Provenance Food Hall — Restaurant in Bolton

Been a long time customer at provenance, the butchers is amazing and the meat quality is excellent! Harwoods patisserie cakes and treats are beautiful and so tasty. I haven’t eaten upstairs in a while but it has always bee nice in the past when I have done. Heard they are doing a Sunday roast now which I would love to try. My only complaint is that the sandwiches are no where near as good as they used to be, the homemade bread and warm sandwiches used to be the main reason I visited. The Monty sandwiches they are now serving are not as good as the previous sandwiches and I haven’t been impressed with any of them unfortunately, the bread is lovely quality but they just lack in flavour and the bacon is always under cooked and fatty which puts me off the whole sandwich unfortunately. The ingredients they use don’t taste freshly cooked either :( please bring the old sandwiches (especially the club) back!! I went in and asked for a club on the warm baked sourdough bread but was told they no longer to this? I don’t understand how if they still cook the bread for the og steak sandwich why they can’t accommodate for a club? Very disappointing unfortunately, please bring back the old sandwiches and use good quality...

Made a special effort to visit here for lunch on Friday. Arrived at 1pm to find the place empty, so at least we were seated swiftly. Limited menu and quite expensive but I don't mind paying if reflected in the quality and service - sadly, it didn't deliver on either. My friend ordered soup and sandwich - carrot soup arrived like a lukewarm pulp slopped in the middle of the bowl. It was repulsive and nearly threw up - sour and musty carrots. Her prawn sandwich was OK but no butter on bread, no salad or marie rose sauce per description. I ordered steak sandwich with fries. The sandwich was fine but the fries were served in a tiny ramekin bowl. The portion was a appalling for £9.95. Pot of tea for two was a good size and fair price.

Sadly the lingering smell and taste of the soup spoiled the rest of the food, so we did not enjoy.

We politely explained about the soup. The waitress took it away and later returned to say the manager was sorry and won't charge us for it. It was like she was doing us a favour? Absolutely amazed that they think we should pay for rotten soup and so disappointed the manager did not apologise directly. Equally, we were offered no alternative.

I won't be returning or...

Great cafe upstairs above butcher and delicatessen.

Visited on Saturday 12th August. The breakfast was substantial and well cooked, we had the veggie breakfast. The coffee was good and I'm quite fussy.

We also tried the loose leaf teas they had, which were excellent. Had the Earl Grey One, and there were several more on offer

However the stand out was the friendly staff, 2 ladies working when we were there, about 11:30 to 1pm . I'm not from the area, was visiting a friend over the weekend, my experience was they were nice and helpful, friendly and engaging.

Suggestions to the owner: look after the staff you have, hire more like them and keep up the quality of the food and this place will be a license to print money.

Will be back on my next visit to...