The Wonder Inn - Manchester

My and my boyfriend had a great time here for my birthday! Kelly who served us was brilliant and made our experience even better! The cocktails were lush and really cool and loved the photo booth! Definitely be back when we are visiting again! Price per person: £30–40 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5

The idea of the wash house is unique and the vibes of it was really good! We had a really fun night out here! However, I will say the cocktails were min £14 each. We tried 4 of them and they all tasted disgusting. Because of this I would not return, what a shame because it could be so much better! The knowledge of the staff and the stories behind the cocktails was a very cool idea aswell and how they were presented! Service: 5

Price per person: £1–10 Food: 4 Service: 4 Atmosphere: 3

This was a really good idea for a bar. I liked the drinks, but the actual selection of drinks left something to be desired; it 's not at all that there was a lack of choice, but some familiarity would be nice so as not to be sitting googling what the commonly used yet lesser known ingredients are. The conspiracy theory themed menu was a touch of gold, though. Top notch for creativity. That being said, the price point is very high, but worth it for the balance of spectacle, ingenuity, originality and for the ingredients. I can 't complain about the prices themselves, however, I do think it is an insult to automatically include a 10% gratuity on the bill. The price point is high enough as it is, and to adopt an irrelevant American custom such as this, in the UK, on an already expensive bill frankly leaves a sour taste. The idea of tipping in the US is based on entirely different principles you tip for good service, tip more for great service, don 't tip if the service was bad, et cetera. But mostly, the bar workers in a country like the US rely on their tips as they are notoriously underpaid. The staff working in a bar here in the UK are paid at least minimum wage. Personally, I don 't feel the service I received here warranted a 10% tip on a £150+ bill. My point here is that an automatically added gratuity feels greedy, unfair and entitled. This should be an opt in , not an opt out ... The cocktails we tried were hit and miss, and that 's to be expected, of course. I will add, though, that the service was very slow and, had it been quicker, we would have stayed for more drinks, so I 'd suggest looking at that to perhaps improve things. The bar wasn 't particularly busy, but to wait just over 45 minutes for 4 drinks is beyond silly. I will give a shout out to the Polybius that I ordered. This was a fantastic cocktail and had been very meticulously crafted, and I 'd order this again and again. The Elvis Isn 't Dead was also fantastic and left me scratching my head wondering how this place can make a whiskey cocktail not just taste nice, but feel totally moreish. On the down side, the Birds Aren 't Real was not a very nice drink. I don 't think the flavours or alcohol balanced at all correctly, but to each their own. I 'm sure lots of people go for this one and enjoy it. All in all, not my favourite cocktail bar, but definitely an experience I won 't forget soon. My advice to The Washhouse is: speed up the service, don 't add an automatic tip (maybe a suggested gratuity amount printed on the receipt would be a little more polite), and keep making nice cocktails in the quirky and vibrant setting you have. It creates a really lovely experience. Side note for customers: please don 't sit and gawk into your phone all night. It 's a great place and you 're missing out on an awful lot of cool ambience. Sadly, I don 't plan to return to this bar for the negative reasons outlined above. I wish the venue all the best for the future.

Price per person: £20–30 Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5