Pie and Ale

As a bar I think Pie and Ale is pretty good — lots of seating (comfortable booths upstairs), really nice, knowledgeable and helpful staff and a wide selection of ale. The only thing drinks wise I wouldn’t recommend is the wine, we had bad red & white at the Unilocal event.
However it also markets itself as an eatery and I don’t think that side is quite as good. The buffalo wings are not buffalo wings, by any American standard (go to Yard & Coop for the real deal). I found them quite tasteless but boyf found them impossibly hot (I have a cold!). The pork balls were ok, boyf liked the sauce. The pies themselves I just don’t think are that good (compared with, for example, Lord of the Pies). The pastry does not have much flavour and is too hard to really interact with the filling. They are also pretty expensive, coming in at over £9.95 — £11.95 with accompaniments. So, go to drink not to eat, in my opinion.

It says Pie & Ale on the tin and it delivers exactly that in a stylish refectory setting. Confident short crust pastry pies with rich fillings and mash. I’ve tried the Steak and Ale, Chicken and Chorizo and Cheese and Leek. Presentation is homely and flavours good, however for my tastes the pastry is a little too protective of the filling and the filling is not quite as much as it could be — worth it for sure over all, and a gourmet selection of ales helps it down nicely.

Picked the wrong pie, so I have had better pie here in the past but I have to be fair and I had the rabbit one on this occasion and it was lacking in flavour, plus the pastry was very boring. The wine is drinkable but a little uninteresting although my friend had some ale and said it was really very good. Next time I come here I will be sure to try the hotpot as it looked good travelling to another table. The staff are lovely and friendly, which is something I look for when eating out. I will be back but will avoid the rabbit.

Visited Pie & Ale tucked away off Lever St in Manchester’s Northern Quarter on a Friday evening. We were greeted by friendly staff who partially explained the slightly odd bar arrangement — one bar serves predominately lagers while the other serves predominantly ales. We thought we had to go outside to get from one bar to the other but to our relief on a cold night we discovered there was an adjoining stair. The pies were well presented, absolutely delicious and the associated gravies were rich and complimented the pies well. For example, the game pie came with a port and blueberry gravy. The vegetarian in our group was equally impressed with the 3 cheese and ale pie. Highly recommended.

First time in Pie and Ale, which in itself is great given they are two of the things that I like. They have a selection of the traditional pies that you can find everywhere but they revisited their recipes. They have a good selection of ales, but have a good range of bottle beers, wines etc.
The waitress we had was very friendly, helpful and knowledgable about the pies and ales on offer. Overall I really enjoyed the relaxed feel of Pie and Ale and will be most likely to return now I know where it is.

They do fantastic Pie’s and beautiful Ales.
I could stop there as it pretty tells you the story, they do exact what it says on the tin, and then some!
I had the Steak Pie which was fantastic, although the Game Pie that my Grandpa had looked and smelt even better, so yes it’s only fair I return to try that soon! All the pies looked brilliant and although I can only attest to the taste of mine, everyone seemed very happy with their meals!
Started the meal with some bread and tasty pesto and oils and a wonderful American Pale Ale, my current favourite type, from a local brewery in Manchester (even better). Wasn’t room for the desserts on this trip but it definitely won’t be the last time I visit here!
They have big TV’s and show all kinds of sports and with the vast amount of Ale’s and other alcohol options on offer, it would be rude of me to venture back to try some more!

A place was required to celebrate Grandpas 80^th birthday, but he doesn’t like anything too fancy. However the rest of the family wanted to try something new. Pie and Ale worked a treat! Grandpa enjoyed his steak pie & I enjoyed my Iberico pork pie. The Ale choice is wide and varied, so something for everyone!

if you are a pie lover you have to give a
this place a try! they have a selection of the traditional pies that you can find everywhere but they revisited their recipes!
I tried the game pie that was yumy! it is quite big and comes served with a generous side meaning that I ended completly full (I even wasnt able to try their dessert). it comes with a little piece of shortbread on top of it representing an animal (mine was a kind of kangoroo, no idea why as as far as I know there wasnt any in my pie)!
as the name indicates, the ales list is also pretty extensive and is renewed on a regular basis!
the atmosphere is also nice and staff really friendly! you have some board games on your table if you get bored :)
will definitely go back!

Such a great experience here! This was my favorite meal while visiting Manchester. My table had the Rabbit, Beef, and Veggie Special pies and we were all very happy and full. I am glad I read the review mentioning that the restaurant isn’t quite on Lever Street, it made finding the place very easy (although there was a chalkboard sign indicating it’s location as well). The staff also rocked!
Our only disappointment was that they closed early on another night because it was a slow night — we got there just as they were closing.

Great atmosphere for one, but it’s called Pie and Ale so let’s look at each.
The selection of ales was definitely impressive. A good number of cask ales and a larger number of bottles/​cans. I tried one of each (a Waen Snowball and a Beavertown Smog Rocket), both of which were great so I would believe that the other ales they stock are just as good.
The selection of food was quite impressive as well. We tried the steak pie and the rabbit pie both of which had great flavouring. The pie crust may not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. However for the price, it was very lacking in content. While there was a bit more steak in the steak pie (still less than average), there was hardly any rabbit in the rabbit pie. For a 10 pound pie, 2 cubes of rabbit meat is definitely not satisfactory. There wasn’t even much vegetables. Opening the pie, it looked like it was only half filled… So I was definitely disappointed there… Perhaps, I got unlucky with the quantity of filling in mine, but even if it was fully filled, it still would not have been much compared to other pie establishments.
TL;DR — Great atmosphere and ale selection. Great tasting pies, but not worth the money for the amount of filling you get…

Took some french visiters here in a hope that hey would be able to sample a good quality traditional english pie! Pie and Ale definitely met the brief! :)
Between all of us I managed to get a cheeky sample of several of the pies on offer! Every one of them was delicious! I ordered the mouton pie but have to say that the game pie was my favourite! :) All of the pies were beautifully presented and the gravy, mash and pastry were great!
The waitress we had was very friendly, helpful and knowledgable about the pies and ales on offer!
Pie and Ale is a great place for a hearty gourmet style pie! Its good value for money and a main meal alone is enough to fill you to the seems! I can’t wait to get back and order a game pie of my own and sanple some more of their ales!

First time in Pie and Ale, which in itself is astonishing given they are two of my favourite things. But now I know why, even though it’s not hidden, it’s listed as being on Lever St but in reality it set back from the road slightly down Faraday St. So it’s not immediately visible from Lever St unless you’re looking for it; which is really my only reason for not giving it 5*.
Pie and Ale doesn’t bound head long towards the current fashion of ultra trendy scrounged and up-​cycled interiors that so many bars are doing, it’s interior is very clean and simple but also warm and inviting and won’t age or go out of fashion as quickly as some of the other bars in the NQ. It’s also got several different space so you can choose to sit in the open seating area with the large glass windows, next to the bar at high benches or walk around the corner and up the stairs for a more cosy intimate set of booths above the bar; this means the location can suit a lot of different situations.
They have a good selection of ales for the likes of myself, but have a good range of bottle beers and your general assortment of keg beers, wines etc. The pies are on the pricey side (£9.95-£11.95) especially compared with the likes of Pie Minister (£7.95 for the Mothership) only a few blocks away, but they are big and hearty as you’d hope and with the availability of cask beer (Pie Minister only has bottles) improves the experience for me. In my opinion it’s always nicer having a fresh well kept pint than having bottled beer. I had the Moufflon and Minted Chocolate which was spot on as far as I’m concerned the chocolate and stout sauce went fantastically with the well cooked steak.
Overall I really enjoyed the relaxed feel of Pie and Ale and will be most likely to return now I know where it is.

Don’t let the 4* fool you, the ace is excellent and capitalises o. City centre quirky niche dining like the best of them.
First up is the food, the pie was filled to burst with quality ingredients and the gravy and mash that accompanied it was beautiful. The animal shape of puff pastry on the top of the pie to denote the meat was very fun… The selection of food is broad and deep with some very different dishes than other places in the city (zebra balls… Not the parts of the animal
It sounds like, promise!)
The 4* is simple, the pie and mash is no better or worst than Pieminister when all is said and done and I could get exactly whet I got here at PM for a third of the price so I can’t give it the same star rating.
Though points are given for the choice of ale, this is a 4.5 easy :)

Back for more :)
I love the beer selection in the place and so does everybody else because it’s always at least half full.
I like to sneak off to Pie and Ale for drinks and few nibbles as I think it has a great atmosphere is a wee bit off the beaten track so you can usually get a couple of seats, or a booth if ya lucky!
The Food:
Last time I went for the one of their Pies and wasn’t too impressed (Maybe it was bad day). So we mixed it up a little this time and went for the Snacks Sharer option. Not really an option just what you get if you don’t order a Pie.
We got Bread for 4 with oil and balsamic, Loads potato skins, Marinated Olives, Hummus Dip and the ridiculously hot Buffalo wings. The food was really good and came in at around £6 each between three of us.
I still like this place and I’ll still recommend as a good spot for a quick bite to eat or a great place to try the beer selection!

OK so great looking place, staff very friendly at the bar and rather trendy.
The framboise beer I ordered was so so tasty literally the best beer I have had in a while. However! Me and James G ordered the steak and ale and the 3 cheese and leek pie and shared them. I have to agree with Stacey and Anthony on this and say the steak and ale pie was ok– nothing absolutely amazing though which was disappointing. I thought there was too much pastry and not enough meat. Also I would have liked a tad more mash and some veggies on the side. The veg they offer is mushy peas which I detest :((naturally because I am not northern it would appear).
The 3 cheese on the other hand– BEAUTIFUL! So tasty, creamy, cheesey and morish! Could of eaten 2 of these! So much more flavour than the meat for some reason and just all round brilliant!
One more thing… We all ordered separately but within about 1 minute of each other, 2 pies arrived… then a 10 minute wait… then another 1… then another 1.
I don’t mean to go off on one BUT if there is a table of 4 you don’t bring out food for 2 of the people and not the others! The waiter didn’t seem to be bothered about the fact we had to wait whilst our friends had their food– I would have expected him to be profoundly sorry! So sorry, it went from such a friendly and funny barman at the start to being confused at the lack of service. The price is quite expensive if you compare it to pieminster which I believe from my friends is more tasty and for much less money… I enjoyed the food though I thought £10 for a pie is a bit too expensive…
Such a shame– I would come back for the cheese pie however and give them a second chance…

This was an unexpected treat! Whilst unsuccessfully attempting to find Dusk ’til Pawn, we saw some lights down a side street and decided to investigate. At first I thought it was just some office building foyer, since the exterior of the building was mostly glass but no, it’s a bar! We went in and were surprised by how big it was — the downstairs is quite spacious, divided into an open space at the front and a smaller, cosier space at the back. There’s also a mezzanine level where you can do some good people watching and they have a couple of cool tables made out of old arcade cabinets.
To drink we had the «Yippee Pie Ale», chosen mostly for the comedy value of saying it out loud but it was a really great drink and I’d readily have it again. Definitely worth a visit for it’s great combination of good beer, great atmosphere and off-​the-​beaten-​track-​ness.

I’ve been to pie and ale a few times but never actually eaten there. But this time I did otherwise I knew I’d get pie envy watching the other two eat. So i ordered the rabbit pie. It came with a pastry bunny sitting atop of the pie a top of the mash. I’m a sucker for gimmicks so it instantly got my approval, but actually the pie is really delicious. None of that hipster ‘lets see how weird we can make it’ crap… Just a great pie with great ingredients and great flavours, plus the gravy was bountiful. A winner!

After a number of visits to Pie and Ale, predominantly for either Friday night drinks or Sunday football viewing, Monday saw me return with food on the agenda.
Rather than go for the pies — many of which have developed since my last peek at a menu, with plenty of exotic pies on offer for those with a more adventurous palette — we shared some of the bar snacks.
After a small debate about whether having potato skins and cajun wedges was just slightly too much potato, we decided on the boneless chickens strips (cleaner than buffalo wings) with advice from the bartender to go for the bbq sauce as the hot sauce «is just too much»; pork, chorizo and bacon meatballs; crispy potato skins with bacon and cheese.
The portion size was perfect between the two of us, especially after the breakfast we had enjoyed earlier in the day. The chicken strips were my personal favourite, the meat remaining soft and tender despite assuming that the flavour would be focused in the sauce, followed by the subtly spiced meatballs. The potato skins were tasty, though slightly overdone, which impacted the flavour slightly.
We were very content, which led to two bottles of wine in the course of a couple of hours; the bartender obviously knew who he was dealing with as he made sure for us to pay during Happy Hour, making the wine £10 a bottle as opposed to around £15. Big love.
Something worth note is that the Bakerie wine shop next door seems to be converting into an ‘extension’ of Pie and Ale, so hopefully these guys will continue to go from strength to strength.

I think I’ve found my new favourite place!
Ok so I’ve been here before for our Elite event a few months back (and that was a flying visit) and I’ve had many friends spreading the gospel about this place being super amazing for beer, food and general ‘good time’ ambience but on Saturday night everything came together to really make me say «yeah I get it now»
So without going into all the boring details — they do pies very well, they do ale vey well — the pies coming from a selection of about 12 (I had the steak and 3 cheese with peas and mash — £11.95) and a pretty similar sized range of craft beers, cask and real ales on tap.
I really thought the selection was excellent (and well priced — a flight of 3 thirds was £3.40 of cask ale) and their bottles are a good mix of what America and Europe has to offer!
This place is going to be amazing for the world cup with a big screen up in the main bar showing all the matches (they were actually showing the Champions league final on Sat night, adding to the ambience) — and the music was just the icing on the cake — what a fantastic selection of reggae, dub and hiphop for the 3 hours I was in.
Really looking forward to going back and having some great beer with a phat ass pie soon!
*extra note should go to all the waiting staff — amazing friendliness and table service all night — nice job guys!*

It really is «all about the pie». Big effing pies.
With a decent selection of fillings including meat, vegetarian, vegan and guest specials, there’s something that’ll tempt almost everyone. They’re pretty sizeable portions (especially if they come with mash) and about 1lb in weight so be prepared for subsequent food comas. I opted for Game Pie (venison, boar and pheasant) and my friend Pastissada de Caval (horsemeat, smoked bacon and garlic). We were very happy with both.
We found out that a record had been set (by some ‘professional competitive eater’) for THREE of these pies, plus servings of mash and peas, at less than four minutes — it might even have been three minutes — so we’re talking over 3 and a half lb of pastry, hot fillings and potato. What a beast. For £20, if you eat all this in less than 10 minutes, you get your money back and a commemorative t-​shirt (for you to wear on your way to gastric bypass surgery no doubt).
Their choice of ales is also pretty good (I like places which display loads of empty beer bottles so you can see how many you can tick off having tried them). They have six rotating cask ales from micro-​breweries and also serve their own Yippee Pie Ale.