Fresh Side

5 Reviews on “Fresh Side”

• TomS.Umass

  Fresh Side is located in downtown Amherst across from the town commons in a small strip of restaurants including a Chinese take out place and an authentic Mexican eatery. My expectations were not very high coming here – I did not think it was going to be a negative experience, but I had never heard anyone give much praise to the food or service here. I did not really even know one hundred percent what type of food was served at this establishment.When we walked into the restaurant, it was not very busy. Our group was sat at a long conglomeration of tables pushed together in the middle of dining room. Just looking around at the other customers, the feel of the restaurant seemed to give off a ‘free-spirited’ and almost ‘hippyish’ vibe.Our order was taken by the waiter who was very soft-spoken and used an iPhone to take our orders. He seemed to float around our table for a while as it took us a bit to look at the menu and weigh out our options. The menu was decent sized, and contained a variety of asian-inspired dishes such as fried rices, noodles, soups, and salads (priced $10 to $18). There seemed to be a lot of vegetarian and gluten free options. I opted for some shiitake fried rice with seaweed and scallions. The drink menu had a lot of tea, a limited selection of wines, some signature cocktails and Japanese and domestic beers. Once our order was taken, the food came out quickly.The shiitake fried rice was okay, and the portion size was huge. The flavor was good but the mushrooms tasted like they were dried an not rehydrated properly. 3/5 for the food. Another group member order tea rolls which ‘she hated.’ Some else ordered pad thai, which turned out to not be in a traditional style, with a sauce that was reminiscent of warm peanut butter. Some dishes came with a side of steamed veggies, which look like they had been frozen and dumped out of a bag. I was not super impressed with the food overall.None of us got dessert. The waiter was understanding and nice when we asked to have the checks for our large table split. He was very quick and had our checks back to us in no time at all.Overall, I was not super impressed or let down by Fresh Side. I basically got what I expected. I don’t know if my fellow diners can say the same, but I would come back here again just to try something else off of the menu.

  July 12, 2016, 7:54 pm

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• Hannah

  When my friends and I go out to eat, this is where we go. The food isn’t that expensive and it’s delicious, we particularly like the Thai iced tea. A lot of my friends are gluten free and there are a lot of great options for them.

  November 24, 2013, 11:02 pm

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• Chef Ku

  Good not great. The tea rolls were amazing – definitely the highlight feature of the menu. The thai iced tea and service were awesome as well. However, the chefs could invest a little more time in the presentation of the dishes. Also the peanut sauce was a little shaky – it tasted like watered down peanut butter. 3/5

  September 10, 2011, 4:41 pm

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• Rachel Madowitz

  Veryvgood soups and pastas okay salads the 8 treasures rice is the best and be sure to get a hot or iced chai tea and a super mochi the green and pink are the best mochis and the service was okay last time the service was horible but overall rele great place for friends rele bad place toll take your Impatient grandparents.

  August 31, 2009, 11:44 pm

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• Darren Kusmirek

  Overall our experience at fresh side was nice. I went with a party of 6 on a Saturday so service was not the best. Half of us got our meals 15 minutes before the other half so things got cold. It took one member of our party three attempts to get a fork. As far as the food goes, everyone thought thing were rather dry and needed more sauce. We didn’t know about the byob so if we go back we will probably do that.

  August 3, 2009, 8:53 pm

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