POT KETTLE BLACK Barton Arcade — Restaurant in Manchester

Update - Feb 2025: We've returned to PKB on numerous occasions since my initial review and found it to be consistently excellent for drinks, food and service. Because we are from Leeds we always book to beat the inevitable queues and it can feel a little awkward skipping past and going in the exit (as instructed) but that's just me being too British about queues I guess.

On our most recent visit we had some amazing Rosti with a sriracha hollandaise, if they're ever on the specials menu I highly recommend them.

In a very competitive Manchester brunch scene PBK still very much hold their own.

Initial review - 2020: I spotted a great photo of the Barton Arcade on Instagram so decided to visit when over from Leeds recently, while looking for directions I found Pot Kettle Black was in there and as a fan of coffee decided to visit on Sunday the 26th of Jan.

On arrival I discovered it's a "wait here to be seated" place but the process was efficient and despite it being relatively busy with people having (great looking) breakfast we were seated quickly and given menus. The choice of drinks is good and, as always, I went for a flat white and my guest an americano. After a short wait the drinks arrived, both on little trays with a glass of water and in the case of my flat white a chocolate wafer.

The coffee was excellent, pricing good, ambience relaxing, all in all a great visit.

So why 3 stars?

When paying the friendly waitress apologised for the slow service and handed me a fully stamped loyalty card to allow for a free drink next time. I told her I'd had no issue with service speed but thanked her.

The day continued in Manchester and then at about 3:30pm we were back in the area and in need of a coffee. Based on the earlier trip and a fully loaded loyalty card it was a no-brainer.

So back to PBK, seated, same order placed, all good (the americano even came with a wafer this time). Then it came to pay, I showed the loyalty card, complete with 9 stamps and the message "buy 9 coffees and the 10th is on us" but the wooly hat wearing chap serving refused to accept it and said we needed another stamp. I believed him, paid and left. I now had 10 stamps despite buying two more drinks. Then I noticed the "9 stamps..." message on the train home. I emailed PBK via their website to ask about this that night, over a week has passed, they haven't responded.

I liked the place, the service, hat man excluded, was great, as was the coffee but when I'm next in Manchester I'll try somewhere else based on this...

We've visited the sister shop in the Northern Quarter (on the Ring Road), so wanted to try PKB at Barton Arcade. Mistake made.

In summary, disappointing food and indifferent service.

The arcade is half deserted, an atmosphere that lingers in the periphery as you eat. Not PKB's fault, but alas the experience doesn't do much to distract.

I asked for the special for coffee, a Brazilian single lot, and a PKB Brekkie. My companions got Eggs Benedict and another Brekkie.

The coffee was poorly prepared, muddy tasting. After we received our drinks, we had to ask for someone to bring us the food menus—a solid 10 minutes after being seated.

That was the last we saw of service, pretty much. While we had our food delivered and ketchup, no one checked in before the end—and it was a different member of staff, someone we hadn't seen before, who received our list of disappointments with the meal.

So. Breakfast. Well.

Sourdough toast was weakly toasted, less so for the Eggs Benedict. My bacon was fatty and stringy. Eggs had runny yolks, but one of them had congealed to a rubbery bullet-like consistency on the outside.

The sausage, black pudding, beans, and button mushrooms were fine. Nothing that excelled, and all disappointing after our experience in the sister PKB—I'd enjoyed a Dirty Bacon Bennie there that knocked it out of the park.

Oh, and I had to take the seal off the ketchup myself. Which felt like being...

VEGANS BEWARE.

We had traveledled up from the South West to see my niece and her partner to celebrate their new place in Manchester.

Not sure what I did to deserve this, but I ordered a vegan breakfast with a vegan sausage, as clearly stated on the menu.

The sausage arrived ceremoniously on a separate plate and just thought nothing more of it.

Nobody asked if our food was okay and I had to wave the waitress over. I asked if the sausage was vegan she replied straight away "No, we had run out." Then she changed the story to "It doesn't say vegan on the menu" when it quite clearly did. So which one was it?

Yes this actually happened.

I was shocked that a) I'd just been eating meat and b) the waitress knew abour it. This made me sick to my stomach, the whole debacle and I just wanted to leave IMMEDIATELY.

The waitress left to discuss with her colleague, and they removed my meal from the bill and apologised.

This is all very strange behaviour and I felt like the staff were getting a buzz out of it. I left feelong humiliated trying to comprehend what just happened, ruining an otherwise wonderful day out.

I spent some time mulling this over with my wife and niece, and couldn't make any sense of it. Maybe you can.

All I can say is...