Honeygrow is a concept that was founded in Philadelphia in 2012. Since then, they've expanded up and down the east coast and as far midwest as Chicago so they must be doing well. Upon entering Honeygrow, it immediately felt very stale to me. There is little seating despite a fairly large space. And you order using iPads--no talking to anyone.
That said, the walls are covered with some cool artwork and a plaque states that the artwork is DC-inspired. I failed to see the connection, but enjoyed the bright colors anyway.
There are two items that are clearly listed as vegan, which are the Vegan Kale salad and the Red Coconut Curry. I decided to try both on different occasions.
On my first visit, I ordered the Red Coconut Curry. I tried to customize it by subbing the rice noodles for udon noodles and changing a few ingredients, but I inadvertently omitted the tofu. Sigh. Despite that, I loved it. The coconut curry sauce on the udon noodles with broccoli, jalapenos, mushrooms, beans sprouts, scallions, and cilantro was delicious! The only thing I didn't love was the old-school-style Chinese carry-out container despite the fact that I was eating in. I would have much preferred a bowl.
I also had one of their fresh-pressed green juices called, "Green is Good," made with apple, spinach, cucumber, lemon, and basil, which was great.
On the next visit, I took the Vegan Kale salad to go. When I got home, I must say I was disappointed. I have two comparison points--Chop't and Sweetgreen. Sweetgreen is amazing and Chop't is not. But, the point here is that this salad did not compare to anything Sweetgreen offers. It was smaller, there wasn't enough dressing, the dressing didn't coat the kale well, and the dressing wasn't spectacular. There also wasn't enough in the small bowl. There was kale, organic roasted spicy tofu (which wasn't that spicy and way too fried), apples, carrots, roasted beets (tasted like canned beets), red onions, and radishes. It was pretty boring, actually.
And they charged me 49-cents for bread, which is petty on a $11+ salad.
The prices, overall, were pretty high. So, while I enjoyed the coconut curry stir-fry, I think they have a lot of room for improvement. If Sweetgreen didn't exist, I might have rated this salad higher, but you need to keep up with your competition. So step it up or step it out. And please get rid of the Chinese containers. It sucks to eat stir-fry out of them. We put up with them from a dive Chinese place with $5 meals, but if you are charging over $10 for a stir-fry, we expect a nice bowl instead.
Honeygrow
716 7th Street NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 804-4282
I've complained about the boxes as well. It's one reason I really don't go there. We did check it out again recently, and they still have the boxes. So many places offer those to-go bowls. Check out Bibibop, which is near the Honeygrow on 7th.
ReplyDelete