iQ Food Co. — Restaurant in Toronto

Date of Visit: June 21, 2025 Location: PwC tower, 18 York st.

I’m writing this review with genuine disappointment.

I was a regular at the former iQ location in the TD Tower PATH and always looked forward to their Lima chicken bowl — it was fresh, flavorful, and consistently good. So, when I spotted the iQ sign at this location, I was excited to give it another try after a long time.

Unfortunately, the experience left a lot to be desired. When I walked in, the restaurant was empty — just one staff member at the counter and another in the kitchen, who seemed more interested in scrolling through his phone than attending to orders. After placing and paying for my order, I patiently waited, only to notice that the kitchen staff hadn’t even started preparing my bowl. He kept on scrolling his phone and I had to prompt him before he began working on it. He seemed very disinterested in doing his work.

To make matters worse, when I opened my takeout bowl after coming home, I realized the chicken — the main component — was missing entirely. This was not only disappointing but also careless, likely a result of the staff's inattentiveness.

To top it off, the quality of the food has noticeably declined. This is a far cry from the vibrant, high-quality meals and prompt, professional service that once defined iQ.

Sadly, after this experience, I won’t be returning. You’ve lost a...

I really like their boxes, and I still get a box almost every day, but the hassle that it's slowly becoming, makes it difficult to like the brand. The lines are usually terrible (could be as long as 40 minutes), so the next option is ordering online. However, they stopped attaching proper receipts to the order confirmations, which are basically useless to me now. They also frequently make mistakes with the choice of ingredients. One time (and it's just one of the numerous examples) I ordered salmon, which is ~$5 extra, and they didn't put it in. After I discovered it missing after I was back at my desk, I sent them a screenshot to their centralized email (twice now) asking for a refund... they have simply been ignoring me. I get it - they are resting on their laurels of initial success, but continuous sloppy things like this will eventually catch up to them.

UPDATE: they finally got back to me apologizing for the delay in responding and offered to reconcile the situation with a missed menu item. Definitely appreciated the gesture and changed my rating from 1 to 3. If the staff makes fewer mistakes with orders (especially as big as missing the fact that a piece of salmon wasn't there) and if they finally sort out that situation with the receipts, I'd be happy to...

The food line worker buried meat at the bottom of my salad so I wouldn't see it when I opened the box, and also put meat on a salad that is labeled as VEGAN. This is the sababa salad that comes with the falafel patties, which would make NO sense to hide chicken on the bottom of the bowl. The staff here maliciously and intentionally put chicken on my salad.

More details: I ordered two salads from IQ and they messed them up (this has happened countless times from here), they remade them, I stuck my fork in the salad bowl and took a bite only to realize something was off texture-wise. I discovered that the bottom of my salad looked like it had chicken in it (see pic1). I then moved the top layer of my salad and found a very large amount of chicken hidden on the bottom, beneath the lettuce layer (see pic2). I was VIOLENTLY ill, I have not eaten meat in over 6 years due to moral and health reasons.

When is meat ever on the very bottom layer of the salad? When making a salad the protein is ALWAYS on top. So if this was a 'mistake' on the food line workers part, wouldn't the chicken be right on top...