The Dish

Restaurant: The Dish
Cuisine: American/Breakfast/Lunch/Healthy

Last visited: September 25, 09

Area: Vancouver, BC

1068 Davie Street

Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very Good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 3.5 (I need to try more items though)

Service: 3

Ambiance: 2

Overall: 3.5

Additional comments:

• Healthy fast food
• Breakfast/Soups/Salads/Sandwiches/Wraps/Mains
• Extensive menu; some culturally inspired wraps & mains
  
• Fresh juices/Healthy smoothies
• Self-service, pay upon order
• Made upon order wraps
• Big wraps
  
• Daily specials available
• Vegetarian options
• Homemade soups
• Store bought sauces
  
• Short line-ups during lunch hours, quick service
  
• Serves breakfast until 11am and 2pm on weekends

**Recommendation: The Eggs Sophia Wrap, Indonesian Wrap (Soups are supposed to be great, but I haven't tried)

I've been here a couple times and the food is not outstanding or anything, but it is still enjoyable. If you're looking for healthy fast food options, then try this place out. Even though it's healthy the menu still offers a lot of traditional sandwiches and comfort food mains. It's nothing gourmet, but everything is quite fresh and made upon order. Some of the ingredients like cooked/grilled veggies are pre-cooked though and then the wraps are quickly assembled. They are popular for their wraps, mainly because they're substantial in size - they don't hold out on the stuffing at all. They're wraps that you could more or less make at home, they're very simple recipes, store bought sauces. They're healthy wraps - it's good, but also expected.

I was however impressed with their menu selection because I was expecting standard wraps like chicken salad, chicken Caesar, BLT, etc. so it was nice to see something like the "Indonesian wrap" to switch things up a bit. They also offer mains like "Teriyaki Chicken" and "Curry Chicken" but they're probably far from authentic. Overall, if you're looking for affordable, healthy fast food downtown, The Dish is a solid option.

On the table:

• **Indonesian Chicken Wrap 3.5/6
  
• White chicken breast, red and green cabbage, romaine lettuce, brown rice & peanut sauce. $6.10

• This is good, but nothing out of the ordinary when you think of a Southeast Asian style wrap. You have your peanut sauce and you're there. I'm pretty sure the peanut sauce isn't made in house though. It's just your standard peanut sauce, not spicy or anything. Maybe even a bit on the runny side. No peanut texture. However, I am pleased to say that the wrap wasn't big because of the rice - they don't cheap out on the ingredients and actually load it up with chicken and veggies. Lots of chicken!
• The veggies were really fresh and crunchy, but the brown rice was a bit hard and dry. There wasn't a lot of rice though so it didn't bother me. It tasted exactly like the description so if you like those ingredients you'll like this wrap. It's served cold - warm may be better.
  

  

• Pesto Parmesan Chicken Wrap 1.5/6
  
• White chicken breast, romaine lettuce, sauteed zucchini, mushrooms, tomato, Parmesan and Pesto sauce. $6.10

• Sounds better than it tastes. Oh boy they really sacrificed on the quality of ingredients and the whole thing was pretty bland. If you're going to put Parmesan in the name of the sandwich I expect actual Parmesan cheese. Unfortunately this was the powdered Parmesan cheese! As disappointed as you are in reading that imagine how disappointed I was in eating it. I wouldn't have minded paying $1 extra if they used the real deal. The powdered Parm gave the wrap a really dry quality and I felt like I was eating a cheap Caesar salad. Even a Caesar Salad at a grocery store gives shredded Parm.
• The pesto sauce is also not made in house. I bet anything it's the pesto sauce supplied by Sysco Food Services - it's this standard pesto that restaurants will order to save time and money from making it themselves. This isn't a bad thing - but the Pesto is just not good. There's better brands out there for sure. This pesto isn't made with pine nuts, it's nut free which also means it lacks a lot of flavour! It's really runny and tastes like blended up spinach and parsley - no/little basil. Needless to say, I was really disappointed.
• I also didn't get many sauteed mushrooms or veggies. I got one mushroom (really just one, which may have gotten in there by accident) and maybe 2 tomatoes and 4 zucchini cubes? I think all the veggies are sauteed, but they taste steamed. I don't think they add any salt or pepper when they sautee it - so they're very healthy tasting. I didn't mind, but some might. It's also served warm.
  
• **The Eggs Sophia Wrap 3.5/6
  
• Eggs, sundried tomato basil spread, jack cheese, sauteed mushrooms.

• This was my favourite one of the 3. I don't have a picture because I tried it on a previous visit. For me, a breakfast wrap is more standard because you can't really change up breakfast ingredients as much as you can with lunch/dinner ingredients. You know what breakfast items taste like and what to expect - so all in all this is a hearty great tasting vegetarian wrap.