Another bad review of Urban Forage - long

[Guest guest]

Ok, even though I had a terrible experience at the original Urban

Forage location (smoothies that tasted like used bathwater, inedible

entrees, barely digestible desserts - overall, an experience that is

still a running joke among those of us who ate there that night and then

immediately went out for burritos because we were still hungry), based on

recent rave reviews I decided to give the new location a shot today and

try some cooked food.

 

Actually, I decided to give it a shot last week, but they were closed when

I arrived. So this time I called first, after navigating through their

website which doesn't list the new location at all (I called the old

location to get the number of the new location).

 

So today I arrived at the new Urban Forage location on Valencia Street for

lunch. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was not the nice

decorating (it looks like Herbivore opened a coffee shop, with a big

counter and lots of dark wood) nor the gigantic menu over the counter, but

the smell. Not a bad smell per se, but not appetizing. After perusing the

menu and seeing how often cabbage is listed, I think I've settled on a

culprit.

 

The noise level was louder than I'd prefer, but in a busy restaurant on a

busy street that's to be expected. The waitress was nice and friendly, and

I ordered the Manwich with a side of sweet potato fries, and a glass of

water.

 

Now, for those of you who haven't met me, I'm an average sized girl. 5'2 " ,

proportioned reasonably. I only mention this so that when I say that the

water glass was almost too wide to pick up with one hand, you will get an

idea. We're talking Big Gulp sized glass, the kind that makes you wonder

if your cupholders in your car will hold this thing. Again, this isn't

really their fault, just annoying and weird.

 

And with this large cup in mind, you'll also imagine my confusion when my

entree arrived. On a 6 " salad plate. With room to spare on the plate. No,

I'm not kidding. I got the super sized water glass and the kid's meal

sized entree plate. I wish I had brought my camera. For $7.90 plus tax, I

received:

 

Three (3) 1/2 " thick slices of sweet potato. This equals about 1/5 of an

regular sweet potato. These slices were apparently baked and then grilled,

leaving them mushy and kind of dry yet with black char on the skin. These

were topped with a reddish powder which I assumed was chili powder but

which tasted like colored sawdust. The price works out to about

$0.65/slice, pretty steep... and more if you don't get them as a side -

then it jumps up to almost $1/slice! Even organic sweet potatoes don't

cost $6/pound, last time I checked.

 

(Side note: I really love sweet potatoes. I will eat a sweet potato plain

straight out of the oven, digging in with a spoon and foregoing toppings.

I don't know how they ruined sweet potatoes. I asked for salt, and was

handed a small bowl of kosher salt, which is not good for table use as

the crystals are too large to stick effectively. But it at least made the

sweet potatoes more edible.)

 

One (1) 2.5-3 " diameter veggie burger, with bbq sauce and caramelized

onions, on a split 1 1/2 " wide piece of Judy's Lovesticks (you've seen

them in the health food store, right? They're like oversized breadsticks),

with one wilted piece of lettuce that was - seriously, I checked - twice

the area of the burger.

 

I'm not kidding here. This is a very small amount of food. If this were an

appetizer, I'd feel better. But it's almost a joke. I mean, when someone

says " veggie burger " you have a general idea of the standard size that

both the burger and the bun will be, right? Instead, I received a small

burger on smaller oblong bread. When someone names a burger after the

" Manwich " which is a huge serving, you don't expect a small 5 bite thing

on a plate the width of my outspread hand.

 

And the burger was not good. Weird texture with chunks of boiled

vegetables randomly interspersed, and of course the bread was nowhere near

wide enough to even cover the burger, so after one bite most of my burger

had squished out onto the plate. I gave up after 3 bites (more than

halfway through the meal). I tasted the bbq sauce on my fork, and was

surprised at how little flavor there actually was. It seemed that the

major spice used was bottled ground black pepper. I added some salt to the

burger, too, but it didn't help. Oh, I didn't mention that the burger was

also charred on the outside.

 

With tax and tip, this " meal " was $10. I left food on the table, and yet I

left hungry and disappointed. Apparently there are people on this list who

disagree with me, and I'm glad they have somewhere to dine if they like

this kind of food, but I'm never going back. I prefer more gourmet fare,

I guess, in normal sized portions, and am quite honestly embarrassed by

food like this, as I feel that it reflects badly on vegetarian food and

vegetarian restaurants in general. And I really feel bad about slamming a

local veg business, but I'm not going to forgive them their faults just

because I agree with their politics.

 

I agree with the original poster entirely: bad food and too little of it.

I am bummed because they're opening a third location in the Castro (my

neighborhood) soon which I had hoped to patronize - oh well, at least I'll

save money this way.

 

-Kim, who will be sending a letter to the owner shortly