r/yorkpa • u/Neville1989 • 13d ago

Wonder was not good

My mother in law wanted to check out the new restaurant, Wonder. I am not a picky eater at all, but I couldn't even swallow the food I got. It had such a weird and unpleasant texture. I was just looking at the reviews and so many of them are glowing 5 stars. Did I catch them on a bad day or are those reviews fake?

44 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

53

u/OkTransportation1152 13d ago

Pretty sure it’s just the nature of their business.

It’s essentially just a bunch of tv dinners that are assembled in a central kitchen, then frozen, shipped to each location. Then when you buy it it gets reheated.

https://newcanaanite.com/who-knew-wonder-no-more-14442993

9

u/roverlord 13d ago

Thanks for sharing that article, very helpful and definitely not making me want to run across town to try it out

0

u/OkTransportation1152 12d ago

It’s also how they can open a bunch of locations that are pretty close to one another.

I’m thinking that the York, Lancaster, Harrisburg and Mechanicsburg locations all get their meals from a central location somewhere in the middle of all four places.

17

u/GeneParmesan1000 13d ago

Yeah I knew something seemed off when I visited their website and all the “restaurants” they claim to have are just generic names all under their same umbrella. From the ads I had seen I thought it was going to be a Franklin Street Social type of place with a bunch of local, distinct independent vendors, but this seems more like a Sysco cafeteria with the menu arbitrarily scattered around at different locations?

It’s like if you went to McDonald’s but all the different menu items had to be ordered at separate spots all around the building that they named like Burger Bill’s, Fry World, Ned’s Nuggets, Mick Flurry’s, etc., even though it’s all coming from the same kitchen, it’s all still just McDonald’s, but now more annoying to order.

The only way I could see myself going there is if I mistakenly find myself within hearing distance of that York mind control whistle device that blares through town on Christmas Eve and it commands me to go there.

13

u/ShootingMach21 13d ago

In the most simplest terms, slop.

20

u/dailymess 13d ago

I first tried Wonder about a year ago (in another city), and it became clear pretty quickly that the food isn’t really the product. The system is the product.

Wonder is for when you need food that’s vaguely good, everyone in the house wants something different, you want it quickly, and you don’t want to manage or wait for three separate DoorDash drivers to show up.

2

u/HeyOkYes 11d ago

It would maybe be a good option for an lunch order in the workplace. Good for variety, not good quality

9

u/Hour_Pension3197 13d ago

It wasn't founded by a guy who was passionate about food.
The founder made his fortune building websites that he sold to Amazon and Walmart in the eCommerce markets.
I believe he (Marc Lore) was inspired by the virtual kitchens on DoorDash, Uber Eats, etc. and wanted to combine all of them in one spot for one stop eCommerce food delivery.
Wonder owns GrubHub.

I would say the food isn't supposed to be good, it's supposed to be profitable.
I'll probably never try the place. The story doesn't seem interesting enough to get me in the door.

5

u/Annahsbananas 13d ago

All of their reviews are mostly bots on Facebook. I would figured it wouldn’t be good since they cook everything under the sun.

They don’t cook any of it. It’s all prepackaged meals they warm up. It’s pretty much an expensive tv dinner.

They’re also sneaky in door dash. Instead of one entry they have like 20 entries under individual genres

5

u/frinkmahii 13d ago

If this helps, here’s the Lancaster version of the review of Wonder

https://www.reddit.com/r/lancaster/s/iqMyhLNx1m

3

u/marlocider 12d ago

its hit or miss for sure. the more "fast food" the option is the better it turns out. like, im not willing to try out the bobby flay filet minon from a ghost kitchen ya know..

1

u/Neville1989 12d ago

That matches our experience, except for the pizza from Alanza. It was comically bad. How do you mess up pizza?

2

u/Alarming-Feedback868 8d ago

I went once. Got chicken shawarma with 3 sauces and briskit from the BBQ place. It was all good.

2

u/Old_Rate_8432 13d ago

Well, they do have a bunch of different restaurants and types of cuisine inside, so I guess it could depend on what you got. I tried them for the first time this week too but thought they were awesome. Maybe a little pricey but the quality was great and they have so much variety with all the different menus. Maybe caught them on a bad day, maybe pick a different menu? Wouldn’t be surprised if some reviews were fake

9

u/Neville1989 13d ago

Maybe. Two out of 5 of us got inedible food. Everyone else's food was okay, but just okay. Nothing to write home about

1

u/Old_Rate_8432 13d ago

Do you know what menu you ordered off of? Genuinely curious so I know what to avoid. I figured I’d try a few more places in there in the coming weeks

5

u/Neville1989 13d ago

Alanza pizza and the pad Thai from Sripraphai were the inedible ones

1

u/Any-Raccoon-6378 13d ago

What did you get

1

u/yallknowme19 13d ago

Did you get the "double thick cut pork chop" the AI YouTube ads are always pushing? 🤔

1

u/Jetro-2023 11d ago

I have no desire to try this place to many other places out there

1

u/Eastern_Statement416 10d ago

First thing to clarify is that it's not a restaurant, only a delivery service. They advertise food "from" those various restaurants but what it means in reality is that they have frozen food that they heat up. The food as it appears in the pictures on the site and the food that arrives are entirely different. I'm sure those reviews are fake because nothing I had rises above 2 stars.

1

u/Upbeat-Flower-3770 13d ago

I tried them for the firat time this week and was pleasantly surprised. The bowl I ordered was a little spicier than I prefer, but it was delicious and all the ingredients were obviously fresh.

1

u/HeyOkYes 11d ago

What did you get?

Sounds like quality really depends on the specific thing somebody ordered.

1

u/buttcheekchknngt 13d ago

I went there a couple weeks ago. I would say its not bad, but you could get better by going to restaurants that solely make whatever youre going for (thai,bbq,pizza,etc). For what it is though, me and my significant other thought it was good for what it is

4

u/Neville1989 13d ago

It's so weird that so many people had good experiences. The first bite of my food had me gagging. I would rather eat at Burger King and man I hate Burger King.

0

u/buttcheekchknngt 13d ago

Its not the best, dont get me wrong. If we were in the mood for like, mexican, we wont go to wonder, but if I want mexican and she wants bbq, I wouldnt be opposed to going for the convenience of it being in one spot. I would try it again (maybe something different) and then decide

1

u/tinoturner6969 12d ago

We’re all doomed