Combining average dishes and helter-skelter service is usually a recipe for disaster.  Unfortunately,  The Way We Cook was just that compilation.

On a Friday night, we (my beautiful fiancee and I) visited The Way We Cook for what was to be a special evening out. The restaurant was recommended, so we had to give it a try. Unfortunately, we were left greatly disappointed.

The establishment is on the north end of Manchester in a part of town that progress has mostly forgotten. They had ample parking in the back of their restaurant so we parked the Mini there and walked around to the front. The decor was simple but pleasant. There were a lot of open tables so we were able to get a table right away. The greeter (who wound up being our waiter as well) allowed us to choose our table, which was a nice touch. We chose a table in the back that seemed to have some distance and privacy. Unfortunately, from that point on the dining experience went downhill.

The waiter (we will leave out his name to protect his incompetence) seemed to be running around like Super Mario getting chased in Donkey Kong, and his friendliness quickly was lost within his franticness. Hot bread was delivered, which was adequate but nothing special. We each ordered a special martini off the menu. Since the drinks took almost 15 minutes to deliver and one of them was wrong, I won’t bother to describe them except to say they were lackluster and average. When we ordered the drinks, we also ordered an appetizer, Saganaki. Unfortunately, our nutty waiter forgot and returned 20 minutes later to ask us again if we wanted an appetizer!! So, we ordered the Saganaki again.

This was a gooey, baked cheese Greek concoction with an olive oil basting. It was served with crunchy bruschetta slices. It was by far the best part of the meal, and that should tell you how things go downhill from there.

For the main meals, we ordered ravioli filled with spinach and portabello mushrooms, which came with a large meatball and a seafood dish made with shrimp and lobster tortellini-type pasta. I will just stop with the description at this point because both meals were below average (although the spinach ravioli were decent) and don’t deserve a description. Let us just say that I could not figure out what the stuffing was on the seafood pasta, and while the meatball was HUGE (think softball size) it was without flavor.

There are better choices for someone looking for a nice place to eat in Manchester… pass on The Way We Cook.