Solita Prestwich

The fact that you can now get SoLita outside the city centre may unnerve a few people as they are becoming more and more powerful and entering the dreading chain-​status. However until they compromise on the quality and inventiveness of the menu, I’ll remain a happy customer!
I had the, Jack Daddy, the same burger here last night that I had at the NQ branch last week (blimey I need to check my diet) and it tasted as good if not better. The meat was good perfectly, probably a medium-​well but not too well done and the lathering of Jack Daniels BBQ sauces was fantastically set off with the cheese.
Served with regular chips, but at SoLita chips are just chips unless you get the added toppings, for me I had skinny fries, cooked well — no fuss.
The only downside to the entire meal were the BBQ wings I ordered. They were nice don’t get me wrong, but they just had far too much BBQ sauce on them, though once I’d scrapped some extra sauce off the actual wings were great!
Speedy service on a cosy Valentines day meal for 4 male friends.

Well with the vibrant and funky environment and friendly staff I thought I was in for a great experience. I saw the place as I drove past earlier in the morning (thought it was Mexican from the name and drive by) then by a quirky twist of fait I message a mate and we ended up having dinner there later that night.
Starting with Olives I did’t realise they still had stones in them, can’t recall the last time I have ever experienced Olives with them still in… also the cheeseburger spring rolls which were amazing and could have don’t with a larger main course poring of these as an option!
The main course of a burger was nothing special and for the price, in fact was expensive. The fries I had with cheese and tomato on were actually cold and soggy. Clearly they had all been microwaved to make the cheese melt and an attempt to warm up the fries… REALLY? C’mon do customers paying these prices really not tell the difference. These were exchanged for a fresher portion… still it shouldn’t have happened.
In short, the food not the venue needs to be the attraction, sadly it appears the other way around here for me.

Where do you start with something people have raved about yet you just can’t seem to see the attraction!
Driving past countless times on my way into Manchester I have seen Solita and seen its nice façade outside and I especially like the neon touches.
Anyway looks are one thing, inside I didn’t think it was as big almost like a reverse tardis
The nibbles of olives we had were nice but I wish I had know that they had stones still in. Hard to keep your decorum nearly cracking a tooth. The cheeseburger spring rolls were divine and they on there own deserve 5 stars
The burgers arrived and I just found the plate looking very bland it seems to just plonked on. And there was no match with the surroundings (bright neon lights and posters yet bright white plates just didn’t seem right. The meat patty was tasty but slightly dry, along with dull lifeless iceberg
Nice touch was the vimto no charge on the bill but £49.70 for two on a Monday night seems like an over priced especially with no alcohol
Would I return — I’d have to seriously be drawn back by an offer or event.

TL;DR — Book in advance for some great food. Not one for calorie counters.
We were very excited when we heard SoLIta was coming to Prestwich, but when it finally opened there was so much pent up demand it was booked out for weeks. We finally got a chance to visit and were not disappointed.
The first thing that strikes you is what a great job they’ve done converting the place. They’ve taken the old Aumbrey restaurant and joined to a former takeaway to produce a surprisingly spacious restaurant. We’d booked in advance and were glad we did — the place was heaving.
The menu is exactly the same as you’d get in their Northern Quarter branch — lots of takes on burgers and hotdogs, plus a few other dishes (fish, vegetarian). But let’s face it — you’re here for the burgers. Sparky ordered the KFB (Kentucky Fried Bacon) and I had the Drop It Like It’s Hot (spicy!). They’ve got a few beers on tap; we skipped the house special Solita Brau and went for a Paulaner Weißbier instead because we love the stuff. We also added a side of onion rings and another of coleslaw.
We were quite shocked by just how fast our food came, probably in just over 5 minutes. I guess if you serve a lot of burgers, they just make sure they have some on the go at all times. Burgers can be served medium or well done — we went with the former, and it was properly medium — nice and pink inside. In many places this would a cause for concern, but everything here’s freshly prepared so no worries. The burgers were amazingly good… words won’t do their artery clogging deliciousness justice.
There were also some amazing looking desserts on the menu but frankly we were too full of burger to do them justice.
The food is great and the calorie count is high. Hugely tasty. Hugely satisfying.

To be clear I did not enjoy my first visit to Solita Prestwich.
Over the last few years I have been a regular in the NQ restaurant and have enjoyed the rise of the ‘start up’ to be a successful restaurant… even forgiving the staff who were once pleased to see you who have moved on to ‘doing you a favour’ when serving you. It’s a shame this happens when restaurants get a bit too busy and caught up in their own hype.
Unfortunately the latter ethos seems to have transferred to Prestwich.
We visited during the soft launch — we called them at 4pm on our visit on a Friday and asked if we would be ok (not having to wait too long) if we turned up at 5pm on the same day. Nice guy on the phone said no worries get there and should be ok.
We walked in and although plenty of tables empty we had a clipboard waved at us ‘look how many reservations we have tonight… you’ll have to sit outside if you want a table’ — now Prestwich is no Miami… it wasn’t warm… but my son wanted burger so that’s were we sat. When we left 45 minutes later most of the tables inside were still empty!
Again I suppose now they have to ensure ‘consistency of their brand’, blah blah as food was OK — the once towering Big Manc seemed to become a parody of itself (not the McD’s version) — I bet there is a laminated picture in the kitchen of how it should look. All now a ‘bit too perfect’ and with just the right amount of lettuce on it (please god tell me they don’t weigh the lettuce!).
As we sat outside in the cold the food came super quickly (within 15 mins) and pretty much instantly the fries were cold.
I had given up by this stage — we ate quickly — drank quickly — paid quickly and left … yes quickly.
I know it’s soft launch time but this is when the standards are set — the attitude to customers is embedded by the managers. Maybe we will try again in 6 months… not before.