Free Spirit @ Riverdale Hub — Restaurant in Toronto

Unfortunately poor first experience here; I’d give one less star if this place wasn’t part of a cool social enterprise that supported newcomer women.

Ordered the breakfast burrito and an Americano late one afternoon hoping to take advantage of the back garden patio I knew they had. The one of the two staff was saying to me AND the customer behind me how lovely the patio was so of course I opted for dine-in. When my food was ready (which took a pretty long time; I’m not impatient but five minutes for tofu, greens, and two spreads in a tortilla?) and I was walking over to the patio, the second worker, who’d made my wrap, told me that patio was closed.

WHY are you only saying this now?! I specifically came in and siding take-out for the patio! And why did the other staff tell everyone it was open?! Whatever, I’ll just sit on the noisy ugly front patio with the traffic. OOPS, the tofu is blisteringly salty and my Americano tastes like water, maybe because it’s in a freaking giant cup or something. Should’ve come in a small so I could actually taste the coffee.

Maybe other items are better and other staff know how to make a drink but this was a really disappointing experience. I’m only glad my money will have helped lift up disadvantaged folks in the...

Nice place to sit in the window while having a coffee and a small snack. My first impression was this was going to be a nice local gem.

When we walked in the 3 ladies behind the counter struggled to welcome us. One with pink braided hair was extremely unfriendly and lack basic people skills.

The food was tasty, and our seats in the window were perfect. Washroom was spotless perfect 5/5. I would consider going back if customer service was made a priority or if the staff that work the morning shift are carefully selected to ensure customers are warmly welcome and made to feel comfortable while dining. We got the feeling that we were more of a bother rather than paying customers.

It was funny to see a tip jar on the counter, with barely anything in it. It's no wonder, there was no effort at all made to provide any customer service that would warrant a tip. I do have one tip for the staff, make more of an effort to be more pleasant and approachable...

The Social Gardener Cafe is amazing. The jackfruit wrap is one of the best things I have ever eaten, and the indian bowl was phenomenal. The best part is they use fresh ingredients grown on site in their rooftop garden, and the proceeds from the cafe go back into the Riverdale Immigrant Women's Centre. Delicious, fresh, healthy and affordable food in a beautiful setting, supporting a great cause. What more could you ask for? 10/10, I can't possibly recommend this place...