El Gato Negro Tapas Manchester — Restaurant in Manchester

So me and my Wife were feeling peckish so we decided to head into town(Manchester) for food so I have always wanted to eat at El Gato Negro as i have long been aware of the fantastic reputation that El Gato Negro has locally.

so we parked on King Street West and walked up to the restaurant we hadn't booked but luckily they had either a table outside or upstairs called the chefs table(Raised area with tall chairs overlooking the kitchen), So we decided to go for the Chefs table and the waitress took us upstairs to our table.

To drink i ordered a pint of Complot IPA 🍺 and my Wife opted for a large glass of red wine 🍷 to eat my Wife ordered Gambas Pil Pil(Prawns) and Octopus 🐙 and I ordered the 3 dishes for £20(Only on Selected dishes including some meat, fish and vegetable dishes) I opted for the meatballs, Chorizo and ham and cheese croquettes and then I ordered the lamb kebabs.

Our drinks arrived and went down a treat on a hot Manchester evening, being sat at the 👩‍🍳 👨‍🍳 table(Raised counter with tall chairs overlooking the kitchen) was a great experience watching the Chefs at work the time and effort they put in to the presentation is 5☆.

First dish that was served was the Ham and Cheese croquettes which were amazing, Then the Prawns arrived and my Mrs really enjoyed her Prawns, Then the meatballs and Chorizo arrived and I tucked in and the meatballs were absolutely amazing, the flavour and herbs were delicious, The Chorizo was the best I'd ever eaten.

Then my Wife's Octopus 🐙 arrived and I have never seen an Octopus that big in my life and my Wife really enjoyed her Octopus, Then the Lamb kebabs arrived and Wow the flavours of the sauce with the Lamb was delicious, The lamb was cooked medium and it literally melted in my mouth, We then ordered another round of drinks.

The whole experience was amazing 👏, The service, The food, The restaurant was spotlessly clean, Drinks were well presented and went down a treat, The kitchen was spotlessly clean, The Chefs were amazing, Food was tasty and well presented and the whole experience far surpassed our high expectations.

The total bill amount came to a £122 that included the service charge(£13) which the waitress said it isn't compulsory and could be taken off if we didn't want to tip but the service was absolutely fantastic so we paid it no problem at all and the staff get to keep a 100% of the tips which we love as they work so hard and tirelessly and made the whole experience.

5☆ 5☆ 5☆ 5☆ 5☆

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I cant express enough how great our experience was with this restraunt. Myself and my girlfriend went for a few nights to Manchester and decided to book in advance, but are we glad. As when we arrived the place was booked out til after 9:30! We were shown to our seats upstairs by a friendly member of staff we were sat at the soft seats we asked if it was possible to sit at the window the girl checked and happily obliged. We were delighted. We were then shown the menu and our server shared their opinion and showed genuine interest with our choices we were delighted we ordered drinks, and the server delivering my drink lost her footing and spilled my drink ever so slightly you wouldn’t have noticed and I wasn’t bothered in the slightest (I just hoped the girl was ok) as quick as a flash the manager was over to make sure we were okay and insist I was brought over a fresh drink another kind gesture. Our food came it was absolutely beautiful we shared the Catalan bread. I had the goats cheese and chorizo hot sandwich the, crispy baby squid, deep fried goats cheese and the star of the show was the beef short rib! Honestly you could cut it with a spoon absolutely sensational. My girlfriend opted for the meatballs paella arinichini and the patas bravados which were still crispy despite being coated in sauce! Sensational! We both had dessert I had the brownie with the ice cream whilst GF went for the basque cheesecake. I wish I had caught the servers who took great care of us all night! At the end the manager came back over to collect our plates and chat to us (again jusg something you don’t expect) asked us where we were from, etc we shared a joke about her being from the Canary Islands and not Spain just like us being from Scotland and not Britain. At the end they took a photo of us which is just another great memory of our time at this great establishment. I can not recommend El Gato enough! I just wish there was one in Scotland! We will definitely be back thanks for...

A truly disappointing experience. We were charged for the reservation, yet our requests were completely ignored. I was pointed “towards the bathroom” and ended up being seated at an improvised table squeezed between two large ones, where the noise made it nearly impossible to hear myself think.

The waitress kept pushing us to order more, to the point that it felt like we weren’t ordering enough. When we tried to order calamari — which you'd expect to be available at a Spanish restaurant — we were told they didn’t have any, but only after we tried to order, not beforehand. The patatas bravas were clearly reheated, and the sauce was heavy and unpleasant. We only ordered two tapas, a beer, and a bottle of mineral water, yet they had the nerve to include a service charge in our 28£ bill, which was totally unjustified.

On our way out, we noticed dirty plates stacked on a tray hidden on the staircase. The whole place seemed disorganized — and this was on a quiet Monday afternoon! I made the mistake of trusting the Michelin mention and positive reviews, but it was a total letdown. The manager came over when we voiced our concerns, but instead of addressing the situation (at the very least removing the service charge), he just stood there and listened without offering any resolution.

It was my husband’s birthday and they almost ruined it. Would absolutely...