Loved the lunch deal £8 for a soft drink and a meal. I enjoyed the flavour of the salt and pepper chicken and chips. Cherryade was delicious! The restaurant is very unique and cool looking. read more

Yard & Coop - Cherryade, salt and pepper chicken and Mac and cheese - Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

This place has been on my restaurant wishlist for a long long time, I never got around to it but during the Christmas markets I went to their market stand and it was epic! So I knew I had to go here ASAP. So whilst getting my haircut in the city I decided (with help from a friend) to go here and wow was that a great decision. The chicken theme goes throughout with double entendres all around (which is perfect for my humour). I got sat down very quickly and lots of info was given, but not too much that I couldn't remember it but all necessary. Looking at the inside was great with a booze cage near me, lots of windows, and a dimmer lighting which was really cool. Looking at the menu, there was so much to chose from, but I went for the make my own chicken plate which chicken breast (added charge), my choice of sauce (I went Dr Pepper bbq sauce) and fries, but I upgraded to pulled pork fries. Got seen really quickly and served a drink and then whilst editing a video I decided on the above ... and it came out really quickly .. like I was surprised how quick ... and omg it was so delicious. The bbq sauce was perfect, there was lashings of meat on the fries, the chicken was tender and juicy and amazing. I took my time with it and couldn't finish it .. the wait staff were very attentive knowing I might have wanted another drink (I did) and it was just amazing. Will deffo have to go back here many many times. read more

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Nice food and a personal touch with the drink. I think you could spend quite alot of time there in a group setting.

We loved it here!!! Looking forward to going back and trying more delicious food. The chicken was all outstanding. The sauces were delicious and we loved it. I had to laugh at the cheeky food titles. I enjoyed the Garlic Ranch Cheese Burger, and could hardly finish my meal! My Hubby devoured the Winner Winner Chicken Dinner - I got a couple bites of this and concur it is a winner. Our friend devoured the Massive Cock. Holy moly, the tower of food! Every bite was seasoned to perfection, came out hot and delicous. The only thing is it gets a lil loud, but that's all acoustics. read more

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The staff here are very friendly and I was happy that we were able to get a seat at the bar straight away on a Friday night. Table waits were about 20-25 minutes. I imagine this is a combination of it being new and being quite a big space; in a few weeks it might be harder to walk in at busy times. We waited over 30 minutes for our food but our bartender noticed this and kept checking in on the order and on us, which was appreciated. I had a nice pina colada (i.e. alcoholic) milkshake - really the only thing that could improve my no 1 favourite drink genre i.e. cocktails is put it my no 1 favourite drink genre i.e. milkshakes. Not cheap but a nice treat. The whiskey sour was actually quite sweet, they might need to work on their mixing a little. Still delicious though. Food wise, I regret getting the BBQ as opposed to the cayenne pepper wings as the former is nice and sweet (and I still had some of the sauce on my face the next morning...) but I prefer my wings with a bit of a kick. Also could have done with a full rather than half pot of blue cheese sauce. The meat itself was excellent. The onion bloomers and other things we had including the monkey balls were all decent although wouldn't rush to get them again. I eat a huge amount of fried chicken from a variety of sources from decadent to dirty and this I have to say isn't the best I've had. But I have yet to try the proper pieces of thigh etc. Weirdly one of the best dishes was the fries with monterey jack cheese and gravy, both toppings were sensational. The sound system isn't that great - the music booms enough so you can't hear your mates, but not enough so it actually sounds good. I liked the giant fox mural and my friend was mega excited by the tables under hen houses! Will be back to try the bigger pieces of chicken and spicy wings! read more

Yard & Coop - Wings, monkey balls and fries - Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

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This is another of the places on my "been meaning to visit for ages" list, and straight off the bat before I say anymore, let me just clarify... I'm SO glad I did! The outside of Yard and Coop is simple enough. But what I love is that the theming builds as you spend more time inside and notice more things. For me, aside the giant cock outside (heh), the first thing I noticed was the fox shaped door handle, and as I looked around, I realised the theming of chicken was clear, but also that of foxes, in all sorts of little details. The decor inside has some of the Northern Quarter classic elements, the rustic industrial thing, but also great little nods to the name, including chicken coop structures inside around the seating. The chairs and tables are very reminiscent of school, the plastic bucket type seats. The staff were really friendly and welcoming, and enthusiastic about the offerings. Great staff. We were served by Samantha and a few other girls, thanks so much everyone! :) The menu is simple, but fun, tongue in cheek, and really appetizing! Aside the large plates or sides, the main option is to basically pick your type of chicken, sauce (made in-house), and fries. I was with my partner this time, so I opted for thigh, with ranch sauce, and although I was going to go for standard fries, I saw cheesy fries, and asked my server if they were proper cheese fries or the thing that some places do of grating some cheese over chips and it turning into a congealed mess. She assured me it was cheese sauce. SOLD! My partner ordered 'Winner Winner' from the large plates, which promised buttermilk fried chicken, creamy mash, dirty greens, bacon, Yorkshire puddings and smothered in their in-house chicken gravy. Tell me that doesn't sound amazing? We also couldn't resist the idea of the deep fried stuffing balls on the sides menu, so ordered some to share! The chicken being the main superstar is what we tried first, and we agreed, even though the batter was crispy crunchy and amazing, the chicken itself was so beautifully cooked and tender that it was a juicy treat by itself! The cheese sauce chips were amazing as you can imagine, and the Winner Winner plate was amazing quality, with some really sublime gravy. I must sing the praises of the deep fried stuffing balls though; sage and onion, chestnut, and sausage meat stuffing balls, served with the same brilliant gravy and some cranberry sauce. The feeling I had when eating them wasn't the same old blown-away feeling, but a wonderful, comforted and content feeling. They were so very very nice and made it feel like Christmas. Pure comfort. I really loved them. The dessert menu is small, as I assume it's changed fairly often. Only two options (and there happened to be two of us... oh well!), there was Crack Pie, promising a sweet and salty treat, served with clotted cream, and the other was a chocolate brownie with choice of chocolate candies mixed in, with SPRINKLES, ice cream, and chocolate sauce. Who the hell needs a dessert menu with those two bad boys!? Now...uh... I would've taken a better photo but we both completely forgot to wait before we dove into the sweet deliciousness... so the photo I uploaded is the best I managed! Whoops! They were amazing though! The theming continued right up until we paid, when our bill was presented in an egg box. I love little touches like that. Completely unnecessary, but there for the sake of fun. Love it. We will most definitely be returning to Yard and Coop, and probably bringing friends and family (even my parents would love it here!). Listings just call it a "chicken shop" or "chicken joint" but that is massively underselling it as some sort of KFC or Dixy's Chicken, which by god it ain't! It's a proper restaurant doing the real deal! You're doing something right, guys. Keep doing it! :) read more

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This place has a lively atmosphere. The menu is not too long or big (not too many options) but that's good we can quickly picked out the stuffs. Food is quite nice and freshly made. Waiting is not too long. Seat Booking in advance is recommended. The chicken is tender and tasty. Yes, you will have 10 sticky fingers at the end but well worth it. Definitely will go back for a quick meal. read more

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Yard & Coop Liverpool is probably my favorite restaurant in the UK so during a trip to Leeds I found time to stop in Manchester for dinner at Yard & Coop. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though I still feel its Manchester sibling is slightly better. Yard & Coop specializes in fried chicken but in a cool atmosphere, where the cocktails are as important as the food. Good clientele and a fun place to eat. As I did when I visited the Liverpool location, I had the chicken drumsticks with dirty fries. You get five nice sized fried drumsticks. It is excellent fried chicken, but was not as crisp as the chicken in Liverpool (still the second best fried chicken I had in London). Dirty fries are chips with BBQ sauce, bleu cheese and cheddar sauce, again not as good as Liverpool (less sauce) but fun. I also tried the macaroni and cheese and enjoyed it. Very rich, lots of cheese and butter. Not the place to go on a diet but a lot of fun food and drink. read more

Yard & Coop was giving me the sexy eye all week, and we finally got there for lunch on Wednesday. We'd been working at an office space over the road, and every time we walked past I was dying to go in as I'd heard so much about it. We got a table easily and looked over the menu. The menu design is a little confusing but essentially there's buttermilk fried chicken - breast or thigh, or you can get halloumi bites in the same batter. Then there's 5 flavours of wings, sides and large plates. I opted for the thigh fried chicken and some wings with Seoul sauce. For some reason, when they guy took our order he also wrote down our names which I thought was clever, but then that actually had no correlation to what happened when the food came out so that was a little confusing. Speaking of the food coming out - this is where I had to dock a star. We waited for close to 40 minutes for our food. At lunch time. It wasn't busy. I was starving. No one came over to tell us why there was such a long delay - sure, we were a table of 8 but they could have sent out the small bites at least. Anyway, the food when it arrived was awesome. I tried a couple of halloumi bites and would definitely get these again just so I could scoff them all. They'd be awesome with a sauce. I loved the seoul sauce wings and absolutely ravaged them. The thigh chicken and chips were also really good but I think I'd probably get two kinds of wings and the halloumi bites next time I'm here. Prices were good, service was acceptable and the layout of this place is pretty slick. The food was really excellent and those wings were absolute heaven. Can't wait to go back. read more

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Since following Yard & Coop on Twitter I've been dying to go! Chicken and Booze...? Say No More!! The eatery is quite large, much larger than most other NQ spots, and works really well. It's light and the décor is very casual, with some diners being seated in over-sized chicken coops! Fab. Their menu is really simple - you can choose from varied types of chicken, select different coatings or dustings and then choose your sauce and sides. All served in a basket it's done quickly and without complication or fuss - just like fried chicken should be. They have an excellent selection of craft beers on offer too, if the chicken wasn't persuading you enough! Definitely try Yard and Coop. read more

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Loved my first visit to Yard and Coop. Simplicity is my friend and the set up here is uncomplicated. It comes as no surprise therefore that in the short space of time it's been trading Y&C has become extremely popular. Let's not get carried away too much though, it's still fried chicken with chips. but the level of effort and thought that's gone into the business is worthy of note. Much like many NQ establishments the interior is very airy with high ceilings and funky wall coverings. I love that! The small lit up chicken coop booths look cool and are nicely decorated with lights. If you haven't been yet I'd recommend you go during the week though as it's fairly rammed on the weekends. The menu is as mentioned earleir fairly uncomplicated. (There's only so many parts of a chicken you can eat) Choose whether you want breast, thigh or drumsticks, choose a marinate, choose a sauce and voila, put a fork in it, done! It's a perfect place to go if you're hungry and don't want to fork out pretentious money for an unpretentious underwhelming dining experiance. read more

Yard & Coop - First yard and coop experience - Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

Aiming for a light bite for lunch I flicked through my bookmarks and settled on this. Entering this oversized chicken coop we were warmly welcomed and led to a seat. The ideology of the decor is great, from chicken caged lights, rustic barn like floors and furniture and a chicken wire game to Fox motifs on Walls and foxy brass knockers on bathroom doors. Choosing a drink was not a problem, the shakes sounded a tad expensive but awesome. From a choice of black Forrest gateaux, and others I chose the salted karamel for £7 which was divine. The consistency was perfect and flavoured moreishly . Right as a non chicken lover I was silly coming here but eventually I found something. Here they offer various cuts of chicken in multiple combinations of breadcrumbs..Cajun,moroccan, salt and pepper in bees knees sauce, blue cheese, monetary Jack and bbq. For the sides they offer various salads, chicken wings, fries or you can order a giant cock burger.. I decided on the haloumi cheese fried chicken style in blue cheese sauce, Asian salad and onion petals with chriozo. Himself had the chicken wings and chicken breast in Moroccan coating.. Food did take awhile to arrive but when it did I almost fainted..and cursed for ordering so much.. The Asian salad was tasty with carrot peelings and cauliflower ends seasoned with chilli and spring onion..however i thought it looked like scraps you get when prepping Sunday lunch and was pricy for £3.50. The battered onion petals were bland without the pickled beetroot and chorizo..the haloumi was tasty though but a tad dry..a waiter kindly brought me some iced water to remedy this. My other half really enjoyed his but said the chicken wings were also a little dry in places..the spicy bees knees sauce was good though...and it was a good thing the waitress had left a paper towel dispenser on the table as this was messy work. Defeated we asked for the bill which was laden with the chickens offspring aka mini eggs...I guess if you are going to eat the parents you should eat the kids too. So with an entire chicken family inside me, my thoughts are the service is great as well as the quirky decor. The choice of drinks is fab, and offer chicken named cocktails. Food to me was a little inconsistent though and a tad expensive for some items. I will still be back though even if it's just for a drink read more

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After coming to Yard and Coop around Christmas for a Yelp event (trying out the new flavour of chicken wings), it was on my list to visit again! When I came here, it was on a midweek evening. Sort of as expected, it was not that busy. The only offer they had was for a big bucket of chicken. Sounds like a good deal but only good if sharing with people and they want the same as you. Anyway, I went for the boneless chicken thighs with Bee's Knees sauce. (With chips). I remember this from the Yelp event and liked the taste. If I am honest, I actually liked the Seoul sauce we had but it had coriander in it - unfortunately, it was not possible to do it without coriander. I also got some "Not chicken nuggets" - halloumi - which tasted pretty good. In hindsight, I probably could have done with the chicken nuggets as would have been full enough with just the thighs and chips. During the evening, there was a sort of jukebox request. Just tweeting Y&C with a hashtag and song request and get it played. I got my song played :) Went to Lionel Richie - Dancing on the Ceiling. Tune!! read more

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Chicken makes up a high percentage of my diet on a normal week so I was more than happy to try out Yard & Coop I decided I would go for the buffalo hot wings, corn and the breaded halloumi bites. All of the food was cooked beautifully and was definitely what larger chains would describe as 'finger lickin good'. I need to point out here that like most people I went for the tissue option instead of the finger licking technique but this was still some damn good chicken! If you read my reviews regularly you will know that I am a big fan of condiments, this restaurant has them aplenty. We got an amazing smoked bbq sauce, a chilli, a blue cheese and even my old favourite mayo. There was never a dry moment during the meal and everything was dipped liberally. When I am next in Manchester I will more than likely be heading back here for round two! read more

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So having known about Yard and Coop and Yelp's Lord of the Wings event I was very excited about giving this place a try. Firstly I'd like to point out the restaurant theme... Yard and Coop = chicken = smart! And this theme ran throughout the restaurant with really on point design and quirkiness. Foxes, quirky photos, mini eggs, and the food names - all interlinked and you could really see the thought process behind their theme, which has been executed perfectly. Now to the food. Luckily for me I was sat next to Alex and we shared up an absolute treat! We ordered: Mac and cheese balls, corn on the cob, wings, chicken breast, sweet potato fries, slaw and the not chicken nuggets. As we were in a large group there was a bit of a wait but I feel this was the only reason. The waiter was polite and accommodating and helped us with recommendations. Positives: Buttermilk fried Chicken breast - hot damn, this was good. Served with the Seoul sauce (which was tomatoey and tangy) and a spring onions and chilli topping, it was cooked to perfection and was clucking good. Mac and cheese balls: great flavours running throughout - crunchy on the outside and not overpoweringly cheesy. Yard and Coop Slaw - I'm really not usually a fan of slaw but I thought I'd give it a go. To my pleasant surprise it wasn't over mayoed and was simply a well put together dish. The winner: not chicken nugget bites BUT halloumi goodness! I could literally eat a bucket of these! They were fried mini bites of 'mmmmm' enhancing quality. If you like halloumi you will LOVE these. Trust me. Negatives: Corn on the cob - they'd cut the corn in half and sadly it had gone a lil cold and the flavour was lacking. Wings - this is only a personal thing as I'm not big on wing anyway but the sauce we chose was a little too spicy for me but as I said that's just me. I must say I'm a big fan of this place: style, good overall customer service, great gravy and good chicken. Spot on. read more

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A few years in, and Yard and Coop is still going strong. From chicken gravy on chips to blow your socks off spicy buffalo wings, they've got everyone covered. My friends had come to visit from Korea and asked to try something a little different, so we decided on Yard and Coop. We were quickly seated and talked through the menu. Our food arrived pretty sharpish too, which was great because we were starving. I was craving some spice so I picked the buffalo chicken wings with blue cheese dip. The spicy buffalo coating and the rich cheese sauce really do marry together so well. The portion size was perfect too. Yes the sauce was messy, but the chicken just fell straight off the bone so there was no risk of ending up with sauce all over my face (phew). Due to my love of cheese I opted for a side of the macaroni cheese balls. They were a little greasy but full of flavour and definitely filled with a good helping of cheese. My friends couldn't get enough of the chicken gravy chips. Definitely a must it seems. And to keep everyone happy, they have a great selection of non-alcoholic drinks as well as dirty milkshakes and a good array of booze. Finally who doesn't love a few chocolate mini eggs when you ask for the bill? Genius. read more

Having frequented the many NQ restaurants earlier in the year, I decided to give myself a break. Yeah, didn't quite work out. I was back with my fella for a late dinner and we were torn between Home Sweet Home and Yard & Coop. The latter won as I quite fancied their amazing strawberry milkshake but again, that didn't work out either as the white Rioja @ £16 was well worth a try. Crumb coated halloumi, boneless chicken thighs and a BBQ chicken wrap with, so I'm lead to believe, amazing sweet potato fries was our choice and it was perfect for what we ordered. Coupled with great and attentive service and at £40 for Friday night, it was well worth it. That's if you believe a review of someone who has admitted to two changes of mind in one review. read more

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I've wanted to go back to Y&C ever since the wing event way back in November; I thought that it would be good to try out the place as a paying customer, and just one of the masses. A couple of friends were in Manchester for the night so I took the exec decision to make it so. We arrived around 7.30pm with no booking and were seated relatively quickly. There aren't too many beers on tap, however I did particularly enjoy the Yard Pilsner. If spirits are your thing, then the list is extensive - just take a look at the cage of booze in the middle of the floor! 50 minutes after ordering our food (and two pints deep), i felt the familiar twang of hunger in my stomach. Shortly after, a waitress informed us that they were aware that we had been waiting long (we didn't ask, just sat patiently) and that it would be out momentarily. I had dreaded thoughts that our food orders had been lost. She then told us that as an apology our next round was on the house which was a rather nice surprise. I opted for the boneless thigh with blue cheese sauce (remembering the spectacular sauce from Lord of the Wings), and just some reg fires. My friends both got the big cock burger which did look (and smell) absolutely amazing. Overall really enjoyed the place, even if the wait was slightly long - a free pint always makes up for it. Food was good, and staff were nice. read more

Yard & Coop - Yard & Coop Lord of the Wings - Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

Me and my partner went here after we seen the pics and reviews on yelp. The place was really modern and I loved the look of the place. I was quite disappointed with this place though I thought it was very expensive for what you got and I didn't think the service was that great. I prob wouldn't go back because they only offer 4 wings for £5. read more

Yard & Coop - Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

Gotta love that fried chicken. Yard and Coop is following all NQ new ventures by commanding a massive floors space - filled with tables under chicken huts, genius. The menu isn't the biggest but it has a tasty selection of chicken and that's what matters. Beer wise it's a bit weird; Yard and Coop branded beer with some decent bottles and Kona Big Wave on keg, excellent. Amazing chicken, big portions and a lovely space - I approve. read more

Yard & Coop - Chicken and beer - Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

It's due an update and it's due a star increase because Y&C is one of my favourite places in Manchester. Since the first review I've been here a fair few times (too many) and eaten a bunch of different things from the menu, so: BBQ Bird Wrap - the BEST chicken wrap I've ever had and probably the best item on the menu. Not chicken nuggets - amazing ball of halloumi goodness in lovely breadcrumbs. Monkey Balls - basicall the chicken version of the not chicken nuggets ;) but really really well prepared chicken in a tasty coating. Oreo shake (this ones a limited time special) - but the shakes in general are ace and you can 'go hard' for an extra £3 which makes it alcoholic! Yard & Coop are most definitely king of the roost for me. Long may they reign. read more

Yard & Coop - Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

Yard & Coop is i) new ii) intriguing, so I made a beeline there with a couple of friends on Friday evening. We were told there would be a 35-45 minute wait, but were seated within 20: the range of beers behind the bar made the wait perfectly palatable, even if they're perhaps a little pricey. We were seated in an elaborate faux chicken coop adorned with fairy lights, which certainly ranks among the more novel settings in which I've eaten. The three of us each went for breast meat: two with the house seasoning and bourbon barbecue sauce (tender meat, appetising seasoning and sauce), and the third for Cajun with blue cheese sauce. He ate it so quickly I couldn't sample any, so no complaints. The four seasonings and three sauces provide a good range of options, though for me the coating needs more crunch. Between us, we shared a selection of tasty sides. The highlight was the (purposefully cold) peas with mint and chilly, which are zingy and refreshing. The chips were perfectly serviceable if undistinguished, the fried onion 'petals' and chorizo crunchy and flavourful, and the hush puppies (deep fried bread) excellent. The monkey balls, little balls of fried chicken, were moreish, but probably unnecessary with the larger portions of chicken. The staff were cheerful, prompt and friendly. The highlight, though, was the dessert Black Forest milkshake I had: ice cream, chocolate sauce, Chambord, bourbon, Black Forest syrup and - presumably - the tears of angels. Better than cake indeed. I'm not sure I'd call Yard & Coop fantastic value or a place that will go immediately to the top of my must-return list, but it's definitely worth a visit, particularly if you're a fried-chicken fan. I'd be surprised if I'm not seen there again, with all those seasonings and sauces to sample. read more

This is a bit silly though, because they mainly do chicken here, but I dont eat chicken. Well well, I managed to get some halloumi instead and sweet potato fries. It was a bit too fried for my liking, but that is also because I am not a big fan of fried stuff. So - you might wonder what the fudge did I do there and why do I give 4 out of 5 stars? Simply because the staff were really great and I jokingly told one that my name was Elizabeth ("just add Queen"), and when we were shown to our table it was ofc by him saying "Your majesty - your table is ready". The place is also clean and modern with a lot of fun details. If you like chicken I recommend you this place, if you dont, you can still go here. Nice place to hang for some snacks and/or beers/drinks. Cool place overall. Price is ok too and staff is very friendly. read more

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Thought we checked this place out because it recently opened. Nice atmosphere fitting in with the northern quarter vibe. I ordered the chicken thigh original flavour and my friend ordered the chicken wrap. The chicken was a bit too salty, we mentioned this to our waiter and the manager came over and explained that it was probably due to the buttering process. It was nice to see them respond to feedback and fair enough if that was the reason. There was a few other teething problems, for instance we had to ask for cutlery. The staff were pleasant and attentive. Not sure I will be swapping Nandos any time soon. read more

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Well Yard & Coop have upped their game. Enough to earn them an extra star, at least. Looking for something indulgent after a whirlwind of a house move, Kate W. suggested we went along to Yard & Coop; after all, is there anything fried chicken can't fix? It was surprisingly busy when we arrived - especially for a Monday - but it didn't take long before we were sat down and looking over our menus. We ordered a bottle of prosecco and continued to deliberate over our food options. After a short wait, a glass of prosecco arrived and promptly taken back to the bar by the confused but lovely waitress. Cue another wait before the bottle came. There was a rather large table just finishing up and paying when we arrived, which would naturally take some attention, but it did feel like the staff were slightly on the back foot with everything. After an a-ok experience here previously, I decided against the chicken & chips and went instead for the coop kebab; two pieces of thigh with salad on a flatbread, bee's knees sauce (the best), some sour cream and chips. It was really delicious with a good balance between sweet and spice but still allowing the crispy chicken coating to come through as an individual flavour. And this main for £9. The same amount as the chicken & chips. Although I like things simple and there's nothing wrong with the classic plate, the coop kebab - and wrap of Kate W.'s, thinking about it - just seemed to be better value. We had a good meal and I would happily say I'm now an actual fan of Yard & Coop, but I think service could do with a boost. At least with the drinks. read more

Yard & Coop - coop kebab with mac & cheese balls (2016) - Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

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This was a superb dining experience from the moment we arrived to the time we left. A warm welcome by the staff at the door and great first impressions of the stylish décor, especially the vibrant fox mural on the wall, booths that resembled chicken coops and their large stock of alcohol stored neatly in the middle of the restaurant within a metal cage. It's a decently-sized, airy space and was still bustling with diners mid-afternoon on a Saturday. Though there were non-chicken items on the menu, we were only looking at the buttermilk fried chicken, opting for thighs over breast for the taste factor. This proved to be a good move as they were the best examples I've ever eaten - you can definitely tell the owners have done their research. Served with one of a small choice of sauces (which come in separate pots) and fries with either chip shop curry sauce, melted cheese or gravy (you can have them all if you want at 50p each) - my only gripe was that the gravy seeped into the paper lining of the dish, so in future I'd ask for it to be kept separate. We ordered too many sides, eyes bigger than stomach, but the crumb coated halloumi, which I dipped into the BBQ sauce was so, so good. I wouldn't ever bother with coleslaw which my friend ordered and the onion petals needed longer in the fryer. Our post-dinner drink/dessert was one of their 'hard shakes' and the Salted Karamel version for £7 was possibly the greatest milkshake I've ever tried. I wouldn't hesitate to go back there and try a slightly different combo. read more

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I have been to Yard & Coop a couple of times, and whilst the first time I went I was blown away by the food here, subsequent visits have left me a little disappointed. I'm not sure whether this is just because I've idolised that first time in my head so much I'm setting the bar too high for future visits or whether the offering has gone downhill. I certainly hope it's not the latter! First time I visited Yard & Coop was with my girlfriend and some friends for a birthday meal. We got the - no longer available - sharing bucket, which was 8 huge thighs, fries and a 4-pint pitcher for £40. This didn't seem like enough food for us, though, so we ordered 4 sides as well: the not chicken nuggets (coated halloumi), onion petals, battered jalapeños and something else which escapes me. Everything was delicious and they pretty thoroughly trampled all over my chances of ever going back to KFC. My second visit was for the Yelp "Lord of the Wings" event, which I've reviewed separately so not too much detail here. My most recent visit was for some grub after Ziferblat's 1st Birthday! Myself and a bunch of other party people went here, and I ordered the chicken and chips - at £9, it seemed like a decent choice. I went for the chicken thigh, with Seoul sauce as it was my favourite from LotW, and regular fries. I have to say, and again this might be me, the chicken thighs seemed smaller than they used to be. I mean, seriously, I'm pretty sure the ones we got in that bucket were huge. These were gone in a few bites. The chicken was, as ever, moist and beautifully cooked and the Seoul sauce was delicious, I just felt a little underwhelmed by everything. I was especially jealous of Ian M's side of sweet potato fries, which was massive. Larger than the actual portion that came with the meal. My probably inaccurate memory aside, Y&C lose some points from me because they ran out of wings. Yeah, I know we were there fairly late on and it was mid week but if your flagship product is chicken you kinda need to keep it flowing. There were a couple of the beers on tap which were unavailable too. I'll still happily return to Yard and Coop, as I still think they do some of the best fried chicken around. Just maybe I'll go to KFC a couple times first to realign my internal quality scales. read more

Yard & Coop - Chicken and Chips. - Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

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I was a bit disappointed because previously I came here and the food was immensed. Yet, this time round it was mediocre. The mac and cheese balls was like potatoes balls with no mac insight but waitress said it was mac and cheese ( who can argue with the authority?). I gave it three stars because in addition to the unconvinced mac balls, my chips were luke warm. Plus my waitress said I needed to remind her of the free side offer because if I don't tell her before I pay I will have to pay the sides as she can't take it off the bill. Alot to improve! But will give it another try after Christmas. read more

Yard & Coop - Buttermilk Chicken Burger - Bars Near Me - Manchester, XGM

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Back to Yard and Coop, and its a different story to our first visit. Its very much 'empty nest syndrome' here. I can't vouch for their chickens, but we certainatly felt free-range as we were shown to our seat. In a poetic twist of fate, we are shown to our very own 'Chicken Corner', a corner seat near the back of the coop. We nestle into our little corner, and suddenly don't feel so free range. El Food Two seems to fit into his box fine, but I find I have to sit at an angle to the table, allowing me to spread my wings a little. We order 2 halves of the 'Yard Pilsner' although we nearly ended up with a Yard of ale, as there was some confusion during my ordering process. I assure the friendly waitress that we only require halves. I feel I have to justify this by saying "we are cutting down" with a slight awkward chuckle. For some reason I still feel like less of a man for ordering a half, especially on a Friday. But really, when you think about it, a pint is a lot to drink. You don't go drinking pints of anything else do you? Why does it make you a big man just because you have a 0.010034 Cubic Foot more liquid in front of you? Food then? Well I don't want to spoil the surprise, but we had Chicken. Thats what the whole Yard and Coop thing means. Although if we analyse that more, the only time I've used the term yard, was in primary school, much like the word apparatus. Coop mostly conjures up images of old people saying "you don't want to be cooped up all day in here, why don't you go outside", again a memory from the days of endless summers and white dog poo. So really, Yard and Coop doesn't mean chicken to me, but thats what its meant to mean. I prefer my chicken outlets to be more Colonel Sanders, and include the animal I'm about to consume in their name. Maybe Coop Fried Chicken? CFC? Nothing wrong with that. El Food Two, he's still playing it safe. Chicken Wings, and wait for it, corn on the cob. Although I reckon it probably had a lot of butter on it to make it palatable, its still very much not a carbohydrate. I on the other hand go for a classic, chicken and chips. Or in other words, protein and carbohydrates. Thats two different food types, thats got to be all sorts of good for me, right? Its not actually as simple as that though. You've got to choose your sauce. I like choice, but I don't like having to make a choice. Especially when it comes down to sauces you've never had, how do you know which one your going to like? Again, our patient poulteress is on hand to nurture our feelings toward the sauces. I forget what they all are, but I put all my eggs in the basket labeled 'Bees Knees'. Purely because of the name, remarking this to our coop croupier, she agrees, and even adds in its 'cats pyjamas'. Although I don't think cats should be sleeping in pyjamas, or in chicken coops. Neither of those are going to end well. El Food Two always on the hunt for heat, like an egg being raised under a light bulb incubator, goes for Buffalo, egged on by being told by our helper hen that they can't even stand the smell of the stuff. I also get asked another question I thought only existed in comedy sketches from the 70s. "Breast or Thigh?", I reply "Breast" and resist making any further comment. Probably best I'd only had a half a pint. Everything arrives promptly and is as described. I have a basket, containing a hefty dose of carbs and a breast of protein, covered with what I am calling right now, the new 'pulled pork'. This is 'buttermilk' chicken, and I believe is the reason why Americans have a dish called 'chicken fried steak', which actually has no chicken content. Because it has become a ubiquitous way of cooking chicken over there, and will soon take over Manchester and the rest of the UK. Basically it means you've got some nice looking crumb to your otherwise dull looking chicken, like you get at KFC. My bees have had their knee-caps pulverised and put into a little pot. This is the sort of choice I like, even if I hate the sauce, I can just leave it in the little pot and no one has to know, apart from the few thousand bees I presume it takes to make 20ml of sauce. El Food Two also has a basket, with all his chicken in, about 5 wings. These are big old wings, in fact I don't think I've ever seen a wing that size, they may have been from some super mutant chicken. Mutant or not, it all seems to be very good chicken, and El Food Two has no complaints. Although he says the sauce was not hot enough, but he is very hard to please on that front. I feel like it was a bit more 'chips and chicken', but really it was probably just a fair portion of chicken, and maybe a few too many chips. The bees knees turn out to be quite spicy, with a little hint of sweetness. Maybe the bees shit honey out whilst they were being knee-capped...its best not to think about it. In summary, its decent chicken, better than Nando's, but its still just chicken. read more

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This place is definitely one of my favourite places to go! They were so busy on Saturday but we still got quick and attentive service. The food was delicious - and so filling! And I was expecting the price to be a lot more pricy than what it was so that's always a great bonus. I'll definitely be going back and recommending this place to my family and friends. Our server, Katie was so chatty and friendly and give us some amazing suggestions on the menu. read more

Best. Food. Ever. Everything on the menu is delicious! Service was great! Decor was super cute and southern. Will definitely be going back if we're ever in the area again. read more

Booked in for a friend's birthday meal. On arrival stood for ten minutes waiting to be noticed in the end had to more or less chase a waitress around the restaurant. Finally got seated and ordered food and drink. Food was lovely except my friend didn't get his full order and another got some parts of his order given wrong for instance he ordered normal fries instead of sweet potato fries. No chance to tell a waiter as they wasn't paying any attention to our table. Only had one drink as a waitress didn't come anywhere near the table to ask if we needed anymore. Finally came to paying the bill... Waited ten minutes to catch someone... Then in the end had to just walk over to a till to offer to pay. Recommendation to the restaurant: Keep up the good food but please sort out your staffs attentiveness! read more

Simply Outstanding, decoration is retro, unique, the staff are incredibly gracious and helpful and to top it off the food is absolutely brilliant! I'm here in Manchester for a week and will be back! read more

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Fried chicken heaven - some of the best food & service I've had in a very long time. We came for lunch about 230 on a Saturday. The place was busy but we easily got a table. The menu is a good selection of food on one side (fried chicken pieces, wings, sides, burgers) and a great mix of drinks on the other including wine, beers, non alcoholics and hard shakes (boozy milkshakes). We'd been told the fried chicken pieces were a better choice than the wings so both opted for boneless thigh meat with the Yard & Coop coating. This is their own blend of spices, a full on 'I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you' secret recipe. MB went for the honey, chilli sauce and I got the BBQ. We both opted for fries with gravy. The fries are included in the price with the chicken order although this isn't really clear on the menu so was a nice surprise when we ordered. We went mad with the sides (no surprise there) and ordered the slaw, onion petals & halloumi bites. All decent sized portions with the halloumi and the slaw tasting excellent. The onion petals were underdone for my taste and I wouldn't get them again. We finished with a boozy milkshake each. These are seriously good! Highly recommended. The caramel one was my favourite. The service was good, efficient and friendly. Overall I can't wait to go back. read more

Loved this place! Even though i was only in for a drink with a friend, the vibe was great and loved the natural setting to the place with its cool lighting. I loved the yard pilsner and not too expensive at around £3.70 a pint, all the staff was really friendly and i can't wait to go back to try the delicious looking food out sometime. A great new addition to the Northern Quarter. read more

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Ok so fried chicken is not really my "thing", to be honest. From a large menu I'm unlikely to order it, although I usually like it well enough when I do have it. Everything I'd heard about Yard & Coop was good though, and I wanted to try somewhere new, so we went here to get some birthday chicken for my friend. Turning up at 8pm on a Saturday we waited less than half an hour for a table. During the wait I had a Yard Club cocktail which was really good. My friend had a French Maid which was very delicious also. One of the staff came over to tell us that they were just trying to get a backlog of orders out of the kitchen before seating us, which was nice to hear. We were seated in what felt like no time at all. When seated we were told the food would be around half an hour. Feeling the need to eat copious amounts, we ordered between four of us: - the sharing bucket (eight pieces of chicken thigh, four fries, two coleslaw, four pints) - not chicken nuggets (halloumi bites, basically) - onion petals with chorizo - battered jalapeños - battered pickles - bees knees wings (honey, lime and chilli) I had been warned that the onion petals weren't up to much and found this to be true, unfortunately. Battered jalapeños were just not my thing I think, others enjoyed them but not sure I'd have them again. Battered pickles delicious and not soggy thankfully. Chicken wings were really delicious and also huge. Not chicken nuggets were tasty and plentiful. The pieces of chicken thigh were also huge. We didn't get to choose our own coating as it was a sharing bucket so I think it was just the standard coating. It was really tasty but I'm looking forward to going back to experiment with different options. Fries and coleslaw both very good, especially mixed together. We asked for pilsner as the beer that came with the bucket, but we're pretty sure it's not what we got. It didn't taste like the pilsner that the boys had before the meal and tasted more like an IPA to me. Maybe our tastebuds were thrown by all the food? It was perfectly tasty though and we'd poured all four pints by the time we noticed so just got on with it. I was desperate for a salted caramel hard shake but I think I would have died. All in all I really liked everything here, and I would like to return to a) try some different chicken and b) try that shake. Oh and I like that the ladies toilets are individual cubicles with sinks etc. read more

There's been a lot of buzz about Yard & Coop in the first few days since opening so a friend & I bobbed in last night to try it out. As we were off to the cinema we didn't want anything too heavy so we ordered We both had similar orders. Mine was the chicken thighs + chip shop curry sauce dusting + bees' knees dipping sauce (cayenne pepper, lime & honey) whereas Martin opted for the breasts + yard & coop dusting + bourbon dipping sauce. Alongside this we had onion petals and a side of Korean slaw. The buttermilk fried chicken was wonderful. The crunchy coating, not at all greasy, covered some perfectly cooked chicken (in my case) thighs. Both the dusting and the dipping sauce were fine accompaniments. The onion petals (onion pieces in tempura batter) went down a storm and the Korean slaw was crisp, fresh and zingy with a nice warm hit. It's testament to the quality of the food that we didn't manage to get any snaps. It all went too quickly! There were a number of other small plates that look appealing for another visit e.g. battered pickles and hush puppies (both things I love), not to mention the promising sounding Fill It Burger & the Monkey Balls. Alongside the food, there is a pretty good list of beers to work through too. For our meal (including a beer each), it came to £30 and we were happily filled for the evening. I'm already planning my next visit. read more

I will be honest - I am not a deep fried chicken kind of a person. I tend to avoid anything that is covered in an oily batter thicker than whatever the original food substance was. So I was a little dubious about trying Yard and Coop having scanned their menu and discovered that there were zero items on it that didn't have something deep fried. Anyway, I decided to give it a go and give my inner KFC craver a little treat. We came on a quiet Wednesday night and they had clearly known it was going to be quiet as there weren't many staff. So service was a tad slow but it wouldn't have really mattered except we were starving. They were all lovely and friendly once they had time to look after us. Considering the deep fried nature of the food, it is really well presented and looks good. I had the yakety wrap - chicken in a wrap with avocado, lettuce and some sort of spicy sauce. It was really very tasty although the wrap effect makes the batter go soggy. It wasn't oily, I didn't feel like I'd eaten a bucket of grease by the end of it and I really wanted to scoff the lot. Which I did. It is served with a large pile of chips. I managed to sample some of the deep fried halloumi and jalapeños too which were both tasty. I do wish there were a few less deep fried options - not for health reasons but because everything starts tasting the same after awhile... The drinks selection is very interesting and includes milk shakes with the option of vodka. That's always a winner. read more

We came here for an early lunch thinking we'd go home and make Sunday dinner later that evening. There is nothing light about these meals and that's not a bad thing! For the affordable price you get a lot for your money and the chicken is so tasty! You also get a choice of different sauces to smother your chicken in. I'd definitely recommend this place if you love chicken and good alcohol. Just don't go expecting to make a Sunday dinner in the evening, it won't happen, you'll be too full! read more

TL;DR - Chicken chicken chicken. And it's damn good chicken, too. This corner unit is a hub of activity at night, packed out with people. We came in to see if they had a table for dinner and the staff were really apologetic about the fact we had to wait 30 minutes. The front of the place is a bar serving various ales and cocktails; the back is the restaurant area. We had a couple of beers to get things going and watched the world go by - this place was seriously busy, both with eaters and drinkers, so seats were at a premium. The menu is heavily dominated by chicken. The basic premise is you choose the cut you want (e.g. thigh, breast), pick a seasoning for it, and then pick a sauce. You then add on the sides that you want. Sparky went for that, but I couldn't resist ordering the "Giant Cock Burger" - a massive chicken burger stacked with all sorts of good things like chorizo. Both meals were absolutely delicious, but I was a bit put out that whoever designed the burger gave little thought to how you would eat it - it was too big and precariously balanced to pick up and eat, but the way they serve things (in a basket) left you with little space to cut it up. Nevertheless, it was so good that these challenges didn't come between me and a clean plate. One cute idea - if you tweet them with the name of a song, they'll consider playing it. That may explain the eclectic but very nostalgic range of songs we heard through the night! read more