CrudaCafe

I had the green wrap and it was pretty good but hard to hold and the sauce dripped all over. I was thankful I wasn’t eating with anyone looking at me (or so I believe ha). Overall delicious way to get your veggies in. 10.50 for a wrap

Terrible service and meh bland food for not cheap.
Went in last week for the raw tacos (based on a recommendation) — they were not great, pretty soggy & fell apart right away. Seemed like the tomatoes & maybe other toppings needed to be strained before being thrown in there, bottom of the take out container was a puddle by the time i got back to my office (2 minutes).
The service though! Not that it can even be called that! The tacos were $ 12, so came out to $ 13 something with tax. I handed the cashier a $ 50, she said she didn’t «THINK» she’d have change for that in the til. I waited and she stared at me. I assumed she’d check the til, and after an uncomfortable silence asked whether she’s checking or what. She said she didn’t need to check, now (a minute or two later of just staring straight ahead) she was «SURE» that she wouldn’t have enough change. Mmmmkay… I understand that it’s annoying to make change for larger bills but come on, you don’t have a $ 20 and a $ 10, or 2 $ 10s & 2 $ 5s? it’s st lawrence market, there are lots of office workers and tourists out for lunch and you have no cash in your til becaaaaause you don’t want our money? just go in your wallet and stock the til with at least a few bills for the day.
Ok, I said i could pay with interac (didn’t feel i had much choice as the other employee had already started making the tacos, since this awkwardness had already gone on for several minutes) and was prompted by the machine to add a 15%, 18% or 20% tip… this is not a full service restaurant but a stand in the market like all the others, why would you assume a tip will be provided? Was difficult to navigate the interac machine to NOT tip, counter girl was super curt and said just press 0 (which i had done several times by now since it’s not my first day on the planet), which did not work, but she insisted that it did… while i was trying it on the machine in front of her eyes and it clearly did not.
Never going again. Just cause it’s vegan and organic doesn’t mean it should get your business cause you’re trying to be healthy or whatever. Have better standards, people! Evolution Food Co is just on the other side of Market St & doing it better. As is b. good just over on Front. And with smiles all around!

I used to love Cruda Café when I worked in the area. I love the vegan local organic idea and that it’s a small local restaurant! However the customer service, as others have said is just simply bad. The wild mushroom burger is the only thing I could recommend.
I did a 5 day juice cleanse here after purchasing it off if Groupon. So many problems, the difficulty of getting the juices, they are not labelled and the last day of my cleanse they told me the machine broke? And I received no refund or anything-​which was weird.
I gave to stars because I love that its vegan and local. However they should consider a kinder and better staff as well as take off their juice cleanses from Groupon.

My partner and I did a juice cleanse with Cruda Café. We tried to get in touch multiple times before we were able to get through to someone. I had sent them an email asking them to call me and they refused. Their phone etiquette was very poor, rude and short. They were not helpful with any of the questions my partner had.
The juice arrived late, so late in fact we could not start our cleanse until the next day. One day the delivery service said they forgot about the juice and it never showed up. When we called Cruda Café they told us it was not their problem. Ouch.
They charged way more for bottles than the Groupon said, and the delivery price is out of this world. NOTE: the bottle are not refundable, I have done many juice cleanses and every other business always refunds the bottles.
The juices are okay– but I have had MUCH better. They were very watered down and none of the ingredients are labelled.
I would never use this company again. It is clear that the owner does not care.

I bought the 5-​day juice cleanse for my gf and I over the holidays from Groupon. It cost $ 109 per person, which seems like a fair deal. When I called in to arrange picking up the juices, I was then informed that I would be charged $ 5 per bottle, for 6 juices per day for 5 days. That’s a total of an extra $ 150 for 30 little bottles which can’t be returned for deposit. Add tax, and the $ 109 is now close to $ 300, for five days of juice, per person.
Fortunately, Groupon refunded my money, but they need to update their fine print with the truth. Currently it says there’s a $ 7 per day glass bottle fee. It’s actually $ 30.

The drinks and desserts are good. A++ for my drink — the greener inner, which was switched to spinach (alternative to the celery that was unavailable), apple, lemon and cucumber. The service however, is terrible.
The person working was on the phone when I got there so I was waiting to place an order for what seemed like 5 minutes, but, probably was less than that. I asked her what the desserts are, as there were no labels. Understandably menu items may change daily. She conveyed to me what was in the desserts with little excitement & enthusiasm.
I get it, not all days are good days when one works in the Hospitality Industry, I’ve been there, but it’s disappointing to not receive the service one expects, complimentary to that of the ethos of the establishment. This is why expectations, need not exist in the first place.
The phone rang again, she picked it up, it wasn’t after a few minutes she proceeded to process my transaction, while still on the phone. This time she had the courtesy to answer the phone because it was ringing like mad, and listening to that incessant ringing when trying to place an order… nothing short of annoying. She actually washed her hands with the intention of touching the veggies and fruits that went into my drink, only to pick up the phone after washing her hands, witnessing this all well, the lack of sanitary practices is enough to turn me away. Regardless, I paid and had been waiting I wasn’t going to leave. Not to mention there may be far worse things that happen behind closed doors, or in kitchens that the customer do not see.
She finally finished my drink only to have the phone ring a third time. YES, she answered it. Again, good food/​drink, very, very poor service. Especially when I am the only customer. Would I return? Not a chance!
I understand that this might be a place that thrives on catering clientele, yet to have such an awful experience well, that’s enough to not go back and to write about it on Unilocal.
Its also, places like these that has me thinking and agreeing with those that say the service today has declined tremendously (ha, I am even one of those people)… some people in the hospitality and service field lack apathy and they simply do not care… and that is really unfortunate, considering they’re working in/​with/​for the public
Also, the drink I had, had quite a bit of foam, so it wasn’t even a full cup of juice of what sized I paid for and at $ 7.50 plus tax, kinda unacceptable.
It seems like you have to say, «hold the foam» on drink orders that may produce such an output!
if you decide to venture here, good luck!

I bought the Groupon for the juice cleanse. I was very unhappy with the customer service. The owner is rude and doesn’t care.
They charged way more for bottles than the Groupon said. It said $ 5 refundable deposit when it was actually nearly $ 60 and you only got half the deposit back if you washed the bottles in a dishwasher, which I don’t own.
They couldn’t keep up with demand so even though the terms said you only needed to give 48 hours notice I was forced to wait nearly a month.
They called me the day before to say that I would have to wait until noon to pick up my juice because they were busy.
I have done a few juice cleanses before and this one was my least favorite. Small, watery juices.

Compared to the raw vegan dishes at live it does not come close. However it’s raw and vegan and no sugar so I can’t complain.

100% raw vegan. Nice service, average prices (for raw food that is).
We stop here on every visit to the St. Lawrence Market and pick up 2 – 3 wraps. Always good. Never quite 5 star, but a solid 4. We’ve had nearly everything on the menu and it is all equally well prepared and delicious.

I bought a groupon for a 5 day cleanse. The write up on groupon indicated you would receive instructions and support on what to eat before and after the cleanse to prepare your body, and what time of day to drink your six bottles of juice. I booked my groupon went to the café and was handed a box of bottles and that was that. I had to rely on write ups online as to how to prepare for the cleanse and what time to drink my juice.
I dropped off my bottles today (–21 outside) to receive my deposit back however since they were washed in the sink and not in a dishwasher they refused them. Again NO instructions to dishwasher wash them. What’s even more frustrating I asked if the bottle company was going to sterilize them and the answer was yes!
compete lack of support and instructions provide. Beware if you going to buy one of their expensive cleanses on their website.

I can see how the location and hours of CrudaCafe are obstacles to popularity (in addition to being raw/​vegan/​healthy in a space where baked goods, meats and cheeses reign) but it seems to me (a person heavily biased in favor of raw food) that the quality of the food makes walking past animal carcasses and bovine rape bi-​products by 5pm worth it. The menu is so marvelous to read, I had a hard time not ordering multiple things. But I went with just one thing — the sweet potato mesquite sandwich. The «bread» was the best raw bread I’ve ever had; it was soft, yet sturdy, and flavorful — not at all reminiscent of cardboard. Add some yummy nutty cheese, avocado and a ton of fresh vegetables (including beets, my fave!) and wow, real food tastes so good! My only gripe about this «sandwich» is that it was extremely difficult to eat — there was definitely no picking it up due to it’s massive size, overflowing bounty of fillings and bed of arugula and even more veggies… a plastic fork was a poor match, but I got through it. It being a very delicious, filling and nourishing meal.
*If you’ve read my review for Urban Herbivore and saw that I criticized putting potatoes on a sandwich and think I am a totally hypocritical bitch for now honoring a sandwich featuring potato, hi! Potato was serving as a starch in place of bread on this raw sandwich which makes it OK. But potato served on bread as part of a roasted vegetable medley is just cheap filler and superfluous starch that absorbs dressing and detracts from the more delicate flavors and textures of other veggies.

To be completely honest, I always forget that this place exists. The hours are limited and it is not a convenient spot for me to get to. Additionally, it is usually impossible to find seating. As a vegan, it is not appealing to walk by the many open meat shops at St Lawrence Market in order to get to Cruda.
That being said, the few times I have gone, the food has been delicious. I was pleasantly surprised with the gnocchi carbonara and the tacos were pretty good. I really liked their kombucha a lot (it was my first time ever trying kombucha). I am usually surprised at how full and satisfied I am after eating there. I know I would like to incorporate more raw foods into my diet and compared to other raw places in the city, Cruda would rank at the top for me taste-wise.They have plenty of menu items that I actually do really really want to try, but the sort-​of-​high prices and the inconvenience of the location keep me from going regularly.

I’ve only recently ventured into the world of raw food so I’m not an expert, but I really enjoyed my experiences here. I’ve had the pizzeta and tacos which, admittedly, had many of the same ingredients on them which I found strange (guac on pizza?) but still delicious.
The mushroom nut burger was off putting at first because I was expecting a bun of sorts but opened my container to reveal two thick slices of not-​quite-​ripe tomato instead. The patty itself was tasty and moist and I ended up cutting the ‘burger’ into small pieces and making one large salad out of it. The avocado cream, shredded beets and carrots balanced out the the undressed arugula with sweetness and moisture. all in all it was a tasty lunch that filled me up completely without leaving me comatose.
I see that there are complaints about the service but I’ve never had any problems with them. The guy who served me on my first visit explained what everything was (I did tell him it was my first experience), my second visit I wasn’t particularly open to being social so I ordered and left with minimal chatter.
On my third visit I was signing up for the 4 day juice cleanse while I waited for my lunch. When I got there there was no line but once we started with scheduling people arrived. The lady continued to book me in while taking orders. Normally I get pretty pissy about that kind of thing (one customer at a time, please!) but I didn’t feel slighted at all. Maybe because I knew signing up at lunch time was a dumb move on my part :)

It was both good and bad, but erring more on the side of bad because I wouldn’t come back here unless I was in the area, couldn’t leave and was FORCED to eat something because I am hungry and about to chew a table leg for nutrients.
The main takeaway from this review? THEY ARE STINGY with a capital bolded S.
THE GOOD:
— The «burger» made of wild mushrooms and nuts was fricking delicious. Like super yummy, OMG I need this recipe delicious. I can’t even believe it was vegan AND raw.
— The «cheesecake» with blueberries was decent; as in able to be eaten but…
THE BAD:
— The «cheesecake» was super sweet. Cloyingly sweet. I don’t know how people eat this and not throw up after, but then again, I’ve been really cutting back on my sugar, so everything tastes super sweet to me if it’s «normally» sweetened. It would be a thousand times more delicious if it was half as sweet.
— The cake was also a bit gummy. I mean, I’ll eat it, but I am no way fooled into thinking it is a cheesecake by any means. The cheesecake at Rawlicious in Yorkville is much more authentic (the chocolate one that is, because the key lime one is nurrrsty.)
Cost: $ 7 … and the price is not even bloody listed on the menu, so I feel like they just looked at me and made up the price because I looked like someone who was bursting with money to be able to eat RAW VEGAN food at a premium, while surrounded by meat and dairy products (cheese), and other COOKED foods in the market.
— The «burger» was as I said, delicious, but the arugula greens around the burger were not even attempted to be dressed with any kind of balsamic vinaigrette (I don’t like oily dressings), and was just bland until I poured some balsamic vinegar on them. Then they were edible.
— The burger was also just two huge chunks of tomato with a thin, rather nasty looking black nut & mushroom patty which turned out to be SO DELICIOUS even though it looks disgusting, with a very small dollop of some «guacamole». I don’t even want to call it a guacamole because it was more like an avocado cream. I mean, I was expecting at least 2 large slices of avocado on top of the burger for $ 13, considering that she only put 5 little pieces of pea sprout microgreens (I counted).
All in all the burger had:
1. Two large slices of tomatoes, flanking the insides as the «bun»
2. 1 small, thin, black, disgusting-​looking but VERY YUMMY nut and mushroom patty
3. a small teaspoon dollop of «guacamole» cream
4. 5 strands of microgreens
5. Arugula surrounding the outside (a good two handfuls).
$ 13? Methinks not. I would need 2 large slices of avocado on there in addition to the rest, and MORE microgreens and «guacamole» cream.
— Now we come to the «smoothie», which cost $ 7.50 for the «My Roots» one, I took the most expensive one just to see what I would get for the money.
BIG. MISTAKE.
It was just disgusting. Then again, juiced beets are kind of nasty because they taste like red water dirt to begin with, but … hey, I was trying to go healthy.
No, what bothered me the most was that the cup was small, it was HALF FOAM and it was disgusting and not even chilled to begin with.
Aside from the super delicious burger patty, I wouldn’t come back here or even consider buying anything from this overpriced shack.
I’d rather walk to First Canadian (BMO building) and go to Kupfert and Kim for a Oxaca salad, and a smoothie, for about $ 20, which is super filling.
This place, cost me:
$ 13 — Burger
$ 7.50 — Smoothie (My Roots)
$ 7 — Cheesecake
— — — -
~$ 30 at the end
… and I was still hungry a bit afterwards.
The only thing that saves them with an additional star was the yummy burger patty.

Thought it was delicious! I got the raw taco and my friend got the gypsy burger. You can see the full review here:

My husband and I like to eat healthy.
So when FabFind had a deal for Cruda Café a while ago, we bought 3 vouchers.
We got the chance to try different options from their menu:
The Quezadilla, a couple of different wraps that they don’t seem to offer anymore and the Gnocchi Carbonara.
Naturally everything was super fresh and healthy, however I didn’t really like anything but the Gnocchi Carbonara and their guacamole. Those two were awesome.
As for the rest we tried:
All of those items came with either wraps or breads that were dehydrated and while I understand that this is the process that makes it especially healthy, I just didn’t like the taste.
Plus it was really sticky and I found it uncomfortable to eat.
I also have to say that I was not impressed by the service.
The first two times we went, the ladies behind the counter were «just» uninterested and kind of sour, but last time they were actually rude.
We were charged $ 3 extra for take out containers which had not happened before. There is also no sign up anywhere.
They didn’t mention that at all, but just told us the total we had to pay.
It seemed off to us, so we asked some questions and they got annoyed that they had to explain things to us.
To top it off: They basically called us out as liars when we mentioned that we had never paid extra for containers before.
They said that they have always been charging for those since they are biodegradable and «to encourage customers to bring their own containers».
How are you encouraged to bring your own container when nobody tells you that you have to pay extra for a take out box from the store?
Complete BS…

My only other vegan dining experience was at Fresh on Bloor — and I must say, Cruda kicks their ass! I had a Dealathon voucher in hand for $ 30 worth of food (I paid $ 15).
While their portion sizes are nowhere near as big as Fresh, the quality is great! As Janna S. said you are going to have to pay a bit of a premium to get the gluten-​free, organic, raw food experience. You have to pay a premium in general to eat healthy. It sort of seems counter intuitive to me, but you can’t put a price tag on your health right? Even just a crappy salad at Freshii costs $ 12 — and its not organic.
With that said, I ordered:
Clean Me (Apple, carrot, ginger, & lemon juice): I might have to rekindle my love of juice minus the added sugars at Cruda. This was refreshing, and provided me the energy boost I needed to survive quarter end at work. Keeping in mind, I was so busy today that I didn’t even have my coffee!
Sundried Tomato Wrap (seasonal veggies, organic raw pâté, avocado and sunflower sprouts): The wrap can take a little getting used to since it is a dehydrated wrap and therefore, is dry and a bit coarser than normal. The organic raw pâté was quite tasty. Seasonal veggies included radish, beets and arugula. I found this wrap to be savoury for what it was, but just try to keep things relative (e.g. it is not going to compare to wraps topped with cheese and beef etc).
St. Lawrence Green Market Salad (micro greens, carrots, beets, avocado, figs, goji berries, nuts and seeds, infused with kombucha coconut oil agave dijon dressing): I would’ve preferred fresh figs since the goji berries were dried, it was not a well-​diversified dish from a textural perspective. The dressing was pretty scant. The avocado used was browning due to oxidization. With that said, the salad was surprisingly filling but some may find it tastes a little too «green» for their liking.
Verdict:
Will be coming back for more of Cruda’s healthy food which doesn’t compromise on flavour.
Mango Tart: I swear I died and went to heaven when I ate this! The filling was smooth and creamy, and the pie crust was to die for! It was made with nuts and coconut from what I could gather.

This place is located in the northeast corner of the St. Lawrence market basement; it’s not big but the flavours are worth a repeat visit.
Raw food isn’t cheap to make, so you’re going to pay a bit more here than some of the other market vendors. However, that being said, I think Cruda makes it worth it. My favourite dessert here is the lemon square! It’s made with nuts but it’s better than most baked desserts! I have not had anything like this at other raw food places and I hope they don’t stop making it.
The wraps and «pizza» also taste delicious — there is just so much to savour; I don’t want the meal to end! The portion sizes are not big but you’ll probably find the food here filling because they use a lot of nuts/​seeds. Delicious!
The seating here isn’t great because it’s just market benches, but I can usually find a spot. I hope they open another location close to me!

Throw out any ideas you have about snacking on carrot sticks and gnawing on trail mix as a concession to raw food, because Cruda is definitely a raw taste sensation!
They’re tucked away in the basement of the St Lawrence Market, but the couple of times i’ve been there’s been at least a couple of other people waiting for orders there with me so I don’t think the location is hurting them. (It is a bit of a pain due to lack of seating in busier times though).
I’ve tried a variety of things here now, and I feel confident in recommending it as the nicest raw food i’ve had in Toronto. When last I visited I tried the (amazing!) raw pizza and with that and the gorgeous greens accompanying it, each bite was a burst of freshness and flavour. Fresh juices abound & there’s a nice variety of raw desserts (the chocolate mousse tart is a delicious adventure in cocoa and avocado love). Even the salads are chock full of goodies and made interesting!
Raw food establishments tend to be on the pricey side due to the ingredients (lotsa nuts ‘n’ seeds) and prep time and effort needed; this holds me back from a 5 star experience, however. I generally don’t eat out at raw restaurants much, but all things considered, Cruda makes it all taste worthwhile.

update as of Dec. ²⁷⁄₁₀: Things are now good. The owner, Claudia, was receptive to my comments, and did what she could to smooth things over. I will be continuing to eat here. The food is good, I seem to really be enjoying 2 options that contain pickled plum sauce (umeboshi): the seaweed wrap $ 6.50, and market salad $ 9.00 for the large.
The food is good, and the take out containers are all enviro-​friendly.
If you’ve got a salad and are doing take out, consider asking for it in a separate container.
Thanks for reading this update/​thread…
updated on Oct ¹¹⁄₁₀: I’ve contacted the owner directly, to let her know of my recent experience there.
To her credit, she read (and responded to) my email — although it was, respectfully, not a positive one. It turns out that it was actually her that I was messaging her about in the first place. :P She had her reasons for not smiling, and none of them were due to my using a coupon or how I looked.
I would like to return to Cruda someday and to again share my honest feedback about the place.