Plant-Based Burger
The Refuge

The Refuge

Oxford Road, Manchester I-M60 7HA, United Kingdom

British • European • Vegetarian • Contemporary


"Excellent! We spent around four hours here on a Tuesday afternoon sampling their food, savouring their coffee and scabbing their free wifi! I 'll start with the basics. The Refuge is conveniently located on Oxford Street just a two minute walk from the train station. The casual seating area is huge with plenty of places for different sized groups to sit, there 's even an Apprentice Style boardroom table. The vibe is very relaxed but when I entered I noticed a lot of business people (or people clearly working). The decor is fantastic, as mentioned its a huge open space but the dark wooden finish makes it feel close and comfortable. The lunch menu isn 't huge but they clearly want to keep things simple and do them right. I had the beef burger accompanied by skinny fries and it was delicious. Just the right consistency so you could pick it up without it falling apart. It was generously topped with salad and the 'posh big mac ' sauce finished it off nicely. If you want to eat you 'll have to head through to the dining area as they don 't serve food in the lounge beware this was very busy, even on a Tuesday, so you may need to book in advance. After lunch we headed back to the lounge area and had a coffees while we chatted. The coffee was great, I had a flat white which was just off on the good side of bitter. We also ordered snacks later in the day the Almonds cooked in bacon fat are a must try that might sound gross to some people but just wait until the bacon flavour hits your taste buds! To access the free wifi you 'll need to sign up wth your email address but then it 's all yours. I haven 't even received a spammy email a week later. It 's really hard to fault The Refuge the staff were attentive without being too in your face, which I suppose is important when people are using their premises for business meets! All in all a really great experience and a lovely place to spend the afternoon working."

George and Dragon

George and Dragon

294 Roman Road, CM15 0TZ, Brentwood, United Kingdom

Steak • Pizza • Drinks • Chicken


"Went there on Saturday evening with another couple who we had not seen for years.Due to dress code, and having attended in the past were dressed suitably. However, we found that several of the customers were dressed in ripped jeans and generally looking scruffy.We were greeted by a male who showed us to our table who was wearing jeans which were hanging down almost gang style scruffy! Our waiting staff came over again dressed in black jeans. When I'm at a restaurant I expect to be treated with respect and to be called Sir and my wife Madam. I do NOT expect to be called Guys which is what our male table staff kept doing. We were talking to our friends and seated at a corner table which sadly had a speaker above our heads. The music was suddenly turned up and we were unable to hear ourselves talk. We asked for the music to be turned down which it was. However Guys told us it was because the staff behind the bar couldn't hear it. It wasn't really background music style either.Drinks ordered and delivered OK.Food ordered to find that there were two items on the limited menu that was not available. Both of which I was considering ordering. One I seem to remember was Scallops and the other was the Kofta starters.On the mains we were all surprised that there was no steak on the menu except in a salad.No-one had complaints regarding the food but a comment I would make is that the Buttered Chicken pie comes with Mash. However is was a miniscule dollop just enough to stop the pie from moving.The reduced all day menu we were given was not the same as the All Day menu on your website and there were various options missing such as no offer of batter halumi instead of battered cod.My only other issue was with one of the female waiting staff who was wearing leggings. I don't like leggings anyway but in a restaurant atmosphere and by staff that's a definite dislike especially when she bends over and they are not quite as opaque she would like or they should be.Food and ambience was nice but some details need attention.Would I return? Maybe!"