YHA Manchester Cafe & Bar in Manchester

Our family of 5 stayed in YHA for an overnight stopover from Cornwall. Excellent cafe available from early breakfast till late dinner. Loved that it has vegan options for my daughter. Prices are reasonable too.

We went for a day out to the China Museum, time was getting on and we wanted some lunch so we decided to interrupt the visit and go to the YHA cafe, the only onsite catering option. It wasn’t busy and we placed our order for a simple snack, toasted sandwiches with salad and fries. After half an hour we realised that the waitress bringing some plates was actually going to the next table so we continued to wait. It was totally shambolic with kitchen staff juggling making the salad, shaking the deep fat fryer and watching the panini press. It was another 15 minutes before our order arrived, only for us to discover that it was incorrect, not cheese as requested but ham and tuna respectively. We decided not to wait for them to conjure up the right food and headed off to Ironbridge, missing out on the remainder of the museum. The cafe manager had just come on site and refunded us in full but we left hungry and our day out was marred. It’s a pity, we were thinking that we might join the YHA and stay in some hostels this summer.

We were walking along the canals and needed to find somewhere to stop for lunch when we spotted the sign for the YHA café and bar, which is open to non-residents. We opted for their toastie deal and were very pleased that the food arrived quickly, as we were really hungry at that point. Definitely worth checking out if you are in that area.