Honest Mary's is led by Nelson Monteith and Andrew Wiseheart, two operators who believe food should give you life, not just fill you up. The result is a place built on nourishing food, authentic kindness, and genuine care for the guests, team members, and communities they call home.
Nelson and his wife Mary founded Honest Mary's in 2017 after noticing something that didn't add up: Austin was full of active, health-minded people with nowhere convenient to eat that actually matched how they lived. So they opened the first location in the Arboretum. As Honest Mary's continues to grow across Austin and Texas, the mission remains the same: to improve lives through nourishing food, one meal at a time.
Our Mission
Improve community through wholesome, life-giving food.
Our ambition is to help our guests and team become the best version of themselves through nourishing food, authentic kindness, and genuine care for their well-being.
We believe a great meal should do more than fill you up -- it should leave you feeling better than before you walked in. That's the standard we hold ourselves to every day, in every bowl, with every guest.
Our Values
Honest, simple, genuine—the essence of who we are.
We are honest.
We bring the principles of home-cooking to our restaurants. By hand-preparing whole foods from scratch daily, and committing to simple (and delicious) ingredients - it’s simply honest-to-goodness food.
We are a home away from home.
We hope our guests feel at home in our warm and friendly spaces. Set your phone aside and share a meal with a friend, or bring a book and settle in.
We are nourishing.
You feel better and live better when you’re properly nourished. We take care of our people - whether that’s through our food, employee care, or community engagement. This means you’ll leave Honest Mary’s feeling better than when you got here.
We are your whenever meal.
Whether you want a quick lunch or a leisurely dinner, we accommodate the rhythm of your life. Because you shouldn’t have to sacrifice wholesomeness for speed, and you should be able to enjoy home-cooking without doing it yourself. Come to Honest Mary’s whenever.
Our Standards
Simple ingredients. High standards.
Seed oil free
excludes Creamy Poblano & Lemon Garlic sauces
Our menu is 82% free of industrial seed oils, and we’re actively working toward eliminating them entirely. We define seed oils as highly processed oils like canola, soybean, sunflower and corn. While we do use a small amount sesame oil in a few items, all oils used in our kitchen are Non-GMO and carefully chosen to support cleaner food.
No artificial ingredients
We don’t use artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, or additives. Just clean, whole ingredients prepared fresh every day.
No refined sugar
We believe sweet should come naturally. That’s why we use only natural sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, and coconut sugar. Note that trace amounts of refined sugar could be found in kombucha after fermentation.
Dirty dozen organic
when possible
We use the Dirty Dozen list to guide which fruits and vegetables we source organically, helping reduce exposure to pesticides and support cleaner farming practices. Exceptions may apply due to cost or availability.
Wild-caught tuna
We proudly serve wild-caught tuna – never farmed. It’s a choice we make to support healthier oceans and bring you the cleanest, highest-quality fish we can find.
Hormone free meat
Our chicken and steak come from animals raised without added hormones and not given antibiotics unless medically necessary.
Our story
What sparked the beginning continues to fuel our journey.
