JUNK SOHO — Restaurant in London

🍔 Crispy Hype Meets Soho Buzz — Junk SoHo (25/09/2025)

Part one of my smashed burger review — the burgers here deliver more crunch than punch, with gritty ‘burnt ends’ and very light seasoning. Don’t expect juicy flavour fireworks.

The Truffle Burger (max size = XL) came across as mild and under-truffled for my taste. The Junk Smashed Burger (Medium) was serviceable but unremarkable.

The fries were the highlight, soft inside, crisp outside, and well seasoned. Their Junk House Sauce pairs beautifully — get an extra tub for the fries.

Food is delivered via buzzer (expect around 10 minutes at busy times). Staff clean quickly and efficiently between diners.

Evenings can get cramped tables are stainless steel and easy to sanitise, but the tight layout is challenging if you dislike crowds. Be mindful of sharp table corners when collecting your tray.

Parking in Soho is a tough game. Several streets around Soho Square and nearby operate metered or permit controls until 18:30, after that, many single yellow line restrictions lift, letting you park where signage allows. One example: Soho Square itself becomes free after 6:30 pm in certain sections. 

Also, on some streets just past Shaftesbury Avenue you can sometimes find free parking after 18:30, particularly near the Odeon / Chestertons area. 

That said, always check the street signs restrictions and hours vary block by block.

All told: for a casual evening stop, Junk SoHo delivers crunchy, no-frills burgers and playful sides. The parking is a bit of a gamble, but with some luck after 6:30 pm you might catch a free...

The most standard smashburger. Not bad, but nothing sets it apart from other smashburgers or hamburgers overall. If you are gonna have only one type of burger on the menu it should hopefully impress me! But no :(. It looked a bit sad, was fine on flavour, but a little dry and could have a billion more pickles. Or something fun.

The menu was a little confusing since it ranges from S to like XXXXXXL…. As someone who isn’t big on meat but still wants a balanced burger I would appreciate a clearer suggestion of what to pick… I got an S which was chill for me but like, it was pretty small.

The fries were good, though maybe even slightly too salty, and I looove salt! I must give it to the dip though, that was addictive. Would eat a ton.

I need to stress that the service was incredibly slow, despite like 10 people being in the kitchen/behind the till. There was no warning for the waiting time and we waited for like 45 minutes for takeaway, with no seating spots available. They kept taking orders despite the queue being super long. It was also incredibly stuffy and loud inside, and smokey. This was on a Thursday evening, and I get it, it’s Soho, but they should’ve had better organisation. It felt like the staff was a little inexperienced to deal with...

As far as London smash burgers go, this is a proper smash burger BUT the patties are very small and so a triple is the equivalent to a double anywhere else. They use a smearing smash technique (the proper way to smash a burger) which ends up with a lacey, crispy edge but without overdoing it and just having nothing but crunch. The burger is both juicy and crispy. Perfect technique. As with all British burgers, it’s bland compared to North American burgers so the condiments are more important. I got both the sweet onions and jalapeños as extras the first time I visited and it was great, but now they only allow jalapeños as a extra for the regular burger. You can’t get the sweet onions any more as an extra which is a shame, so on a return visit I had to order a truffle burger (which comes with the onions) and asked them to hold the truffle sauce and then add the jalapeños. Awful customer experience. I’m willing to pay for both extras, just charge me for what I want.

Their cookies were amazing. Just how I like them: thick and almost creamy on the inside. Easily my favorite cookie in London.

Overall, I would say that Junk is a bit overhyped on...