Junior’s Restaurant
785 St Mary’s Rd (three total locations)
204-256-6571
Juniorswinnipeg.com (website hijacked by Skip the Dishes)
Facebook:  @juniorswinnipeg

November, 2020

I drive by the St Mary's location often, and for years, the only thing I noticed about the restaurant was the burnt out light bulbs around the marquee sign.  Almost a decade ago, about half of them worked--then like a hockey bruiser's mouth, the teeth continue to drop until now, where only eight remain, sadly flashing.

I always thought the lights make the restaurant look tawdry--either take them out or replace them.  Leaving those few sad bulbs just makes the place look neglected.  Mainly because of the appearance, I drove right by all those years without a thought of entering Junior's.

Now that we mire deep in the heart of the COVID lock-down, we concentrate a lot more about supporting local.  In past, if a yearning comes along, we may conveniently stop at McDonald's or Wendy's for burgers.  Now, I want every penny to go to locals.  Like a bell ringing in my head, Junior's pitiful lights grab my attention and I come to realise that I should give their burgers a try.

Junior's website has been hijacked by Skip the Dishes, which means that if I want to order from Junior without giving a king's cut of the profits to Skip, I need to call them directly or just go, order and wait.  I didn't need to wait any more than 15 minutes from the moment I stepped into the restaurant to the time I left.  While there, I saw three Skip drivers come and go, as well as three more orders waiting on the counter.

Please, if you're going to take out from a restaurant, do not use Skip the Dishes (or any other third party delivery system).  Skip the Dishes takes 30% of the profit right off the top of the restaurant's take--and if they're late at all when the driver arrives, they further penalise the restaurant by the minute that the driver waits.  You read that right:  for every minute that the driver waits, the Skip increases the penalty on the restaurant.  That means that restaurant is literally left with nothing.  They supply the ingredients, labour and time--they prepare the food and lovingly present and pack it, and Skip takes all the profits.  It's not right.  It's greedy and it's an abject disgrace in a time when local restaurants are fighting for their lives.  Skip the Dishes is now a multi-national company worth more than $200 million.  They've been accused repeatedly of poor treatment to their employees and drivers.  Please use in-house deliveries for the restaurants that have drivers, and consider picking up yourself for those who do not.  As well, do not use Skip's online ordering system.  If you pay through their app, they still take the 30%, regardless of whether they have to send a driver or not.

While waiting for the food, I have some opportunity to look around the restaurant.  From the busted-up sign outside, I expected the restaurant to be in stages of disrepair as well.  Surprisingly, that's not the situation at all.  

Everything looks bright and clean, giving the prototypical look of a diner-type restaurant, complete with the bright red benches.  A couple of the ceiling tiles look stained and need replacing, but otherwise, the establishment looks neat and well-maintained.

About the food, here's something that has always been a mystery to me.  A lot of the Winnipeg local restaurants serve a house burger that comes with chilli as a standard.  Take this standard burger and add onions, pickles, lettuce and tomato (all vegetables with literally little more than zero calories) and the burger becomes a Fat Boy.  

Am I missing something?  Vegetables make a burger a Fat Boy?

Junior's Fat Boy comes with a Certified Angus Beef patty, chilli, onions, mustard, pickles, shredded lettuce, tomato slice, mayo and processed cheese.

Looking under the hood, you find the burger to have plenty of fresh, bright green lettuce, an ample amount of nicely flavoured chilli (not spicy), and dollops of mayo.  There's often an unofficial correlation between the messiness of the burger and the overall enjoyment of the meal.  This folks, is a messy burger.

Even though you can't see it in either of my photos, there's plenty of meat to the patty, in addition to all the enveloping goo.  Somehow, among all these ingredients, the bun manages to stay dry, intact and soggy-free.  

The fries come well cooked, not greasy but still glistening in appearance.  The outer shell tastes crispy with the core remaining soft and just cooked.  There's just enough seasoning to give a nice, round profile.  

If burgers aren't your thing, the menu offers the usual items you expect on from a local burger joint.  The Chicken Gyro comes in a hefty pita wrapper, stuffed with lettuce, onions, thick slices of tomatoes, big chunks of grilled chicken, and plenty of tzatziki sauce.  The chicken tastes nicely cooked, and not overdone/dry, which is often wont with fussy breast meat.

The entire meal is a delicious journey.  It saddens me to think of all the times I drove by Junior's and never thought of entering because of their beat up sign.  From this review, I hope that my readers appreciate one of three takeaways:

1. Don't judge a book by its cover.  Just because the lights outside look neglected, don't assume the establishment faces the same neglect.  There is nothing that slips attention in the successful food from here.
2. Don't scrimp on the necessities.  Junior!  A few packs of light bulbs may cost you $100, and changing those light bulbs takes a ladder and two hours of your time.  Change those bulbs and don't let people like me continue to pass you by thinking your place is a dive!
3. Customers:  please don't use Skip the Dishes or any other third party delivery agent.  Help small business by giving your money to small business, not a greedy mega-corp that pretends to care about its partners. 

This is an unbiased, free public service that I am happy to provide.  If you enjoy these reviews, please consider clicking on the accompanying ads.  This is the only compensation I receive. 

For continuous updates, please follow me on Facebook @RayYuenRestaurantReview .  As usual, thanks for reading and good food to you!

Ray Yuen, Pit Master, Grill Master

Certified Kansas City Barbecue Society Judge - Badge #97736

Certified Steak Cook-off Association Judge - Badge #7788

Canadian Barbecue Society Member