Ever since Louis opened in Manchester city centre, late last year, it’s been right at the top of my list of places to visit.
Inspired by golden-age New York jazz bars, the promise of great Italian-American dishes and live music sounded like a winning combo.
Despite a few negative reviews cropping up on TikTok recently, citing complaints such as expensive prices and disappointing food, I decided to book in for my 31st birthday meal.
First impressions
The venue is in the Spinningfields area, at the old Carluccio’s site, and it looks classy from the outside; with a gold door handle and red neon sign, along with a velvet curtain drawn in the window, preventing passers-by from looking in.
As soon as you enter, burly doormen who look like extras out of Goodfellas instruct you that there are ‘strictly no photos’ and they even put a square sticker over my phone camera as a deterrent.
Although this has drawn the ire of some TikTok reviewers, I actually think it’s a nice touch, as the immersive, retro vibe they’re going for is lost a little bit if everyone is just constantly on their phone.
It’s hard to not cynically just write it off as a gimmick though, considering that there were some people who didn’t have their cameras stickered over and a few who didn’t seem to get the memo, posing for photos at their table.
I was pleasantly surprised that we were actually seated right in front of the stage and wouldn’t have to try and peer around someone’s head to see the live entertainment, once it started.
Gorgeous décor and New York drink prices
The décor inside the restaurant is gorgeous; much like the exterior, the colour scheme is mainly golds, deep reds and burgundies. The tabletops are marble, as is the flooring, and there are lots of art deco features throughout, such as fringed lampshades. Just in front of our table was a lush velvet curtain shrouding the stage, which had ‘Louis presents A Timeless Romance’ projected on it. With it being Valentine’s week, there was also a single red rose on our table, which was a nice touch.
We were looked after by a server called Roland, who came across as warm and friendly throughout. Service was swift within a few minutes of ordering, we had our cocktails.
I had the Pegu Spritz (Bacardi Carta Blanca, Bacardi Ocho, Aperol, Merlet peach and Sicillian lemonade) and it was beautiful, with the peach flavour really shining through.
All cocktails on the menu are £17, which is reminiscent of New York prices. I was driving so just had one but I can imagine how easy it is to rack up a bonkers bill if you’re drinking all night, as the rest of the drinks on the menu aren’t much cheaper (curiously the online version of the menu doesn’t actually list any drinks prices).
A decent start
We got the ‘soft and crispy focaccia’ appetiser and to be fair, it was both of those things. What was strange was that, despite being advertised as serving two, there were only three small pieces of bread and three tiny pieces of the Italian truffle salami. When we got the bill, we were only charged £4 for it, despite it saying £8 on the menu – so not sure if we ended up with a half portion somehow, but the Parmigiano cream served as accompaniment was really good.
I was pleasantly surprised by the size of our starters when these arrived. The fried mac and cheese balls (£16) were delightfully crispy and had a really satisfying cheese pull, that ironically my Instagram will never get to see. However, the sauce that was drizzled on the top of them tasted quite vinegary and the flavour was verging on overpowering.
Mrs Molloy’s burrata (£19.50) was also generously sized and came with tomatoes, pesto, basil leaves and a balsamic glaze.
Theatrical presentation
Half an hour after arriving, the velvet curtain was drawn back at bang on 7.30pm to reveal a suited pianist and a singer in a black cocktail dress; they performed a 30-minute covers set, consisting of pop songs by the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Sixpence None the Richer and Miley Cyrus, with a piano jazz twist. The singer had a great voice to be fair and the stage was lined with electric candles to add to the ambience.
Louis’ whole presentation felt very theatrical and this extended to the main courses being brought out underneath metal cloches.
We both had the Rigatoni Alla Vodka (£26) and after the starter, I was expecting the portion size to be slightly larger. We weren’t offered parmesan or black pepper either, which is quite odd.
However, I did think it was absolutely delicious, despite not usually being one for a tomato-based pasta sauce. Guanciale is one of my favourite pasta ingredients and I loved how crispy it was here. The San Marzano tomato and vodka infused sauce was full of flavour and packed a serious spice punch, which came as a bit of a surprise – I’m not averse to a bit of spice so I enjoyed it but the menu didn’t make it clear at all, so if you can’t handle your spice then beware.
It was also very, very saucy, so I think serving it with a spoon, rather than just a knife and fork would have been appreciated.
Disappointing dessert
Sadly, dessert didn’t live up to the standard set by the main course and it quite literally ended up leaving quite a bitter taste.
If there’s one dessert you expect an Italian restaurant to get right then it’s probably tiramisu, but this one (£12) was dreadful. The top couple of layers were fine but the base was absolutely saturated, with cold coffee pooling at the bottom of the crystal coupe glass that it was served in.
We were offered tea and coffee but I felt like I’d already had my fill of that so asked for a couple of cokes (£4 each) and requested the bill, which arrived in a crystal ashtray. From looking around the room, it seemed like it was meant to be rolled up like a cigarette but ours wasn’t.
Our meal – four courses, a cocktail and a soft drink each – came to £184.14. It included a discretionary 10% service charge (not something I’m particularly fond of restaurants doing as I’ll happily tip if service is great but I feel like the onus shouldn’t be on the diner to ask for this charge to be removed) and a £9.90 ‘entertainment charge’. I’ve seen a lot of people kicking off about this charge as if it came as a surprise to them but to be fair, it is mentioned on the menu.
I didn’t really have many qualms with the bill because it was a birthday treat and something I’d been looking forward to for a while, so I already had the money to one side. I do think, for the quality of the food, Louis is probably overpriced. But at the same time, I think that you are essentially paying for the experience and I did really enjoy the vibe of the place, although I do wish the music had been on for longer than 30 minutes. That being said, if I purely wanted to go out for a delicious, value-for-money meal, it wouldn’t be particularly high on my list.
Would you visit Louis for the immersive experience, or do you think it’s overpriced? Let me know in the comments below.
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