Wholesome Junkies — Restaurant in Manchester

Wholesome Junkies was one of the first restaurants I visited when I moved to Manchester in 2019. I adored their place in the Arndale and was impressed to hear they'd opened a restaurant. I visited their new location on opening day and had a lovely burger, tater tots, and chicken bites. However, I then made several trips to the new location again once their inside restaurant had opened on days that both Google and their own social media stated they were open, only to find they were closed. Finally, I made it to the restaurant on a day they were actually open and was extremely disappointed with what I was greeted with. Firstly, the restaurant itself is tiny with little space between tables and only one toilet. The table I was seated at was also next to an inconvenient staff area with fridges, step ladders, and other bits and bobs which were distracting from my dining experience. I would prefer to sit and enjoy my food without staff rummaging around next to my table every 5 minutes. These supplies need to be in the kitchen out of the way of customers. My partner and I then ordered: two portions of tater tots, two portions of chicken bites, two drinks, and a KFC burger. We were informed that they had run out of tater tots (despite it only being 5pm) so substituted for fries. After a bit of a wait (considering we could see our drinks in the fridge next to our table anyway), we finally received our drinks. Then some time later, received our chicken and chips. I assumed my burger was on the way, so waited 10 minutes only for it to never arrive. After asking staff where it was, I was told he "didn't catch that" and one hadn't been ordered. This was not good enough as staff are literally paid to "catch that" and should read the order back to customers to ensure they have not missed anything. I was asked if I wanted one making but there was little point to this as I already had the rest of my food. In the end, I was offered a dessert on the house so I accepted, but after such a long wait to make it to the restaurant on a day they were actually open, this was not the food nor service I wanted. The chicken is very nice, though not enough to redeem the fact I only received a third of the items I ordered. It is clear these are very early days for Wholesome Junkies and are far from being equipped to run a functioning restaurant, especially with strong local...

To quote Gerry Cinnamon - She’s a Belter …

Trying to support vegan only businesses is hard when you want a breakfast after a night out and none are open in mcr until 11am or Midday. Browsing the menu at WJ shortly after 10am the guys said they were prepping but happy to serve us. Nice 😊

What a cool place. Bright, colourful, funky, quirky, with mellow tunes and a belter of a menu - 6 small plates, 8 burgers (9 with the breakfast one - not on the menu), 10 amazing specials, 5 desserts and whole load of drinks, including alcoholic. We were really sad the Mac ‘N’ Cheese was not available.

Breakfast Burger £8.50. To quote Gerry Cinnamon - “she’s a belter”. Bigger than a Big Mac and tastier than a Whopper, it’s a soft warm brioche bun with a sausage patty, it’s not bacon, hash brown and melted cheese. Dead and gone to heaven…

Frickles £4.95. 8 long pickles fried in panko crumbs served with WKs own mayo. They were moist, not at all greasy and the mayo was superb.

Thai Fries £5. Skin-on-fries covered in sweet chilli and spicy mayo, interspersed with pickled chillis, spring onions, sesame seeds and a wedge lime. They were tasty and we’ll seasoned. To be really picky, they were too crammed in to eat easily but I couldn’t fault the flavour.

Chai Latte £3.95. A little steep for a hot drink, but it is honestly the best chai latte I’ve had. The difference being, this was so thick and creamy which I really liked.

Would I recommend? Most certainly.

Would I go back? With so many 100% vegan places in Manchester it’s a tough one, but it’d be unfair to say no, as I know I’ll be back for a Chai Latte and Breakfast Burger after a night out.

Thanks for letting us eat...

I have a bit of a mixed review despite being so excited to finally try this place. I had decided to get a takeaway and thought the order would be made properly.

I had ordered a truffle chikn burger and asked if I could order thai tater tots instead of the thai fries. The guy who took my order was fairly nice and said they could do the tater tots as thai tots instead of thai fries. After a wait for 30 minutes (I didn’t mind as the man who took my order did inform me that there was a bit of a wait), I was given my order and I happily headed home.

To my surprise, upon opening the items, I had received thai fries instead of tots. It was so disappointing to see that my order wasn’t made right despite of being promised that I would get it in tots.

Taste : I would say the burger tasted good! I enjoyed it and would definitely love to have it again. However, I found it to be on the pricier side of things as the burger costed £15.95 for a single patty.

Overall, I would say my experience was average and I was disappointed as there was no one answering their contact number to rectify the mistake. Unfortunately, this is my only way of communication to Wholesome junkies. I love the initiative and the idea behind it - hope any future experiences of mine have a...