Artisan Manchester Review

We have been to Artisan once before but only for drinks for my birthday a couple of years ago. We really enjoyed the atmosphere and the cocktails, served from behind a bar that looks like a row of school desks, were very good.

Artisan Bar Area

The food also looked good from what we had seen so I am surprised it took us so long to finally come and eat here.

I’ll be honest and say that when my girlfriend suggest we eat at Artisan I actually got confused and thought she meant Neighbourhood which is situated directly opposite. We had looked inside Neighbourhood a few months ago and it looked very appealing so when we arrived on Saturday afternoon for lunch, I was a little disappointed that we weren’t going where I though we were going. I needn’t have been disappointed though because Artisan was as good as Neighbourhood looks.

Even though the entrance to Artisan is located opposite the entrance to Neighbourhood, the restaurant is actually located on the first floor directly above Neighbourhood and is accessed via an internal bridge. Artisan is much larger than the outside appearance suggests at 12,0000 square feet and even though there were plenty of other people dining when we arrived it still looked quite empty.

Artisan Restaurant Area

As it was quite early for lunch we decided to skip a starter and just have a main course each. The menu is not huge but there is something for every taste. I had been eating vegetarian all week so was craving meat by the weekend, so I selected the Artisan burger, served in a bagel bun and a side of matchstick fries.

Artisan Burger

The sandwich had two thin burger patties inside, salad and dressing and had a lovely large dill pickle on top. I was a bit disappointed that my bagel was missing a hole though.

Artisan Burger Closeup

My girlfriend had a poached egg, bacon and avocado sandwich served on brown bread that came with a side of sweet potato fries. This actually looked delicious and I had a little food envy for the eggs, although disappointingly one of the eggs had a hard yolk.

Poached Egg Bacon and Avocado Open Sandwich

One thing to note is that we were a little surprised at how quickly the food arrived. From the time of ordering to the food being on our table was about 10 minutes at best, this seemed like an awfully short time for food to be cooked, plated and served up.

Soft drinks do not appear on the menu for some reason but they are served. I asked for a large diet coke and was told it was Pepsi, no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is the glass being full of ice and only actually getting about a third of a pint of Pepsi. I know it sounds petty but this really is one of my pet hates; I mean these soft drinks have got to be some of the cheapest products to produce, the mark up is high enough as it is, at least give me a full glass.

Pepsi Close Up – I only had one mouthful and the glass is almost two thirds empty.

The bill came to approximately £35 for two meals, a pint (or a third) of diet Pepsi and a rather small Aperol Spritz, we thought this was very overpriced. The atmosphere was pleasant and the service was good, but it just wasn’t value for money.

I would recommend Artisan to first time diners but with so much choice in Manchester we won’t be rushing back anytime soon. Besides, we need to try neighbourhood.