Papa G’s

It is a small and cosy restaurant in the heart of Manchester, more precisely in the Printworks.
I found the service to be good, though they didn’t seem to know who covered what tables — but that only meant that we were asked if everythong was alright twice, which is not the worst thing!
However, the food is not worth bragging about. We paid 25 pounds for a small burger (which I honestly can make just as good), a margarita pizza and two sodas. It is not worth the price and to be honest I would have rather spend my money in one of the other restaurants in the Printworks.
The food was okay — but not worth what we paid, that’s my point…
But it was fine and we got the food quite fast.

I had the green bean and lentil stew, with chicken. I didn’t enjoy the stew too much but the chicken was delicious, cooked on charcoal. I am willing to finback and try something else.

I want to apologise to the service staff upfront on this review. They are very good, and deserve better than the two-​star rating their restaurant has received. But other than them this place is simply poor and has nothing to recommend it.
Papa G’s is a Greek-​inspired restaurant which serves mezze, pizza, pasta, ribs, burgers, kebabs, and a few other dishes. This extremely broad menu (similar to Frankie and Bennys with some Greek dishes added) unfortunately ensures that the restaurant has no speciality or particular expertise in anything, whilst also testing the definition of ‘Greek cuisine’ to its limits. The Ancient Greeks left an inspiring legacy to the world, but the hamburger wasn’t part of it.
Be it the menu or just the kitchen all the food I have eaten at Papa G’s has been mediocre at best. The ribs were the best bit, albeit entirely generic (despite the menu claiming it is a traditional Greek recipe, they tasted like the ones at the Harvester across the street but with too much sweetness and not much other flavour). The ‘sticky and spicy’ chicken wings weren’t great, in part because they had been cooked in the same BBQ sauce as the ribs — a sauce with no heat at all. And a pasta dish a friend ordered but did not finish somehow tasted of almost nothing despite including pesto, pine nuts, and parmesan shavings. Turning three ingredients which are all delicious and strong flavours into an indistinct sauce is almost impressive.
On top of all that, the portions are of varying value. The burgers are decent value for their size. But a decent sized portion of ribs was £14, with a starter of three chicken wings a frankly harsh £6. The pizzas are pretty large, but the dishes with chips or veg come with disappointing amounts of them — especially given how cheap they are to cook. Drinks are also a bit steep, with wine being around £4.50-£5.50 a glass and cocktails £6 or so. Similarly with side dishes, a portion of ‘fat chips’ is a bit stingy for the £3 it will set you back.
(As a side note here, the ‘fat chips’ are not chips — they are (poorly) deep-​fried chunks of potato at least two inches by one inch cubed, and aren’t crispy or chip-​like at all. A friend pointed out that they bear more relation to school dinner roast potatoes, and she’s not wrong.)
Clearly a plum spot in the Printworks ensures a good passing trade, but given the presence of a Harvester offering a fairly similar offering (but for a much better price, and likely somewhat better quality) within 10 meters of Papa G’s I struggle to see why I’d ever go back.

Me and a few girlfriends went to Papa G’s on a whim, admittedly because the Wetherspoons next door was full! But I certainly don’t regret it– the bright, funky interior drew us in, and we were seated immediately and given an impressive drinks menu (it was too early for Uzo, but I’m sure give or take a few hours we would have went there.) I got potentially THE nicest vodka lime and soda I have ever tasted– I’m forever going back to bars to ask for them to top up with vodka or the cordial, but this one was pretty damn perfect. My friends were a bit nervous about the food as it is Greek and Mediterranean, but there were burger and pasta options for the less adventurous. I got a starter of warm bread and a feta chilli dip, which was divine but very moreish so I had to leave a bit! Then for my main I went for the vegetarian moussaka. The portions were huge, but the food was of the highest quality, and you can see the chefs at work in the kitchen. Next to my moussaka was a fantastic greek side salad with feta cubes and drizzled in oils and glazes– I always leave side salads but I devoured that one! It was a lovely meal and the staff could not do enough for us– if I lived in Manchester I’d be in all the time!

Seriously considering switching one of my old fav phrases Mama Mia to Papa Mia after lunching here recently. Wow!
I grew up around Greek food given my best childhood friend was Greek Cypriot. The love and energy with which the food was cooked and served demanded commendation. Needless to say I love the food, I love the people and the energy, the zest filled nature of both.
Despite the fact it’s situated in the Printworks (which lets face it is more chain/​franchised filled than a place where a foodie like me may venture) this place is a great spot for anyone who likes good Mediterranean fodder. The service and the food was exceptional and despite only making a pit stop for lunch on this occasion I would love to return for a proper sit down meal.
So, for starters we had Dolmathis (Beef wrapped in Vine leaves) and a Greek village salad (which was filled with my favourite rocket leaves). The Dolmathis was certainly something new that had an interesting taste but the beef wasn’t marinated with as much flavour as I’d like. The aubergine spread that was served with some bread however was simply out of this world and a refreshing change from hummus. For the mains my chicken burger was nice albeit a tad standard with chunky chips which weren’t really my cup of tea. I suppose I was merely envious of my friend’s choice of Mackerel with Greek Salad. It looked and tasted incredible.
As mentioned earlier the service was incredible. Granted the restaurant wasn’t heaving and thus more attention was awarded to us as a result. But the demeanour of staff was extremely warm, welcoming and inviting. This is a perfect spot for dinner before a movie across the road. So I highly recommend you give this a give over.

I’ve eaten at Papa G’s a few times and I always enjoy it there. Being Greek Cypriot I’m rather loathe to eat at Greek Restaurants because I inevitably end up comparing it to my family meals. But every time I’ve been I’ve been pleasantly surprised. In particular I’ve really enjoyed the stuffed vine leaves and macaroni in the oven — just like mama used to make. I really recommend this place if you want some tasty and authentic food.

I’m always surprised that papa g’s isn’t busier with the lunch crowd — although it does get better in the evenings. I think people might be put off by the emptiness during lunch — this is my plea to say please don’t be!
Papa G’s is a Greek restaurant with quite a wide ranging menu, the jewel in the Crown being the various Souvlakis (skewered meat and flatbread) the meat is always tender and we’ll seasoned and the various garnishes delicious. They also do a very good lunch menu which has slightly smaller portions than the main menu but plenty to satisfy you. I will warn you though — fat chips are not pub style chips they are more like potatoes cut into 6! They are very tasty though!
A real must is the house sauce on each table — I’ve no idea what it is but it tastes fantastic!
The staff are all very friendly and accommodating and make you feel welcome. I highly recommend this restaurant particularly if you are going for the Greek dishes.

There is a very thin line between crêpe and crap; linguistically and in a physical sense. Not to be too blunt about it, this place is not crêpe. Indeed, even its crêpe was not crêpe. Both were the other side of the line.
The pre-​theatre meal is fraught with danger. To be more precise, this was a pre– Jerry Seinfeld meal, but it was equally fraught. Arrive too late and there are no tables. Arrive too early and you finish your meal too early and then have to wind a slow path to the venue because even the warm up act doesn’t come on for another hour. And they are probably crêpe anyway.
As luck would have it, we arrived at the perfect moment. A ten minute wait for a table was no hardship and we avoided the queue of ten or so couples that formed in an instant behind us. However, I would have happily waited in that queue so as not to get the table alongside the open kitchen and, more pertinently, the table directly facing into the open range. Unless they are intending to institute a bathing suit dress code and hand out towels on the way in, the last row of tables has to go.
The menu was big enough that I started to worry about the freshness of ingredients. I fancied pasta but I could see no one else having it in the restaurant. I fancied BBQ ribs but I was wearing a white linen shirt.
In the end I opted for a starter of «fishcakes». It was in fact a single fishcake cut in half. I was not fooled by this. The tartare sauce was sharp and the dish was served with a single green olive that had also been cut in half. I don’t like olives but the wife told me I particularly would not have liked that one. She had calamari. It was not good in any respect, encapsulating the worst of calamari. It was like eating the tyres from a remote controlled car. Without any batter, because it all fell off.
For my main, a lamb shank with «granny’s potatoes», which were in fact smashed new potatoes was fine, if a little over-​powered with rosemary. The wife chose poorly again, ordering a goats’ cheese pizza. Imagine a bare pizza base with a single stem of asparagus sliced into four and arranged pointing to 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock. Throw on a child’s portion of cheese. What you have is an irredeemably awful attempt at a pizza. With asparagus, which, in the interests of balance I must report was very nice.
Much of what we had eaten to this point was not crêpe, it was the other thing. It therefore seemed a dangerous venture to order a fresh crêpe, not least of all because it was disguised on the menu in a different colour from the other desserts: «we do this, but probably don’t want to order it… it’s a bit crêpe «.
However, nothing ventured nothing gained. The plate arrived and departed from my table in record time. It was anaemic and plainly not cooked. I could tell this by looking at it and probing it with a fork. I still felt compelled to eat a tiny amount to be sure. It was not crêpe, that was for sure.
The second effort was better. It was certainly crêpe. I ate it, but then I ate a bit of the first effort that was plainly not even cooked, so that isn’t saying a great deal.
On the plus side, the whole affair was over with time to amble over to the MEN and catch the support act. Who was very good indeed.

I have now become a regular at papa gs and the food continues to be consistantly wonderful I am yet to find fault, even after frequent visits and I’m one picky bugger!!!

Went for lunch with a couple friends. I had the bacon and cheese burger. It came with salad and fat chips.
The fat chips were VERY fat. More like square small potatoes!
The burger was big and was very ‘tall’. U will have to squash it down a lot to eat or cut it in half. I did this and it all sort of fell apart. The burger itself was ok — was very firm and solid. I have had better burgers — the best at The Ox.

The Printworks is changing. What was once a glorified entertainment complex with its chain restaurants littered about the place and its cinema has started to let the Manchester independents creep in, notably Wasabi and now Papa G’s. On first glance, the latter does look rather like Nando’s, however you’ve got to realise what these people have to work with. The units in the Printworks are like those in the Chill Factore. You’re never going to get an ambient dining experience, more like a theme park for the kids.
A family-​owned restaurant, Papa G’s Gabrilatsou clan arrived in the north west in the 1930s where they sold Cypriot lace prior to opening up Wilmslow and Bolton eateries. Their Greek heritage remains strong in today’s menu, and with fresh food and fast cooking it’s not just a dining experience, it’s somewhere you could take the family too. In fact, the mini library under the stairs and the activity books means this is in fact the most littlun-​friendly venue in the Printworks.
The meze is great to share as a starter, with plenty of veggie options so I didn’t feel left out or like I had less than the BF… although if he’d have left that halloumi alone I’d have felt a lot better. The bread and taramasalata, homemade, were delicious. I was ensured that the beef stifado was nothing short of gorgeous — it comes with crushed potatoes which are a tricky little dish, but I took it upon myself to try a little (I can’t resist crushed potatoes) and they’d got them just right, maintaining enough chunkiness to be a worthy accompaniment. I became disinterested in this however as soon as my delicious hearty bowl of moussaka arrived. A wild mushroom and aubergine variation, carnivores would be jealous of this. It doesn’t miss the meat because moussaka itself can be a little rich and stodgy with the lamb it’s supposed to contain, kind of like a spicy cottage pie with extra naughtiness. This, however, felt wholesome enough for me to have love in my tummy. Yummy yummy.
And there was halloumi on top which made up for that cheese thief during the starter.
Best of all was the pudding, crêpe with chocolate and banana. The BF can’t resist a crêpe anytime, anywhere, but I was glad he was almost full to bursting because I got to eat most of it, That’ll teach you to steal halloumi. The banana being cooked in its skin really makes a massive difference to the flavour and ensures the texture isn’t as soggy as the flambéed variety.
Customer service is just brilliant here. They’ve even incorporated a pager system… if you arrive and there isn’t a table, they’ll give you a pager so you can amble around town for a bit or go for a drink, and it’ll alert you when they’re ready. They have a kilometre range which means you can certainly have a bit of a wander. I liked the lively music but it might have been a little loud for some, yet all in all I must say I was mega impressed. For once staff in the Printworks didn’t sound like they’d had orders from ‘head office’. Good on you Gabrilatsous, long may you remain in the Printworks and may you inspire many more independents to follow your lead.