Pumpernickel’s

Very friendly service and a large and tasty variety in their salad bar selection! Ditch the soup though; had salmon «bisque» that was more like shreds of canned fish in tomato broth.

The Pumpernickel’s in the MaRS food court embodies the phrase «service with a smile.» Every time I grab lunch here (which is rather often), the people that work there are super friendly and welcoming. The salad «bar» (not self-​service, you just point at the items you want and they spoon it into your bowl of desired size) is great, as are their daily soups. You can eat your food amongst the hoi polloi at one of the adjoining food court tables, or if it’s sunny, take the escalator upstairs to the outdoor atrium. Or, if you’re a loser like me, you grab your stuff to go and eat in front of your work computer while catching up on Reddit. Either way, you’re going to have a nice lunch.

For a quick lunch, Pumpernickel’s is another winner. While the sandwiches and soups here are really good, the salad bar option here is solid. Alternating with Est West (see other review), these two places form the foundation for some solid lunches.
There are three sizes available for the salad bar: small, medium and large. Since these are primarily grain salads, a medium is more than enough for lunch.
Options include: couscous, a couple rices, grains I can’t identify (maybe quinoa, maybe lentils), black beans/​corn, chickpeas, coleslaw, cold pastas, and if you’re lucky, some awesome tabouli. This alone is a heavy meal, but if you want you can add chicken to it.
The medium salad without chicken is $ 6.50 including tax.
Note: the MaRS building has some great lunch spots, but don’t neglect the outdoor atrium, located up the stairs and west of the food court.