Why you shouldn’t go to a restaurant where there is a bouncer at the door....

Dinner x 3 Saturday 14/07/2012

58,Lever Street

M1 1FJ

Last Saturday we went for dinner at Bem Brazil, in the  Northern Quarter.

Arghhh..what a mistake. I have been at Bem Brazil in December 2010, and I had a good memory of the lovely dinner I had at the time. But last night, exceeded any predictions of a car crash sort of a dinner.

Let me explain.  The food was good as usual, with very helpful, kind, professional and patient waiters running (literally: running) around with huge knives (Ugh) and an assortment of delicious meat (inclusive delicatessen such as chicken hearts). The Manager on duty was a lovely professional lady, juggling around the tables checking if everything was ok. We also had very good espressos, a rare pearl in restaurants... So what went wrong then?  Ehm..mhm.. the clientele was absolutely unbearable. Screaming orange girls’ semi-nudes, drunk and rude. That kind of drunkness that is ugly, not that tipsy smiling laughing way to have a jolly night. Men were scary. Big, muscle –huge guys that were bullying around the staff (at some point I genuinely felt sorry for one of the waiters who was been told off by a customer and laughed at for his appearance and accent). The kind of guys you know that is carrying around a knife, if you know what I mean! I went to the loo once and a girl with huge (I mean HUGE, sort of 30cm stuff like that!) wedges and a tiny acrylic cheap white dress (in contrast with red  hair extensions and matching tan) fell over and knock me almost down, when I opened the door to get into the toilet cubicle; when she got up from the floor she stumbled again pushing me aside whilst I was washing my hands laughing and pointing at my jacket to her friend (I was wearing a dark designer tailored suit that is absolutely mint) - another drunken sort of orange thing and I felt SCARED – CAN YOU BELIEVE IT- SCARED!! That cannot be right.

Now, I am not going into details of what I do for a living or who I am, because is totally irrelevant, but let me say that I am a fairly normal person, and I don’t live in a bubble, I know what is out there . But, holy macaroni! I wanted to get up and give a hug to the only female waitress that seemed to be completely overwhelmed by the demanding ugly clientele, I felt admiration for the self control of the Brazilian waiters running around with the meat and being bossed around, if not humiliated by such rude people. I heard phrases and attitude by the clientele that made me sad. Not last the ugliness of it all. 

At this stage I would usually add some facts, such as what we have eaten and how much it costs. What we eaten last night at this stage is totally irrelevant. I wouldn’t recommend this place on a Saturday night  to anyone, unless you recognise yourself in the description of the clientele which I provided above. I felt intimidated and I felt sorry for the staff. I think the ‘’all you can eat recipe’’ for a restaurant inevitably attracts not the most classy clients, but overall I’ve never come across anything like this in many years I lived in this city. Anyway, we’ve spend £111.00 between the three of us, including a £26.00 bottle of wine, coffees, amaros, unlimited access to buffet and unlimited meat brought to our table.

If it is Saturday, and you feel the urge of eating a bit of meat and relax having fun, give yourself a favour, do not go there. Manchester is a big fantastic city, I am sure you can find something much better then  Bem Brazil. Having said that I think that the same restaurant, with the same menu and staff, with a completely different sort of clientele would be a fantastic night out, especially for a group of friends. But –ehy!- we are here to talk about what it is like, not what it would be like!

Till the next one!

Ciao for now!

Bolognese Pie