Just the most ridiculously authentic and delicious food you could ever eat. Every time we’ve been it’s been amazing. The house sangria is also stupidly good. Genuinely the best Spanish food in Manchester and by far our favourite restaurant in the whole country. Well worth the wait on a busy day!
Best tapas outside of Spain by a long shot.
WOW this little gem blew me away. The food was to die for and the wine wasn't bad either 😁. I can honestly say these tapas are the best I've ever tasted outside of Spain.
It isn’t often that both the food and weather Gods conspire to provide you with an unforgettable dining experience. Yet, the day before Scott’s birthday only a couple of weeks ago, such a rare occurrence happened. We had been strutting past Bar San Juan weekly ever since we moved back to Manchester; enviously eyeing up the lucky few who manage to bag a street side table in the sunshine. The restaurant is small (big enough to swing a cat, but not a paella pan), and so the outside tables are really the pick spot. And lo and behold, the day we decided to venture out for some tapas, which also happened to be the sunniest day that week so far, an outdoor table was vacated quicker than the waiter could bring our big jug of sangria.
Popped in for some lunch, felt like we were transported to Spain. We had a few tapas and some drinks. The food was the nicest tapas I've ever had, melting beef cheeks, amazing shredded lamb parcels & Some great black pudding, washed down with great wine and beer. The decor is so cool and done really well. I love this place, deserves it high ranking.
Beech Road is a great location for food and drink in Manchester. The road on the far side of Chorlton leads down to Chorlton Green and is lined with eateries and bars. I had received a recommendation about Bar San Juan, a cute Spanish tapas bar on Beech Road, a number of weeks ago and was waiting for a lovely sunny day to fully take advantage of the outdoor seating and holiday vibes! I’d walked past on many an occasion and envied the diners tucking into their multiple plates of authentic looking tapas. Finally, last week on a beautiful late summer afternoon, my day had come!
I can tell you exactly when we were last at Bar San Juan on Beech road; August 1st 2013, almost two years ago. Despite it being the closest restaurant to us at a mere two minutes walk. This is because we want to sit outside when the sun is out and pretend that we're on holiday in Spain. (And also sit smugly watching people passing by). But those few tiny seats on the street are like gold dust. I walk past this place at least once a day and it's always busy, even at lunchtime. We are actually on our way somewhere else and the barrel (our favoured table) is free. A miracle!
I can tell you exactly when we were last at Bar San Juan on Beech road; August 1st 2013, almost two years ago. Despite it being the closest restaurant to us at a mere two minutes walk. This is because we want to sit outside when the sun is out and pretend that we're on holiday in Spain. (And also sit smugly watching people passing by). But those few tiny seats on the street are like gold dust. I walk past this place at least once a day and it's always busy, even at lunchtime. We are actually on our way somewhere else and the barrel (our favoured table) is free. A miracle!
Hands down most authentic Spanish tapas I have tried in Manchester. This is a tiny place on Beech road, close to a bus stop with authentic tiled walls. Inside they have only a handful of tables but the food is worth the wait! On a Sunday evening We were told the wait is 30 Min but in reality it was less than that.
The food was simply awesome, can't praise it highly enough. All the tapas we ordered looked great, tasted even better and were reasonably priced by Manchester standards.
If you like Spanish food, don't think twice!
Best tapas restaurant in the UK, proper authentic, and the service is amazing. Food is great, the solomillo braseado con patatas a lo pobre and el cojonudo murciano trufado are probably my favourite dishes, I recommend ordering Hecula wine to go with your meal.
This is a great little Spanish tapas bar on beech road. We only went in for a drink as it was late but the sangria was amazing I highly recommend it. The tapas menu looked great I will definitely be going back for food.
The staff were really friendly and the place was really nice quite small but I felt like I was in Spain.
WOW. This is an amazing tiny Tapas bar located on Beech Road in Chorlton. We have only recently discovered this area and absolutely love it.
Bar San Juan is typical of a tapas bar which I have visited in Spain and it does a very good job of emulating one. It is very small inside so be prepared to wait - first time on a Thursday wasn't much of an issue but when we went on a Saturday we had to wait about 45 minutes. It is really worth the wait though!
The standout dish for me is the garlic and chilli prawns but everything which I have had has all been excellent.
The beer is very well kept and a new beer for me which I now really enjoy is Alhambra. The grape cider which I have never seen is very tasty and easy to drink as is the jugs of Sangria.
Prices are reasonable, especially considering the area, at between £2.50 and about £6 per dish.
The staff are all very friendly and attentive.
If you haven't been here then I would recommend you visit very soon.
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I love this place!
For date night, Rich and I wandered along to Beech Road to attempt to get a table at Bar San Juan. As it's often busy and there might be a wait, I'd suggest having a back up plan. Ours was Double Zero and failing that The Beagle, if you need inspiration. They told us it'd be 40 minutes but we ordered drinks and waited, in the hope it wouldn't be that long, and it ended up being about 25 minutes.
Rich C has listed the dishes we ate so I won't repeat it. Everything was really, really delicious. The lamb parcels and the fillet steak from the specials menu were particularly excellent, though I'd happily eat everything again. After our tapas dishes were all finished I was very tempted to order more but we got dessert instead which was also awesome. I loved the crema catalana, though I think I saw one of the waiters scowl at me when I described it to Rich as 'Spanish creme brulee'. (Joking of course!) I also enjoyed two glasses of sangria which are a steal at £3.50 each.
The bill was fairly reasonable for what we had and this is definitely a special kind of place. I'd say it's perfect for dates if you're both quite easy going, and probably less good for large groups just due to the size of the place and the difficulty getting a table.
Apologies for poor quality of the pics - the lighting is very low!
Love this place!
Came here originally for food but didn't book, so we missed out! SO next time I'm going to book so I can definitely get a table! We arrived at around 7 on a Friday so a heads up that it is busy at weekends!
So we went somewhere else for food and came back here for some drinks and nibbles, and what a lovely place it is.
Staff are nearly all Spanish (if not all of them) which adds to the authentic experience and Spanish hospitality.
I had a really unusual red grape cider from Spain, which I've never seen or heard of before. It was tasty, and great to see places stocking different drinks rather than the usual rekoderlig and koppaberg.
My friend (and then me) had the rioja which was sublime- best rioja I've had in a long time so bravo!
Will definitely be coming back here for their famous tapas- watch this space!
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Sometimes its great to check out random places with no beforehand background research - but in the case of my visit to Bar San Juan this week it was fully informed by friends, yelp reviews and great words on the old twitter-sphere. I don't mind admitting that I do enjoy listening to people in the know as opposed to ending up with a dud of a meal!
Again peeps, it's another place that I was so impressed with that I wish I could give it 6 stars!
I used to love tapas but for whatever reason went off it over the past few years, maybe I'd just been used to too many average experiences at ridiculous costs by the time you've totted up all the plates and booze. But on this sunny Tuesday on Beech Road in Chorlton I had a lunch that blew my mind.
Ok so I did sit outside in the sun with my laptop working like some loser and with a busy day ahead there wasn't really any opportunity to pretend I was on 'the Continent' with a lunch time beer or wine but with my trusty glass of tap water in hand I picked what was a great combo that kept me full for the afternoon and with a smile on my face.
For £12 I had the chili and garlic gambas (prawns) and some delightful black pudding, chili sauce and rice on toast, with a basket of fresh bread and garlic dip - wow, everything was so tasty, so filling and yet so fresh and genuine.
Check out the pics to see who authentic this place looks and it's real sun trap - enough seating for about 20 out front making it the perfect place when the sol is in the sky!
The staff were friendly and efficient - this place is going to have to be used for a future Yelp World Food Tour event, I just need to find out if they're ever quiet as I'm sure this will be a really popular place to visit.
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I stumbled across Bar San Juan whist having a wander around Chorlton (for the first time as I have only just moved back to Manchester from London). It was sunny so my boyfriend and I wanted to sit outside and this happened to be the only place with seats. We were not particularly looking for tapas but had half a pint of beer and a couple of tapas dishes. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of vegetarian dishes on the menu (there could still be more but I have been to tapas restaurants where I really struggled). We shared bread with a red pepper and tomato dip (delicious and a generous portion) and aubergine and courgettes in a tomato sauce topped with grilled goats cheese (absolutely exquisite).
It was really good value with two half-pints of lager and two tapas dishes (enough for a light lunch) costing £11.
The staff were very friendly and attentive and it had a really authentic Spanish feel.
Overall I was really impressed and would definitely return to sample the rest of the menu and of course the sangria.
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I'm not Spanish, but my parents do live there (south, rural) and so i have been to a number of Spanish bars serving Tapas. San Juan is about as authentic as you can get with regards to both the food and feel. The service is excellent and more importantly friendly.
Dishes are generally £4 - £6 and you can get a good bottle of red for £13.
The food is excellent and the flavours amazing. In Addition to the standard menu serving all the traditional greats there are also a few specials each night. We ordered eight dishes between the 3 of us and every one was a winner (my favourite of the evening being the beef cheeks)
There are just 6 small tables in side, but whether a large group or an intimate meal for 2 you never feel out of place. There are also a number of tables outside under cover almost doubling the number of people they can cater for.
I do'#t think you can book, so when we visit we always have a plan B in case its full. But that's the point, San Juan is plan A and the rest of Beech Road in Chorlton plan B. (that's not to say the rest is bad, but San Juan has the perfect mix of price, drink, atmosphere, great hosts and most importantly amazing, authentic food).
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We've looked at going here once or twice before but have often arrived on a Friday or Saturday night and been told there is a pretty long wait. The fact that Bar San Juan is continuously very popular and doesn't offer bookings is both pretty much my only criticism as well as a testament to how good this place is, in that people will quite happily wait a while to be seated.
Bar San Juan is a small place, maybe only 8 tables, located on Beech road. We visited on a Tuesday evening and were still told there was a 40 minute wait for a table. Happily, as it wasn't cold, we got a drink and waited on one of the tables outside. The table was ready in about the time it took to finish those drinks so there were no complaints from us at all.
To drink, I had San Miguel (because I'm boring) and Emily had sangria. We shared 7 dishes between us (apologies for the poor descriptions) including lamb parcels, meatballs, a chorizo and quails egg dish, battered prawns wrapped in bacon, cured ham, rustic bread with a tomato based dipping sauce and a steak pepper and potato dish from the specials board. For dessert we had some kind of almond cake and a crema catalana to share. Everything we ate was amazing, this was one of the best meals I've eaten in a long while and I would highly recommend!
All of the above including 2 rounds of drinks came to £58 which for the quality of the meal isn't too bad at all! The service was quick, friendly and efficient but never feeling rushed, the atmosphere is really nice and it was very much worth the wait.
I could have written a very short review of Bar San Juan just saying "AMAZING, GO HERE NOW!!!" but I found myself wanting to blab about it a little bit.
Anyway, can't recommend highly enough, my only grievance is that my phone was playing up so Emily B's review will have all the photos of our meal for the night.
Little gem nestled in Chorlton. It’s always busy so definitely not a hidden gem. The atmosphere is a bit chaotic and feels a bit rushed but that kind of adds to the authenticity. The food is fantastic, all dishes were a hit and offered more variety to other tapas style restaurants we’ve been to. Overall I’ll 100% head back and try some more of the food and you should too!
Has a great reputation and rightly so. Super busy even on a Thursday lunchtime. Food is amazing. 6 out of 7 of our dishes were 5*, the other 4*. We enjoyed chorizo, goats cheese, papas bravas, calamari, bread and manchego, washed down with sangria and Spanish beer. Monkfish was the highly, meaty and juicy and piping hot. Staff are jovial, loud in a good way and friendly. Environment is small but that just adds to the authentic atmosphere. A great place.
As recommended by a friend S, I went on the off-chance of them being able to fit me in for a late lunch, as visiting from Yorkshire. It was packed even at 3pm. After a wait a table was freed up and what a bonus. The staff were professional and efficient and very cheerful and polite. Had Patatas bravas and beef cheeks with an excellent dry white wine. Will return but I do advice booking. Excellent all round, thank you.
I recently dined at this restaurant and had a delightful experience. I savored a variety of dishes including Boquerones Marinados, Monkfish, Ham Croquets, Saquitos de Cordero, Chorizo a la Sidra, Papas Bravas, Pimientos de Padron, and Calamares Fritos. Everything was incredibly delicious! Also loved the Sangria! Highly recommended for a flavorful culinary journey. This restaurant offers an authentic Spanish culinary experience. Don't miss out if you're looking for genuine Spanish cuisine!
Great little place. Awesome atmosphere and even better food. Best tapas we had in a very long time. Highly recommended.
bruh this place is so good, you have to go. Especially on a sunny day. The waiters are all chatting in Spanish, the sangria is legit, the food is INSANE. Whenever we go here in the sunshine, it really feels like you are actually on holiday. Who needs Ryanair when you've got Bar San Juan.
My favourite tapas restaurant!! However it’s been a couple of years since I last went. Since then the spanish omelette has been taken off the menu and the steak fillet was insanely salty! This was my only gripe! I’ve had it before and it wasn’t as salty as that, so I gave that as feedback to the staff, which was very welcomed! All in all, food is top here!
The food is absolutely delicious; best octopus I've had in ages. Lamb parcels and the baked veg with goats cheese were also highlights. Very good service too! Best to book ahead though as it was full on a Tuesday early evening - we ended up on the only table outside which isn't heated.
The best by far, Spanish waiters, all dishes a 10 out of 10, we feel like we are in Spain, black pudding from Burgos, ventresca with roasted peppers, cheeks, it is a typical bar in a town in Andalucia , Fito singing in the background, liquors like we could have the caballero punch or the catalan cream. Without a doubt we will go again, and the prices are not expensive, compared to others I saw cheap. También resaltar el personal, agradables y simpáticos, atención 10 de 10, rápidos y eficientes como en nuestra España.
We just had lunch at this fantastic gem of a place, no wonder you are lucky to get a table as a walk in with no prior bookings!!
The service is warm and friendly promoting that family fun feel, with the right mix of attentiveness. The food is on another level, from the perfectly cooked monkfish to the divine Beef cheek that melts on your tongue. This place is not on the budget side but if you want to have delightful food it is well worth the money! I will most defiantly be returning, probably sooner rather than later.
Many thanks for a delicious lunch!
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