TriBeCa, Reviewed

MUCH has been said about reviews here recently at Confidential. Some good and some bad. Ultimately we write what we see, regardless of cult status or celebrity endorsement or avid fans with an excellent grasp of the internet.

Unfortunately for TriBeCa on Sackville Street, what I saw was substantially below par. Sinful even.

Flapping and panicking it seemed he couldn’t cope with the customers. Despite the fact there were only a handful of us and we never seemed to approach the bar at the same time.

Sinful conjures up images of debauchery and excessive indulgence, the kind of things that we shouldn’t do but because they’re fun we can’t help ourselves. TriBeCa wasn’t fun. It wasn’t debaucherous or indulgent. It was a sin against bars, food and I’ve genuinely had better dining experiences in an IKEA cafe.

Walking in to the dimly lit bar I wasn’t expecting much. And I didn’t get much in return.

TriBeCa bar; clearly heaving with customers

The bar is of the no frills variety. If you want fancy interiors, trendy design and to ‘be seen’ then TriBeCa isn’t for you. If you’re after cheap drinks along the lines of ‘The Tribeca Ten at £2.50’ then pull up a squeaky stool and go wild. You can end up smashed for a tenner.

Red and black seems to be the main theme for TriBeCa. A colour theme that much like TriBeCa itself just seems a little tired. Faded and resigned it seems to have left the more intelligent crowd and cocktails to nearby bars such as Velvet. You can almost hear the bar sigh as another punter orders jager shots and Carlsberg and hands over a crumpled tenner.

Sympathetic as I am to the plight of this bar, which seems to have fallen to the wayside as the crowds flock to the likes of The Alchemist, Velvet and Neighborhood, I still had to review it.

Approaching the vast expansive bar I was greeted by a fearful barman. Flapping and panicking it seemed he couldn’t cope with the customers. Despite the fact there were only a handful of us and we never seemed to approach the bar at the same time.

French Martini (£7.00) and a Bloody Mary (£7.00)

Ordering cocktails was my first major mistake. 30 minutes of coaxing him through the process ensued and two pitiful cocktails were the result. They were more effort than they’re worth. Missing simple garnishes such as a slice of lemon with the Bloody Mary and at one point I had to remind the barman to include ice.

“Is that how it’s supposed to look?” He asked, cautiously eyeing me as I assured him that frothiness is expected with a French Martini.

They weren’t the finest of cocktails, but they weren’t the worst. Still we went for the crowd pleaser and stuck with TriBeCa’s most popular offer of a bottle of house wine for £6.95 for our next round. It doesn’t come with a cooler, it’s barely chilled but it is drinkable. Sure it’s not an established label and I doubt you’ll find a bottle of ‘Lobo Loco’ on the menu at Manchester House but cheap and cheerful seems to be TriBeCa’s only option. Pour it out, drink it down and get merry.

Foodwise, it's cheap and cheerful again. Right down to the plastic laminated menu. 

TriBeCa food menuNow it's never good when a bar or restaurant doesn't have the meal you want. It's definitely worse when it doesn't have 90 percent of the menu available. 

Pizza? No. Lamb? No. Burgers? No. Starters? Three out of seven available, and not the three we wanted.

The frazzled barman attempted to show me what mains were and weren't available and ended up confusing himself and me more than ever. A spicy meat sharing platter seemed our only option.

The food was fine, but definitely nothing to write home about. In fact nothing to write about at all.

Spicy Meat Platter (£12.95)

TriBeCa just seems to have lost its way a little bit.

Once a busy and thriving bar, especially if the crowded pictures on the website are anything to go by, it seems to have withdrawn and fallen into that awkward 'cheap as chips' category that is usually reserved for Wetherspoons and Baa Bar.

The various booths around the sides were all held off with signs stating 'Reserved from 6.30pm' or similar and when we left at 9pm they still sat empty. 

Ideally placed to be a popular bar for many of the office workers or even for those living in the loft-style apartments, TriBeCa has given in to being a pre-drinking place to get smashed and move on from.

Drink your £6.95 wine and go up market for your cocktails.

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ALL SCORED CONFIDENTIAL REVIEWS ARE IMPARTIAL AND PAID FOR BY THE MAGAZINE. 

TriBeCa: 50 Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3WF

Telephone: 0161 236 8300

Rating: 9.5/20 (please read the scoring system in the box below, venues are rated against the best examples of their kind) 

Drinks: 2/5
Food: 2.5/5
Service: 2/5
Ambience: 3/5