IK
Iftakhar Kazim
Sep 22, 2026
I cannot really comment on the food because the experience itself was overshadowed by what I felt was an egregious and deeply discriminatory interaction.
I received a voucher from their University of Manchester Freshers flyer distributor, offering a free pizza if I visited the branch. When I arrived, I was told that the offer had to be redeemed through the app. When I simply tried to ask for more information and guidance, instead of being helped, I was met with comments along the lines of, “Can’t you read? It’s written there.”
The tone was belittling, dismissive and needlessly condescending. I was not being difficult, aggressive or unreasonable. I was simply asking how to redeem an offer that their own staff had promoted to students.
As an Indian international student, the entire interaction made me feel singled out and treated with a level of contempt that I found genuinely disturbing. I cannot prove what was going through the person’s mind, but the way I was spoken to left me with a very strong impression that my background influenced how I was treated. The hostility, patronising attitude and complete lack of basic courtesy made the encounter feel discriminatory rather than merely poor customer service.
What made it even more troubling was that the other staff members seemed perfectly pleasant. The person displaying this behaviour appeared to be the manager, which is particularly concerning because someone in a position of responsibility should be setting the standard for respectful and inclusive treatment.
It was an incredibly disheartening experience, especially in an area and during Freshers where businesses are actively trying to welcome students from all backgrounds. No international student, person of colour, or frankly any customer should be made to feel inferior for asking a simple question.
Based on my experience, I would strongly caution international students and people from minority backgrounds about visiting this branch. I certainly would not feel comfortable returning.