Pure Fare

I don’t want to sound harsh, but I’m slightly ticked off after my last experience here. Firstly, I’ve always been put off how dark and dreary this place is — it’s actually hard to even see if it’s open from the outside.
So the few times that I’ve gathered the courage to head in (since I really do like the sound of the ingredients and offerings), I seem to always get disappointed. Grabbed a food item from them on my last visit, and I’m reasonably confident that it had gone bad.
I would chalk this place up to good ideas but poor execution.

Coffee/​espresso was good. Your basic trendy vegan/​gluten free spot so it’s no surprise that things are on the expensive side.

This was much different than I expected. I looked at the menu online and was really excited to try it out for lunch. I didn’t realize that everything was premade and in refrigerated cases. I had a turkey pesto sandwich, and they were able to warm it up for me in a panini press. I have to say, it was really delicious, but I thought my lunch would be made fresh for me. I also tried the green goodness soup. It was yummy, but a little bland, and could have used a few more ingredients to spice it up. For a sweet treat, I had a homemade peanut butter cup– that was obviously fantastic, it was peanut butter and chocolate after all! It was about $ 15 for the lunch, which I definitely thought was pricey. I liked that I knew what all the ingredients were and that the nutrition facts were listed for you.

I won’t hold the size of the place against PF, but I do wonder why their employees are miserable and rude! Every time I walk in I get the feeling that I’m interrupting whoever is sitting behind the counter and they come off as angry that they have to put the iPad down and actually help someone. They rarely smile and make the experience very unwelcoming and I’m not sure I’ll go back after this last trip in. The baked goods have become bland and the sandwiches are mainly bread. For their prices, they are lacking in both service and flavor.

The premade sandwiches and salads look utterly skippable, so I’m basing my glowing review off the items that are hands-​down worth ordering: any of the smoothies or fresh-​squeezed juices (go with the kale, spinach, apple and mint one, you will not be sorry) and their little tiny loaves of bread (the zucchini chocolate chip is so moist.).
Yeah, I said moist — it’s true!

Very small compared to the Rittenhouse location, and they don’t offer the 50% off day old sandwiches and salads. The food is good but you end up spending a lot, but they offer a lot of coffee drinks. It’s usually pretty calm.

Prices are exorbitant and sandwiches are dry dry dry. Baked goods are tasty. I recommend the chocolate avocado cookies. Overall experience though was lackluster.

I just spent 18.00 bucks on lunch. I was told my lasagne had to be eaten cold because they are not a restaurant and cannot heat it. As for the lasagna when I asked the counter person how it was, she replied «I don’t know, I’ve never had it.» The lasagna in question came with a arugula salad on the side, so I asked for some dressing, counter girl says «we have no dressing, we are not a restaurant». Okay, i get the take out thing, but why do you have seats? So, I said, don’t you have oil & vinegar at least. She looks at me like I’m an idiot and says «we are not a restaraunt». Duh? thats abundantly clear — I felt thankful that salt and packets and napkins and utensils were available for my 18.00 sparse lunch. Also, there was a lone bottle of hot sauce available as a condiment. I actually really love the other Pure Fare «restaurant» despite the outrageous pricing and very delicate portioning, but this non restaurant take out shop place is kind of a joke — oh and the sandwiches looked yuck with the paper showing oil stains. Needless to do this was a crappy day on South St, of which i was also told there would be a 35 minute wait for a pedicure at a very empty nail salon, and it took me 20 minutes to get out of Walgreens to buy zit cream and calcium
Wake up South Street!!!

Don’t have a large selection. Food is fresh and tasty but not outstanding.

Eh, I’m fairly unimpressed by this place. I didn’t know going in that the food would not be freshly made, and I went in assuming I could get something freshly made. Maybe that was my own fault.
I picked up a soggy turkey and cheddar sandwich that was among they very sparse variety of food available at around 2:30pm on a Thursday. This wasn’t my idea of good eats. The taste was ok, but the bread was soggy because it had been sitting wrapped in it’s paper wrapper for who knows how long, and there was relatively little turkey on the sandwich. Also, $ 9 for a relatively small, not freshly made sandwich is a little bit ridiculous.
All that being said, I’m in love with the juice menu! I love fresh juices, and this one didn’t disappoint. I will most likely not be back here for lunch, but instead I will certainly stop by when I’m feeling the need for a good juice!

So, we look at the menu online, choose our food, and head down to the shop. They had none of the items we had chosen. Where on the website or menu does it say that they only have a few items in the store at any given time? Did we miss this? If not, why bother putting a menu with items you don’t have online?

so i know i bad-​mouthed the other location last year when i had soup, salad, and the quinoa skillet bread. BUT, i’m singing a different tune. i ordered a sandwich and yogurt for delivery through grub hub for a reasonable cost.
the sandwich was composed of turkey with spicy honey mustard, and it was pretty f’in delicious considering it was on gluten free bread. i wish there was an option to toast the sandwich because i think it would have made it even tastier. the yogurt was just sweet enough and came with granola and berries. i was more than satiated with the two items and was over the moon because i was able to have a sandwich like normal (read: gluten-​eating) folk.

We went for lunch last week, I was totally underwhelmed. My brie sandwich was good but my soup wasn’t even warm. My friend’s sandwich was almost tasteless, which is so strange. We expected a lot more for the price.

I was thrilled to find this little sister to the larger Pure Fare on South Street. I am disappointed with the hit-​or-​miss selection of food however. I was looking for the banana chocolate chip cookies, and found them only one out of three times there. And when I did find the cookie, it seemed to be a little rock-​like for human consumption. I looked three separate occasions for a certain salad that I found the first time there. Maybe that is the magic in a small neighborhood place like this — you get some interesting items not found in standard shops, but you won’t find much consistency. Still unless you are really jonesing for a particular item, stop in at Pure Fare when you want somehting new.
By the way, the young man who works here seems sympathetic to my disappointed looks when I cannot find what it is I am searching for.

This is the second location in the city and it is MUCH smaller and very limited on what they offer over their other location. The other location gets a 5 stars.
–2 Stars = really really limited food that is offered. If you are looking for juices this is a good location for all of that — but don’t judge Pure Fare on this location… go to the other location to really get what they are about and see everything they offer, you will be amazed!
3 starts = Pure Fare itself is GLUTEN FREE if not vegan everything and it all tastes so freaking good! They have a Thai soup that is to die for (not at this particular location though). I have tried about 5 different sandwiches, a couple salads and cookies and they are all very different.
Favorites so far:
— Coconut Thai Soup
— Green Goodness Soup
— Smoked Salmon Sandwich
— Roast Turkey and Pesto Sandwich
— Vegan Brownie

I’ve never been to the other location but the food here is way overpriced and totally underwhelming. Very limited selection and items aren’t marked well so it’s hard to know what’s actually offered. Pre-​made, refrigerated sandwich and Arnold Palmer for $ 15? I’m from Manhattan and I even think that’s steep! I have to admit the bread was good, though. Guess I’ll have to check out the other location.

There’s no kitchen at this location, and the food just sits out all day.

High prices, small selection. Kale salad was decent but not worth the price. Same goes for the juice i ordered. Fresh ingredients. Sandwiches and salads are already pre made and sitting around in the open fridge. I like that they give you lots of nutritional information. Overall, not worth anther visit. I’d rather go to pumpkin market across the street.

I love that there’s a new Pure Fare relatively close to my neighborhood. This one is much smaller than the location on 21^st, but the size is just right for the area. There are a few tables up front and a small refrigerated case with a selection of sandwiches, salads and snacks.
There are only about five sandwich and five salad choices, so go in with an open mind as to what you’d like to eat. I selected one of my faves, the turkey and cheddar sandwich with spicy honey mustard, yesterday. I also grabbed a banana cookie and coffee. Total cost was over twelve dollars, which is a bit steep, but I always appreciate knowing what is in my food and exactly how many calories it’s going to cost me. I’ll pay a premium for that anytime.
Since the closing of my go-​to lunch spot (Healthy Bites To Go), I haven’t really found a suitable replacement as far as healthy lunches are concerned. Pure Fare is a welcome addition to the neighborhood, and I’ll likely become a regular fairly quickly.