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| - If you're craving something healthy, there are tons of great options in the Ossington and Little Portugal area. Grow Up is one of the choices that can easily tempt you with really great smoothies, salads, and sandwiches. Yes it's vegetarian but it tastes good and doesn't completely kill your wallet.
I'll address the 2 minor knocks on this place first. Reading the other reviews, someone commented how the music is loud here. She's not kidding. It's VERY hard to have a conversation in here. I would say the volume is probably 2 notches above a good fun environment. Perhaps they do this purposely so you don't stay around too long but it's quite annoying. Another comment mention how the tables are sticky... absolutely true. It's quite gross to put your salad bowl down and when you try to move it closer to you, you feel the table tug back. Ugh. We were there first thing they open so you would think they would have cleaned it before they open or closed the night before?
Anyhow, Grow Up has a lot of great choices to give you that energetic burst or a nice filling meal. I know some people may side eye at the prices but comparing to many other juiceries and salad places around Toronto, its actually quite reasonable.
As for the spot, it's a fairly big space that has a lot of tables for you to sit and eat your snack or meal. When we were there, no one but us were there. Most people grabbed their meal or smoothie and took off. Maybe they found the music too loud too? The front space has a lot nice light so it never feels too dark in there.
Service here is prompt and quiet... they're efficient so I can't say anything negative here. Once we got our orders in, they started to work on the salads and smoothies. Less than 5 minutes, we got our first salad.
Mediterranean salad - filled with a lot of small baby kale and topped quinoa, tomatoes, cucumbers, lentil, pepper, olives, vegan feta, and onions ... it was a very full bowl. We could barely shake all the ingredients with the dressing. It was really fresh and well made with most vegetables chopped just the right size. Right amount of salty and savoury from the dressing, vegan feta, and olives. 4/5
Asian salad - another great filling salad ... this one had lots of baby spinach, firm tofu marinated in a nice sesame dressing, finely cut carrots, daikon, beets and cucumber. In addition to that, some edamame, avocado, and nori was thrown in. The vinaigrette was sesame based and added a nice nuttiness to the whole thing. I really liked it as it filled me up but also there's was a lot of nice crunchy vegetables to enjoy. 4/5
01 pineapple, banana, & strawberries smoothie - it also had maple syrup, lemon, chia seeds, and goji berries ... it honestly tasted like strawberry banana milk shake. It was rich and smooth.. really well blended. Seeing how it didn't have milk, I was loving it. Definitely a sweet one but a good intro to the Grow Op. 4/5
07 Peanut butter, strawberry, spinach, maple, banana and dates smoothie - this was even more richer and creamier than mine if that was possible. The peanut butter hits you and then you get a bit of sweetness from the banana and dates. It kinda reminds me of a banana bread made with brown sugar and then you throw on a smear of peanut butter in the middle of it. 4/5
Seeing how neighbouring Parkdale is all about trying to be vegan, I think Ossington holds its own with Grow Op. It has really well made smoothies and salads at a fair price point. If they just lower the music a touch more ... it would be my go to spot for lunch a lot more!
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