Gemini Takeaway

For a drunken student, staggering their way back down Oxford Road towards their halls/​house either in Rusholme or slightly further on in Fallowfield, this place is definitely the place to go. The greasy fast food available here for a very cheap price compared to neighbouring Abduls etc, with very generous portions for everything, made it a definite stop-​by place on the way back for me in the past few years as a student.
Previously, not necessarily now, if you got to befriend the staff sometimes extras were added definitely persuading me and many others back after nights out.

When it comes to cheap, late-​night, fast food: this is the place. Quality? Well, it beats McDonalds. Also, you get so much food for a small price.

Gemini’s is a highly popular fast food and kebab outlet situated minutes from Whitworth Park halls of residence and the University of Manchester. It has several tables and chairs for eating in and always seems full of unhealthy students around lunchtime gorging themselves on fried chicken and French fries. It’s a place I often frequented after a night out, occasionally before, and the proprietor, or Mr Gemini as he is commonly referred to, was always deliriously happy and buzzing with conversation. Without him the entire establishment would suffer the absence of his charisma and occasional slightly demented quips.
The veggie burger is really delicious, make sure you ask for all the salad and plenty of dressing and the staff are happy to oblige. The pizzas are rather good too and extremely cheap. They also do a hot apple pie which gives Maccy D’s a run for their money! If you have a spare moment, take a look at the poem by Lemn Sissay emblazoned on the external wall, the positioning of the text designed to imitate the rain falling in Manchester.

I have an unlimited sense of affection to this place and an unbiased one too. I stayed at Whitworth Park Halls in my first year and Gemini was my stopover before home after every said night out! The greasy pizzas and chips, completed my night and sent me to bed happy and full!
It’s cheap and fits the price of the change in your purse after you’ve spulrged all night! Being a regular, Mario (Mister Gemini, we called him fondly) always gave away a few extra things to me, a can of coke with my meal, some extra wings, anything and everything was appreciated!
Many may find this place not so nice, with it’s stark white décor and maybe a little too greasy food. But eat here almost a year and you start to love it and Mr gemini never lets you go without making you listen to his new tale!

After a night at a student halls party nearby, we did the next most studentish thing that we could do, and that was to go and buy some grease from Gemini Takeaway.
I would have to say that the service here really is quite rude. The guy was so short, stern and condescending with me. I guess it’s because he sees drunk people all the time and thinks they’re all idiots. Well, I was certainly drunk, but not so drunk that I couldn’t remember how rude he was and write about it a couple of days later on this here Unilocal thing.
It’s a shame, because I thought the food was basically ok. I had a chicken naan and chips and it was all good. The chips were crunchy and tasty and didn’t seem overly greasy, and there was plenty of nice chicken in the naan. My friend had a doner kebab which didn’t go so well but then what do you expect if you order doner kebab — yuk.
So it would have been ok, if the guy serving hadn’t been totally rude.

Last night after an arty party and a particularly raucous trip to the Grovel (I know, I’m 23, I need to upscale!) we decided that if Tiny Friend insisted on acccompanying us to Big Hands, she needed chips, to sober her up. So we went to Geminis.
The chips were not good, and were smothered in that cheap jelly-​like ketchup that you only seem to be able to find in takeaways of this, erm, calibre. Add into the mix that the man behind the counter short changed the boyf and called Jewish Friend an arsehole for ordering a diet coke, and you’ve got yourself the worst takeaway ever.
Nothing to do with the fragrant, lovely, gourmet Gemini Café a few doors down…

After a night out with my Whitworth Park gang we’d always split into two groups — Gemini and Abdul’s. I was with Abdul, and Abdul’s takeaways are still the only takeaways in Manchester that I will go into when sober.
There were several reasons why I didn’t really like ‘Dirty Gemini’, as we all called it to distinguish it from Gemini Café down the road (which, as Alfie points out, is actually worth a visit). The first reason is the rat-​infested piles of rubbish which I used to see out the back of the takeaway as I walked to and from lectures. Then there’s the fact that I saw more than one person being sick in there. On top of that, if you ordered a chip naan with cheese then they would take the naan somewhere you couldn’t see them for 10 minutes after putting the chips in (my friends had several theories as to what they would do here). Finally, the ketchup is absolutely disgusting.
However, I am going to give them one star for their exceptional memory. My boyfriend used to order a chicken burger meal from here about once a week in his Whitworth Park days. They would always remember him (he’s not especially distinctive looking!) and would start preparing his chicken burger as soon as he entered. After a hiatus of a couple of years we re-​visited Gemini, and they still remembered him and his order. Wow!
The extra star is the Rain poem on the side of the building, which I enjoyed trying to read every day on my way out of Whitworth Park.

Don’t go to Gemini!
There is competition, from Abduls next door. Please go there and eat something worthwhile instead.
I don’t know if this place is linked to Gemini Café, which is a lovely little place down the road which does a phenomenal £3 pie, chips and peas. Either way, this take-​away certainly does not compare.
It will fill you up but little else can be said in its favour.
I’ve been a couple of times because Abduls was closed for a while and it’s the nearest place to the library where I was spending long hours at the time. My only solace in my miserable day of depression was an evening kebab, and Gemini spoiled it for me.
Nuff said.

Gemini has an easier job as a takeaway: it sits practically alone, with little in the way of competition nearby. Unfortunately, this seems to mean that it doesn’t feel that it has to try as hard to please those who enter within.
I’ve been a couple of times, but have never really been bowled over by the service or quality of the food. It has the standard food on offer: kebabs, burger, chips, etc… but does nothing exceptionally well but neither exceptionally bad. It just does them. The prices are reasonable, what you’d expect from a Manchester kebab house.
It’s an odd location as well for a takeaway. I can only imagine its clientèle are mostly the inhabitants of Whitworth Park next door, but since that would be entirely student based, I don’t suppose taste matters too much.
On a side-​note, the art on the wall is read downwards, from left to right.

The side of the Gemini has a wall called rain; it’s a piece of art that I’ve still no worked out after thousands of views passing it. The whitewashed wall is covered in random letters and I’m constantly recognising it as a crossword and trying to find non– existent hidden words.
Anywho Gemini is a straight up kebab shop. They do the typical array on nan, halal etc with garlic mayo and chilli sauce, everything is how you’d expect. Sadly I can’t think of a great deal which separates Gemini from the flock of kebab spots dotted across oxford road, except for of course the art work. The foods nice but well that’s it, becomes another spot where I once stood with a kebab after a night out slurring my speech.

Where I come from, we call this kind of place a greasy spoon, which means it serves all of the essentials for breakfast and lunch. If you are near the Uni and want an inexpensive cappuccino (£1.25 for a large to stay) without having to venture too far down Oxford, this is the place to go. The food is reasonably priced as well, although I’ve just been for the coffee.