Jam Street Cafe

Our Jam Street Cafe Review

Jam Street Café is cool. Sat at the bottom of Upper Chorlton Road, it is beloved by the arty types of Whalley Range for giving them somewhere bohemian to drink without having to trek into Chorlton. It also has a healthy following among the Chorlton massive, who end up there when they tire of the faux-cool of trendy bars like the Lead Station and Polar Bar.

Jam Street looks like a cross between a bar and a greasy spoon (which, apparently, it was in a past life). Outside, a pavement beer garden attracts smokers on rainy days and drinkers on sunny ones. People sat cross-legged on straw pouffes on the floor and the relaxed vibe gives the place an appealing festival vibe. Inside, the restaurant area is all about glowing wood tables and a natural look, while the cosy downstairs bar only has room for about twenty people.

What really warms our cockles about Jam Street is its ramshackle nature. Ok, so they have the same range of exotic beers and poncy bar snacks as you might find in Chorlton, but you get the feeling that everything about the place has been achieved on a wing and a prayer. For example, by night Jam Street is a restaurant but you only have a choice of two meals and they stop serving either at 9pm or when they run out of food.

Having said that, you'll rarely see a quiet night at Jam Street Café. It might not be as smooth as the bars down the road but it has plenty of character to make up for it. And judging by its popularity among the locals, character is what really counts in this neck of the woods.

User Reviews

11/09/2011 by Keefy
In short, the service was abysmal, and the quality of the meal failed to justify the price charged. Obviously cafes and restaurants can become very busy, and food may take longer to arrive than might otherwise be expected. When your cafe is at half-capacityl, however, I would call 50 minutes for the sort of breakfast you could cook up in 10 minutes a bit of a stretch. During this time, the staff still managed to get a nice long cigarette break and a chat in. When the breakfast did arrive, the waitress informed us that the toast was still coming. We accepted this graciously but no apology or explanation was offered for either the delay or the items missing. We then watched in disbelief as the couple beside us, who had arrived some twenty minutes after us, received their full breakfasts, with toast. The meal itself was fine; not deserving complaint, but neither deserving the £6.10 charged for a breakfast of middling size and quality. Perhaps my experiences of cafes in the area have just been so good that I underestimate standard costs. At any rate, that Jam Street cafe is apparently lagging behind its competitors is no plus point. By the time we finished our meal, the toast had still failed to materialise. The staff at no point apologised for this, and charged us in full. I confess that such was the service we received, we wondered if we had inadvertantly offended the staff. To the best of our knowledge we were polite throughout, and if we received prejudice from the staff, then it must have been a case of mistaken identity. The only other identifiable factor would be that we did not fit in with the clientelle Jam Street expects. In hindsight, had we been less tired and more willing to make a point, we should have disputed the bill for the service that we received. Plainly, it did not meet our expectations, and the basic principles of good service were ignored. Interactions with staff were at best snotty, and bordering on the outright ignorant. It is this, more than the delays or missing food, that leaves me so disappointed with Jam Street Cafe, and unwilling to buy from them again. Poor.
Rated 1 out of 5

22/04/2011 by Maya
Got the most beautiful skilled / looking random guy playing on the piano in the basement *sighh..
Rated 5 out of 5

09/09/2010 by Axel
Full of Scallies and Hippies. Decent selection of bottled beer but not much on draught. Hillary Step appeals much more for some reason.
Rated 3 out of 5

22/11/2009 by LN
Lovely place, never disappoints. Honest food, reasonable prices, neighborly hippie atmosphere with no aggro, what more do people want?
Rated 5 out of 5

22/02/2009 by wuh
It may have been a nice place, but it's gone down the drain in recent years. Last visit was quite typical: 4 people 'working' there, but no-one takes your order. The male waiter just hangs around, trying to look 'bohemian'. He's obviously waaaaay to cool to wait tables (wake up, lad, you're a fluke). The cook seemed to wait till she had 4 orders so she could do 'em together. More time for chatting that way. Getting food took another 40 mins after finally placing an order at the counter. Bit long for a full English, methinks. It's not exactly Gordon Ramsay stuff. It may be that the Chorlton crowd is still taken in with this, like the 6-strong family with baby that was there when coming in, and still when we left 1.5 hrs later, without them placing any order. It is a pity - it was a genuinely nice place when it won the Observer awards, now 5 years ago. Now it is just another place, just about acceptable when you manage to get your plate of food in reasonable time.
Rated 1 out of 5

28/08/2007 by kevin etheridge
i went to the jam street cafe on august bank holiday sunday night for the fish ain`t bittin` soul and jazz reunion and what an excellent little venue this is great atmosphere a downstairs room where the wheels of steel are and seating for about 20 people good bar upstairs didn`t try the food but i will next time i`m up in manchester and a great smoking area out front with cushions. i`d rather spend my money at places like this than in all those horrible theme pubs and chain wine bars. more power to the owners elbow.
Rated 5 out of 5

01/08/2007 by Peanuts
Worth a visit to spend a night with sexy Kev - the best bar person in town. Good beer, Good Food, Great atmos, Great people.
Rated 5 out of 5