El Gato Negro in Manchester

Had a lovely evening here enjoying all the beautiful food!

We were sat on the ‘chefs table’ tonight, which was such an amazing experience! The chefs were very attentive nonetheless. Food was 10/10, atmosphere was great. Would definitely recommend the pork skewers!

Bland overrated overpriced average tapas.

Stopped for drinks - great place

One of the best restaurants I’ve been to in Manchester. We are vegetarian and always struggle for tapas restaurants. But this was really good. Service was very high quality and really chill atmosphere.

A busy Saturday lunch, and we were seated on the top floor. The serving staff were fantastic, great recommendations. We ordered 6 dishes, the stand outs were Hispi Cabbage and the Lamb Kebabs both purees on these dishes were so silky. The cocktails although small pack a punch our favourite was the Pickled Peach Margarita

The food was wonderful, I recommend the Patatas Bravas! The staff were very helpful and the service was quick. If you want a quieter table go for the top floor over the ground floor as there is much less noise. We had a great experience, couple and family friendly although maybe not for young children!

Underwhelming. I was disappointed with the quality of the food. We were a party of eight and therefore obliged to order from a set menu which did not reflect good value for money.

Fabulous tapas. Real care and attention to each dish despite being very busy. Well informed and friendly service.

Brilliant attentive service despite a late booking, with delicious food. Well sized portions for sharing and a great spot for comfortable conversation with varied background music.

All of the dishes were incredible and the sangria was lovely. The service was really friendly and helpful for our gluten free friend. Georgia C was great, she talked us through the menu and let us know which dishes were GF when served. Would definitely recommend!

Incredible food service and atmosphere

This is my second time coming to this restaurant, and overall I like it very much. First of all, the black tiger shrimp is my favorite dish. It is very large and well seasoned. This short rib is my boyfriend's favorite dish. It's soft and tasty, and the certain vegetables on it are very satisfying. The only drawback is that there may be too many customers, resulting in mediocre service. I still asked for a service fee, which may not be paid next time.

So good it should be illegal. Tasty food and a great atmosphere. Waiting staff are lovely.

Lovely food to taste, but the worst service ever meet in manchester. No staff sever for 20 mins and it isn't busy hour. They just keep talking to ignore the customer. And uncomfortable table & seat.

The food was good. It's a little pricy for the portion size though yes I know it's tapas but the 3 for 20 deal, I was still hungry!

Chose to go for the Valentines menu and had the Chatteu Briannd which was spectacular! Only minor issue was it came with no sides and the veg we chose had to be ordered off the tapas small plates menu - made the meal a bit pricey! However all the food was spectacular and highly recommended!

Very delicious food but very few and very expensive tapas. Still, it's delicious. But scarce and expensive.

Really enjoyed it here nice selection of tapas and wine. Good fast service and a different approach to eating. Just thought that it was slightly too expensive other than that would return but be more choosy on what we ordered. All in all a good experience

It was a good enough Spanish tapas restaurant, but I am not sure it is worth a Bib Gourmand and the fuzz around it, if you compare with other Spanish restaurants. The cod croquettas didn't taste much of cod, and the jamon iberico croquettas didn't taste much of ham either. Even the padron pepper wasn't well cooked. I would say this is slightly above average Spanish restaurant but there are restaurants in London that aren't even mentioned in Michelin that serve better and more tasteful Spanish food. The biggest issue was that it wasn't very tasteful - clearly used more potatoes to croquettas than the actual ingredient it should taste from. Wine menu was very good and good price but it's not a wine bar, ambience nice and service good. But not the best Spanish food experience. I would not advise to visit because you will get disappointed if you are used to good Spanish tasteful food, maybe was just in Barcelona - at least if that evenings level is representative.

We have been here a few time and always enjoyed it. The food is always good as is the service. We arrived at 4pm and the restaurant was busy as usual and we were promptly seated. The only issue I would have is that the food can come very quickly. I fully recognise its tapas and the food comes when it’s ready but it does feel like the speed is around turning tables over being able to enjoy a more leisurely meal. That said we will definitely be back as we love tapas and this place is great for a more upmarket tapas experience.

Mmmmm, we originally had a booking for 5 which increased to 7, this meant we had to have the set menu which was £45. The explanation for this that the chef wouldn’t be able to prepare all the dishes for 7 in a timely manner, this is a busy large restaurant. The food was nice actually but tapas that is churned out of a set menu. Disappointing. Would I go again, no, I felt as through we were done over.

Lovely place, ground floor has a more intimate atmosphere where as upper floors are better for groups

WOW!!!!!! Food was absolutely insane. Staff were so friendly and accomodating even though we ended up being later than our booking (we did ring to let them know). Could not fault it, a must when visiting Manchester

Loved the whole experience. Especially the beef short rib. Service was great.

No smart use to the floors space , the resturant have huge space and three floors they make us only use the first floor which is too tight and uncomfortable. Tables in the first floor also are shared. So if I am in a special occasion (date) for example I have to share tables with other guests. Honestly the food is exceptionally gd and this why I gave it five stars (in the food section only) but the space and crowd management is not good.l, they might need to hire a better decorator and interior design but better seating policies for comfort and use of space. So taking this in respect I don’t feel it’s a Michline star resturant quality so I left the moor details comment to the Michline inspectors. While I highely recommend the food the seatings are non-comfortable and even as a regular customer whom spend a lot there and tip generously the treatment I get is not reflected on what I spend. If you’re looking for food only then it’s spot to go but for occasions or date I would not recommend it. They have huge space but they keep requiring all customers to be only on the first floor which is too tight. After consideration I recommend the food but the atmosphere and interior design codes and seats comfort and private tables need alot of work to be Michelin star quality. I hope this feedback would be taken to improve your internal operations and I hope that the resturant designs (seats and tables comfort) to be as good as the food. If this improved I think this place can be 5 stars

Some good options on the lunch menu

The food was amazing and the staff were on point with their service! The first thing we pointed out was how cozy the place is and how comfortable the seats were. Ideal for a power nap after your meal. I'm definitely coming again to try other dishes!

This Spanish tapas restaurant tastes pretty good, but something unexpected happened—my menu mysteriously included a lot more dishes…

I came with my family for my 30th birthday and was not disappointed. Everything we tried was so good, between the 6 of us we tried a majority of the menu and everything was delicious, stand out dishes though I’d say was the prawns and beef ribs, but that’s a hard choice as everything was great. The desserts were delicious too and so well presented. Our server was very helpful with explaining the dishes, very attentive and friendly. Already looking forward to retuning

Good food and great customer service. Definetly recommend going when the 3 for £20 deal is on as the quality of the food on offer at that price is a steal. The staff are very friendly, and the food is served quick.

The atmosphere was fantastic, with beautiful decor and some of the best food we've ever tasted. The professional and polite staff made us feel right at home. After three previous unsuccessful attempts at walking in without a reservation, we finally got lucky and found a spot at the bar, where we could watch the food being prepared. It was an incredible experience that we’ll definitely repeat—though next time, we’ll make sure to book a table!

I’ll start off by saying the food was nice. Can’t really complain about the food quality. But…… The service, wow, I’ve never had such bad service. The food comes out “when it’s ready” which means bits and bobs over the next hour! (We only ordered 6 plates) and after an hour we were bored, in fact we were bored after 20 minutes of only being served bread and broccoli. An hour and a half in, and we finally got our last plates. Drinks took 20 minutes to arrive each time we ordered (bottled coke!) We would have ordered more had the food somewhat being prompt! But after an hour and a half in, still hungry, and basically ignored by the waiter we were fed up and just wanted to leave. We even joked that we would get a Big Mac on the way home! Had to walk around to find someone to bring the bill. Bill arrives and it has “discretionary service charge”, great, what service! Come to pay the bill and the waiter doesn’t ask, how was your food, how was the service, have you had a good evening, nope, but he asks “you ok with the service charge”, can clearly see where the priority’s are! Simply put, nice food, but not if you’re hungry.

We came during the January offer and really enjoyed it. Service was great, music not too loud and great atmosphere. Will return in the future I’m sure

Came here for a birthday trip with a group of friends and the food was amazing. The prawns (gambas pil pil) in particular were delicious (some of the best I've had) and the calamari was also so flavourful. Atmosphere was lovely but on a Saturday you must book a table as it was veryyy busy. If there was any downside it was just that it felt a little bit pricey (unless you come on a weekday when it's 3 for £20) but as a treat you can't complain. Overall I loved it.

Usual excellent food off special offer menu

Had a really good meal here. The tapas were full of flavour and very enjoyable.

Great food and service, plus a cheesecake to die for

Fantastic experience with really good food and very good service.

Cannot find a single fault for this place, it is an absolute delight to experience. This is our favorite Spanish tapas restaurant in Manchester.

Went for a business meal. Awesome food and dining experience.

Gorgeous food, amazing service. The hispi cabbage and lamb in particular. They're not pushy with drinks either but check in on you regularly - perfect.

I don't usually go to Spanish restaurants because I am always disappointed and I have to say that in this case I was very surprised. The rib fell apart as soon as I cut it and the black pudding croquettes with quail egg seemed quite curious to me! Super lovely service. Cozy place, decorated with very good taste. Quality/price okay for being UK.

Underwhelming, most of the dishes were fine, crab and the octopus was delicious however wouldn’t order anything else from menu.. Patasas bravas was shocking… Also do not include the sherry menu on the menu.. Sherry is a popular drink in Spain!!

Great food and atmosphere. Great price and quality. Wine with two shots of limeanade is superb. A must-visit in the UK

Really good tapas. We went during January so reduced price, which had no reflection on quality. The caramelised cauliflower was *chefs kiss. The cod bon bons were also amazing.

Booked by my daughter who’s Coeliac as this is one of the few places she can eat in Manchester. We ate our way through much of the menu, all of which was great, of course daughter could only have the GF options. Left room for puddings which we agreed were delicious. Washed down with a large jug of sangria the restaurant ground floor is popular and bustling - even at 6pm on Saturday evening - so best to book. Staff were very friendly and attentive

Another great meal and superb service and advice from Jack on the top bar. Thanks.

The food was exceptional, as always, with delicious dishes that never disappoint. However, the service lacked attention. I found myself waiting too long to order another drink. It seemed that the staff often gathered around the charcuterie station, engaging in conversation rather than attending to the tables. A bit more vigilance and attentiveness would make the dining experience perfect. Overall, while the food continues to shine, I hope for improved service during future visits.

Such a good spot. Amazing tapas, everything is delicious and staff have knowledge on the foods. My favourite tapas in manchester so far

We ate here our first night visiting Manchester. We got seat upstairs with no reservation. The food was great. You can see and taste the quality and why it was Michelin recommended. Our favorite was the octopus and croquettes but everything was delicious.

Lovely food and great service! The food was well presented and tasted fantastic. Plenty of options for different dietary requirements in our group so everyone was happy. Looking forward to visiting again.

Great restaurant, food was amazing, wine was great and service spot on!

This Spanish restaurant offers bold, flavorful tapas crafted by Chef Simon Shaw, blending modern and traditional Spanish dishes with local, seasonal ingredients. The food is exciting, balanced, and truly evokes the magic of Barcelona, Madrid, and San Sebastián. The drinks menu is equally impressive, with a unique selection of Spanish wines and expertly crafted cocktails using local artisanal spirits. Whether for a casual bite or a full dining experience, this place delivers exceptional food, drinks, and atmosphere. Highly recommended!

A fantastic tapas restaurant! All the dishes were delicious and the staff informative and really friendly. It was my husbands birthday and they gave us a lovely table in the window and complimentary glass of Cava, which was a nice touch. We look forward to returning.

I visited with a friend yesterday, my first visit, food was really good and tasty and dishes brought out slowly as we asked. Meatballs and cod croquettes were my favourite. Not the cheapest tapas however was the tastiest. Only issues was in the bill paying; should have been £57 each and were charged £87 each! Luckily we noticed before we left, and were offered a cash or card refund by the manager.

Always wanted to try here and glad we did. Food is really good quality and you can taste the freshness and efforts made by the chefs, this does reflect the price, it is on the expensive side of tapas, for example soft shell crab with seafood bisque , your only receive one small crab, an tapas is for sharing forcing you to order another but for the price reluctant. I do find seeing at the waitress table big buckets of open olives and the bottles of oil/vinegar bread off putting, for a pricey restaurant you don’t want to be seeing buckets of olives and the silver spoon hanging out - I understand it’s convenient and if there were for free but you pay money for them too, so maybe keep them in the kitchen We would still revisit and would still highly recommend to others

Great Tapas, great service, great decor. Little on the pricier side given the size of the portions but the quality is excellent.

Would have given more stars, but I can't. Loved it!!

really good value for the quality, found through michelin guide for that reason and ot lives up to expectations. Everything was divine. Lovely atmosphere. Efficient. 10/10

Enjoyed a lovely birthday meal.

We had a great evening at the El Gato. This a Tapas restaurant set over 3 floors and always seems to be busy, which speaks volumes . The menu is quite small but we managed to find everything we we wanted and each dish was delicious. Will definitely be returning.

Food okay, drinks good, service friendly, overpriced for what it is.

Possibly the best restaurant in Manchester (and I'm going to say like a good Spaniard). The tapas are quite delicious: the squid is perhaps the best along with the patatas bravas, the meat is not bad for England, acceptable. The attention of the waiters was exquisite, we were served by a waitress who spoke Spanish very well and we do not remember her name but we wanted to mention her because she is a great professional, she travels to Alicante as she told us and that is why we wanted to give her a special mention. I recommend this restaurant during a stay in Manchester

Popped in for lunch from their January 3 dishes for £20 menu - as always excellent quality food and good service. We were seated on their top floor which was a bit of a trek but pleasant and relaxed. We had bravas, Catalan bread and ham, squid, pil pil, meatballs and chorizo. Had cava to drink - all lovely.

convenient at King Street MCR (finance district), comfortable to dine in, with quality food

I find the 12.5% ​​service fee outrageous, it is automatically added to the bill... BUT food was really good👍🏽

Ate here with my husband for my birthday. Was looking for somewhere special but not too fancy. This place was perfect. We ordered 6 dishes and they were all fantastic. I can say that any of them were my favorite as they all were 10/10. We both have big appetites and 6 dishes between the two of us was just right. We sat at the chefs table too which was the cherry on the top of the cake. Incredible authentic food Incredible service Incredible atmosphere Would highly recommend to anyone. We will most definitely be back.

Decent tapas if a little less authentic and a bit more of an English friendly take - some nice wines and even some very special wines available. I’d go back.

What wonderful restaurant ❤️ we had an hour before the show and they delivered a fabulous service and food is Devine! The music 🎵 was excellent and very vibrant atmosphere; wheelchair ♿️ accessible too; look forward to next visit 👌🥳🍻😘

Very good seafood especially the grilled prawn with garlic and chili oil. The patatas bravos are delicious as well! I would recommend the restaurant to have fresh squeezed orange machine to make the experience more Mediterranean.

Perfect lunch stop. Not cheap when paying £10..12 for tapas plate, but great food in lovely atmosphere. Perfect pre-theatre stop. 12.5% gratuity at lunchtime felt a bit much on top but staff happy to reduce.

Lovely place. Good food and drink.

We should definitely have booked a table, but thankfully they were able to squeeze us in! The servers were really nice and the food came super fast! And not to mention the food was also delicious!! 10/10 on all bases. Will definitely be back!

At least Bib Gourmand worthy. Hope they get their star back! Tapas were great. Everyone in the kitchen worked hard. Service was excellent and attentive. Would recommend any of the dishes.

Food, drinks and staff all excellent 👏👏👏👏👏

scrumptious spanish tapas!! the octopus and tenderstem broccoli are a must-try

One of the best restaurants in Manchester. Great produce, attentive staff, great menu

Went yesterday with work. The food was amazing and we all shared our food so got to try like 10/15 dishes. Was probably the best food experience i've ever had.

Always a good vibe, great food and top service!

Enjoyed the food and service. They have multiple floors

Happy to recommend this great place. Even though our time slot was 1.5 hrs they didn't rush us. We were a party of two and sat at chef's table and it was such fun watching up close with no lingering smell of food afterwards on our clothes. They do put a 12% service on bill which you can ask to be removed. But I felt it was worth it.

We ordered Charcuterie board, omelette and salad. Everything was excellent, especially the cheeses on the tapas board. Thanks to Desire for the attention and making sure we don't miss anything. I don't give 5 stars for atmosphere because the music was too loud for my taste.

Made to feel like we were an inconvenience the whole time we were there. Party of 8 of us, asked if we were all happy with the set menu, we replied to say some of us weren’t and could we have the main menu. Waiter then spent 15 minutes explaining how really they shouldn’t do it but will ask a manager, we then had another 10 minutes of the manager explaining we shouldn’t because we were a party. My response was there would be a lot of food going to waste which didn’t seem right. We had to ask 7 times for ice for our drinks, we had to ask more than that for our cake to come and even then it was just shoved on the table as the birthday guest had gone outside after waiting so long. Had 4 set menus and they were just piled on to the same trays and we had to ask what it was. There was no space on the table to put anything so the waiting staff just stood unhappy waiting for us to move other dishes again and again. They knew we were coming but we would have got better service being out in the busy markets

This was our second visit to El Gato Negro, and we thoroughly enjoyed it once again. We tried a wide variety of dishes, all of which were absolutely delicious. The soft-shell tempura crab, Padron peppers, and beef short rib stood out as particularly exceptional. The atmosphere was vibrant yet cozy, with just the right level of background music, making it a perfect setting to relax and chat. We’re already looking forward to our next visit!

Nice food and a great atmosphere, sat at the chefs table looking onto the open kitchen. Great restaurant will be coming back!

Foods were great, I am a big fan of Padron pepper ☺️ I would also like to thank the bartender Jack (I hope I remembered his name correctly) for turning the time I spent in this restaurant, which I came to alone, into an enjoyable memory with his polite and helpful approach.

Really good tapas top quality! Busy with a wonderful friendly vibe. Service was excellent 👌 👍

Excellent. Amazing food & super service. We were walk-ins & a table was sorted very quickly. Will return.

Excellent Tapas and good ambience.

Storm Darragh ruined our Manchester Christmas market visit. However, El Gato Negro made up for it! Lovely place, great food and the most amazing staff.

Hello... The tapa was Dee-licious... I especially enjoyed the ham and the feeling of... Wonderful! WONDERFUL! Ham was wonderful MARVELOUS?! (P.S Jason mraz was here!??) The service from Sylvia was superbo times 3!! Incredible!! My second favourite item was... YOU GUESSED IT!!! ALL THE LAMB! My third favrit item on menu was a very useful tatar sauce for making the fishy taste light. Well literally the hole meal was quite fantastic also who new Jennifer Lawrence would be here! Loved her in Spiderman!!!!

We ordered half of the menu and after we had been in the restaurant for 2 hours, they told us we have to leave in 15 minutes because they have another reservation. This is unacceptable!

Food is too salty and too sweet, what was I expecting, and service is poor, they’d casually spray cleaner bottle straight from next table to yours, while your food right there up and open,

The food was very good and we enjoyed our lunch! The Service was also very lovely. Can recommend 10/10. It is very busy though so you need make sure to reserve or be flexible.

The food was so good that i ordered so much from them ! My table was full and my stomach and heart were equally happy ! Loved my time here ! So good I can’t believe I didn’t go there before ! Must visit !

Very high expectations, didnt really deliver. Food was ok, nothing too special, average at best. Staff were very quick to bring food and take it away. Felt very rushed.

Just back from Seville and were visiting Manchester. Thought we'd compare the tapas. While the food was really good, we'd obviously been spoiled! Nowhere beats Seville for tapas. Service was really friendly, efficient even though they were really busy. Great vibe here. Lots of people were having a great time.

Food amazing, atmosphere fantastic, service impeccable. Treated my wife so well for her birthday with free calamari, free cava, and free ice cream. Thanks so much guys

The building is wonderful! Great setting with a buzzing atmosphere. The food is fine and pretty ready to share. The Catalan bread was tasty, although nothing like the commensurate dish in Catalonia, and the patatas bravas were indifferent. However the grilled Hispi cabbage was gorgeous. Service was friendly and efficient. Great place to come with a group!