GRUB 411:

FULL REVIEW:
Work has me constantly traveling to various cities.  Since my new raw food lifestyle, I always do some research on Yelp to see if there are any Live Food Restaurants I can visit while I’m in a city.  For my recent Toronto visit, I was happy to discover Live Food Bar was walking distance from my hotel!
UNfortunately, the experience was underwhelming.  The worst part of the experience: The STAFF.
It’s no coincidence that the restaurant business falls under the “Hospitality” category.  Friendly, knowledgable service is invaluable to a positive dining experience.  Just a note to the staff at Live Food Bar: a SMILE goes a LONG WAY.
Everyone from the greeter, the waiter, to the folks working the kitchen — you couldn’t get them to crack a smile.  I read somewhere that emotion/energy is translated into foods we eat: if something is prepared with love, then you consume that energy & love from the food.  It was apparent that even though it was a Live Food place, there was no Life, passion, or care in any part of the establishment.
Staff aside, the food was adequate.  By no means was it the best I’ve had.  They had very standard live food dishes: tacos, “pizza”, salads, sushi/nori rolls…but nothing was extraordinary.  Not even their desserts (which says a lot, since every single Live Food place I’ve tried usually has extraordinary dessert offerings).
If I were back in Toronto, I would probably eat there again, but only out of pure necessity, not because it was actually a pleasant experience.  Maybe I would do take-out.
The only good part was that they had a small selection of raw snacks, which I stocked up on for the next few days of meetings I had.

Menu:

• Beginnings
• Salads
• Salad Dressings
• Raw Entrees
• Raw Sammies
• Cooked Entrees & Bowls
• Cooked Sammies

• PECAN “TEMPURA” SUSHI: pecan and sunflower seed pate with carrots, sweet potato crisps in nori with sweet tamari Miso glaze. Sounds good, right?  Taste?  Not so much.  The entire nori was stuffed with just the pate, no veggies — there was nothing to break up the “mushy” texture of it.  There wasn’t much flavor, the only thing that was nice was the crunchy sweet potato crisps on top.  I think the presentation could also have been a bit cleaner. SEOULDIVA SAYS: ♥ / ♥♥♥♥♥

• SOFT SHELL TACOS: Corn tortillas filled with fresh salsa, guacamole, jalapeno jelly and spiced walnut taco meat. This dish was adequate.  The tortillas were soft and kept its shape.  If it were truly a taco, I would have appreciated some effort with maybe some lettuce inside…maybe the semblance of sour cream? SEOULDIVA SAYS: ♥♥½ / ♥♥♥♥♥

• MEDITERRANEAN PIZZA: buckwheat and flax crust topped with sundried tomato and pepper marinara, marinated baby spinach, black and green olives, mushrooms and a crumbled cashew feta cheese. This was definitely the most flavorful out of everything we ordered. My one question would be whether the olives were legitimately raw or canned. SEOULDIVA SAYS: ♥♥♥½/ ♥♥♥♥♥

• SMOKED REUBEN: sesame kale and carob ‘rye’ bread smothered with spicy sesame mayo, avocado, probiotic sauerkraut, and our smoked veggie walnut patty.  Served with root veggie chips and dill pickles. I had just gotten off the plane, which is why I ordered 2 entrees for dinner (hey, I’m a hungry hippo!).  I was very interested in how they would bring a classic Reuben to life, but I was HORRIBLY disappointed.  Essentially, this was a Sauerkraut sandwich.  Not what I signed up for.  I mean, LOOK at the photo!  The bread was solid and hearty, but they could have added more caraway seeds to give it more of that authentic flavor.  They also could have created a more “thousand island” type of spread, as well as flavor the walnut patty with some more “corned beef” seasoning — coriander, mustard seeds, dill seed…that kinda stuff. SEOULDIVA SAYS: ♥ / ♥♥♥♥♥

Live Food Bar doesn’t have an official dessert menu – you just have to go in and select what you want.  Here’s what me and @mac_keri_b ended up selecting:

• BROWNIE: dates, honey, cocoa powder, walnuts, sunflower seeds. I don’t know what it was, but this was just OK.  Maybe it needed a bit more depth, or dimension (maybe some spices?).  It was just MEH. SEOULDIVA SAYS: ♥♥ / ♥♥♥♥♥

• WALNUT MAPLE SANDIE: For some reason, I expected this to be…I dunno…chewy.  This was hard as a rock!  I tried to break into it with my fork to try a piece, but it was almost impenetrable.  Needless to say, my impression of its texture didn’t leave me with much hope for the flavor.  Where was the maple?  Out to lunch, like their staff. SEOULDIVA SAYS: ♥ / ♥♥♥♥♥

• RAW CHOCOLATE CARAMEL CAKE: Out of all the desserts, this was the most palatable.  Was it finger-licking good?  NO.  But it was ok.  The consistency of the chocolate and caramel were like mousse, which was pleasant. SEOULDIVA SAYS: ♥♥♥ / ♥♥♥♥♥

• ALMOND HALVAH:  Almonds, coconut, sesame and agave. This dessert tasted stale to me.  It looks like a light little donut hole, but don’t let the size fool ya — it’s quite dense!  Unfortunately it was lacking in flavor.  Where was the coconut?  No spices? Nutmeg? Cardamom?  BLEH. SEOULDIVA SAYS: ♥♥ / ♥♥♥♥♥

• CHOCOLATE POWER BAR: I have no idea what was in this one (methinks Buckwheat groats or something)…but this was nice.  Like a fudgy rice crispy bar.  A little on the bitter side for my taste, but it was fair. SEOULDIVA SAYS:  ♥♥♥ / ♥♥♥♥♥

an assortment of the raw snacks they offer for sale.