International
Fast food
Take-out
Asian
Non-veg
Serves meat, vegan options available. Tea rolls, tofu stir fry, noodles, and others. Open Mon-Tue 11:00am-9:00pm, Wed-Sat 11:00am-9:30pm, Sun 12:00pm-9:00pm.
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39 S Pleasant St, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA, 01002
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Last update on 01 Aug 2007 by Guest
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Added by vegman444 on 01 Aug 2007
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20 Reviews
First Review by sloweducation
broman
Points +218
Tasty fresh food, separate vegan menu - Edit
Section of the menu for vegan versions of many of their dishes. Soups, apps, salads and mains! The Tea Rolls are really yummy. I got the Vietnamese. And Pad Thai for my main. Server was great and asked if I wanted tofu or extra veg. Came with peanut sauce - unusual but very good! Everything is made to order and veggies were fresh and cooked perfectly!
Read morePros: Great vegan menu, Fresh tasty veggies and tofu, Service was excellent
Guest
spise01
Points +949
Whole vegan menu - Edit
They have a vegan section of the menu which makes life so much easier. I got the eight treasure rice which I really liked and my boyfriend enjoyed his teriyaki tofu. The service was also very fast and friendly.
Read moreGuest
LeoStoat
Points +181
My favorite pad Thai ever! - Edit
I love the vegan pad Thai here! I don’t like most pad Thai in general -not sure if my issue is the noodle texture, sauce, or something else – but this one is full of veggies, the seasoning is perfect, and it’s just so delicious! I get it as often as I can, whenever I’m in the area, and it’s always just as good as the first time this dish knocked my socks off pre-pandemic!
Read moreAlso love that there is an entire vegan menu. They definitely know what they are doing! at least one of the employees is vegan, so that helps 😊
Guest
JesCamarillo89
Points +47
Really bad - Edit
The review is for the food the service is great but how the made pad Thai is the worst in my life. Not cook right or flavor right. If you like authentic food this place isn’t it.
Read morePros: Lots of vegan options , Good service
Cons: Taste horrible , Worst Asian food
Guest
Crazyplantslady
Points +285
A whole vegan menu - Edit
This place was pretty good! We came here just for the vegan menu. I tried the Seaweed tea roll, and it was okay. The miso soup with tofu was delicious and the vegan pad Thai was awesome.
Read moreGuest
lordemelodrama56552
Points +57
Not good, and overcharged - Edit
I just ate here last night and I am leaving this review because I value the time and money of others. I very rarely go to restaurants because of the expense and it is even rarer that I go to a new restaurant, because I don't want to spend money on something I would possibly dislike.
Read moreThat being said, I ordered the coconut soup last night because I heard great reviews about it! What I got was something on a plate. The waitress put it down and said it was soup. The resulting dish was incredibly goopy and white, tasting exactly like canned cream of chicken soup. (NOT accusing this dish of not being vegan. This is just what it tasted like). It was not flavorful at all. I'm not picky but this was one of the only things I've been served in a restaurant that I've genuinely disliked. I have never had another coconut noodle soup that tastes like this.
When we got the check, it listed the soup as $15, even though it said $9.50 on the menu. I pointed this out and the waitress just said it was an old menu and this was the price now. I did not find this acceptable- that's much pricier than promised. My dining partner did not enjoy her food either.
Pros: Large selection
Cons: Food tastes bad, Rude service, Overcharged
Guest
McMallory
Points +2218
Good but standard - Edit
The food here is good and very fresh, but nothing to get too excited about either. Nice, solid options if you’re in the area but not really anything to go out of your way for.
Read moreGuest
SaraBlueBrainard
Points +54
My favorite restaurant in the area - Edit
Fresh Side is so delicious, I would eat there every day if I could. The coconut udon and seaweed tea rolls are my favorite! Friendly, helpful staff. Outdoor seating is nice in the warmer months. I wish they had a second location closer to me, but I’d probably spend all my money there!
Read morePros: Separate vegan menu, Dishes can be adapted to be made vegan
Guest
HaleyMoriarty
Points +242
one of my favorite places - Edit
I absolutely love the peanut noodle salad. I get it almost every time I come! they have their own vegan menu which has a bunch of options. I also recommend trying the tea rolls and hot apple cider!
Read moreGuest
kleenix55
Points +20
Fantastic vegan soup - Edit
I love to go to Fresh Side and have their Coconut Noodle Soup with tofu. It's rich, satisfying, and delicious, plus it's affordable! They also have many other vegan offerings.
Read moreGuest
Tsparke
Points +82
Love This Place! - Edit
Great options here! They can make almost anything vegan (within reason) and they always are patient and willing to help. A wonderful staff and wonderful owners! My personal favourite is the tea rolls!!! Great food for a decent price.
Read morePros: Lots of Options , Great Price
Guest
Yin
Points +26
Coconut Noodle Soup - Edit
Amazing coconut noodle soup. Downtown, easy to find, variety of food. It is pan-Asian restaurant.
Read morePros: Location, Food, Reasonable price
Guest
jollieduck
Points +2267
Love the tea rolls! - Edit
Plenty of options on their vegan menu, and their tea rolls are amazing!
Read moreGuest
amwhite91
Points +522
lovely find - Edit
I came here for lunch. It's a lovely place. I like the tea rolls quite a bit. I had the seaweed one and a spicy one with bean curd. The staff were quick and attentive. The negative comments from the earliest reviews of this place seem not to apply anymore. It was not at all crowded when I came. The atmosphere is nice as well. There were some beautiful paintings there when I was there.
Read morePros: good variety of options, atmosphere, price
Cons: no brown rice
Guest
jujutsuka
Points +546
loyal patron gushes - Edit
I've been going to freshside for over a decade! This is one place in town that is constantly improving, updating their menus etc. The most recent menu addition that I tried was coconut curry tofu rice, and coconut curry rice-noodle soup ... both amazing. The rice version I could not believe was vegan, it was so creamy and delicious.
Read moreTheir signature item is a tea roll, and the vegan versions include (among others I'm forgetting): ginger rice noodle tea roll, basil bean curd tea roll, seaweed peanut sauce rice tea roll, bi-bim spicy salad-like tea roll ... they are all really good, it's hard choosing.
Other main dishes that are vegan and great: bean curd miso dressing salad, shiitake mushroom seaweed stir fry (OMG), 8-treasure rice, wheat gluten with veggies and rice, ETC ETC
Fresh side is the only place I've ever had "bean curd" which is different than tofu (they also have tofu). I don't know where you can find bean curd like this to take home and cook but I wish I knew.
Updated from previous review on Thursday January 08, 2015
PS Another reviewer noted the pad thai, so I thought it was worth a further mention. There was a "scandal" with their pad thai **many years back. I think what happened is that they advertised it as vegan but they did not know that some base ingredient they used contained fish sauce. It was a legitimate and honest mistake -- they DO know what vegan is and they were super embarassed by it from what I could tell, were apologetic, and now they just say "sorry, our pad thai is not vegan" (too bad, it was really good, haha!). Keep in mind they are a budding new place in the past decade-plus-or-so, and from what I know of the owners that pad thai mistake was a learning point for them. I have absolutely NO qualms about trusting them with vegan now, they learned and did so humbly as well.
Pros: seems like always open, consistently good, great for takeout
Guest
RayneTupelo
Points +42
One of my favorites! - Edit
I love the food here! The tea rolls are delicious. I've enjoyed their vegan curried rice and vegan pad thai. Ask for the vegan menu to make ordering easier. No kid friendly food.
Read moreCons: no kid-friendly food
Guest
bstafford
Points +25
Good, healthy food - Edit
Went here with family for my birthday- I am the only vegan. Short wait, as seems to be a popular place. Awesome tea rolls, and very filling vegan pad thai. Would definitely recommend to anyone in the area.
Read morePros: Good Food, Filling
Cons: Wait time
Guest
VeganPlease
Points +68
AWESOME!!! - Edit
This place is so good. Vegan, vegetarian and meat eaters options. I make sure to go here every time I'm in Amherst for the night. Service is awesome too!
Read morePros: really good food, options for everyone, awesome/friendly service
Guest
vegman444
Points +70
Resting on laurels - Edit
Fresh Side used to be fresh, now it's known mostly for snotty servers and grumpy counterpeople. Hey, if you guys don't like your jobs, QUIT! There are loads of out of work people dying to be hired.
Read moreNow onto the food. It's unique, and like any menu there are some great choices, but many duds as well. The tofu is too watery and squishy, and I bet my paycheck what they claim is "vegan" ain't. I taste chicken broth in the noodle dishes, and oh yeah, I would love to see the ingredients of the "vegan" noodles--guessing there's egg in there.
The tea is amazing, the best choices and tastes around. The tea rolls are mostly great, but some are cold and boring too.
Plan ahead, due to the annoyed staff, you may be waiting a LONG time to get your food. Oh, and be warned: If you complain about anything, they'll make you feel like it's YOUR fault.
Pros: Tea, Tea rolls, Location
Cons: Attitude of servers and counter people, Service can be slow, Mess up orders frequently
Guest
sloweducation
Points +43
worst service i've ever received - Edit
my first and only time attending fresh side, i ordered pad thai. when it was delivered, i began to eat it, only to notice a few seconds later that there were eggs in it, which meant that there was also fish sauce in it. my waiter (an ugly fellow with a ponytail) was completely unapologetic. he offered a completely flat excuse ("you were looking down when you said that you wanted it vegan"), but no apology. the manager was more apologetic, but only by a little bit. surprisingly for a restaurant that offers so many vegan options, they seemed to have no consideration at all of the importance of actually serving their food vegan when it was requested as such.
Read moreCons: appalling service
Guest
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