Fantastic coffee - we regularly visit on a Saturday afternoon to have a few cups and catch up on a bit of reading. Service is always prompt and friendly.

I have eaten regularly at Gastros and not once have I been disappointed with the quality or portion size. The sardines on toast are beyond compare and the coffee is the best in Manchester.

Gastro's has a real London feel to it, there's nothing quite like it in Manchester, possibly ahead of its time I love the deli and the cafe part upstairs. I've turned into a regular there, I just love the atmosphere and love sitting about reading the papers with a coffee and pastry, its too easy just to stay and graze. The restaurant downstairs has some of the best food i've tried in Manchester and the atmosphere again is great, as it gets more and more knownw and popular i think this could become a Manchester legend.

I went last night and was thoroughly impressed by the food and service at Gastro's. I had the scallops and pork to start which were excellent, if a little salty, and my partner had mussels which were served with a delicious sauce. I had the lamb for my main which was absolutely divine and my partner had the fish of the day which was delightfully fresh and really tasted of the sea. To finish we had cheeses. Overall, the restaurant is a lovely addition to Manchester, with friendly service and nicely presented, different food. Whilst it may be a little on the pricey side, and the portion sizes a tad small, it is a very nice restaurant with high quality, exquisite food. 4/5

If I had to sum up my experience of Gastro?s in a sentence it would be; the food was nicely presented but cold, the service like the venue was slow and lacked personality.

To start I had hand dived scallops on belly pork and Thai noodles. Pretty but far too little of it. This nouvelle cuisine size starter was over zealously seasoned with a heavy soy sauce. ?7.95

My main was roast of the day. A 6oz fillet steak wrapped in Palma ham, sliced like an artic roll and assembled on crushed potatoes and s*itake mushroom gravy, again far too much salt. The Palma ham completely overwhelmed the minute amount of bland beef, like wise the s*itake gravy. ?19.95 overcooked vegetables ?2.95

However the vanilla panacotta desert was exquisite, I'm not normally a dessert fan but it was that or off to McTuckies, to stave off the hunger! Word of advice, loose the vinegar dipped chocolate wafer - just odd ?4.95

Average bottle of red ?29.95

The two vegetarian members of my party had a Florentine pizza, again looked fantastic however eating it was no mean feat. The vegetarians joked that it would fare better as a weapon in the next Kill Bill movie. It was so hard and dry you could hardly break it let alone eat it. ?6.95 Chips ?2.95

The third member of our party ordered a rib-eye steak ?16.95 with chips ?2.95 and sauce ?1,00. The steak arrived but no chips or sauce for over 20 minutes.

The restaurant was empty and impersonal, the lighting too severe and ultimately unflattering, the background music, that quiet that it was annoying. However the Dyson hand-dryers impressed us all?..

The very handsome duty manager, whilst elegantly dressed in a beautiful tweed jacket, white open collared shirt, designer jeans and fine Italian leather shoes, was noted more for his absence. He should have been far more hands-on keeping the kitchen and service on the ball.

The food was average and no comparison to the previous incarnations of Fresco and Gaia, in the Manto days that both failed. I think the name Gastro's is going to be on people's lips for a while yet, but not for the reason you'd expect.

Overall recommendation: Go to Velvet (if you can get in) the food, venue and service is consistently good and considerably better value for money.