Evolution Fast Food

Omg. I need to live closer to this hidden gem. Everything I’ve tried here has been beyond incredible. So far my favorite is there raw tacos. They are STUFFED with raw taco meat, guac and sauce. It’s worth your money. It was literally spilling over with heaven in a taco. I also love there Thai bean wrap. It’s very filling and has exotic flavors that I come back for all the time. I’m also obsessed with their ice cream swirl… Like obsessed.

Tasty, healthy food at reasonable prices. They also have a drive thru which is convenient and there’s plenty of nice outdoor patio seating.
I got the fish filet sandwich ($ 8). I really liked the tartar sauce it came with and the sandwich filled me up. My boyfriend got the chicken sandwich with BBQ sauce ($ 8). I thought it was just okay I probably would pick a different sauce next time.

Love this place. Employees are friendly and the patios feel like home. But the food… it’s always fantastic. I even but an extra bag of sweet potato chips for my dog!

Very good spot with lots of options. I got the buffalo ‘chicken’ sandwich and made it a meal with fries and a raspberry lemonade. The staff were friendly, the food came out quickly (it IS fast food, after all), and everything tasted great. There are some spots to sit in the main area where you order and I think I saw a sign to a patio area. This is convenient to Balboa park and is a good option for vegan and non-​vegan alike.

It is delicious. It’s more than just «junk food» — they do have healthy smoothies and juices. Which is what I’ll order in addition to my crispy ranch ‘chicken’ burger with fries, extra ranch, and a chocolate chip raw cookie. Oopsth.

Such a beautiful vegetarian/​vegan place. I absolutly loved the buffalo chicken sandwich. It was so good. You dont have to be vegetarian to enjoy their menu. Its amazing. I recommend everyone to try this spot for lunch on a beautiful sunny day in San Diego.

This place is awesome! The food and the outdoor seating area is so wonderful.
Tasty, reasonably priced and good people all around.

Ingenius! Vegan fast food that was nothing short of an amazing meal full of flavor that was made quickly. We had the California Burrito which I did not want to end. It had marinated «carne asada» with guacamole and fries inside, every bite was delicious and surprisingly not too heavy. Also, we shared the South Western burger with Chipotle sauce and house-​made black bean burger, the bun seemed home made as well. The burger was great but my fave was the burrito.
Sad to say I’m just a visiting San Diego or else I’d be here everyday! Their menu isn’t huge but is most likely addicting. They have a bunch of smoothies, raw juices, to-​go foods, and desserts! ah! In a nation that values convenience, why can’t every city have truly healthy conscious delicious vegan fast food?
By the way, it was super busy for lunch and service was awesome. :)

Great food but a little on the pricey side. I always get the chicken CEASAR wrap & the sweet potatoes. Absolutely delicious! I gave this place a 4 due to the area & parking. It’s right beside extraordinary deserts. The drive through circles the parking area which is super small. There is always a wait but for the fact the food is excellent. Lines get long and you always have to pull up so it tends to get over crowded. But all in all its a good spot for fast vegan food to go to. I love how this place has a drive-​thru to grab a quick lunch on your break. I just wish it was in a different location or expand the area.

With so many of my visits to Evolution, I don’t know why I haven’t gotten around to reviewing this business!
This place has great vegan food. I love their black bean burgers, though it tends to crumble part fairly quickly, so beware! Their chicken tenders taste like actual meat, and their fries are crispy and yummily salted like no other. I don’t know what to say that hasn’t already been said, except that if you haven’t yet tried Evolution, you really should.
The fact that it’s small business is a huge plus in my book as well. Possibly the only vegan drive thru in the county! Keep it up Evo, I’d love to see you continue a great business for years to come.

Good vegan food. I’ve seen this place many times, but only recently tried them. Since its a bit chilly outside, I decided to order from the drive thru and eat at home.
I ordered the South of the Border burger with tempeh. I ordered fries and to drink ice tea. I did want to try a dessert so I went with the raw cacao tart.
It took about 20 mins or so to get home. I love avocado, and the salsa and jalepeno added a nice kick to the burger. I wasn’t a fan of the bread though, was almost similar to eating slightly stale bread. Tempeh burger was a bit dry. The fries were ok. The 20 min drive may have had altered the crispness of fries or the freshness of the bread, I don’t know. Perhaps next time I should eat there and try it freshly prepared. Overall though for a vegan burger it was good.
The raw cacao tart was pretty dense. It took me about 2 – 3 days to eat a piece. It was good and a nice somewhat healthy dessert.
I will come back and try more. They have a small outdoor seating area, and I definitely want to try more.

This place is awesome! I’m not 100% vegan, but try to eat mostly vegan. I truly appreciate finding great vegan restaurants. It is pretty easy to eat vegan, but especially easy to eat vegan when there are yummy vegan restaurants!
LOCATION/​WAIT/​PARKING:
It is located pretty close to Balboa Park in San Diego. Pretty easy to find.
They have a small parking lot, but there is some street parking as well.
There were a few people in front of me when I ordered, but it didn’t take too long to get my food.
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
The employees gave good customer service overall.
FOOD:
I ordered the raw burger and it was really good. It is a dehydrated burger patty made with walnuts, sunflower seeds, celery, carrots and jalapenos topped with cashew hummus, lettuce and tomato in a cabbage shell. It was unique, but very delicious.
The menu overall, looks very delicious and I had a hard time deciding. I definitely will come back to try more items!
SEATING:
They had a couple seeds inside, but most of them were outside on the patio area.

Vegan Fast Food complete with a drive thru.
Tasty junk food with a couple Raw options and plenty of ready made take out selections. Not suitable for a primary diet, but an awesome quick meal while in the area enjoying the beautiful Balboa Park and being about that fruits and veggies life. Evolution uses the popular Gardein products for their burgers and chicken meals.
I ordered the California Burrito because I have sampled very little plant based mexi-​cuisine. Carne Asada (Seitan), guacamole, salsa, homemade french fries, on a whole wheat tortilla. Very hearty and sufficiently fulfilled my taco shop craving.

I eat vegan a few days per week. While in San Diego for a couple weeks where every meal was eaten «out», this is the place that got the most repeat visits. The best fast food vegan I’ve had. True, it’s the only, but I’ve made a lot of vegan dishes and they do a really good job at their meat substitutes… better than I’ve been able to do with seitan, tofu, bean loafs, etc. Then there are the condiments and seasonings. They add just enough to make it not sloppy, but take everything to a good spice and flavor level. I only wish I had time to try their fried «chicken» and fried «fish» sandwiches. They looked really good.
Since it’s fast food, that makes it that much more wonderful. It’s not YuckDonald’s fast of course. You may wait up to 5 minutes, but that is not long to pause for a healthy, hot tasty burger, burrito, wrap, fries, etc. They also have fridges so you can grab, pay and go. We did this for the airport/​travel adventure. Procured was a «chicken» salad with tempeh bacon on whole wheat bread and a delicious chipotle mayo spread across made it more interesting. So satisfying. Nice to tote something about that didnt require immediate refrigeration. I was able to finish my leftovers 5 hours later and it was still fresh tasting, with no fear of botulism due to meat, dairy and eggs.
DO try the chocolate cheesecake. Oh man, how do they do that? It wasn’t the light foamy raw vegan stuff places usually call cheesecake, but had a nice firm texture. It was not too sweet and very rich in chocolate. I loved that the crust was NOT graham crackers, but pecans. mmmm.
They do soft-​serve ice cream based in oats. I sampled it and wished it were less sweet. It was a bit beyond fudgesicle sweet. I’ve had oatscream before and it’s best to have less sugar. The have chocolate, vanilla or swirl and one day had a flavor to honor the season: pumpkin pie.
Indoor seating are a couple stools beside a narrow bar at the window, but they have an outdoor area that’s walled in, donned with potted plants and many tables. It’s very comfy and casual. And a drive thru if you’re really not wanting to park and run in.
Some are saying it’s not the healthiest vegan, but I found it was really not super oily, had many wheat alternatives, and several organic ingredients, so I think for eating out, it’s pretty good choice.
Each worker was happy and helpful, every time. They seem to like their jobs, which is a big plus when someone is working with food that’s about to go in my mouth.
My only disappointment is the black bean burger… kinda dry and boring. Their homemade ketchup couldn’t redeem it, either. It should have some other flavors going on… and moisture, but you can only put so much ketchup on before you’ve had too much ketchup (brilliant, I know, but you get it) Maybe a garlic and herb mayo?

I really wish this food was healthy, but unfortunately most of it is not. However, it is delicious, and the staff here are all super friendly and accommodating. When I want vegan comfort food and I’m feeling like indulging (or I worked out super hard that day), this is one of the first places that comes to mind. The chimichurri carne sandwich and the chicken sandwich with honey mustard are two of my faves. Also, if you have a weakness for fries and are trying to be good, don’t even. You will eat them all!
Oh also, they do have grab and go stuff in the cooler section which looks way healthier. But, lets be honest, do you come to a place with «fast food» in the name for healthy wraps and veggie dip? (I mean, we probably should, but that’s beside the point.)

First impression: definitely a hole in the wall and definitely pricey. I ordered a black bean burger ($ 6.25) and carob date shake ($ 6.95 ouch! Better be freakin amazing!!). Ppl who worked here were super friendly.
Took first sip of vegan shake. Oh my god. What the hell did I just do to my tastebuds?!! My tongue wants to crawl back into my head in protest. What just happened? YUCK! It looked shake-​like but tasted like insecticide had a baby with sunscreen. SO GROSS that I took 3 sips to make sure I really hate you then left it in the parking lot for a vegan homeless person (one with no tastebuds). I didn’t know something called a «milkshake» could go so BAD. They should change the name of this drink to «Haha we just got your money».
I am feeling concerned now bc I really want to take the taste of the shake out of my mouth. I apologize to my boyfriend in advance for eating in his car (sorry babe). Bite #1… Not bad. Smoky chipotle type taste without the spicy. The texture? Not for me. I found myself missing the juiciness of even fake chicken. Will I finish the burger? Yes, probably. But not without mentally saying
In & Out 10
Evolution 0
This place used to be much better. Now it is overpriced and my experience tonight was not the best. The ppl were very nice but the food (at least what I ordered was a combination of disgusting (date shake) and meh (black bean burger). Try it, only if you’re friend is offering to buy and you are stranded on the side of the road. with your legs cut off. Otherwise, RUN!

Not being a vegan I was a little skeptical but yummy, I was really happy with my black bean burger and love that they offer gluten free buns! They have great outdoor seating, one area that is completely covered and another that is more of an open patio but still has some shade. They also have a drive through but the same person taking orders inside was taking the drive through orders. I got there right at 12 and it wasn’t crowded yet but by 12:30 there was a huge line inside and in the drive through.
Parking is hard to find around here, they do have a small lot, but its pretty small and the actual spots are narrow.
I spent a little over $ 8 which is pricey for lunch especially bc I got the standard burger with no sides or drink. But, it’s expected that health food type places are going to be a little pricey, it seems like they use pretty high quality ingredients

WOW evolution was so much more wonderful than I expected it to be. This place was farther than I had wanted to walk while I was extremely hangry — but it ended up being worth the distance.
Located two doors down from extraordinary desserts, there’s not a ton of convenient parking available. It’s kind of a funny location because it’s got a drive-​up window (not a drive-​thru) but also has an adorable little patio area that you’d be crazy to pass up sitting in. This may have been my favorite part of my experience here. walking back to the patio and not expecting anything at all, but finding a cute little seating area with plants and lights! Wasn’t crowded at all when I came, and we had the entire place to ourselves.
I just wanted something small, so I ordered a BBQ chicken taco roll up for about $ 3. an order of their fries, and a fountain drink (which gives you access to a few teas/​lemonades). The total for all of this was a very reasonable $ 7! The taco roll up was just a piece of spinach tortilla, ‘chicken’, lettuce and bbq sauce. Nothing too crazy about it, but it definitely satisfied my hunger and was the perfect size. The fries here were surprisingly good — really crispy on the outside, almost like they were fried twice.
Careful overdosing on the orange blossom lemonade — it’s pretty sweet and can give you a stomach ache if you drink more than a glass!

Here I am to review this place at last after having been here a handful of times years ago! Now I will be back often, I know it!
First off– almond milkshakes omg soooo good guys thank you thank you thank you!!!
Chicken sandwiches. That chicken veg meat is so yummy holy crap!
And sweet potato fries/​chips freshly made. Authentic sweet potato taste and texture that reminds me of home.

I think this place is overpriced and overhyped for their quality. Organic vegetarian food does not automatically mean it’s delicious. I judge health food restaurants the same way as I judge other traditional restaurants because I believe no matter what kind of restaurant it is, good chefs will make delicious food (healthy as bonus).
That’s my premise.
I went in with high hopes because of the reviews and the menu. I ordered the mushroom Swiss burger with tempeh and a green glory.
It took a while before I got my order. I was waiting for my name to be called while I was sitting at the back outdoor seating area. When I heard my name, it turned out it was another Rebecca’s order. Alright no biggie. So I waited again next to the counter and after the guy was asking around where my order was, I was just curious what’s sitting on their counter. It was my dinner bag. I’m glad I didn’t lose my patience at least.
And of course, having my burger sitting on the counter for who knows how long, it was lukewarm. Noooo… I hate warm food! Anyhow, hoping it would still be good, I took a bite. The buns were not crispy, the tempeh taste was bland and mushy, the sauce was lackluster, the mushroom portion was stingy… The burger was not made of meat, and the only way to have some moisture and juice would be from the mushrooms. Wouldn’t it make sense to put more in there then? There were only a few sad slices of mushrooms there… I had soy patty before and this one they made/​bought was not good at all.
The juice was definitely not worth $ 6+. It tasted watered down and I’d prefer the green juices from Jamba Juice honestly…
The outdoor seating area in the back is pretty relaxing though. But the floor was sticky…
Cannot keep me as a customer.