Le Commensal Fine Vegetarian Cuisine

First off, no, I am not a vegetarian, but I do love vegetarian food. So the lack of animal product did not bother me in the least.

But I do find that veggie restos tend to have skewed ratings because those poor vegans who finally stumble upon a place with decent veg offerings respond with outspoken enthusiasm. And it frustrates me a little since the food at some of these places isn't even as good as vegetarian offerings in non-exclusively veg restos.

Le Commensal charges ridiculous prices for their food. And as previous reviewers mentioned, it's easy to be skeptical about the scales they use. I am very tempted to go back one day with my own digital scale and test it out, but for now I will let that rest. Even if it was weighed fairly, one plate of cafeteria ratatouille, sweet potato, and beans cost me $20. What.

If you're on a diet, go here. Otherwise, there is simply no excuse. Vegetarians can even go to your standard Indian restaurant and have much better meatless dishes for a portion of the price.

I will come back if I don't fit into my jeans anymore.

There is a wide variety of good vegetarian restaurants in Toronto. One of our favourite is Le Commensal! We have been going for years and we still keep going back.

Le Commensal is buffet/cafeteria style restaurant. You serve yourself and pay by weight. There are lots of options for soups, beverages, salads, hot and cold dishes and sweets! The dishes change daily but remain largely the same over the years. Some of the dishes even come in frozen packages so you can take them home and stack them in the freezer. Just heat them up and you are ready to enjoy the hot dishes!

We always fill our plates sky high because there are just so many dishes that we want to try. I absolutely love their salads. It's fresh, wholesome and delicious! My favorite hot dish is the Thai Seitan for its sweet and sour taste. The Ma Po Tofu is not too spicy but flavorful. I especially like to pick out the cute little champagne mushrooms because they are so chewy and tender!

Also, I really appreciate that they label all the dishes accordingly. The labels tell you whether a dish has dairy or egg or it's gluten free. There are tons of different choices; from veggie pizza to sushi to curry to quiche. They have something from every cuisine.

Remember to save some room desserts! Chocolate cake, lemon pie, oatmeal raisin coockies.... you name it! Now they also have a breakfast bar which opens at 7:30am. If you go late at night, you can also enjoy 20% off. It's a lovely place to enjoy some live jazz in the summer time.

I'm going to break from the generally positive reviews and call BS on what Commensal is offering.

I came in as a first-timer, oblivious to how they price their buffet. No staff spoke to me, let alone even looked at me, as I sat myself down near a window. After finishing an article I was reading (maybe 10 minutes), I helped myself to a little salad, sat down, and ate it. It was then that I noticed there were prices listed for the soup... so, I got up and asked the (now present) cashier if it was included in the buffet.

"No, it's by the bowl."
"Oh," I reply, "how about the salad? I'm a bit confused now -- is the salad buffet separately priced from the rest?"
"Yes, it's all by weight."
"Oh, uh... I kinda just ate a salad..."
"You did? Oh..."
"Yeah, there's no prices listed anywhere, and nobody was around to ask, and I just kinda assumed..."
"Oh, well, everything's by weight; don't worry about the salad. Just bring your plate to be weighed next time."

I felt awfully stupid. And let me point out that the cashier wasn't so much being understanding and forgiving as she was being completely, unabashedly ambivalent to her job and my embarrassing ignorance. Just pure apathy. I hate apathy when eating out. Show some passion! I almost would rather she berated me, then called a manager to deal with me for being such a know-nothing tool. Kick me out or something! Anything! (Ok, I'm grateful these things didn't happen...)

So anyway, with the method of payment sorted out, I grab a plate for some hot food. I pick somewhat sparingly: some broccoli au gratin, fennel au gratin, a bit of steamed kale, and, as an afterthought, a spring roll (upon noticing how kinda empty my plate looked). Weighed Price: Just shy of $16.

*blink blink* Whazu??? I mean, if the food was delicious, sure, justified! But no, it was sitting out, overcooked, mushy. The spring roll was just plain bad, like an M&M Meats multi-pack spring roll. I came in shortly after noon, and the food looked and tasted as if it had been out all night. (And was she counting the weight of my plate? Yeesh!)

Y'know, I blame myself. I should have looked at the buffet offerings, shrugged, and left. Bad food is pretty easy to spot, especially on a buffet, and in hindsight I knew I was going to be disappointed as soon as I slopped that stuff down on my plate.

My solace? Groupon Now! dropped my price to $12. But man, if it weren't for that damned Groupon I wouldn't have come in... I ate a little piece of cake to drive my cost to a hair over $20 and use up my Groupon (over $4 for a small slice of gelatinous cake... man... I'm getting ripped off and I'm not even paying full price...)

Can't win 'em all, I guess. I won't be back. One star for mushy food, ridiculous pricing (steamed kale = fennel au gratin? riiiight), and soul-sucking apathy.

You know you're in trouble when previous reviewers are being helpful by telling you how to be strategic while filling your plate. Le Commensal could be a great little spot, but for the overcooked food and outrageous prices.

Maybe if I didn't cook, I'd be more tempted by the buffet of stews and salads that Le Commensal offers. But the truth is, there is little there that we don't make better at home (the seitan excepted). And the cost is just simply prohibitive. My husband and I went there because we had a groupon. He was excited at the possibility of so much choice, since he's usually limited to vegetarian pastas, etc. on restaurant menus. I got a small-ish plate and he got one with warm stews and rice. The cost for his medium-sized plate? $21. At a cafeteria. We ended up exceeding our $30 groupon by $7 with drinks.

There are so many great veggie places in Toronto for much better value. Skip this one. It's not worth your time.

Vegetarian score: 10/10. Good variety, bleh outcomes.

Attention students - amazing Monday deal - 50% off. I discovered this as I was randomly walking by on the way to the library. I filled up a medium container of food for about $10 - which really cost me $5. I did however have to be strategic - potatoes, beets, sweet potatoes will cost you way too much as will cold veggie sticks - not sure why you'd bother with those boring old dishes with all the fun options anyway. I went for the lighter grains and vegetables. They have an awesome ratatouille,veggie lasagna, curries steamed veggies, roasted veggies, quinoa salads, plain salad toppers, etc. The veggie pate is also nice and spicy. Soup is sold by the bowl. There are two soup options (cream of leek and green lentil on the day I visited), which comes with a free piece of bread. Also, all you yelp oldies - it's 50% off for seniors on Tuesdays.

This place has great veg, vegan and gluten free options in a cafeteria style setting. They have hot and cold sections, as well as dessert. I didn't get a beverage, but they all seemed like organic/healthy choices. Coffee has free refills.

As Michelle A. already said, be strategic when you are filling up your plate! I stuck with the quinoa salad, couscous and a melange of pre made salads. Loading up on items like the potato salad (although it looked good!) could cause some damage to your lunchtime spending money. Everything I had was really good and tasted like it was good AND good for you.

Obviously being the pseudo cheapskate that I am, I went on a Monday. The 50% on monday deal is good for both students and university staff. You just have to show your ID card and the deal is on.

This place is terrible. I bought Groupon for $15 for $30 worth of food for two. As it is a buffet where you pay by weight, $30 seemed like it would be more than enough. I was amazed that after me and my guest took one plate (that were hardly huge or overfilled), we actually had to pay an additional $5 or so.

The food itself was disgusting. Though I'm not a vegetarian, I enjoy fresh vegetarian dishes from time to time. When I bought the Groupon I expected this place to be something like "Camros Organic Eatery" (which is delicious by the way!) but it was not at all. This food was not fresh tasting or looking at all. It had clearly been sitting there and I felt sick within a few minutes of leaving the restaurant.

And at these exorbitant prices, how do you not have any wait staff? It's more like a really expensive cafeteria. Even with my voucher, I felt like the value we got for our dinner was terrible. I can't even imagine paying full price for this low quality food.

The first couple of times I visited Le Commensal, I was tickled tofu. A diverse selection floats my boat big time, and also sets my heart a-flutter. Le Commensal is NOT lacking in selection. They've got cold salads, hot casseroles, steamed kale, brown rice, quinoa, lentil salads, salad salads, potatoes and pizza. They've got desserts, juice, wine and coconut water. They've got a vegan version of bourguignon and tons of other concoctions. The selection will knock your face off and you will want to try all of it.

Then you start to get a feel for what's good. You massage your plate tactics and choose nice combos. You begin to think that some of the stuff isn't overly amazing, but A FOR EFFORT, guys.

Next, like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, you realize that things never change. You will never NOT see bourguignon on the buffet line. That Moroccan stew will always be there, too. Comforting? Maybe. Disappointing? A bit.

Whenever I'm in the area I like to hit up Le Commensal, but for the taste and the overall price (they charge by weight and my plates are never under $12), not to mention their competition in Camros and Kale Organic Eatery, this spot ranks in at a definite 3 stars.

This place is a recipe for fiscal disaster. It's a cafeteria style buffet, where you are charged by weight (your foods', not your own). This is easily forgotten as you pick out nibbles and soon you are walking up the cashier, hefting your plate --as if that tells you anything-- and wondering, sweet God how much am I going to pay for this tofu?

As it turns out: quite a bit. With a Blanche de Chambly my total came to $18 bucks, and I didn't get THAT much food. But what I did get was quite tasty. There is too much to list, but I'll point out the Seitan Bourguignon, it's delicious. The selection is fantastic, but I can't see myself going back soon. It's just too expensive.

Obligatory Title Pun: VEG out at Commensal!

Menu Readability: All the buffet items are clearly abelled, so you know what contains eggs, dairy, and what is 100% vegan.

Need to mention: So, they have two plate sizes here, but it didn't look like they had a clear way to tare the scale for plate size. So.... get the smaller plate. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

What this place teaches me about myself: Commensal teaches me that I could probably live as a vegetarian, but it would require a supplemental income.

It's a buffet by weight restaurant. The problem is that it just doesn't taste that good for the price. Tip: look for the 30% off days.

Dinner will cost about $18 or more. Disappointing experience!!!!