Social House - Manchester

Outstanding food, truly delicious and the service was fantastic energetic, friendly, gracious. But something was missing in terms of ambiance. The dining area felt disassociated from the other aspects of the restaurant. The open kitchen concept was cool, but the customer seating area felt almost fast foodish. We were seated in the upper area by the windows. And the price for drinks is prohibitive. I get that restaurants struggle to break even on most nights, and that the cocktails help to make ends meet. But for our party, the $22+ price for a drink shut us down instantly. So nobody had a drink. That's a loss/loss. I sincerely wish you luck moving forward. There is obviously a great deal of talent under that roof. But I like a cocktail with dinner, so my experience ended up mildly disappointing.

We were a party of 20 people, last Sunday night. Server was funny and friendly. Meals were more than good, mine in particular was excellent. Good beer, good wine. Though what a surprise when we received our bills to see a 25% gratuity. It?s like we?re 4 and paid for 5! Ridiculous! I understand we were a group, but damn it, 25% is way too much. 18% seems to be the new standard, we would have agreed to that. Worst thing is when we made our reservation, nobody informed us of that fact. If we would, we could have got to another restaurant, or if we?d decided to keep our reservation, at least we?d be informed. We found it to be on the insane side.

We both had the lobster rillette and the half duck. I didn't like the lobster dish, I couldn't taste any lobster in it although it looked like it had lobster. The duck was a half duck which I prefer to the now common practice of just serving a duck breast. It was crispy but a little dry. There was supposed to be a bing cherry glaze but it was minimal. They have a nice outdoor space which is why we came here, it's COVID safe.

September 2022: Social house has a large outdoor dining area. The downside of the outdoor dining here in late September is that the patio has several fire pits that are very smokey. The ash landed in the food and my eyes were burning. They looked pretty, but did not generate much heat. I did not like breathing it, and what the smoke was doing to my eyes. I liked the crispy half duck and flour-less chocolate cake. However, the appetizer of lobster rilette was disappointing. It was a mix of shredded lobster and shredded celery, onions, tomatoes. It did not have much lobster flavor. Overall, it was not what I expected. The service was nice and attentive. The overall rating is a weak 4 stars.

Excellent food and attentive service. Although they are known for their pasta, their short ribs and ducks were delicious.