Gonbay Chinese Restaurant 25-27 The Downs, Altrincham WA14 2QD

"Been here for two consecutive Sunday. Staff are friendly and quite attentive. Some are native Cantonese or mandarin speakers. A great variety of food choices, but most of the food we ordered were very heavily seasoned. In our first visit, the half portion peking duck was charged twice and I spotted when checking the bill. The staff immediately amended it. Found a piece of plastic thing with sharp point in the beef brisket pot in our second visit. Made the staff aware. Perhaps I’m not lucky but will not be visiting again in the near future because of this. Two very young kids both below six were also charged for tea per head count which they didn’t drink any. Very accessible. Located in the centre of Altrincham. Just five minutes walk from the metro station if you don’t drive. Street parking available opposite to the restaurant. Charges apply on normal day but free on Sunday evening."

"My wife and I had the misfortune to visit Gonbay in Altrincham last night. It was fairly quiet in there with a couple of tables of around 10 and 6 people, who were well into their service. Our order was taken fairly quickly and our starters arrived within a reasonable time. It took around 15 mins after we’d finished our starters for them to be cleared away, and a further 20 minutes passed with no sign of our main courses. We asked a couple of members of staff if they could chase up our main courses, with neither looking as if they knew what to do. One of them said the delay was because they had a couple of large tables to deal with, so we waited a further 10 minutes and again asked how long our food would be, and were vaguely told maybe 5 or 10 more minutes. It was at this stage that we decided that having arrived almost an hour earlier, and having been given no clear idea as to when we may receive our main courses, that we weren’t prepared to wait any longer and decided to leave. We went to the till to pay for our starters and a couple of drinks. While we were waiting to pay and expressing our disappointment with the service, one of the staff that came to the till became rude and argumentative, and basically called my wife a liar with regards to the time we’d had to wait. While my wife was putting her straight, I was given the bill by another member of staff which had service charge added! Obviously I refused to pay any service charge as it had been so appalling, and that was duly removed. The waitress was constantly answering my wife back and it appeared had never been trained in any way with regards to dealing with paying customers, and continued to be rude. Four generations of our extended family have been customers of Gonbay over many years, and whilst the standard has slipped over the last couple of years, the food and service have been acceptable, however last night was so poor –the staff seemed disinterested, behaved amateurishly, and were clueless as to what was going on - there was a complete lack of communication with the customers, and to top it all, a waitress was arguing with us and calling my wife a liar. If a restaurant is incapable of catering for more than two tables at any one time without other diners having to wait an unacceptable amount of time to be served, then it shouldn’t be in business, or otherwise maybe just take bookings for two tables at any one time? We will never be returning to Gonbay, and would advise anyone reading this to stay well away."

"A wonderful birthday dinner. Food, service and ambiance exceptional. Mae and her colleague made it memorable providing complimentary fresh fruit platter and birthday cake with candle for the birthday girl - highly recommended."

"Monday evening dinner. Chose from the menu but several set menu options available. Staff were very friendly"