Petra

Had high hopes for this place after hearing that it does good tasty food at reasonable prices, was sadly disappointed.
I had hummous and pita for starter which was incredibly bland, it could’ve been anything, worse than shop-​bought hummous, I honestly don’t know how you get hummous wrong.
And then after waiting what seemed like an age for my main course, I was served vegetable stew, described on the menu as Fresh aubergines, courgettes, red and green pepper &
onions, cooked in tomato sauce, garlic and herbs served with rice but what turned out to be a few gloopy pieces of some non-​descript vegetable in what appeared to be and tasted like tomato soup.
Others in our party had ordered kebabs and were served dry bits of meat on skewers with no sauce or garnish, I knew it would be no frills but this just wasn’t very good at all.
Will not be going back here in a hurry

Executive summary: Petra is a nice restaurant with tasty food and good prices, but they don’t have enough variety to make it somewhere you’d go often.
As others have said, the location of Petra is unfortunate, for behind the tinted windows — which always make me worry the restaurant owners don’t want me to be able to see what I’m getting into — is a place they should be proud of and deserves to be visited by many more people who sadly never venture near Longsight.
What is Petra? It’s a middle-​eastern (I assume Jordanian at heart, hence the name) restaurant with an emphasis on a warm atmosphere and hearty fare over delicateness or finesse. This works well, with the staple dishes of meatballs in sauces giving you a feeling you’ve had a good meal at the end of it and giving your tastebuds something to smile about at the same time, even if the food isn’t going to win awards any time soon. The hummus is pretty good, but there’s only so much you can do with hummus, and the Kosmos Taverna does better dips with pitta bread for starters anyway. Prices are in keeping with this, and you can do a starter and main for under £15 without searching too hard on the menu.
However, Petra has some odd drawbacks. Chiefly, a lot of the dishes seem to be the same. While the menu looks pretty broad at first glance, I couldn’t taste the difference between my ‘lamb meatballs in a tomato sauce’ and a friend’s ‘minced lamb fingers in a tomato-​based sauce’. Both were nice, but I did get the impression that if I went to Petra three times I’d have exhausted most of the actual variety on offer. Other drawbacks included a selection of dodgy wines, especially the house ones, and a dining room with simply more tables than it can really fit.
Having said that, these drawbacks are far from fatal. You can BYOB for a negligible fee and even though the menu is a tad narrow it’s all good stuff. Petra gets a decent four stars from me, though it’s not shooting for the fifth I’m afraid. It’s the sort of place where you enjoy going every so often, but you probably don’t tell out-​of-​towners is the jewel in Manchester’s crown.

Food was OK. Main course I had was mixed kebab. Chicken a bit dry, lamb was not that tender and just ordinary. We all tried bits of each other main courses as well as the starters so got to try bits of each. Overall it was all OK — nothing special.

Hidden away in a bit of an odd location somewhere between Micro Direct, Tesco Express and the Machester Royal Infirmary, you will find Petra, a small, modest, middle-​eastern restaurant, with friendly staff and palatable prices.
It is a favorite of my colleagues and I, thanks to its bring-​your-​own-​drinks policy (which makes bill paying for large groups easier) and its cheap but very tasty fare. The food is varied and makes a nice change from the surplus italian/​indian/​chinese cuisine which is abundant in Manchester.
The food can be ordered in courses as you’d expect, or you can order a selection of the numerous starter dishes as a sort of middle-​eastern tapas.
This restaurant is on the small side, and isn’t remotely flashy, but it serves quality food, at a good price and promises a clean and friendly experience, best shared with friends.

Any other location and Petra would probably be regarded as one of the best restaurants in Manchester. As it is, it unfortunately lies sandwiched between Rusholme and Longsight. Two areas which aren’t that appealing. Parking is also a problem. Thus I can imagine people are put off by the area, lack of parking and loitering youths in the vicinity.
It is such a shame because the restaurant is an absolute delight. From great service to fantastic food. What a refreshing break from post modern and monotone décor of the restaurants in the city centre. The décor in here is unashamedly old fashioned, and it works. I love lamb and the lamb dishes I tasted here were simply delish…
So ignore your instincts and give it a shot if the only thing that matters in a restaurant for you is… fooood glorious fooood.

Petra’s offers delicious, fresh, authentic Lebanese food in a somewhat questionable area. Students who live at Victoria Halls are really spoilt for choice when it comes to local eateries, with Gabriel’s Kitchen, Seoul Kimchi and Petra a stone’s throw away. Agreeably, the local landscape is something to be desired, but the food along Upper Brook Street is of an unusually high calibre.
Anyway, back to Petra. The food is fantastic. I’m not a big meat eater but really enjoyed the options on offer (most of the food is lamb-​based but they are very accommodating to veggies). That said, I do eat meat and really enjoyed the mixed mezze and the crispy lahmajun. If you’re not sure what to have ask for a selection of starters with pitta and hummus and you’ll be stuffed and satisfied guaranteed.
The staff are very sweet and the service is fast and accommodating. You can bring your own booze without a problem. Also serving some beautiful traditional sweets and great coffee, Petra is a real treat and highly recommended.

The surprisingly high culinary standard on the Upper Brook Street parade (and I do include Florida Fried Chicken in that) is maintained by this wood panelled Lebanese eatery. Although there are a number of places offering Lebanese food in Manchester (Fatoosh on the curry mile for example) these premises often operate simultaneously as takeaway pizza shops or shisha bars. Petra though offers a dedicated sit down restaurant experience; tables with real place settings, four complete walls and very friendly staff.
The food itself is very good with my personal favourites including the delicious baba ghanoush (mashed, seasoned aubergine served with pitta bread) and spiced lamb kebabs. Be forewarned many of the dishes available here are lamb-​based (this being typical of Lebanese cuisine in general) and so if you are not a fan of sheep meat the menu is a little lacking in options. That being said there are some decent meat free dishes (with much of the mezze being vegetarian) and the jawaneh (lemon and garlic infused chicken wings) are really excellent.
Petra is unlicensed but charges only a small fee (£1 when I last visited) for corkage. If you’re after something different and delicious then I can absolutely recommend Petra.