The burger scene has become fiercely competitive in Manchester city centre, so we commend any brand who takes on the venture to open up shop. Honest Burger is the latest title to grace Manchester’s streets and you may already be familiar with the chain from London. As the new burger place on the scene, STYLEetc headed down to review the menu and service for ourselves and give our ‘honest’ thoughts (pun intended).
Our Honest Thoughts
There is a casual vibe as you enter the restaurant, Honest Burger keeps things simple and doesn’t aim to distract with ornate decor. This gives a laid back atmosphere, where you feel you could show up after work or dressed down and grab a bite with no fuss.
The staff are friendly and eager to please. We were promptly shown to our table and handed a menu with the menu’s limited, speciality burger choices.
The menu splits options into chicken, beef and plant to offer burgers to suit veggies and carnivores. The signature ‘Honest’ beef burger comes with smoked bacon, Cheddar, red onion, relish, pickles and lettuce. For every location there is also an exclusive offering, with this venue’s being the Northern treat; ‘Manchester’ burger which comes with Bury black pudding, Runaway beer cheese sauce, mini roasties, bacon gravy and pickles.
We ordered a classic ‘Honest’ burger and a customised beef and bacon burger with the chilli sauce on the side. Both burgers were ordered with a side of rosemary fries.
The burgers were juicy and tender. Each dish was a generous portion that ensured you would leave full. The fries added a little originality to the menu and gave us added flavour to generic salted chips, but the rosemary could get a little overbearing at times if that isn’t your sort of flavour. The burgers delivered on their advertising, what you see is what you get with this menu, so you won’t be left disappointed. We did have an issue with the custom order arriving wrong at first but our server could not have been more apologetic for the mix up and promptly corrected the error. Mistakes will always happen at food places, but what you can measure a restaurant on is how they deal with issues and Honest Burger dealt with ours with a friendly attitude and quick resolution.
For drinks there were the usual soda options, but we decided to go for the lesser known ‘Karma Cola’. The cola comes in a retro looking glass bottle and promises it is made in a more fair trade and ethical environment compared against other sodas. The choice of this was a nice touch which added something different to Honest Burger.
Overall, for the £9-£13 price-tag you’ll look to pay for food, Honest measures up and is a good shout for a quick served meal that will satisfy, but if you want something with more frills or gimmicks it may not be for you.
