Dogs n' Dough. That's what they serve. Hot dogs and pizza. And to be honest I've been meaning to…read moregive them a try for quite a while but only tended to remember about them when I walk past their neon lights directing them down Bow Lane, near St Peter's Square in Manchester City Centre, but it's usually not when I'm looking for food. This time I made a point of finally going to visit.
I like that at night it feels a bit secretive being down a little side street, then down into a basement restaurant. Inside feels reflective of being outside at night too, with theatrical lighting, neon signs, and dark wooden furniture. One thing about the decor I particularly liked was the cartoon drawing all over of various hot dogs. When I asked the staff about these, they apparently originate with a guy who travelled all around the USA trying the speciality hot dogs, then drawing them as posters. What a job! It's a good talking point and unique as a decoration, I'll say that much!
The atmosphere is friendly and cosy, people laughing and chatting whilst trying bits of each others pizzas and hotdogs. The menu has great tongue-in-cheek names for their offered dishes, and in the drinks menu I was happy to see that there was a large selection of soft drinks available for those of us who don't drink, including imported US sodas that aren't easy to come by here. It's so nice to find somewhere doing soft drinks other than the standard Coke/Fanta/Sprite fountain guns. We chose a root beer and a Dr Pepper Cherry Vanilla (although a Pepsi Cherry Vanilla came out, we didn't realise until afterwards because it was still pretty damn tasty). You're also given a bottle of water per table so you can enjoy your drinks rather than feeling you've rushed them due to thirst.
Staff were friendly and enthusiastic, as well as knowledgeable of their product and environment. We were told how things were served, the types of pizza, hot dog sausage types etc, and when we decided to order some fries to share instead of a starter, the guy serving us observed this and told us that if we wanted to share the hot dogs that we'd ordered, they could be cut in half in the kitchen so we could easier share. That's a nice idea for couples and friends, I like it. I was very much considering the mac bites as a starter, but thought it best not to overfill before the main!
We ordered the Kiev Fries, which were cheese, garlic butter, and herb crumb. Very tasty, and genuinely did taste like chicken kiev which gave me a giggle.
We both took ages to decide what to have for our main, and instead of pizza we decided to go for the hot dogs. I ordered Cheesus Christ Superstar (heh) which was three cheese and caramelised red onion chutney. I was a bit surprised that the cheeses in question were melted slices of cheese rather than a sauce or grated cheese, but it worked, although I think a bigger serving of the caramelised red onion chutney would be better to balance out the cheese with the sweet. My partner ordered The Cowboy, which was house chilli, nacho cheese, crispy bacon, jalapeños and sour cream. He tells me that although it was very tasty, and the beef frank was great in flavour, it could perhaps have done with a little extra chilli.
However, we were both impressed, and it certainly didn't come close to breaking the bank. So for good quality hot dogs in a pleasant atmosphere for pretty damn good value, definitely give these guys a visit!
We will definitely be returning to try the other hot dogs, the starters, the pizza menu, maybe some of the drinks and th...in fact... well.. lets just say we'll definitely be going back!
