Northern Whig

I’ve been to the Whig twice only. Lots of open space and seating. Waiters were quick in serving us and the food came quite quick. I got chicken goujons and chunky chips with a sweet chilli dip. The chips were lovely, fluffy and crisp and the goujons were crispy and tender, the sweet chilli dip had a bit of spice but not too much, nice meal. They also do £4 cocktails during certain hours. Lovely classical interior and quite a busy bar and restaurant.

Went for lunch mid week with a few friends and my daughter. Food was nice but it’s not child friendly at all the servers didn’t really take my daughter under there notice. I needed a highchair for her and i had to go find one in the restaurant also no kids menu. So it’s nice for people with no kids. The cocktails looked lovely though.

Definitely can’t go wrong here — prices are reasonable, plenty of seating, adequate service and Steve said it was the best soup he ever had in his life (I think it was cream of vegetable).
Only thing I can fault them on was lack of ketchup for the chips (table full of Ugly Americans and all they could scrape together were five packets) — guess we need to get with the vinegar on chips thing.

The Northern Whig may be were I go to most for a drink this weather. It’s so interesting inside with the statues and just lovely décor. The bar has a great selection of drinks and he bar staff are fantastic. The food they serve is second to none and the wait staff and personable as well as knowledgeable. It is a great way to spend an afternoon (doubly so when the weather is poor, looking out the big windows at the front with a nice drink on a bad day is a thoroughly enjoyable experience)
A must see for places to drink in Belfast and a brilliant choice for a date.

It had been a while since I was at the Northern Whig, however we went for dinner tonight as my husband very luckily won a 3 course meal for two with a bottle of wine. I like the décor and atmosphere inside and the staff were really friendly and offered great customer service.
I went for soup for starter which was absolutely delicious, then chicken supreme with rice and vegetables for main which was tasty, and finished with Bailey’s and white chocolate cheesecake for dessert which was really good. The wine was also nice, and I have tried the cocktails in the past which are great.
There are a range of options on the menu and various deals available. I will return.

Northern whig bar is defo a great place to visit the staff and doormen are fab would recommend this place every time

I’ve always loved the interior here at the Whig, especially the lights over the bar and the massive communist-​esque statue. While the front part of the bar by the windows has become a little jaded, feeling more like a waiting room, the rest of the place remains the same. I don’t know if this is a good thing, as the clientèle seems to have dropped a little in number and style over the years, but for a drink and a pretty decent mid-​week meal deal, the Whig is grand. It would never be my first choice, but it wouldn’t be my last either, mainly because of the statues, after all, a good night is all about the company. For this area though there are so many better bars round the corner on Skipper Street/​Commercial Court.

Randomly picked this place while wandering around our first evening in Belfast and it ended up being one of the best meals of our trip. My boyfriend had the duck and I had some ravioli with shirmp and scallops inside in a lobster bisque sauce. We were there during happy hour in which they have good deals on cocktails. It’s a trendy looking bar but with these huge communist statues in it so it’s an interesting mix, just like Belfast. I would definitely check this place out.

Great atmosphere. Love the décor with the statues.

Dropped in for a meal here and the food was quite good. The mix grill was really good and the banoffe pie was heavenly. Will go back for food however the ambience of the place left a bit to be desired. Too big and noisy for my liking.

Fantastische Einrichtung mit drei riesigen, komunistischen Statuen aus Prag. Echt sehenswert! Sehr gute Adresse für Food, Drinks und Party.

Food/​Cost: (5) I came with my traveling companion for dinner last Tuesday. We both chose to take advantage of Whig’s meal deal — 2 courses for 10 pounds. What a great deal! For 10 pounds we got to choose 2 items from 3 sections: starters, entrees, or desserts. I opted for the entrée of the Haddock Risotto and a dessert of Sticky Toffee Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream (10 pounds for both). The risotto was very good. It was flavorful — if not too salty — and had a great risotto texture that was creamy with a slight bite. There could have been more haddock, but the amount was satisfactory. The dessert was what blew the meal out of the proverbial water. The sticky toffee pudding was amazing; it was already moist and flavorful, but the syrup that it sat in added even more sweetness and moisture. I was left wanting more, and that was not due to a deficiency in serving size by any means. I would have given Whig the same, 5-​star rating even if the food was double the price — it was that good. Best 10 pounds I spent in Ireland for a meal.
Ambiance: (5) The décor of Northern Whig is right up my alley. It’s classy mix of female glitz and glamour with a bit of something reminiscent of a masculine leather lounge. The large chandeliers that hang down from the ceiling kicks everything up a notch, and the large stone statues that fill the space is unexpected yet fits. Whig feels trendy, classy, and upscale.
Location: (5) Located on the corner of Bridge and Waring Streets, this restaurant was situated across from my hotel, which made it super convenient. For shoppers in the surrounding areas, from the Castle Court Shopping Center and Victoria Center, Whigs is only a short stroll away.
Service: (5) Our waiter was super friendly and helpful. He was also very funny and joked with us throughout dinner. The food came out promptly after we ordered and the courses came right after each other. Perfect.
Overall: (5) I couldn’t have asked for a better dinner experience. I would definitely return if I lived in Belfast.

Been here a few times for food and a couple of times from drinks. The food is good, the vibe is nice and the interior is pretty impressive.
The corner spot is dead handy and on entering there’s a lower seating area of sofas and low tables which are normally filled with drinkers. Up the steps is the main dining/​bar area and it’s hard not to be impressed with the high ceiling and huge military statues.
Even though it’s essentially a big square room it always seems cosy enough and pretty buzzing most times of the day. As I said anytime I’ve eaten there it’s been pretty casual and I’ve found the service really good. Best thing is that even when it’s busy the wait for the table is never too long plus you can get a seat and a drink while you wait.
One of Belfast’s underrated gems.
Pros: Nice environment.
Cons: Gets very busy and noisy in the run up to Xmas.

Do not be fooled by The Northern Whig. As part of the Botanic Inn group (the Globe, Ryans, Bot) I wasn’t expecting that much. In fact, I was expecting pretty much the exact same. Offers, students, nothing that special. How wrong I was.
The décor is fantastic, compared to just the usual pubs that you associate with the Botanic Inn group. They have leather chairs, great lighting, fancy cocktails. It’s not really aimed at the drunk student. Well certainly not during the day. I’ve heard about this place at night and it gets properly busy. We were only in it for lunch and it all seemed a little bit classier than we had first expected.
We got the lunch (two courses) and a glass of wine for £12.95 as I usually go for the offers and I’m a sucker for anything that comes complete with a glass of wine. If you give me a shower with Elton John and a free glass of wine, I’d consider it (insert inappropriate Elton John song titles at will).
The food was nice, wholesome pub food but you get the feeling this place is all about the drinks. The cocktails look fantastic and although I haven’t tried any since a fateful night in the Eg where we finished a menu of cocktails and brought home our very first traffic cone… Aw the memories…
Anyways, despite the decent food, it is the drink that you come here for. You can get nicer food in close proximity (I’m thinking Brights) so go there for your meal and here for your cocktails. And if you are able to drink your way through the entire menu, I’ll give you your very own traffic cone.

The Whig really is one of the trendiest funkiest bars in Belfast! Its situated a stone’s thro away from the City centre and is alays buzzing at the weekend and ofthen during the week too!
They specialise in awesome cocktails with special offers on pitchers (so good!) and the bar is well stocked with all the favourites! I love the décor, it has a boudoir feel with a strangeness about it (mainly the hige statues in the middle of the place) but these add to its quirky charm. There is a balcony area with its own bar which can be hired for functions and looks out over the rest of the pub.
The food is really quite good and is always busy! The menu is extensive and each dish sounds even better than its predassessor. I would most definately reccommed the duck walnut salad starter! so good!
The atmosphere is generally, young, loud and lively with DJ’s present at the weekends! Definately a great place to go with your mates if you’re looking for a good night out in the town!

I’m not really a fan of the Whig. It tends to be too busy at the weekends for me to enjoy it, plus it tries too hard to be trendy for my taste.
Now, the food is something I can get behind. I really like going here for dinner with the girls, or calling in for lunch when shopping on a Saturday, so I’d definitely recommend it as a restaurant. It’s nice gastropub food and very reasonably priced.
As a bar, however, it lacks something. I think it might be that the music is loud enough to suggest a club, but there’s no actual dancefloor. I hate this in a bar because it means people dance where they’re standing and the traffic flow gets messed up and I get stressed out trying to walk from the bar to the bathroom! No good.

The Northern Whig is a bar/​restaurant on the outskirts of the city centre’s Cathedral Quarter. The interior is beautiful; dimly lit with mahogany floors and wooden tables. It’s an upmarket bar, yet the food and drink are not overly expensive and you can still turn up (during the day) in jeans and t shirt (though not by night). The food is delicious, with everything from noodles to chicken goujons offered, and the staff are so polite and eager to please. Great place for a bit of food and drink and a quiet chat before hitting the noisier nightclubs.

Big but not brash, well situated and always busy; The Northern Whig is one of Belfast’s more trendy night spots.
Well designed and decorated on the inside, I’m a big fan of the look of this bar, particularly the Soviet era paraphinalia and statues that adorns the walls and plinths.
During the day it is a lovely restaurant with a good, varied menu all at an ok price. The food is quality, big portions and well presented so you pay for what you get. I’m ok with paying a wee bit extra but most people couldn’t afford to go every day for lunch.
At night it is maybe a bit trendy for my tastes, although I’ve never had a bad night I’ve never had a complete blast. Perhaps my jeans are a bit skinny, my hair just that little bit too asymetical or my taste in music is too lacking in Usher and Girls Aloud.
A lovely place, a bit of a landmark for Belfast to be proud of, just not my kind of place to hang out too often.

Went here on Halloween night, was my first time going there, and I was looking forward to it. Was slightly disappointed only because it was really really quiet! Anyone who knows Belfast on Halloween knows that it is usually busy everywhere you go. Now, we moved on elsewhere later, so it may be that it filled up after a fashion — but we didn’t see that. I thought it had a good atmosphere and the DJ was good craic, getting people involved in games and competitions all with a Halloween theme, and the bar staff were quick off the mark and pleasant. We had quite a few mojitos and they were really fresh and lovely and the staff took the time to prepare them properly — and they were a few pence cheaper than cocktails I’ve had elsewhere. I would imagine if I went on a normal Saturday night it would be livelier and more fun, so I fully intend to.

This bar has a great atmosphere and is very friendly and lively. It has a great location and is pretty big for if out with a large group of friends.
Cocktails here are great.
Great night will def be had if you head out here.

Went to Belfast in April and this bar was one of the best that I visited (and I managed to visit quite a lot of them!). The bar is apparently owned by a guy called Jaz Mooney, who has other entertainment venues. The reason that it’s called The Northern Whig is because the building was the offices of the Northern Whig newspaper.
When you first walk in, you don’t get an accurate idea of how big the place is — it’s only when you move past the seating area by the long window at the front of the building you see the size of the main room and the length of the bar running down one end of it. It’s BIG! The decoration is opulent — there are chandeliers hanging from the high vaulted ceilings and velvet cushioned sofas dotted everywhere and it seems a really popular place to go. The most surprising thing about this bar is that it’s home to four or five ginormous, original, Communist statues imported from Prague. They are fabulous and I had no problem going from cool urbanite sipping a cocktail to gobsmacked, uncouth tourist getting her camera out and snapping away ‘cos it meant I got a shot of a statue. It’s history man!
The cocktails are superb, the food looked and smelt delicious (although I didn’t sample anything other than beverages!) and the staff are efficient and friendly. I could have stayed in the Northern Whig all day and when I go back to Belfast (because I definitely want to), I will be going back there to see those statues and sip some more cocktails.