The pork came with a very potent sauce that tasted like they'd mixed a lot of Chinese five spice into ketchup. Most of the flavours in the dishes simply did not go together. Saying that, I'd love to go back for drinks (only) as the atmosphere was lovely.

We had a great time at the Refuge celebrating Valentine’s Day! The food was incredible, tasty and quick to be served! Our server Saukhyad was super friendly and got everything we asked for without a faff or issue - I would recommend to anyone visiting Manchester!

We booked for weekend brunch. Was a really awful experience! Totally unfriendly welcome in a huge conference style space. Waiter didn’t care at all about us. Left for ages before ordering. Asked for a coke, took 20 minutes to arrive before unappetising starters arrived. I questioned this and he told me I needed to be more understanding as they were busy. The place was half empty and the bar guys were joking around. Food was tasty but then waited another 20 mins for drinks to arrive. Complete joke. Atmosphere horrible. Loos about 7 minute walk from table. Told ladies in reception as we left. They didn’t care. What a shambles. Manchester deserves better. Horrible place. Please avoid.

Food was good, can be pricey £££

This is a really beautiful restaurant, the atmosphere is brilliant and the architecture is stunning. Our waitress, Vaishnavi, was excellent and looked after us really well. Would highly recommended.

Just had a beautiful Vegan Sunday Roast here. Can't fault the service (fast, attentive, and great banter was had with our waitress). My choices with pricing: Vegan Roast: £18.50 Aperol Spritz: £12 Would Highly Recommend.

Visited in December when the place had a great festive buzz—people out enjoying themselves, soaking up the atmosphere. We sat in the restaurant rather than the bar, which felt more relaxed. Prices were fair, especially if you're used to London rates. The starters of hummus, sourdough, and chips were all solid, and service was friendly. We didn’t stay for a full meal as we’d already eaten, but the decor inside was lovely. Bonus points for keeping the service charge at a sensible 10%, unlike London’s creeping 13.5% with no added value. Would happily return.

Ebony was a delight! So friendly, chatty and helpful. The food and vibe was great and she made us feel super welcome. An asset

Vaishnavi was the most incredible host! Her glowing happy energy made our dinner and absolute delight. We will definitely be coming back! 💕✨

Thank you Nikita for a lovely evening, attentive service and delicious food x

Amazing service very nice waitress called ebony beautiful surroundings

Our server Nikita was very attentive and the food was wonderful throughout the night. Great experience!

7 of us ate here for our belated Christmas party and we shared the feasting menu. The dining toom is beautiful and the food and vibe were perfect for us. Shout out to Saukhyad for attentive service and keeping our champagne topped up. Will come back in the daylight some time to sit in the courtyard too.

We didn't eat there, but a great bar, great atmosphere, throughly recommend it...

Vaishnavi and Nikita looked after us well.

Really lovely place, five star service, gorgeous food and lovely atmosphere. And dog friendly too :)

We visited the Kimpton hotel today for Sunday lunch and was greeted by vaishnavi , who looked after our party absolutely brilliantly , nothing was to much trouble perfect and even brought me a birthday cake , the food was well cooked presented perfectly overall I wasn’t exspecting this exsperiance highly recommended

Absolutely delicious. Had the pork belly and it was well worth it. Our waitress Nikita was lovely and made sure we had a lovely evening.

Delightful relaxed but upmarket eatery. Limited vegetarian choice but the dishes we had were delicious and we left replete without the deserts. Special thanks to the bar team who whisked us up Brandy Alexanders even though they aren't on either the cocktail or dessert menus. 😁🍸

Enjoyed having the breakfast buffet here every morning. We stayed at the Kimpton clock tower which is attached.

Food was amazing. The goats cheese dish is not worth even half the price they charge, but everything else was worth it, top quality and well cooked. The service was so bad. I asked for the service charge to be removed and even that caused issues. For context, we waited for 6 mins after ordering drinks for the server to then ask us what we ordered again. Once ordered, she took the food order. The 7 small dishes of food arrived 15 mins later, but still before our drinks. Nobody cleared out mains plates, we ordered dessert and coffee, for the desserts to arrive (wrong) before any mains plates still cleared. No chance for a 2nd drink either. Mixed experience.

Saturday the 11th I booked a table for 2, the food was tasty we ordered tapas style dishes, Ebony looked after us she was polite & Friendly I would eat here again well done!!

Lovely food and great service, sockets and decent wifi, fab for a working meal near Oxford Road station

Food was delicious and service by Vaishnavi was excellent! She was attentive and very thoughtful.

The building is gorgeous inside and the food was sublime. Sunday dinner service was both quick service and tasty with excellent staff on hand. The dinner itself is not cheap but I do find it to be worth the price.

Always enjoy the Refuge, food was delicious, great wine and fabulous cocktails, the service was really really good, our waitress Vaishnavi was amazing nothing was too much trouble she is a real credit to the company.

Staff were really friendly and great. Our waitress helped us with the menu. Love the Winter Garden, was surprise there were no afternoon tea sets. Feel like it's a missed opportunity. We had the: - Grilled squid, vizcaina sauce, Spanish black pudding (small portions but decent, not a wow though) - Buttermilk-fried chicken, chip shop curry sauce, mushroom ketchup (this was surprisingly very nice) - Mojo rojo pork belly, miso aubergine, yoghurt (So delicious and highly recommend) - Slow-cooked beef cheek, butterscotch celeriac, remoulade (Nice as well and very soft) - Beef fat mashed potatoes, overnight onions, beef gravy (yummy mash)

Poor service, strange menu. The service here left much to be desired — took ten minutes or more to get asked if we wanted drinks. We received our appetizers after 20 minutes, which was fine, but it took another 10 minutes to get the first drink (Bloody Mary,) and another 15 to get the second drink (Flat White,) and the flat white only came when we flagged down a server that wasn’t our own to ask about it. The menu is definitely strange. Perhaps not to personal taste, but it was also very limited in options altogether. Quite a disappointing meal, since the stay at the hotel was very lovely.

Great place and the service is excellent (high five to Suma). Highly recommend if you want to enjoy both great cuisine and a beautiful building at the same time

Popped in for a few cocktails before going to the theater on boxing day. Beautiful building. The cocktails were very good indeed.

Gorgeous venue, beautiful food, outstanding service. Kat was very efficient, friendly and provided service second to none.