I hate how vegetarian spots gets a bad rep... you know the ones that have tough dry tofu served by hipsters who don't care about you or your experience. Not that Fresh on Bloor is flavourless or actively tries to be that way but the service here is definitely is on the 'don't care about you' part.
The space here is much bigger than the Spadina spot with less crowding. BUT If you're seated by the walls, it's possible to be seating on another table's lap... and that's not an exaggeration. Similar to the Spadina spot, there was a HUGE wait on a Sunday lunch time. Sad thing is that they could have easily reduced it by actually paying attention to the tables. So many times we could have easily ordered in the first 10 minutes but we didnt get anyone's attention until 25 minutes later. We could have left 10 minutes earlier as well... but trying to flag someone done to get our cheques... good luck.
Buffalo Cauliflower - A great starter as it's crunchy with a bit of heat and vinegar to keep it interesting. I found this version a bit more heavily breaded and more oilier than the Spadina one. It's close to the Spadina version but I would say the Bloor one was just not as good. Still a solid app and would probably order it from another spot. 3.5/5
All star salad - I tried a new one and I think the falafel salad is definitely the better tasting one. I'm not saying this one was lacklustre but I felt half the bowl was just plain quinoa which is good from a protein perspective. But from a taste perspective, I would have liked more sweet potato or tomatoes... something! I felt the original dressing was probably too light in flavour as well. I hit the vegetable with a bit of the hot sauce and it perked up the vegetables. Another thing, it is a generous bowl... I can easily make 2 meals out of it and it also costs $16 before tax and tip. Affordable for a single meal? Possibly not. 3.5/5
Black Bean Burrito - A Mexican take on their wraps, this one was filled with black bean, avocado, cilantro, sprouts, tomato, lettuce, onions, cucumber, and Mexican hot sauce. It also has a gooey sauce which they call 'fresh cheese'. Overall, this was a big portion. Definitely meal size and the burrito easily was 4 inches across. From a price perspective, it was a decent value.. you could make it 2 smaller meals if you wanted. As for flavour and texture, the addition of the hot sauce made it more than just a salad in a wrap. I felt this was a lot of soft mushier parts... I would have appreciated a good crunch to shake it up. 3.5/5
Swoosh power shakes - This is one expensive shake.. $8.50 for a medium. When it arrived to the table, it was more generous than I anticipated and with the ingredients of Peanut butter, dark cocoa, maple syrup, banana, cinnamon, and almond milk, I was anticipating a really thick shake. It definitely was and it was potently sweet as well. You can really taste the chalkiness of the dark cocoa and it almost felt like it had a big scoop of protein powder. The cinnamon and banana added to the sweetness of the maple syrup. Overall, not bad... $8.50 though? not sure. 3.5/5
I think the service unfortunately made the whole experience less than stellar. The staff pretty much avoided acknowledging you even if you did grab their eye contact several times. I'm not sure how this place keeps super packed with that and the slow service PLUS it's not cheap. Sure, it's generous portions but for most people, $19 salad with tax and tip is more than most people can afford. read more