Black Milk — Restaurant in Manchester

To start with a positive, the pancakes are delicious and the staff are incredibly friendly and polite. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives end. We had made a special trip to come here as it was recommended to us. We had a short wait outside as it was full and there’s only 9 tables inside and no waiting area. That was fine, but we were then sat at a small table by the door, which was repeatedly left open. We were freezing. The window we were sat against also had a huge crack all along.

Two of the 3 items we wanted were unavailable. I ordered pancakes and a freak shake for my son (as they had run out of the cookie dough and waffles he wanted) and pancakes and ice cream for myself. We were told we’d be brought water but it never arrived. My son’s freak shake came and he really enjoyed it, but it was brought before the other food, so I sat awkwardly while he ate and drank alone. His pancakes were next. Again, I sat awkwardly waiting for my food while he ate alone, feeling guilty that I could eat while he was on his second course. When my pancakes arrived, my ice cream was missing. I had to wait a while for my ice cream, and also a fork. My son had finished eating by the time I could begin. The food should have all come together as the whole point of going to get food together is that you actually eat together. It was completely spoiled by having to eat separately. The kitchen didn’t seem terribly busy as things had gone quiet by the time we ordered, so I don’t understand why our food wasn’t prepared at the same time. I would also have appreciated a spoon to eat my ice cream, rather than having to try to eat it with a knife and fork.

Just as additional feedback, when ordering, the server commented twice on the amount of food I ordered, saying “so you want a freak shake AND pancakes?” and asking (while laughing) “do you think you’ll manage all of that?”Yes, my son had two things. Yes, it’s a lot. But he’s a very active teenaged boy with hollow legs, a fast metabolism and a huge appetite. He didn’t actually manage to eat it all, but it was a treat so I let him try two things. It probably isn’t the best business idea to shame customers about buying your food and to make them feel greedy!

It was also an issue for us that there wasn’t a toilet. We had to leave to find one elsewhere.

The cost of three items was over £36 and I feel ripped off to be...

Haven't been here since they were in Afflecks Palace a year or two ago and unfortunately standard in my opinion has dropped massively.

Menu is a lot smaller than it used to be, there used to be a lot more customisation, especially with the cereal cocktails. It's now unfortunately fixed apposed to how it used to be. You used to be able to choose your own cereal combination, now it's just a list of less than half a dozen pre made choices.

Biggest criticism unfortunately is the staff. They are nice staff and helpful, but made a few mistakes.

Firstly, our party of four, although paying separately, had our food brought out at intervels rather than at the same time, the last person had to wait 5-10 minutes longer than everyone else before they got theirs. Its poor organisation and timekeeping. Food is timed and sent to the same table together. Anyone with basic experience of serving knows this.

The tables themselves don't seem to be numbered, so the servers were walking around the place with items taking them to the wrong table and being sent away just to go to another wrong table and eventually find the right customers after the third or fourth try. It looks extremely amateurish and poorly organised, but more importantly potentially dangerous if customers with allergies.

On the topic of servers, when items were delivered to our table and the servers asked who had what, they most of the time called the item a completely different name to what it was on the menu, causing us to just guess at what sounded closest to what we actually ordered. I've genuinely no idea if what I ate was what I ordered, for all I know I've eaten something another customer ordered.

Some of the clothes the staff wore didn't seem the most professional. One server was wearing something similar to yoga pants and many servers had their hair loose rather than tied up. I've no issues with the lack of an official uniform but it should be more professional than that surely? At the original site at Afflecks this was...

To those of you who don't know, Black Milk is a dessert cafe in Greater Manchester and more recently in Bolton and Soho, London. They are well known around Manchester for serving irresistible dessert feasts and loaded milkshakes. After having a few trips over a few months and trying a wide selection off their menu we are finally ready to deliver our review. During our trips we have sampled; the Cookie Dough Freakshake, S'mores Waffle, Strawberry and Nutella Waffle, and Biscoff Sundae and finally, most recently, the special edition Rainbow Pride Freakshake.

When we heard the news that Black Milk would be doing a specially dedicated shake towards pride, that is entirely rainbow and has a massive wedge of rainbow cake placed on top, we knew immediately that this was the shake for us. The sweet rainbow fondant fills the glass making it look glorious and aesthetically pleasing, we enjoyed that the colours were edible and were not just there to look pretty. Beyond the rainbow striped fondant was the cookie dough milkshake, which when mixed with colourful fondant, creates the perfect combination for the shake of your dreams. The cake, placed delicately on top of the shake, was just as amazing, the 6 rainbow layers complemented by vanilla frosting completed the whole 'meal'. The cake was subtle which sided perfectly next to the busy shake. The only thing we would suggest when taking on this creation is to try not to face it on a full stomach, this freakshake is a meal in itself, a meal we would happily eat in the future.

Overall we would recommend trying all the wonderful creations at Black Milk as they are all fantastic, however, we would recommend getting there early as we went at around 4:45 and had two of the last three Pride Shakes.

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