Fresh on Eglinton

Amazing place. Friendly staff and great food. Yes it can be busy at times, but that’s because it’s so good! I also takeout from here regularly.

AVOID!!! Especially during lunch. The service is just terrible and I’m quite certain they forgot my order because I just got soup and side salad to go and it cannot possibly take more than 30 mins to prepare that when I arrived earlier at 11:40am. The guy who was behind me got his food 20mins earlier and he did not preorder.

We visit here frequently. Great service, fantastic healthy vegan menus. I’ve tried all the burgers and almost all of the juice options and they’re all good. Menu prices are high but you get what you pay for. Whether you’re looking to pop in for finger foods or looking to fill your belly, this place will make it happen. Having said that, I invite even non vegans to pop in and test the menu. Rest assured you’ll be satisfied Would love to see more locations.

Always impressed at Fresh! This location is one of (don’t quote me on this) four (?) locations, so I would consider it to be a chain type restaurant. Their weekly specials, however are where the fun is at! It injects a nice variety into to their otherwise standard menu.
My 2 cents:
Pros: easy access to public transportation, patio, large menu, quick-​ish service
Cons: can be very loud, tables are very close together

For the service i was a bit disappointed…
Food was just ok, too bad because I chose this place according to the previous reviews that were awesome

I was excited to try out this vegan restaurant but really wasn’t impressed with the place. We arrived around 2pm on a Thursday and the place had a decent sized crowd (always a good sign). The service was super slow though and took about 25 minutes to even get somebody’s attention to take our order. We ordered the quinoa friend onion rings which were really good but also very limited in size. I ordered the Buddha bowl which looked really good on the menu. However the actual bowl had a huge portion of brown rice and very little vegetables/​tofu by proportion. I had to leave most of the rice behind. My husband ordered the falafel tacos which were really dry. Not coming back.

Service was okay. Came for Sunday brunch and it was pretty packed so staff didn’t pay much attention. Service was mediocre but food was standard fresh that I love. Would keep coming back to keep trying different items from the menu but maybe on a less busier day?

For a person who is not vegan and was eating at a vegan place the first time, I very much enjoyed the food. I actually liked the quinoa crusted onion rings better than regular onion rings. I also had a cup of the corn chowder, which again was very delicious. Everything is priced reasonably as well. If I’m ever in Toronto again, I’ll definitely revisit. Wish they’d franchise out to the US.

Very busy and in the heart of Midtown Toronto. I had actually never heard of the place before and came here because I was in the area and a friend wanted to try it.
Their burger portions are pretty decent. I added a side of sweet potato fries for $ 3.50 to my burger (which if I remember correctly are made of almonds and grain), and the portion was HUGE. Needless to say, I had trouble finishing and I was actually quite hungry when I arrived. I sat right where the orders were picked up so I saw every dish they brought out. Everything was plated beautifully and instagram worthy. They have gender neutral restrooms, and the restrooms themselves are also really nice inside. I’ll definitely be bringing my vegan friends here next time!

We went to Fresh today for lunch. Honestly, my rating isn’t about their food as we didn’t even get to eat there. We arrived to the restaurant at noon, ordered and waited with my 19 other friends. When they came back to tell us they were busy, we thought ya, another 15 mins won’t hurt. but then when it got to 12:45, and asked them about our food. They told us another 10 mins… That’s when we knew something was wrong so we left. Afternoon lunch is about rush hour, if they can’t even handle serving the number of customers seated, how are they going to continue operating in Downtown Toronto? Anyone have similar experiences here?

It makes me sad to write this review because I like Fresh so much. I even get the cold pressed juices here after the gym! Unlike my other reviews, this review isn’t even about the food. It’s about the service. (And because the food is actually good, +1 from what I was actually going to give them, which is one star) (for the record, I like the qunioa onion rings, the buttnerut squash soup and the energy bowl with soba noodles the best)
My co-​workers and I went to Fresh for lunch. We arrived at 11:45 knowing that we had a big group and it would take some time to serve us. We ordered at around noon (so it took them 15 minutes to take our order). After around 30 minutes had passed, we asked about our food since some people needed to be back in the office for a meeting at 1PM. They came back to tell us they were busy but that it should only be another 15 minutes. We asked if they could bring out the orders that were already completed. They said no but that it would only be another 15 minutes. We were fine with that but kept a close watch on time because it only allowed us 15 minutes to eat. At 12:45, we still didn’t get our food. After a few more minutes, we asked about the food again. The manager came over and told us that only a few minutes had passed since we asked and it would be another 10 mins. By this time, it was already 12:55 and we were sure that more than a few minutes had passed because we were conscious of getting back for our meeting. There was no way we could eat and get back to work. We asked if we could get our food to go. But they didn’t seem too happy about that so we had no choice but to leave without our food. Overall, this was a very disappointing experience. We purposely arrived early so that we could beat the lunch rush and also because we had a large group. It’s also sad because we were really looking forward to our food and by the time we waited for an entire hour for food, we were all very very hangry and had to go back to work without lunch.
TL;DR: DO NOT EAT HERE DURING LUNCH RUSH IF YOU ARE ALMOST HUNGRY — IT WILL TURN YOU HANGRY!

I ordered a takeout rice bowl today and it was the exact opposite of FRESH. There were large chunks of rock solid brown rice and it tasted like it was leftover from yesterday’s lunch. The roasted veggies were also disgusting and tsated lIke they were preared hours in advance. I am disappointed as I usually have good experiences ordering takeout and the food is alwas delicious. I ordered through the Maegan app and arrived to pick up my order at 1:08pm as indicated by the app as the time my order would be ready.
I will NOT be spending my hard earned money here ever again. Get it together!

Setting and service:
This place gives me the vibe that it is hip and healthy which it is. The seatings are quite cramp, there’s no room to put your purse of jacket, but they do provide u hanging hooks to hang your jacket along the washroom hallway. The service was good.
Since this is a vegetarian place, some background of myself would be helpful. I am not a vegetarian and I enjoy eating meat but I also enjoy eating healthy options.
Food:
I tried the bowls, the popular quinoa onion rings, and the veggie burger. I enjoyed the bowls, it is pack with flavour and healthiness but dont expect it to taste like a stir fry bowl cause it is not. It’s a rice/​noodle salad.
As for the veggie burger, I wasn’t a fan cause I had the hopes that it would taste similar to meat burgers, but my expectation was wrong. It was still a good dish but dont order it thinking it would taste like a meat burger cause that would be unfair lol.
As for the quinoa onion ring, I didnt really understand the hype. I find regular onion rings to taste better :) and I am not sure how much nutrients are left in the quinoa after the deep frying process.
Overall it was a good experience, I find that to truly enjoy the food in this place is to set the right expectation. If you choose the right options for yourself, you will find yourself coming back :)

Absolutely excellent food and amazing service. Very clean and comfortable environment. Highly recommend.

This place had amazing vegetarian food. I was shown a variety of menu items and the staff were welcoming and kind. I ordered a pancake platter and was pleasantly surprised by the large portion size and unique and delicious taste. I’ll definitely return!

I cannot fault this place.
I’ve never had a bad meal here.
The staff are great, the service is excellent, the food is top notch and I love the tunes!
The menu is huge so there’s definitely something for everyone and almost everything on the menu is Vegan. I usually order a wrap with some onion rings (to die for!) and I can NEVER finish it. (My eyes are way bigger than my belly when I come here!)
The prices are very reasonable when you consider the sheer volume of food and the quality of the food, too.
I quite enjoyed their espresso, too.
Good job, Fresh!

I needed an excuse to splurge on the $ 6.50 hands-​down-​best-​in-​town onion rings. Today provided a very good excuse for me to walk into Fresh.
I was going to order an onion rings to go and grab a takeaway sandwich. Shortly after 1pm but their grab-​and-​go counter only had a few items that didn’t interest me.
I decided to dine in instead. The service was very friendly and quick. I ordered a black bean burrito. It said spicy black beans but it wasn’t that spicy and I kept loading it with the delicious house-​made hot sauce.
The onion rings were as good as it can get. The crust was crunchy and cripsy on the outside and they were huge onion rings!
It was not a cheap lunch at all and no lunch special. However I love the food here and really enjoyed the atmosphere.
Amendment to my last review:
This location do give 15% off on takeout (except for bottled juice which is a retail product) with LiveGreen Toronto card.

Always tasty. The «baby» size of the bowls is large enough for a full meal… the Green Goddess bowl is my favourite.

Fresh is just awesome.
The menu is huge, so there’s definitely something for everyone. Pretty much everything on the menu is vegan. Anything from juices, smoothies, wraps, salads, bowls and more. The possibilities are endless. Once again, this is another restaurant I don’t sit down to dine in, however the take out when I call ahead is always on point. I think what really won me over was their green vegan poutine with mushroom gravy, bok choy, kale, swiss chard, green onion, and sunflower seeds. I’d also recommend their black bean burrito!

TL;DR — No delivery option but packaging and service was on point. Too much ginger in 4 of the 7 drinks which made it hard for me to finish. Everything was too spicy for no reason. I wouldn’t repeat this cleanse.
—
I decided to do a post solely on Fresh’s Juice Cleanse program just because I haven’t seen one yet and think it’s informative for those that may want to try it. This is my second time on a «juice cleanse» and whether or not you believe it works, I think this a good summary of how each of the juices tasted and worked in my opinion. I purchased the Detox & Boost Cleanse for 2 days for a total of $ 136 + tax and no delivery option. I picked it up from the store the next day and began the cleanse the day after. I’ve only tried one other cleanse before (from CEDAR) for comparison.
The no delivery was definitely not a norm considering how many places will actually delivery for free within the GTA now. I was a bit peeved because I drove to the Eglinton location in rush hour (with no parking) and having to carry out heavy boxes on my own. Each day comes in a nice sturdy carboard box with dividers for each bottle and each day comes with 5 — 473mL (glass) bottles; 1 — 237mL bottle; and 1 — 118mL bottle for a total of 7 bottles. I got 2 boxes and all the bottles have an expiration of 5 days after purchasing. The 2-​day cleanse comes with a $ 20 gift card and a small sheet that explains how you should go about each day and FAQs. The service of the actual restaurant was quick and ordering was convenient. Asides from the lack of delivery, the packaging and everything else was nice.
The drinks (in the recommended drink order):
Immunity — This was a shot you’re supposed to take in the morning. It was SO spicy with a ton of ginger and all I could taste of spicy garlic and some lemon/​grapefruit. It was hard to down.
#00 Special (Activated Charcoal Lemonade) — This was my favorite; other than the black color and the settling of the charcoal at the bottom. You really have to shake it up but besides that, it tasted like fresh lemonade! The best tasting and easiest to drink of the bunch.
#14 The Healer — Lots of ginger here too… too spicy for me. I was hoping for a more sour or even fruity taste but don’t let the color deceive you; it’s not good.
#01 Urban Detox — The first «green» juice of the day and not the best. Also «spicy» from the ginger and cayenne so I couldn’t taste the «green-​ness» of it.
#05 The Daily Dose — The only other drink I could bare (asides from the #00 Special). It wasn’t spicy! And tasted very healthy. It’s sweeter than I would expect but just a tad and smells like grass.
#03 Clean Green — The better «green» juice but not by much. It’s still spicy but less so and I can pinch my nose to drink it. I couldn’t get through this last spicy one of the day because my stomach just couldn’t handle it.
#09 Mad Chocolate — Smaller bottle for «dessert» at the end of the day. Not as a sweet as I would’ve hoped but still very cocoa-​like. There’s a bit of texture from the raw cocoa in it (sandy).
Overall, considering that 4 out of the 7 drinks were too spicy for me, I would say that I wouldn’t recommend it (unless you like ginger) and I wouldn’t order again. I don’t mind if 1 (or even 2) of the drinks were filled with ginger, but not 4 — I didn’t pay to suffer through drinking these. I might’ve went with the wrong cleanse choice, as this was considered «intermediate» and not «beginners» so the latter option may have included more sweet or less spicy drinks. About the only thing that I think it did for me was lower my appetite… I was definitely not hungry for more. I would give this program +1 star just because the packaging is nice and the bottles are glass. But in terms of being a repeat customer for their cleanse (or juice in general), count me out. CEDAR is far superior in taste so go with that.

Very Good healthy options, but too hyped and overpriced. Everything is super expensive for a vegetarian based restaurant, excuse being organic produce. Not all options are fully organic, actually, it’s a challenge finding fully organic produce in metropolitan cities these days. Unless one visits a clean and transparent agricultural farmland outside the city. I have tried a few of their rice bowls, which turned out to be bland, tasteless, and very mediocre.

It’s pretty easy to be a vegan in LA and NYC — my two main cities — but traveling can be tough and Toronto is not as vegan-​friendly as my usual stomping grounds so when this Fresh opened it made my life easier since I’m usually in Toronto once a month.
Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays they do brunch and that menu is 5 stars where I’d give dinner 4. I’m rounding up to support vegan restaurants so more will open. (That said, they have honey and optional cheese on the menu which is not vegan (boo hiss) but at least they very clearly state which items those are.*)
The scrambled «eggs» are some of the best vegan eggs I’ve ever had and I eat a lot of these. I put their hot sauce** on them to add a little kick and while it is spicy there’s also something sickly sweet about the homemade hot sauce that makes it less awesome than it could be. (Work on that one, team. You can do better.)
I generally get the Ace of Kales (yummy kale salad with nuts, green onions, avocado and tempeh bacon) and a side of scramble for brunch. Sometimes I switch it up and get the Superfood Salad and a side of cole slaw or I’ll go for the Pancake Breakfast which is two pancakes (blueberry is my fave) & scrambled tofu with grilled vegan sausage. It’s not a light meal but you are truly embracing the idea of «brunch» with this one. It’s breakfast and lunch. Though technically it’s all breakfast items. You’re stuffed until dinner.
Other notables are:
–Quinoa onion rings with chipotle «mayo»: decent portion (read: enough to make gluttonous me happy, probably too much for a normal person so maybe split them)
–Chipotle Bacon Burger (comes with tempeh bacon and jicama) or BBQ Burger (bbq sauce, quinoa onion rings (see above), garlic mayo, napa cabbage, banana chilies, lettuce & tomato)
— Bowls. All are good but my fave is the Buddha Bowl (marinated tofu cubes, tomato, cucumber, bean sprouts, & chopped peanuts tossed in Thai peanut sauce)
They have an entire side of the menu devoted to beverages with an extensive selection of juices (excellent but not cheap) (the fresh apple juice is thick and delicious and tastes as though you are literally putting a straw into an apple — yum, and with fewer broken straws), smoothies, shots, shakes and hot drinks/​elixirs (My thing to do when I don’t feel well is take one of the immunity shots in hot water or drink the «Ginger Fireball» which is listed under Hot Drinks. When I’m visiting Toronto in the winter, I need these and they are a Godsend. They’ve also started selling cold pressed juices at the front of the restaurant to keep up with everyone else.
Also their coffee is decent (Americano). It’s made to order and served with almond milk and it’s pretty, pretty good.
There is a paid parking lot a tiny bit south on the side street, accessible from either side. All you have to do is cross at the light and you’re smack dab in front of the joint.
Notes to the restaurant:
* Vegan cheese has come a long way, baby. Some of the nut cheeses we have in LA (Kite Hill, Vromage and obviously Daiya) prove that you don’t need ANY dairy in your «cheese.» And nobody «needs» honey. Agave is fine. Stevia is better. You should look into becoming 100% vegan.
** Something is off with the hot sauce. Seriously. It’s THISCLOSE to being great. Whatever you are putting in it as a sweetner needs to gtfo. ;)
***Most importantly, thanks for existing.

Any of the Fresh Restaurants are some of the best eateries I’ve been to in the City. Having said that, it is VERY vegan, but also, very healthy! If I feel sick, I’ll go in for the lung lover hot drink. If I want a good burger that’s great tasting (and not fattening), I’ll go for the mushroom onion burger. They’ve got a new drink-​cleanse line up that I’m dying to try before my next weekend bender. Also, they’re onion ring tower is amazing.
You really can’t go wrong.

One of the few vegan-​friendly places in the neighborhoods north of downtown. It’s really popular (a line of 20 waiting for them to open), the menu is great, and the food was wonderful.
98% of the menu is vegan. There are a couple items with optional cheese and some use honey. I don’t know why they didn’t just go that last 2%. I know a lot of my vegan Unilocal friends would prefer a completely vegan kitchen.
I tried the green poutine. Everything about it was great. 5 stars.
My niece (a picky carnivore) had one of their wraps but didn’t like it. I got to eat her other half as left overs and thought it was great.

finally visited this fresh location recently, and I have to say it delivers on all of my other fresh experiences; great service, and great food. no matter what I get at fresh it’s always appealing for the taste buds (and healthy to boot!). this location is by and far the largest of the four and features a decent sized patio as well.
fresh continues to set the standard for vegan food in Toronto, and fresh on eglinton does not disappoint!

My wife went here with her friends… Vegan?! Come on… It’s not gonna fill you up… But I had the bbq burger and man I left there satisfied and FULL!!! good job vegan food, thumbs up!!!

I’ve been to this location a dozen times, and finally remember to post my thoughts!
I normally go after my yoga class nearby Friday nights (at 7ish?) and luckily there are always seats available. I recently fell in love with their Transformer salad– it has marinated cubed tofu, adzuki beans, edamame, and a tonne of other goodness! Their tofu wrap, mushroom veggie burger, dosas, cashew cookies are also delicious!
They have also started selling cold pressed juice… though I love Fresh and a lot of items on their menu, I still prefer juice from Greenhouse Juice.

I have a bone (er, twig) to pick with Fresh.
I like that it’s accessible and offers loads of options for those on plant-​based diets, but what they offer in choice, they lack in creativity and… gasp… flavour. Each time I eat at Fresh, I wonder why such blah vegetarian food is acceptable at the prices they charge. If I wanted to share with a guest the beauty of a plant-​based diet, I would steer them away from Fresh.
Honestly, I’d only eat here if I was in a pinch. Even so, that’s $ 15 out the wallet. But knowing what I get at Fresh makes even Metro’s takeaway section look appealing.
EDIT: OK, so maybe I was a bit harsh with my first few encounters at Fresh. I recently had their tofu tacos with a creamy jalapeño sauce and it was decent. Still bland, but for a lunch under $ 10, I’m not complaining!

My new favourite vegan place! Ordered the squash tacos with a side of fries. So delicious! Can’t wait to go back!

I tried very hard to find some options near Yonge/​Eglinton to eat for lunch. What do I want? Good food, reasonable prices, seating, no long lines, fast service. It was harder than I hoped. And somehow Fresh on Eglinton did not come up on Unilocal when I searched «lunch».
BUT, I found it anyways after some more digging. I’ve been to other Fresh locations and I like this one most. It is spacious, very nice staff (moreso than other locations I found), and has pretty much all my factors checked. What it doesn’t have? I’d say $ 11 for a wrap is a bit pricey, I’d rather spend like $ 8.50 for a wrap.
However, I ordered the Clubhouse Wrap with tofu and tempeh bacon which is quite good. It comes with a side kale salad which is nice addition.
Also tried one of the all green Green Juices and it was fine, but I thought it had a very large ginger/​lemon flavor and could do with just a bit less.
The service though was very friendly and enjoyable. Only 3 blocks east from Yonge/​Eglinton, and 3 blocks east is shorter than 3 blocks north/​south, so closer on a winter afternoon!

Large vegan and vegeterian selection, but there wasn’t anything truly outstanding. The food is decent, the staff friendly, and there’s lots of seating.
I was expecting much more from the food though, and I left feeling slightly disappointed.
For the price ($ 15 Main Salads and Bowls), I had expected something that would make me want to come back. We didn’t find it here.
If we were vegan/​vegetarian I could see the appeal since they do have a large number of options, but since I can spend the same money somewhere else and enjoy the food much more, it wouldn’t be my first choice.
We only tried a small selection of their menu, so I’m sure there were other dishes that might have been better, but overall from the dishes we ordered nothing stood out as being truly delicious.

This place is kind of a hot mess in my opinion, yet I keep coming. The gluten free menu is kind of blah. Nothing very special, flovorful. It is always very fresh though so at least they’re sticking with a theme. They have a whole drink menu for juices & smoothies. It’s neat but so far the ones I have tried are nothing very good. I could make a better juice/​smoothie at home to be honest. They are ALWAYS and I mean every single time I have gone here out of something on the menu. EVERY SINGLE TIME! I find it unbelievably annoying. The only thing really good on then menu is the brunch menu! So amazing. I go almost every weekend for it. It’s very yummy!
The service is all over the place. The staff is very hit or miss but it’s very agravating because you see them just standing around chatting. Some of the wait staff has been lovely, others rather useless. I was there last weekend and I guess the kitchen was busy or something so it took them almost a n hour for are food to come. It wasteful. They took off are appetizer but still that’s not the point. So slow.
As an overall I recommend going for the brunch menu. If you are vegetarian or just vegan you might enjoy the place more then someone who need the gluten free menu.