Calactus — Restaurant in Moncton

I hadn’t been to this restaurant since before COVID, roughly 4–5 years ago. I used to enjoy the falafel flute with chips and tabbouleh, so I decided to revisit for a nostalgic meal. Unfortunately, this experience was incredibly disappointing.

The waitress (short blonde/gray hair and glasses) did not come across as enthusiastic or particularly friendly. From the moment we sat down, her energy felt cold and disinterested.

When my food arrived, I was shocked by the quality. The falafel flute was practically inedible — whatever the pita had been grilled or smoked on left it tasting strongly like cigarette smoke or overly burnt charcoal. It was unpleasant enough that I told my friend I’d just eat the four small falafel pieces inside, along with the chips and tabbouleh.

We waited over 15 minutes, and not once did she return to check on the food. When she finally came by to clear plates, she didn’t ask how anything was — she simply grabbed my friend’s plate and returned five minutes later for mine. I stopped her and said, “Wait before you take it and run — I don’t normally complain, but this wrap was awful. I’ve had it before and it’s never tasted that bad. Even my hands smell like smoke — it just doesn’t taste right, I’m sorry.” Her only response was a shrug as she walked away with the plate.

I stepped away to the restroom, and while I was gone, she came back to our table and told my friend, not me, “That’s how it’s made, we’ve never had complaints before, there’s not much I can do.” By the time I returned, she had already brought over the bills and the debit machine, presenting my friend with his portion first. She never offered an apology or addressed the issue with me directly.

In the end, I paid $18 for four pieces of falafel, seven corn chips, and a spoonful of tabbouleh. I left no tip — not out of spite, but out of principle. The lack of accountability, poor service, and complete disregard for customer feedback made this visit incredibly disappointing. Saying the experience left a bad taste in my mouth would be an...

So, last night my husband and I thought we’d give ourselves the night off from cooking and order in. We thought of ordering from Calactus since it had been a while (10 + years) since we’d eaten there. Note to self, not doing that again. We both ordered the lasagna. The bolognese was tasteless and had absolutely no body to it whatsoever, it was runny and completely unappealing. It came with “garlic bread”, ugh, this was, not a lie, a slice of bread cut diagonally completely soaked in oil (not sure what kind of oil), and no taste of garlic to be found. The worst part was, ironically, the salad. For a restaurant that touts itself to be vegetarian/vegan you would think that a salad would be a safe bet to order, but oh no, this “salad” had one, count ‘em, one thinly sliced tomato on top with two slices of cucumber that were sliced so thin you could hold them up to the light and see right through. The rest was a mess of lilted mesclun mix and what I would best describe as hay. The ratio of dressing to salad was off, but really we would have needed 5 times the amount of dressing to make this anywhere close to being edible. All in all, the only thing that we can surmise is that on August 18th, 2023, because of staff shortage, they let a 12 year old kid in the kitchen to prepare the food. This is the only logical way to explain the slop that was delivered to us from what should be a professional kitchen. En bon Acadien, c’était pas much,...

Unfortunately, I think my time visiting this restaurant has come to an end.

I used to drop into calactus years ago before the pandemic when I'd visit Moncton and remembered always loving their food, especially the tumeric latte they used to have, which is no longer on the menu.

I just recently ordered from them and was quite disappointed! Small proportions, overpriced and to be honest, bland.... I could make the menu items at home for much less and would not need skill to do so. Their food is passable, but I don't understand the hype here anymore. The beet salad was extremely basic and should NOT cost $11. The fluta was okay, but another place nearby offers something similar for much less.

This is really disappointing to me, as someone who used to love this place and having been a vegetarian for so many years. I wanted to love this place again, unfortunately, their food quality and service has gone WAY down and is no longer worth the cost...