Once in a while, I come across a restaurant so vibrant and delicious, I want to stake out real estate next door and move within arm’s mouth’s reach.
Once in a while, I come across a business owner who has such a passion for what they do, I can’t help but feel inspired myself.
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Once in a while, I find a vegan-friendly restaurant that makes me feel understood, instead of a pain in the ass. ;)
Jonnie Karan is the brains behind Thrive Juice Bar, located in uptown Waterloo, Ontario on King Street South. Within a minute of meeting Jonnie, his passion for creating delicious vegetarian, vegan, and raw food is evident. Approachable plant-based creations tempt and impress carnivores and vegans alike and he understands that vegan food shouldn’t be strange or unappealing. It’s just whole food highlighting nature’s finest cuisine. Exactly what I try to do on this blog each day!
Last night, I had the pleasure of dining at Thrive with Angela, after listening to her rave about this place for months now! From the moment we stepped inside, I knew this place was done right. The decor was like no other vegan-friendly restaurant I’ve been to. It’s modern, with cool metallic beaming throughout, large floor to ceiling windows, and vibrant green accents lending an earthy feel. No detail is over-looked, and to my delight, the same care and attention went into the food.
As a child, I grew up drinking virgin Caesars (aka virgin Bloody Mary) and we were never without Mott’s Clamato juice in the fridge, complete with all the seasonings. So when I saw that the menu had a veggie juice that reminded me of my favourite pastime, I knew I had to order it.
The ‘lil Veggie Juice’ contained tomato, carrot, celery, cucumber, parsley, sea salt, fresh pepper, and vegan Worcestershire. Delicious! I just love that salted rim too.
Next, Jonnie brought us out the soup of the day- Red Lentil Dahl. Made with a coconut milk base, it was creamy with a kick of spice. The perfect starter for a rainy day.
After much debate, I ordered the Big Greens Sandwich. I have this thing for anything green…
Lightly toasted on organic 7-grain with extra virgin coconut oil, avocado, jalapeno hummus, goats cheese, marinated cucumbers, almond arugula pesto, fresh sprouts, spinach and frisée finished with a splash of lemon vinaigrette.
In other words…perfection! The lemon vinaigrette added a nice pop to the sandwich.
Ange ordered the Vegan Pad Thai made up of Rice noodles, daikon radish, snap peas, bok-choy, Asian cabbage and raw cashew pad Thai sauce, topped with spicy peanuts and cashews, fresh cilantro, Thai basil and mint. Finished with almond chili oil and mint lime vinaigrette. So many great flavours all in one dish!
For dessert, Jonnie brought us out another treat…vegan and gluten-free walnut fudge brownies with homemade coconut milk frozen dessert!
It was ALMOST too cute to eat.
The homemade coconut milk ‘ice cream’ was the best I’ve ever tasted. It melted into the brownie, taunting me to take bite after gooey bite.
I highly recommend checking out Thrive Juice Bar! Head on over and meet Jonnie and support his fantastic business. It’s definitely worth a drive to Acton Waterloo. You can also check out the stunning website and scope out the food and drink menu.
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I will be back soon, very soon. Possibly today. When does it open? I hear their Big Green Smoothie is incredible… ;)
Yes, the Big Green Smoothie is great!! I agree, this is a great resto, and I think they should move closer to Toronto!! :)
dang I was just near Waterloo I shoulda stopped by :) next time next time fo sure!!
Looks awesome and the atmosphere is so calming too! Looks like you could easily get your ohm on!
Oh my golly- gee, I can see why you love that restaurant– i’d be in heaven, too! I hope heaven is like that someday, hehe :)
Everything you showed looks WONDERFUL :)
that restaurant sounds amazing, and the food looked to good to be true!
I barely ever go to the Kitchener-Waterloo area, but this place sounds worth the trip! I’m crossing my fingers that I can find some nut-free dishes there… but if not, even their juice looks worth the drive!
That place looks AH-mazing! I would come all the way up to your neck of the woods just to got there!!! And to meet you of course LOL!
u should!
I really wish a vegan restaurant like this would open up near me. Has anyone else noticed that vegan restaurants seem to be exclusively asian cuisine?
YUM! Now you have me craving Caesars. I must buy all the stuff to make them today!
Also, love the “worth the drive to Acton” reference. Makes me miss canada :-)
Wow. This is such perfect timing. Not only am I currently enjoying a yummy (virgin) caesar, I’m also considering a job offer in Waterloo. I’ve been hesitant to accept, I haven’t heard great things about the city’s culture and restaurants. You might have changed my mind about Waterloo :D
Any other good restaurants in Waterloo that I should try?
Thank-you for this review. I have a friend who lives just a few km away so next time I’m visiting I will have to take her. It is unfortunate that the evening hours are so short but I guess an early supper. Again thank-you. Andrew, Niagara Falls, ON
that place looks fabulous!!! i’m in california but i would go there if i lived there!
YummMM! Everything looks amazing; the decor, the meals, and that desert! I hope you get inspired to create your own version of that ice cream :):) hint hint haha
I can’t believe I live in Kitchener and didn’t know this place existed! It’s definitely on the top of my to do list now :)
I love the look of this place…my sis and I already have a plan to go and check it out this week…thanks for sharing!
I definitely understand why you would want to live within mouth’s reach to the restaurant…looks amazing! Wish we had one nearby!!
Have a beautiful Sunday!
I am lucky enough to live in Waterloo and Thrive is my favourite place to eat. Such a great addition to Waterloo. The Big Green Smoothie is AMAZING!
I need to move to Ontario… because THAT is a REAL sandwich.
Mmmm! MUST stop by. I don’t live very far, so this is a must-visit!
xo
I have heard such wonderful things about Thrive, it looks fantastic!
I’ll certainly be checking this placeout next time I’m down in your neck of the woods. Thanks for the review!!
I wish there was a place like this near me.
Looks like such a neat place! Wish there was a place like it where I live!
I just started grad school in Waterloo this year, I am so going to check this place out! Thanks for the tip.
This place looks great! I went to the University of Waterloo for 5 years, and absolutely loved uptown Waterloo. Such a great spot. This place must be somewhat new because I have never seen it before! I will have to take a look next time I am back there!
Hello my long lost sister ;)
This place sound so awesome and right up our alley! We have a place hear called D’sozo and it is very similiar, everything is yummy and so healthy! The chef is from France :-)
OMG, I want everything you ate/drank. I’m envious of your stomach right now :-)
I love how you describe “feeling like a pain in the ass”. I often feel the same and couldn’t have put it better!
I need to find a juice bar near me! The one you had sounds great!
What a delightful looking place!
Wonderful photos of the food–my mouth was watering.
Peace and Raw Health,
Elizabeth
I wish me had healthy restaurants like that where I’m from!
Hiya Angela! I live in KW! and I just found this place too. can`t believe it`s been there so long and I just discovered it. FYI the big green juice is also to die for. The entire time I was sitting there I just couldn`t believe this place exists in my home town. so lucky!!
Everything looks so tasty! I need to go here.
that place looks amazing!!!! I need to start juicing again!
Why is goat’s cheese crossed out? They have a vegan goat cheese and you just didn’t get it?
I go to school in Waterloo, and I never knew this place existed!! Thanks:D Looks delicious!
Went today! Thanks so much for the tip. Soooo good. Had the Red Juice. Will be back often!
I hope you don’t see this as an attempt to take away from your experience, because that is completely not my intention and I am very happy that you had a great experience there – but I do feel the need to share my experience as well, since it was (unfortunately) very different… and so many people in the comments are talking of going here now. I should note that I am really, truly, probably the most unharsh critic out there, but this was truthfully the poorest restaurant experience I’ve ever had.
The first time I went there, I was just going through quickly and I got a smoothie (to-go). Truthfully, it wasn’t very good… like sickly sweet, not really fruity, just sweet sweet sweet. But okay! So that wasn’t the flavour for me, no big deal. A week or so later, a friend and I went there for lunch… and I have yet to return, even though I have a gift card. We ordered a smoothie to share, and a sandwich each. We got our smoothie right away. We waited for nearly TWO HOURS to recieve our sandwiches!!! Thank goodness we went on our day off, and we always have lots to talk about. It was like, we were sitting there just so into talking that all of a sudden we were like “wait, we’re supposed to be waiting for food – oh man, it’s been an hour!”. So we politely inquired, to be told that “it was coming, soon”. We got glasses of water, and had them refilled 3 times (after drinking the smoothie). I understand that we were right in the middle of the lunch rush – believe me, I do. We were prepared to wait a little bit. But really? Just shy of two hours for two sandwiches?! It was not a complicated order. The issue was that we were dining in and waiting patiently, while the whole time we could see people coming to just take-out food and they were getting served first. Which I do kinda understand, but this was beyond extreme – however, I must say in the one guy’s defense that he was the only one making food and he was working hard the entire time. When the sandwiches did finally come, they really weren’t anything special – they were good, but certainly not worth the wait.
…also, the restaurant I agree is much more “vegan-friendly”, however, they are (or were) advertising themselves as vegan, when in actuality (like another commenter said), they’re not. This actually frustrated me most, as walking in the sign said/we were told it was “entirely vegan”…..but with some milk available to go in drinks and some cheese/toppings for sandwiches. Um, then you’re not vegan. Which is fine, serve what you want – but you can’t market yourself as vegan and then just add “a few non-vegan things” here & there.
Finally, I should end with the fact that they did give us an extra soup and a giftcard each when we finally recieved our food. The soup – again, maybe just not my thing, but I choked back (literally I gagged) one bite, my friend refused to try it, and I brought it home… two people tried a bite, it ended up in the trash. Neither of us has used our giftcards yet, so maybe they have gotten better since we were there (March).
Again, I am very happy that you had a great experience, and I hope this means that perhaps they were just really having some difficulties when I was there. But I did feel compelled to share my not-as-pleasent experience so that people don’t get a skewed perception of the place. I hope I didn’t offend you, as that was not my intention at all!!
Thank you for your comment Heather! I’m quite surprised by your experience, but thank you for sharing. I welcome all points of view and opinions. :)
i love thrive! huge toss-up between thrive and fressen on queen.
awesome blog!
Thanks Jen!