Smak Healthy Fast Food

VERY SATISFIED!
In the midst of the season of hustle and bustle I find I’ve had one too many things that are not good for you and this morning felt like I needed to detox! I work in the neighborhood and the area is surrounded by mediocre food options that aren’t super healthy. I did a quick google search for healthy food and came across Smak. I was greeted by a super perky nice lady at the counter that was just thrilled to be there… how awesome is it to see a person that is just happy to do her job. I ordered the veggie hash bowl and found it to be refreshingly delicious, healthy, and filling. It’s with grilled succulent portobello mushrooms, yams, spinach, roasted tomatoes, scrambled eggs, all served over a bed of potatoes and topped with a yummy sauteed onion jelly. If you need a change from the usual breakfast sandwiches I highly recommend this place. It’s not the cheapest option at approximately $ 9 a bowl but neither are the other nearby stops that serve crap. Excited to come back and try the lunch menu.

I’m torn…
Pros:
— Good quality food. The chicken curry bowl is super flavourful, and my fave.
— Considering the food quality, fairly quick service
Cons:
— Value. $ 7.95 for a small rice bowl (and we’re talking SMALL)
On the fence… but would still recommend this for a good variety of healthy food options.

Great food. Well made and healthy. Quick to grab take out. Quite overpriced, though, especially with how much they pad their meat with veggies. Don’t expect to pay less than $ 10, even for a bowl of soup.

Fresh fresh fresh!
For a quick and delicious breakfast, SMAK is my go to spot in Vancouver. There are so many choices for healthy eating, including gluten free options for those in need. My favorite item is the breakfast veggie sandwich. Multi-​grain bread layered with egg, spinach, tomatoes and mushrooms. A breakfast sandwich and an americano goes for $ 7.95!
I did not eat for lunch but my vegan coworker frequents the spot for delish vegan options.

Pretty unimpressed by this place. I’ve had a few things that were OK, but often they don’t have anything I want. This morning I tried to order 3 different things, and they didn’t have any of it. So I ordered a fresh juice because it seems like it’s «all natural». Much to my dismay, the girl topped off my juice with OASIS brand juice (that you can buy at 7−11…)!! The description online for this juice says that they add Bremners cherry juice to it, which I am fine with because it is 100% cherry juice. OASIS has «natural flavors» and juice from concentrate and it’s not all cherry juice. If you’re going to advertise something, follow through with it!
Their juice is also always half foam so you get way less juice than you’re paying for. Wont be going back.

Hey, its fast food, and its good. Friendly staff, and my chicken curry was good. The girl confirmed in her book that there were no nuts in my dish, or «Thai slaw* on top, so I felt reassured. I would go back.

Wow, the sausage breakfast sandwich is amazing. Hearty bread, big egg, and the most delicious pork sausage you’ll ever eat!

Smak is one of the small handful of places that understand what GF food means for people with celiac disease and serious intolerances. The label EVERYTHING, particularly the few menu items that aren’t 100% assuredly gluten free.
Plus, the food is quite good! Temper other reviews about quality with the fact that this place is REALLY GF, as opposed to most places that don’t know what they’re talking about. Red and green curries are mighty tasty; pulled pork is legit.
For those of us that need to take the diet seriously, Smak delivers.

Congratuations SMAK you killed BBQ and breakfast in one short order.
Gross gross gross gross. How can this place screw that up.
The BBQ hash I ordered sounded decent but what I got instead was watery ketchup stew with 2 sad green-​whiteish eggs and 2 small pieces of bread tossed into a paper bowl.
I mean, tried to eat this, I really did, I managed to eat the two slices of bread, and a little section of egg, but I went digging in the stew. How is this a hash with no potatoes? I found a few slivers of potatoes but it was mostly mushroom stems, carrots? and tasteless yams. The pulled pork was tasteless. Why was this a stew?
Normally I’ll send food back and get something else because its hard to judge a place on one dish but wow … I just wanted to get out of there, they can keep my money, they’ll need it more than me.
As an exercise to the reader, google «BBQ hash» and look at the pictures. Then order it here and see what I mean.
A Truckstop/​7 Eleven/​Ferry Cafeteria breakfast is better than this stuff. keep on steppin’ past this place.

Seriously… What is the smell outside this place? It smells like a dead body trapped in a grease trap.

Hmmm. mixed feelings here. Since finding out I have a gluten and diary intolerance I’ve been really nervous about eating out.
I really like that they list certain food ingredients that some people are allergic to.
Came and got the sausage and egg breakfast on a bed of regular potatoes and sweet potatoes. I didn’t like that they were in a bowl and was hoping they would be on a plate. Wasn’t a fan of the sausage patty. It was really sweet and had a weird after taste which I didn’t like. Eggs were ok very bland. I liked the potatoes but they were soggy since they were at the very bottom of the bowl. My friend got the bbq pulled pork breakfast. He said it was flavorful but the pork tasted really wet and at the half the bowl was broth.
But I’m willing to give small another try because I am curious as to the hot bowls everyones raving about. I also wish they would tell us how many calories are in each item.

I had the butterless chicken and I had no desire to finish it. There wasn’t much flavor, I felt like I was eating expensive rice and chicken.
Make this meal yourself and feel proud!

They have a great mango roll and spinach salad with avocado. Always greeted with a smile.

Yummy healthy food!

Smak was designed to empower those gluten sensitive friends that seem to be becoming more numerous everyday. I first went to Smak on the instruction of one such friend and let me just say… Yum!
Definitely worth checking out. I would avoid the salads, they are over priced and kind of just ok but the curry is spectacular!

My work ordered the green curry chicken. Delicious. The rice seems like it’s in a strange non-​curry sauce underneath that I wasn’t expecting but I liked it a lot. Will definitely be going back. Not quite as «clean» tasting as Fresh Bowl, but similarly healthy and tasty.

Wow. So disappointed in Smak.
While most people seem to be saying that they are not happy with SMAK because of the cost, I’d be happy to pay 13 $ for a salad if I knew it was safe for me to eat.
I just found out a second ago though, that that is not the case. I ate a salad on Thursday and I felt sick afterwards. So bad that while I bought the same salad on Friday, I couldn’t bring myself to eat it. Suffered all weekend on and off. I’m lucky it wasn’t worse.
I had figured it couldn’t have been smak because they are 100% gluten free. Gut feeling though was telling me something different .
I called them today and just asked about a few of their ingredients because I was saving the salad to eat after a busy monday. They let me know their nuts and lentils on the salad are from Dan-​D pak!
Cheap, yes… but the last time I wrote Dan-​d pak they took very few measures to avoid cross contamination. So if you are a sensitive celiac, beware. I wonder if the reviewer below me who spent the afternoon in the bathroom was having an allergic reaction.
I think what they don’t understand is that cross contamination can cause extraordinary pain for allergic people, as well as devastating health effects.
Unfortunately, I’m guessing their choice to use Dan-​D-​Pak is because it is cheaper than items that are guaranteed free of cross contamination. So in a round about way I am complaining about what everyone else it’s complaining about: for SMAK, it’s all about the money. I guess I have an extra problem with the fact that they are willing to do it at the expense of people’s health and well-​being.
The two stars is that they are nice enough, and I may stop by as they sell muffins from Lemonade which are actually gluten free!
I think I was lucky. I’ve had much worse experiences with cross contamination before.
For a place that advertises itself to be 100% gluten free, a place that people with medical conditions visit in order to eat safely, this is completely unacceptable.

Great creamy vegan broccoli soup! Laid back vibe. Background tunes cool indie music. They open at 7:30am for breakfast. Extensive menu for a fast food place that had an assortment of vegan and some meat dishes. When you walk in you smell the aroma of spices. Off to the side wall there are salads and shakes made to order and premade. Lots of kale options! I would return.

After paying over $ 11 for my soggy nori wrap, my stomach wasn’t happy and I spent my afternoon in the washroom…
I think that’s enough said. Won’t be going back. Ever.

3 stars means I would go back, or A-​ok as Unilocal suggests (not these overinflated 5s everyone uses)!
Smak does what I wish more places would do — offer something in the downtown core that actually has nutritional value, and steers clear of gluten.
As one might gather from the other reviews, high prices for medium sized portions would be the only knock but the quality of the food is great and the staff knows their stuff and are friendly (all 3 people I dealt with were great, I have no idea where these other reports are coming from that that aren’t).