I ventured into the Bridewater place Philpotts yesterday, after at least a year of walking past the park square one and wondering what it was like.
I wasn't let down when i walked in - the place actually flabergasted me! It took me about 15 minutes to fathom what i wanted. There were shelves full of snacks, a hot food area,at one side of the shop there was an area to pick up the base of a salad (bowl of pasta or salad or rice), to which you'd go to a fresh counter and pick out what you wanted on top of it. There was then a sandwich area where the fridges were just full of all sorts of ingredients - fresh smoked salmon and mackrel, salad items, hams, cheese - i couldn't take it all in to be honest!
I decided to have a sandwich.
For my friends sandwich, I opted for a strange looking mixture which turned out to be pastrami, stilton and chilli's (she didn't warn me about the chilli's though!). I then got myself the daily special at £3.80 which was chicken, avocado, bacon, cheese and a lemon mayonnaise. I was given the option of butter or olive oil - i choose butter but liked the idea of olive oil.
I was a bit dismayed to see that the chicken, avocado and bacon sandwich wasn't made with chicken breast, fresh avocado and bacon slices though to be honest! It looked like a mayo mush filling that went in there. I thought at £3.80 i'd get proper hunk of meat in there like what you get at appetite. I also had to pay 60p extra to have the sandwiches of a soft roll with a few seeds on. If it was a full on baked baguette or ciabatta i would be happy to pay more, but it was just a soft sub roll? I was also told that if i wanted more than 1 type of salad filling i'd have to pay more as well.
The total bill for 2 sandwiches came to £8.04. Yes, that is really expensive!
The sandwiches did taste good, and the shop was clean, the food fresh and the servers were really friendly and happy and chatty. I just can't get over the fact that it cost £4 for a soft bap filled with mush (tasty as it was, it was mush) and lettuce! I'd eat there again, but only if there was no where better open in the vicinity. That sounds a bit mean, but i think that you can get a lot more than that for £4 in leeds city centre. I could go to Wokon and get a massive pot of noodles freshly made infront of me for 95p more, or a whole hot meal from wetherspoons! Or for £1 less i could go to boots and get a nice enough sandwich, snack and drink. For £2.80 i could get a hot potato filled with chilli and cheese! So i find £4 for a mush roll hard to justify.
I'll stick to the subject of sandwiches anyway - Appetite on wellington street charge the same prices just about for thier luxury sandwiches. But they give you actual chicken breast, fresh bacon and veg, choice of cheese, choice of sauce and awesome bread. I think its easier to choose what you want there as well, as they have choice but not too much choice.
I also noticed on my way out that Casa Mia have opened a little shop next door as well called Pronto or something - selling hot pasta and pizza and icecream and so on. They have a fantastic looking cake fridge as well - really impressive! So i actually felt aggreived that i'd not spotted it first, as you can get a lasagne from them for £2.95! Or spinach and ricotta cannelloni for £2.95 as well. A cooked course, that would have been £1 less, and that i could have taken away.
Philpotts, your sandwiches are nice enough but you're being greedy with your prices. Chop em down and i might come back. read more