Best Date Night Restaurants in Manchester

Nobody tells you this before a date, but choosing the restaurant is probably the most important decision you’ll make all evening.

Pick well and everything just seems to click into place. Conversation flows, dinner never feels rushed and before you know it you’ve spent half the evening somewhere you only planned on eating. Pick badly and… well, let’s just say no amount of good chat is rescuing somewhere that clearly wants you in and out within ninety minutes. 

Think of this as a little helping hand before you accidentally book somewhere you’ll both be moaning about on the journey home. Manchester has no shortage of brilliant restaurants, but not all of them understand date night. These do. 

Skof 

Getting a table at Skof is exciting. Finally getting to enjoy it together is even better. 

Getting a table here takes a bit of planning, a bit of patience and, depending on the week, a small miracle. By the time that reservation finally lands in your inbox, you’ve probably imagined the evening together more times than you’ve looked at the menu. Not many restaurants can compete with the person sat opposite you. Somehow, Skof gives it a very good go. 

Fortunately, the food rewards every bit of the anticipation. 

Skof has a lovely habit of making the outside world quietly disappear for a few hours. There’s nowhere else you’d rather be, nowhere else you’d rather sit across from, and, despite the Michelin star, nobody’s going to tell you off for licking the sauce off your fork. 

Instead, every time another course lands, you slide the plate across the table and say, “go on, try that.” Then you’re straight back where you left off until the next dish arrives and the whole thing happens again. 

Years later, you probably won’t remember every course. You’ll remember exactly who was sat opposite you while you argued over which one was the best. There are far worse arguments to still be having. 

Another Hand 

Every date always starts with everyone’s best behaviour. Another Hand knocks that out of you before the first plates have even landed. 

The early stages of dating are exhausting. You’re both pretending you’re happy with anything, insisting you couldn’t possibly manage dessert, remembering table manners your parents would be proud of and doing that thing where you offer them the last bite, secretly hoping they’re polite enough to say no. 

That version of you hasn’t really got much chance here.

You’ll arrive saying you’ll just order a few plates to share. Twenty minutes later, you’re both eyeing up the menu again, convincing yourselves there’s probably room for one more. (There always is.) 

Before long, you’re pinching forkfuls because theirs looked better, ordering one extra plate you absolutely didn’t need and somehow convincing yourselves it was entirely the other person’s idea. Turns out “help yourself” means very different things depending on who you’re dating. 

Fortunately, Another Hand isn’t really built for one visit anyway. The menu changes with the seasons, which is convenient, really, if you’re already looking for somewhere to book date number two. Assuming the first one went well, of course. 

It’s also a surprisingly good compatibility test. If somebody helping themselves to your favourite mouthful gives you the ick, better to find out now than six months down the line. 

Tattu 

Some restaurants are booked because you’re hungry. Tattu is usually booked because you’ve got something to celebrate. Even if you’ve had to invent the occasion yourself. 

Before you’ve even opened the menu, somebody’s already taking a photo underneath the blossom tree. It’s the sort of place where your eyes are constantly wandering around the room, mostly because there’s so much going on but also because you’re trying to work out what everyone else has ordered. 

It takes some doing to steal the spotlight in here. 

Fortunately, Tattu’s modern Chinese menu is more than up for the job. Delicate dim sum, beautifully judged seafood, rich barbecue dishes and bold, confident flavours all make a very convincing case for forgetting about the blossom tree altogether. Which isn’t easy. 

Sometimes date night isn’t about keeping things understated. Sometimes it’s about dressing up a bit more than usual, ordering the cocktail you’ve been eyeing up since you sat down and fully embracing the fact you’ve decided tonight deserves to feel a little different. 

Subtlety has had a lovely evening, but Tattu was never planning to invite it. It’d be a shame if you did. 

Fenix 

The easiest way to ruin a date at Fenix would be suggesting you call it a night too early. 

The clever bit is that dinner’s only half the story. By the time you’ve finished eating, Fenix’s night’s only just getting started. Honestly, it might be the easiest date night plan going. 

The food more than plays its part too. Smoky meat fresh from the grill, beautifully cooked seafood and colourful Mediterranean dishes somehow make ordering just two or three things feel wildly optimistic. By the time the whole fish catches your eye, you’ve quietly accepted you’re staying a little longer anyway.

You’ll order more than you meant to. You won’t regret a single plate. 

But by the time the last plates have gone, Fenix is already shifting into a different gear and they begin to show their second personality. Wine glasses are swapped for cocktails, the DJs take over, the room fills with a different sort of energy and suddenly nobody seems remotely interested in calling it a night. 

Some dates end when the bill arrives. Fenix barely seems to notice it’s been paid.

Higher Ground 

Higher Ground is wonderfully free of distractions. Which means the person opposite you never really stops being the most interesting thing in the room. 

You know those restaurants where you’re constantly looking over somebody’s shoulder to see what everyone else has ordered? This isn’t one of them. You’ve already picked the best view in the room. 

The stripped-back dining room helps. There’s very little competing for your attention, which is probably why the conversation comes so easily in the first place. The staff seem to have worked out that interrupting a good date is basically a criminal offence. Huge kudos from us. 

The menu changes with the seasons, which means there’s every chance the dish somebody recommends won’t even be there when you visit. Fortunately, whatever’s replaced it usually gives them something new to rave about instead. Beautiful fish, brilliant vegetables and fire-led cooking have a habit of doing that. 

Every plate earns its own little pause in the conversation. Thankfully, the conversation always starts up again. 

Turns out the best thing in the room wasn’t on the menu after all.