Elements

Excellent vegan food — very good

The clientele appear to be mostly the corporate lunch crowd, professors, the well-​to-​do, and the semi-​retired. I have been there several times and I have never seen more than a few students, usually during 4:00 happy hour (when the beer is probably the cheapest you can find on campus). The staff are reliable and more often than not friendly, and you get your chance to rate them, because they sometimes give you a «how was your experience» sheet. They source their ingredients locally wherever they can, mark their fish as sustainable seafood, and even feature a few of their suppliers on the back of the menu.
Last time I was there the group I was with ordered:
Grilled Bread with Baba Ganoush
Sharable Size Nachos
Warm Goat Cheese Dip with corn chips
House Made Ginger Ale
St. James Pale Ale
Blueberry Cheese Cake
In the past I have also ordered:
Tea
Baked Mac and Cheese (hold the bacon)
Mushroom Almond Burger
Pad Peanut
Veggie Sandwich
This goes to show that there is a very comprehensive list of vegetarian menu items. It also goes to show that the food is good (since I have returned several times). However, it is good in a standard-​fare way. Most of the other food is tasty, good to eat, enjoyable even, but not any more so than other places of a similar price. I guess I would call it safe food, and that goes a long way to explain the clientele. The Pad Peanut is probably a ³⁄₅ on the Pad Thai scale. What is really worth ordering is the Mushroom Almond Burger, which might be in the running for top 5 veggie burgers in Winnipeg. The House Made Ginger Ale is also fabulous. Why not round off a solid meal by ordering the blueberry cheesecake?
If I could suggest the ultimate time to go, I would recommend 4:30 on a muggy 25 – 30 degree summer afternoon. They have a very nice patio and you are well taken care of there. Order a veggie burger, a beer, and a piece of cheese cake. Sit for a while and watch the warm world pass you by. Stay about an hour so you can watch traffic swell and begin to calm. Order a ginger ale and drink it while the day is still hot, maybe bring a book or the newspaper. You won’t regret it.

Went today for the first time and was not impressed.
Service was indifferent from the get-​go. I had to wait with my lunch partner for several minutes before any of the wait staff even acknowledged our presence. Even a bit of eye contact can go a long way; I understand you may be busy but let me know you know I’m standing there. Service after that was friendly but inattentive.
I order the ramen – a beef, rice noodle, and «hot and sour» dish that featured tough, over-​cooked beef and a broth that lacked both of its namesake flavours. I appreciate that they were trying – the kale in particular was a nice touch – but the dish lacked flavour overall and was served lukewarm.
My friend ordered the tomato soup, which I believe was the daily – it was also cold. The coffee was excellent.
At these prices the service should be better and the food simply must be. Cannot recommend until they make some changes.

I love this building — I call it the «period table of elements» building but it’s’ really the U of W’s Richardson College for the Environment and Science Complex. This is a beautiful building that is part of the U of W’s renewal in this not so great area. A new restaurant called «Elements» (how fitting), opened at the end of Oct ’11 on the main level which serves up fairly priced and ethnically diverse meals with a focus on locally sourced products, organic ingredients and fair-​trade practices. Also this project is a joint venture between the U of W’s Community Renewal Corporation and SEED Winnipeg — trains and employs people from the surrounding community who may face barriers to meaningful work. What’s not to love about a concept like this?
This place serves up breakfast, lunch and dinner and offers a very eclectic and diverse menu. There’s things like spicy bacon caramel popcorn, pan fried dumplings, baked mac and cheese, pork ribs, 3 step ramen, sablefish, smoked tofu, grilled chicken sandwich.
For lunch I had the tacos ($ 9), you get two tacos and there is a choice of shrimp, chicken and pinto beans. I asked for one pinto bean and one chicken. It’s a little pricey for tacos but I got a lot of chicken. Both had good flavours but could use more spices. Salsa was made in house and the tortilla didn’t collapse despite all the ingredients.
I went back for dinner and tried their small cheese plate ($ 9), you get 3 — 1 ounce portions of blue cheese, goat cheese and brie with pickled vegetables and grilled bread. It was a beautiful plate with such vibrant colour and I love pickled veggies! The cheeses were good though I would prefer a hard cheese as opposed to the goat cheese in that selection.
I had the beef entrée ($ 19) — striploin with a housemade sauce, wilted greens, baby potatoes and a warm carrot salad. The steak was quite tough for a striploin and even though I ordered a medium rare steak it came quite rare. I didn’t ask them to cook it further because the meat would only get more tough if it cooked more. A mediocre meal but at $ 19, I am not going to complain. The sides were okay and cooked properly but lacked in flavour. The best part of the dish was the housemade steak sauce — tasted like a mixture of harissa and horseradish. Very tastey sauce!
It’s a licensed eatery with a bar on the other side as well as coffee options.
The décor is airy with lots of light and serves to be a good casual eatery at breakfast and lunch. For a dinner atmosphere, it didn’t feel very cozy or inviting. I know, this is a university place that is trying to cater to a diverse group so it can’t be too formal. Service was good though the actually food delivery time was a tad slow considering how few diners there were. It’s a new eatery so there are things to work on but overall it’s a great contribution to the area. I like their concept and the fair prices. I hope they do well attracting patrons other than students and staff. I think some better signage would help bring non U of W patrons.
Open:
Mon-​Thurs: 7am — 9 pm
Fri: 7am — 11pm
Sat: 9am — 11pm
Sun 9am — 4pm