Gusto Restaurant Manchester, The Mezzanine

First time eating at a Gusto. I'm vegetarian and tried the vegan steak, which was pretty good. I wish it was a bit wetter/ had more sauce to the dish. However, all of it was delicious and well cooked. I'm not a mushroom person. However, all eaten together, they were manageable. My partner had the meat steak, which they also enjoyed, as they don't like cheese, we had to order a side of fries for them, and I ate their potatoe gratin, which was delicious! Looking online, it seems that there is sometimes a rump option on the menu that comes with fries that he would've preferred. Regardless, we enjoyed all the food we ate. The tomato dough petals for starters were delicious, and I would've loved a cheese version of them and more in the portion. I probably wouldn't have the hummus option again as the bread was weird thin crackers and didn't really see what was Italian about the dish. All the cocktails we had were perfect, and we would happily go back just for them. There did seem to be an issue with them not having cream and chocolate sauce for some of the drinks/ desserts, which wasn't acknowledged, particularly, but again overall this didn't remove too much from the overall taste and experience. Some tables looked quite dark, so bare this in mind if you have vision issues. Although we spent a lot (>£150 for 3 courses + alcohol for two) you could definitely just have water and a nice pizza! We both were super surprised by how nice everything tasted and would love to try their other items another time. Staff were nice. However, service was a bit slow at times for a clearly quiet Sunday, and they did initially forget my partners fries that we ordered specifically because they disliked the potato gratin part of their steak dish. Cute Christmasy decor and friendly staff who were more than happy to make recommendations!