Pancho's

Worst burrito ever.

If you go here more than once, as I have been for a year, you will realise that their customer service goes downhill fast. Today was the last straw, I will never eat there again after dealing with a cheeky member of staff who not only would not honour the loyalty card - I'm sorry I paid for 2 meals, if the last box is a free meal, it's a free meal - she also overcharged. I believe 2 meal deals are £11, I do not understand how you got to £13.80?! After that I asked for a refund from their other counter as I was unhappy with their service and they didn't even provide one telling me I need to see their manager on Tuesday as no one has ever complained before... IT'S SUNDAY. I just left my un-opened burrito on their counter and walked away.

I've put up with their bad service in the past but never again. It's not that good to put up with unpleasantry from their surly female staff. I do not recommend.

Simply delicious. The staff are brilliant and the food even better. I enjoy Mexican food a lot and up until now the only source nearby was barburrito and although they’re not at all bad, Pancho’s is in my opinion much tastier and of similar value (actually, I think it’s a tad cheaper). I’ll definitely be returning in the near future.

EDIT :
I still think the food is great, but the older guy (owner / manager ?) really needs to learn some manners – As a loyal customer, I will not be spoken to in the tone I was. Also, they were (on this occassion at least) extremely dis-organised – I had to repeat my order of a beef burrito four times. Panchos are popular and deservedly so but at lunch time having to wait as long as I did, with no explanation of what stage my order was at is not acceptable.
I still unreservedly recommend Panchos but I’d probably try to avoid peak times if possible as the service appears to go to the wall at such times.

This place is a real find - exceptional burritos, tacos and messy sauces (there's something wrong if your burrito is not dripping down your arm), really friendly and helpful staff and a nice line in dried chillies sold by weight to take home as a souvenir of your visit!

I like barburrito too but preferred Pancho's. Can't wait to go back.

There's been a hell of a lot of buzz on Twitter recently about Pancho's - a small, relatively unknown stall on Arndale Market which serves up an excellent range of delicious and affordable Mexican treats. I'd also been hearing rumours that whisper it its food may be better than that being served up at that long standing Mancunian Tex-Mex institution Barburritos.
So, when I was in town yesterday and my tummy started rumbling, I thought that the time was right to try it out, and see for myself if it lived up to the hype.

Pancho's is certainly popular. Perhaps it was just because Arndale Market was busy yesterday, but when myself and my partner arrived, there was a long queue of people there who'd all been drawn in by the delicious smells wafting out from this stall's grill and tortilla press. They also appeared to be rapidly running out of tortillas and baguettes, which is always a good sign of a popular and much loved food stall.

I decided to opt for a portion of Chilli con Carne with rice (£3.75), and my partner chose a Pork Torta (£3.75) which was a small baguette filled with shredded pork, jalapeno chillies, sour cream guacamole and topped with chipotle ketchup.

The chilli was excellent - rich, toothsome and deliciously smoky tasting from the liberal addition of chipotle chillies. I was rather confused as to why it contained carrots and courgettes (surely that can't be authentic!) but I still happily scoffed the lot.

My partner was slightly less impressed by his pork torta. Whilst each of the indivdual components of the sandwich were delicious, when put together, it seemed to lack a bit of punchy bite and zing. Still, at under £4, it was excellent value - and we both agreed that we'd probably order it again, although with something like beef or chicken next time.

All in all, you can see why Pancho's is proving to be so popular with those Mancunian foodies in the know, even more so when you see that it's also a treasure trove of hard-to-get Mexican ingredients, such as hibiscus tea, and chillies in adobe sauce. I also loved the fact that you could buy individual chillies from little baskets situated to the side of the cashier, which is great for any Mexican-food-loving cook.

Is Pancho's better than Barburrito? Well, the jury's still out. But I do know that I will definitely be returning, and soon. The mere thought of another portion of their excellent Chilli is making my stomach growl!