I've been trying to eat healthier lately. So when I was taken to lunch the other day at the…read moreWintergarden foodcourt, I opted for what looked like the healthiest option there.
Greenbean is located close to the Queen St Mall end of the Wintergarden foodcourt. Hop on the escalators down and turn right. If you're coming up from Elizabeth Street, stick to the left side of the thoroughfare. Beware the dreaded peak lunch hour, though, you might need a buddy to table-hunt while you order.
Ambience ***
While I hate crowded places, I have to admit, the handful of tables and chairs directly left of Greenbean is PERFECT for me as they were only half full around peak hour meaning they're easily missed by those looking directly into the main table maze.
There's a crowd of people hanging around and you don't know if they're waiting to order, waiting for food, waiting for friends, and that's partly because there's no glaring sign saying 'Order here'; the cashier is the only obvious service point, so my advice is to just walk right up to the other end of the tall glass benchtop and wait for someone to serve. Which they will, pretty quickly. I got the feeling, watching like a noob while hubby ordered, that I should figure out which of the hundred or so fillings I wanted in my salad because it looked like a tornado of activity behind the benches. The ingredients are all displayed behind glass (think along the lines of Subway) so you can see what you're going to get, just make sure you check both sides or ask if you don't see something you want. The staff have VERY smartly opted for tong service, meaning they never have to rip off or pull on gloves, and your food is selected and tossed by stainless steel instead of grubby hands.
Service ***
Watching what hubby ordered, I turned my order into a mantra in my head because these guys are very fast; I was already feeling like I was in the middle of a salad-marathon nightmare and when it was my turn to be served I spilled the beans in one long stream of ingredients. Luckily, the server was ready for my panicked verbal diarrhea and got my order spot on. He even asked me 'is that enough chicken?'. Who does that?? The food turnaround is high here, so don't expect to grow a relationship with your server unless you maybe arrive early in the morning or later in the afternoon. They're all business in the middle of lunch. Except the cashier, who seemed pretty relaxed compared to his busy comrades.
Food ****
While on the menu, there are 8 or so 'salads', the fun part of Greenbean is to create your own from the selection in front of you. I opted for a baby spinach base, plain chicken, mushrooms, celery, boiled egg, greenbeans (of course!) and balsamic dressing. While in retrospect I needed something salty to counter the somewhat bland taste, for around $9-, I got a good amount of all the fillings and didn't finish and took the rest back to work. Hubby wanted me to note that anchovies are part of the caesar and you don't pay extra, and as with mine, he was asked if he'd been given enough.
The salad tasted fresh, the spinach, beans, and celery crisp, the egg boiled right and the mushrooms mushroomy. The chicken was a bit 'wet' in texture, but better that than dry. The balsamic cut right through everything, and although it was seasoned with S&P, there wasn't enough salt in it to cut through the balsamic. Which is my fault, because it was my own creation. Note to Jen: next time add bacon. Everything's better with bacon.
I saw on the menu you can also get your salad as a wrap. I'm not sure what the price difference is, but I'm sure you couldn't smush all that food into one wrap (unless they have magic hands... and they just might).
You can order a drink (check the corner of the outlet for the display), but the choice is a bit limited. I think I paid $1- for a bottle of water - not bad at all, considering how inflated bottled water prices can be. Dessert is Greek yoghurt, in small to large sizes in a few different flavours. IF you can fit it in.
Additional Notes
I really urge anyone who wants to visit Greenbean to check out the website. If you order your lunch online before 10am, you get 35% extra at no extra charge and you don't have to worry about how busy it is when you pick-up. Also check online for promotions, or pick up a flyer at the cashier when you visit.
If the guys have a few seconds here or there, I would suggest either slowing down on service a touch, OR making that endless bounding energy into 'fun' energy with some tong-flare, or in-staff joking. It just looked like they need an injection of chilled happy into their hyper activity to keep their customers from getting caught up in the hurried atmosphere.
