The Shack

The Shack Bar & Grill as it’s now called definitely has a student feel to it. There’s the chance to play beer pong and theres large tv sceens on the wall showing sports matches, so it’s definitely not the type of place I expected to find in the Northern Quarter.
They’ve gone for wooden décor, tables, chairs, floor and bar are all decked in wood, and with the lighting being low the place is rather dark, and with the lack of colour it does look a little dingy — but don’t let this put you of, the menu is exactly what you’d expect — meat, meat and more grilled meat. There’s steaks, ribs, burgers, chicken dishes and my favourite, fajitas. The menu definitely had something to offer for anyone who’s looking for a generous portion of well cooked grilled food (there’s even a few vegetarian options thrown in). This is the type of place where there is no table service so you have to remember your table number and go up and order at the bar. I arrived pretty early on a Friday night so I didn’t have to queue, however as we were leaving it had gotten busy and there was definitely a wait to be served.
I opted for the chicken fajitas which were £10 (pretty damn reasonable for the amount and quality of food). Everything was well seasoned and the flavours of the sour cream and salsa complimented the chicken and veg well.
With all that the Northern Quarter has to offer I wouldn’t really recommend this bar to anyone. It seems out of place, in my opinion it would be better on Oxford Road.

Shack is the born again R-​house, which was quite possibly the worst looking and ill-​conceived bar the Northern Quarter has ever seen.
In Shack, they’ve put up a bit of wood outside to give it a «cool…» new rustic Tiki feel and introduced a run of the mill menu (think burgers, Panini’s etc) but kept it pretty much as it was inside which was awful. Garish purple chairs and bubble booths, chavvy cheap looking silver ornaments and chandeliers and stencils of world famous stars who quite frankly would be embarrassed to be in this bar.
We visited when it was a boiling hot day and sat outside (their saving grace, meaning you haven’t got to be inside) and while nice to drink alfresco, the prices were as expensive as anywhere else where it’s a pleasure to visit.
Just a note to the owners though, not all is lost!
You’ve a great building there which would suit a stripped back, Berlin-​esque underground venue, so ditch the décor and strip it right back and make it the crown of the NQ. That’s probably better than the pub quiz answer to «what is the worst bar in the northern quarter?» which anyone can easily answer at the moment.