Fressen Restaurant

I’m glad this place closed, the food was terrible. No flavor whatsoever. I am vegan and I thought this was hands-​down one of the worst places I have ever eaten. I gave it two stars because the ambience was nice.

The food was delicious and wonderfully presented.
Polenta: nice texture and goes well with the bed of spinach
Grilled black bean seitan: the sausage (?) was okay (a bit on the dry side, but I like my food non-​greasy, so didn’t mind it), and the sauteed vegetable was really good!
Crusted tofu: the tofu was delicious with a bit of a kick. The non-​vegan hubby loved it.
The dessert: it was the best dessert I ever had! The chocolate was not too sweet, had the perfect firmness that was heavenly as it melted in my mouth. The fruits complemented the chocolate and the mousse perfectly. I can’t wait to eat it again.

As a vegetarian its challenging to make our cuisine interesting. Fressen clearly has no problems doing this. I went with a carnivore to this restaurant and he was able to find many things on the menu that were appealing and tasty! They had a fairly good selection if wines and the bread was so delish! The wait staff was a great help in suggesting items on the menu! Overall great experience, great atmosphere and delicious food! I shall definitely be a repeat offender here !! Lol.

Oh, Fressen. I wanted so badly to like you. As a vegetarian, I *need* a place like you to exist. There just aren’t that many good quality, tablecloth-​ed vegetarian restaurants in Toronto that seat you more than one foot from your neighbour. A friend described Fressen as «like Café Flora in Seattle,» so I had to try it out, but, oh, she got it so wrong.
First, the good: the restaurant is really beautiful. It’s dimly lit, has funky trees growing out of the floors and painted trees on the walls. It feels fancy but also earthy. The servers are also friendly, if a little frazzled.
The bad: as some Unilocalers have noted, the wait is horrendous. After the appetizers arrived, my mom and I waited for FORTY MINUTES before a waitress came over to tell me that the kitchen was out of tempeh, so I’d have to choose a new dish. Really? It took the kitchen forty minutes to figure out they were out of a key ingredient essential to two other dishes on the menu? I have to take out my Seth Meyers on Weekend Update hat to shout in disbelief: REALLY?!
After reordering the tofu kebabs, we waited another 20 minutes for the food to arrive. It’d be one thing if the food was phenomenal and worth the wait, but my kebabs were a total disaster. Think: massive chunks of tofu, bell peppers and onions slathered in too-​sweet barbecue sauce, cooked unevenly, then left on a counter to lose 80% of its heat. I was so hungry at this point, I didn’t care. My mom’s corn fusili, however, was even worse. It was cold. It was literally cold. So, it was sent back and my poor mom waited another ten minutes for her entrée (total waiting time from appetizer to entrée: 1:15).
It’s clear that the kitchen is dysfunctional. At one point, I looked around the restaurant and noticed that no one in my eyesight had any food on their tables. Everyone was waiting. I also overheard from a waitress at the next table that four dishes were off the menu (plantain dumplings, mushrooms in filo pastry, and two tempeh dishes) — all by 7:30pm on a Saturday. What?!
The saving grace is that the servers were pretty nice. They were apologetic and took off one entrée from the bill for our insanely long wait. That’s the only reason why I’m giving Fressen 2 stars instead of 1. The décor and service are nice, but not nice enough to make up for the long wait and passable food. Total disappointment. It gives me no pleasure at all that I have one less vegetarian restaurant to go to in Toronto.

I was at Fressen last night for a friend’s birthday and we had such a great night. Initially, I was not sure what to expect for a fancy vegan restaurant but I was surprise by the calibre of flavourful food and wonderful service.
The atmosphere of the restaurant is cool, calm and chic. The dim lights create a relaxing yet romantic environment to dine.
I highly recommend the tapas plates to share as an appetizer (3 for $ 15). My Moroccan Stew entrée was delicious; but I had to pick out the whole cloves in my meal, which was a bit annoying. My dining partners also enjoyed their meals. We were too stuffed to order dessert after. We did peek over to other dining partons and the dessert they ordered looked super yummy.
If you are looking for an alternative dinner night, I would suggest to check out Fressen. It is a great place for date night, celebration night out or just regular dinner night.

I came to Fressen with two other girlfriends on a Tuesday night. Walking in, I found the atmosphere of the restaurant much nicer than I anticipated. Ambient lighting as opposed to harsh cafeteria lights, tables with real napkins rather than disposable — what kind of vegetarian restaurant is this?!
Anyway, we split 3 of the cold tapas plates to begin (3 for $ 15) — the marinated olives, baba ghanoush, and spicy red lentil balls. For my main (all entrees are equally priced at $ 16), I had the crusted tempeh with a vegan caesar ($ 9 I believe?) to wash it all down. The portions of the entrees are rather large, and I probably would have been comfortable sharing tapas and having an appetizer for myself. As usual, my eyes were bigger than my stomach, and I ended up bringing most of my tempeh home to have for lunch the next day. Although the food was good enough, I wasn’t really wowed by anything, particularly the tempeh. The serving came with loads and loads of vegetables and two pieces of hard tempeh swimming in a sauce that tasted mostly like soy sauce. Similar to another reviewer, I felt like I could make a better version myself at home.
I was a little shocked at the number of reviews citing the bad service here, as I didn’t experience any of the rudeness that others described. I found that service was quick and efficient and perfectly pleasant. If I come to Fressen again, I would probably just try a bunch of their tapas and appetizers, as I agree that their menu seems a little… uninspired. I think this would be a cute place to take a vegetarian on a first date, as you could share a bunch of small plates and get to know one another. Judging someone purely based on whether or not they like olives is the fastest way to weed out the bad ones (just kidding!).

Meal: Dinner
Rationale: After finishing up at Barhop on King West, walking up Spadina to Kensington Market in search of something we couldn’t identify and ultimately didn’t find, and heading back down to Queen West as evening fell, we set our sights on Fressen.
Food: A restaurant critic whose name I cannot remember recommended that his readers always try restaurants’ daily specials, in which chefs’ talents and passions can really come through. Accordingly, I ordered the pasta special. I find pasta particularly boring by itself and, accordingly, I don’t usually order it at restaurants, but this pasta was in a squash-​and-​possibly-​cashew-​based sauce with some herbs and vegetables mixed in that fixed it up well enough that I didn’t regret my choice. Satisfied customer. My boyfriend ordered some kind of tempeh, which was served over a variety of macro-​vegetables in a mushroom and red wine reduction. Weeks later, he continues to rave about this sauce. I tasted it, too. It was quite good. Other reviewers have complained that Fressen does not serve soda. I don’t actually mind this. It probably doesn’t pair well with good vegetarian cuisine.
Service/​atmosphere: Quick service. Not at all snotty like other reviewers have observed. I have a feeling that this storefront was something different not too long ago and that not too much additional work was done before Fressen opened (though I could be wrong). The restrooms were also a bit creepy and unrefined (in general this seems to be a largely neglected department in Toronto). But I don’t really mind, as long as the food is good (and it was).
Conclusion: I’d visit again. There were enough options on the menu that I had trouble deciding. In my opinion, a difficult choice is best made easier by choosing all the choices. Over time. So I don’t explode.

In this case the fifth time’s the charm.
I’ve taken out-​of-​town pals to Fressen in the past mostly because it’s close to where I live and is strictly veg with nice interiors. However, the flaky service and less than riveting menu was becoming a deal-​breaker…
Even with reservations and a half-​filled restaurant, I was seated at the «reject» table 4 out of 5 times– yes, that lonely one by the door that gets the draft and incoming shuffle. It would’ve been alright if the service was reasonably attentive– distract me with bread, water, a quicker cocktail! But these things were hard to come by.
The menu teeters towards the tofu-​cliché. Are they are trying to entice a wider clientele by lining their mains with the protein most obviously associated with vegan/​veg cuisine? Maybs. The food has been pleasant but not as interesting as I would expect from a stylish spot like Fressen. The variety just falls a bit short.
However, faith has been restored after my last visit. I went with a group of maritimers who were visiting for Radiohead. When the show was cancelled, Fressen provided a warm and happy rescue with sweet service, window seating, yummy cucumber cocktails, and dishes to take the edge off. With a little extra love and attention, the experience was no less than enjoyable. Atmospheric affect made the difference (romantic lighting, nice woods, lofty feels) and my pals were pleased.
I’m still somewhat unsure of how much Fressen is for me, but I definitely won’t count them out. My last experience spoke volumes and I’m hoping next will do the same.

I have been to Fressen a few times while visiting Toronto and each time was excellent.
Both of the last two times were with some omnivore food snobs. (I mean that in the nicest way.)
The atmosphere, the ambiance is excellent. I don’t know if they paid one of those $ 100/​hour Feng Shui practitioners or an interior designer or what but it is ⁵⁄₅.
One of my omnivore guests while looking at the menu said that he could not understand why anyone would choose to eat vegan, boggled his mind.
First off, they were impressed with the wine selection. Then, the man mentioned above said it was the best bread he had ever been served prior to an entrée at any restaurant. [Haven’t always been served this excellent bread on each of my visits, but he was right this time was excellent.]
The sauces particularly impressed them – better than at any veg restaurant I have ever been to. Presentation was also beautiful. Taste did not disappoint. The female designer said there is no way this could all be vegan. Yes, all vegan.
This is the sort of vegan restaurant you can bring meat eaters to and impress them.
I can imagine if I lived in Toronto, I might long for more of a fresh sheet of rotating specials. But as an occasional visitor, I would not want to visit Toronto without stopping at least once at Fressen. I so wish we had a place like this in Vancouver.

Amazing Amazing Amazing! :)
Vegan food at its best:)
We have been recommended Fressen by a few friends and finally we got a chance to go there for dinner. If you had ever been to a vegan/​vegetarian restaurant you know that most of them have a certain hippie vibe about them. Right?
Well. Fressen has no such vibe… it’s very well designed– very cozy and cute. Dimmed lights, soft music and beautiful décor.
The service was great– fast and friendly. We got delicious, healthy bread as we were waiting for our food… I believe they make it in the house.
The best part about this place in my opinion is their simple menu– order three apps for $ 15, and all mains had a set price too… I think it was $ 14, not sure but it was very reasonable, plus some other bigger size appetizers for $ 9. We ordered three apps to share, one bigger appetizer and one main (all these for three people). We were afraid that it won’t be enough, but a friend that had been there many times assured us it would be more than enough. I’m glad we took her advice, because we were STUFFED by the end of dinner. Everything was Soooo Good… absolutely delish. I couldn’t stop eating their Babaganush, I couldn’t believe it was vegan… it tasted better than regular Babaganush that would have some mayo in it. For main we had tofu kebobs which were great:)
Overall…I loved this place. My only tiny complaint would be too much vinegar in some of their dishes. (like mixed mushrooms) If they fix that I would actually give them FIVE STARS:) Until then, I will definitely be back to Fressen to try the rest of their menu:) I’m a fan now:)
P. S. Some people complained about service and prices…

I’ve been here a few years ago around the time it first opened. It was much different back then– there were fewer cooks, food portions were much smaller, and there were nowhere near as many people dining there at that time, as there are now.
I recently visited Fressen for dinner and it’s changed quite a bit. It’s much busier, there are a few more cooks, and the portions are huge. The menu has changed as well, and there are quite a lot of options to choose from– I had a difficult time deciding at first, but decided upon the kebabs, which were served with roasted potatoes and mixed vegetables. It was really good, but I think they might have used a bit too much sauce on the kebabs. Other then that, I felt like I was eating a really healthy meal. Like I mentioned before, the portions are larger, so you might want to take some home. They use small fold-​up cardboard cartons that don’t exactly hold the meal in it too well– so you might want to bring a bag for it.
The food is kind of pricey, so I guess you could call it a more upscale vegan restaurant. However, I feel that the prices now are much more suited to the portions then they were in the past.
The atmosphere is still the same, dark, but rustic and cozy. That being said, the atmosphere makes for a good date.
Service is kind of slow, but friendly. Also, it might be a good idea to make reservations, depending on he day– some days are much busier then others.

Vegan/​Vegetarian restaurants are all worth a try by me! An inviting Queen West spot with a multi-​layer layout and adequate bar seating for a smallish place, Fressen is a nice spot.
The menus is good and diverse and I look forward to working my way through it over the years. My last visit I wasn’t starving so had soup — a beautiful butternut squash with hints of leek and ginger and a mixed mushroom appetizer did not disappoint. A variety of mushrooms with wilted spinach in a, hmm, not sure, rice vinegar warm sauce with sesame seeds? Very tasty.
Good prices and friendly staff made my visit complete. Vegan food isn’t for everyone but if you’re going to give it a try for the vegetarian in your life, I think you’ll be pleased here.

Ok what everyone already knows about Fressen:
1. Its really (in my opinion) the only «fancy» vegan restaurant in Toronto. All the others have a cafeteria feel or are a bit more casual.
2. Slowest service possible in the world and just a really lazy attitude from the servers (just ask anyone that frequents this place). But us vegetarians keep going back because (see #1) it’s the only fancy place!
3. Their brunch is WAY better than their dinner (but it would seem that they have stopped serving brunch!?) boo!
4. Decent vegan food. But quite pricey.
5. Enough seating to accommodate large groups, but their kitchen is actually too small to cook all the food, so all your dishes come out pretty far spaced apart.
6. AND — they refuse to do separate bills. My hugest pet peeve! They just flat out refuse to do it, even if you ask before hand.

Beer Battered Tofu — very good.
Spelt Linguine — reportedly good.
Polenta and tomato sauce appetizer — wonderfullll.
The staff were fast on the water refill, and were helpful to us even though we wandered in on Mother’s Day (d’oh). The tapas/​appetizers all sounded pretty good, and some of the meals appealed. The vegetables with the meal were great except for the grossly oversalted grilled greens (and I love greens, sob!). The tofu was one of the most filling meals I’ve had in a very long time, definitely for big eaters.
The atmosphere was a little rarefied for us — we’re kind of a relaxed pair and it seemed pretty stuffy here. Could be because we weren’t exactly dressed for Mother’s Day or something, who knows.
The prices were actually very good — we didn’t have anything to drink so it was quite a bargain.
We’ll probably come back some day, but there are so many places where we feel more comfortable, it won’t be often.

IMO, Fressen is the best vegan restaurant in the city, hands down, at least for dinner.
The atmosphere is wonderful — dark and warm and friendly. I had the beer-​battered tofu for my main and it was PHENOMENAL.
The service was also wonderful. I have never had a bad experience here and it will always be my go-​to special occasion place.

The last time I tried Fressen was back in 2006. It took me almost 5 long years to try again; but I probably should have left it indefinitely.
In total, I’ve been here once for dinner and twice for brunch. The dinner foray, from what I remember (because this was 2004), was a nice intimate evening and the food was interesting and tasty. But what I’m really here to write about is the brunch. In two words: stay away!
Between 2006 and 2011, the general results of the brunch service have not changed:
— slow service
— cold tea and tasteless coffee
— forgetful staff (missing items)
— cost not relative to amount (teeny tiny tapas)
— vegans welcome, but gluten-​free diners not
The last time I went, I ordered the soup of the day — coconut butternut squash — which had much more coconut cream than I’d like in a soup, but it was at least warm and filling. I also had a very small chickpea and avocado salad which was supposed to have some greens in it, but I counted three pieces of tiny arugula. My dining mates were shocked at their cold tea. From the sounds of it, the diners from the table next to us were not pleased at all with their food and had demanded a refund on one of their items.
I was very surprised that the restaurant offered no gluten-​free alternative options for their sandwiches. Their excuse was that they couldn’t find a recipe good enough for what they wanted. Please — this has to be pure laziness. There are so many gluten-​free companies and bakeries in the Toronto area. And if they’re dedicated to making things in-​house, there are hundreds of blog posts online with variations on gluten-​free bread that they can experiment with.
Be warned if you go with groups and you want to split the bill. It is the owner’s policy that tables must have one bill together. Sure, the servers can split it up for you after, but why not allow separate bills in the first place so that each of us, one-​by-​one, doesn’t have to traipse up to the till and keep wasting their time?
Also, they really have to get with the times: a menu from 2006 on their website? A clear sign that they do not put any care into their image or public presence or reaching out to their customers.

I’m disappointed. Why? Because the food was really good. More on that later, but here is my praise about the food. (deservedly +1 star)
There is so much selection. The food was delicious. The plates were hearty and fills you up. There is so much flavour that no meat eater can complain that it’s just «salad».
Price wise you can get tapas for 3 for $ 15 (good enough to share between 2 people as an appetizer), larger sized appetizers for $ 9, and entrée for $ 14.
Between myself and my boyfriend we shared 3 tapas, 1 appetizer and the Moroccan stew and it was more than enough.
My favourite dishes were the Spicy Lentil Balls (the tapas comes with bread to dip), King Mushroom appetizer sauteed in watercress), Moroccan Stew (spicy, hearty, rich, flavourful).
My friends also had the Portobello Mushroom which they said was too salty.
My concerns about the food part of the meal:
— for a restaurant that caters to so many dietary restrictions, I’m surprised that they don’t serve any bread/​crackers that are gluten free (even rice crackers would have done), so I was forced to eat the spreads with my fork.
— the menu online has not changed in 5 years. granted the restaurant might change their menu daily, but a more current menu could have been posted
— although the Moroccan stew was amazing, there were hidden olives in it, and twice, i bit down on the pit without knowing. be careful!
And yet I was disappointed. Why? Because I would like to come here again. But I could not stand the service. We sat down at 6:30 and we left at 10pm.
Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time, and only because of the company. We literally chatted for over an hour before we realized that no one had asked us for our order. For an establishment that does not allow reservations between 7pm and 745pm and had to ask permission from someone if I could change my time from 6:30pm to 6:45pm they didn’t seem to be doing their time management very well.
By the time we did order it was about 7:45 –8pm. But the food took forever to come. The friendly server told us that she would bring out the dishes as they were prepared as some ordered Tapas, some didn’t. etc.
So everything came out on it’s turn, but when the entrees finally came out it was almost 2 hours later. Did this mean that the entrees take 2 hours to make? I can’t understand it.
All of this, I don’t believe it’s the servers fault. She was one of two that had to cater to the whole place. But I do believe more management in the kitchen is needed to get food to people in a timely manner. I have never been in a restaurant this long before! It’s so frustrating because I am torn between the food being so great, and the long wait.
Even though our large party was charged a mandatory 17% gratuity, it was done pre-​tax, which was nice because a lot of places don’t do that and I get angry. But here I am again torn because I am paying for someone that just brought my food to me and forced me to wait 4hrs??!
I would recommend coming here with a big party, good company, and good conversation. With all that the long wait time will fly by.
I don’t recommend coming here with you and your date, because you may get frustrated and leave like we saw two other customers.

As a former meat eater (stopped in 2002) I do like to have options that are close to the flavor and texture and the seared seitan they served reminded me of steak. It was so good I was simply in shock. When the waitress offered a dessert menu I had to refuse because I couldn’t believe they could top that dinner. Quite possibly the best seitan I have ever eaten.
The vegetables were also well seasoned and the pumpkin soup? WOW!
If I am ever back in Toronto, I will make a bee-​line to this place, but I will call ahead for a table because I almost didn’t get seating on the Friday night I visited.

Everyone I know in Toronto was raving about the brunch at this place. Vegans, meat eaters, aliens, all of them. I knew I had to try it. «Try» is a key word here. I had to try several times to try it because every time I was in Toronto they weren’t open. I tried three times with a couple months in between each attempt and they were either renovating, keeping crazy hours, or mysteriously not open during normal hours. Luckily (sorta) the fourth time was a charm.
The real problem was that they were out of everything. Like four things. The biggest rave people had was the waffles or pancakes or something like that but of course those weren’t available. I settled on a tofu omelette that sounded nice in writing. The «tofu ham» was absolute garbage and the texture of the tofu was attrocious. I can do better in my own kitchen. I tried my friend’s tofu scramble and it was really good, though. If I get dragged back I’ll try that. The menu was also incredibly short, adding in that they were out of everything the options were pretty limited. I guess if you’re only open four days a year though it’s hard to ensure you have adequate product to feed the customers.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that I don’t eat meat given my reviews. Now, I’m not super strict on this fact, and chose to quit eating meat (and it’s dirty little brother, milk) because it’s bad for you. Plain and simple. Meat and milk are both over farmed, filled with harmful chemicals and hormones and are mishandled to the point where I’m convinced that they are the cause of most cancers. In any case, that’s not anyone’s business. In fact, I never tell people not to eat meat (au contraire to my previous rant). Generally, if people ask, I say, «you really want to know»? And when they stupidly say «yes», I tell them because there’s blood and puss in milk. Then I watch them finish their milkshakes all disgusted.
All jokes aside, I usually avoid vegetarian restaurants because I hate vegetarians. They’re a bunch of self-​righteous bastards. But, when I was totally vegetarian, I longed for proper meals (not modified ones I had to make off menu at most places). So, I went to this shit place. Not only does the food tastes sorta like hippy’s houses smell, but it’s bland and they have this stupid no-​fur policy that drives me bananas.
I wear fur and I don’t eat meat. So bite me. I had some girl in leather Doc Martins to her knees ask me to turn my rabbit fur coat inside out if I wanted to come in cause they have a no-​fur policy. I guess cows just aren’t cuddly enough. I eat three meals a day in restaurants and have never returned since that say. And I never well. I don’t mix food with politics.