SMAK - Healthy Fast Food

I worked close to Pender and Thurlow in downtown, Vancouver. Sometimes I'd dine at the food courts inside Bentall for lunch, but if you eat there daily, the foods are all too greasy and unhealthy. SMAK became a very obvious healthy option during lunch. It is usually packed during lunch hours where the line up goes out the door and onto the street ! Now, the question is, why ? 

Well, they do have a nice interior space for people to comfortable dine in, a very efficient cashier counter and fridge design to allow people to pick their food and beverage while lining up. Everything offered in SMAK, is 100% gluten free. All these are great ! 

But the food ...

That day I order their breakfast oatmeal bowl along with a Berry Bliss smoothie. First, the bowl, there was just toooooo much oatmeal and too little fruits. Nearly 95% of the bowl was packed oatmeal and topped with a couple slices of strawberries and banana. I tried mixing the fruits with the oatmeal but could only enjoy that combo for a very short time. Soon after a couple first bites, I was eating plain, bland, and dried/overly-packed oatmeal. I know it's healthy, but it'd be great if it can taste good too. 

Then the smoothie, I was hoping for fresh fruit smoothies. However, it turned out that SMAK doesn't use fresh juices to make their smoothies. Instead, they have a couple frozen fruits/veggies in smoothie cups, then they pour those BOXED JUICES you see on Costco shelves into it to blend ! WHATTTTTTT ? I mean, it is still healthier than pop so I'll give them that. 

I've also had their salads and some hot food items, none of which was very memorable, though not horrible. SMAK also seems to have very bad ventilation because after spending maybe only an hour to dine in, my hair and clothes will smell like very greasy food kitchen. That is very weird because SMAK's stuff is healthier and lighter than other restaurants. 

Ummm, I'm surprised they have such low rating on Urbanspoon given the traffic they have at the store. I guess its convenient location really help draw most of its customers, not the taste.