Wild Tangerine Mobile Cusine

Main Floor, Manulife Place

Okay. So I have been putting off writing this review since…oh, I don't know, April? May? And I keep writing and rewriting it in my head to see if it comes out any differently. But now it's more than half way through July and I can not avoid it any longer.

I don't like Wild Tangerine Mobile Cuisine.

At all.

There.

I said it.

As you know, I love Wild Tangerine (the original). Unfortunately Judy and Wilson Wu have totally missed the mark on the new store. Wild Tangerine Mobile Cuisine is all about marketing and commoditization of lifestyle - sadly, it's apparent that good food didn't really factor into many of the business choices they made in forging ahead with Wild Tangerine Mobile Cuisine (WTMC).

Wilson and Judy appear to have, without much thought at all, jumped on the "good food to-go for busy professionals" bandwagon that is currently careening out of control in North America. Even in Edmonton "portable food" is all the rage, with "make-a-meal" type venues (some good, some not so good) and fancy-schmancy takeaway ventures (think Soul Soup in Rice Howard Way or Culina's TV Dinners") are popping up everywhere! And with good reason, because, let's face it we Albertans have even less time than your average schmo as the economy here is a frigging juggernaut. Witness my lack of blogging for the last several weeks! Sheesh. I could use a vacation….But I digress.

Wild Tangerine Mobile Cuisine is all about the "Concept" and not about the food. The menu's not great and they appear to have no actual cooking facilities other than a toaster and a couple of convection microwaves, which - ugh. Have you ever tried spring rolls cooked in a convection microwave? Trust me. Nothing good can come of it. Maybe that's because they took over a retail space with a great location but which was not set up with the proper vent system to operate a restaurant with...oh, I don't know…maybe some stoves? And oven?  Like I said: WTMC is all about the Concept (Great location! Great décor!), not about the food (micro waved spring rolls = unnaturally, unpleasantly chewy and tasteless).

Wait. Did I walk in to the salon by mistake? Nope. I guess not. In addition to the misguided comestibles WTMC sells (for Pete's sake!) hand cream and other "aromatherapy lifestyle products".

Even without the poncy hand cream, WTMC suffers from what, in my view is a common and fatal flaw of restaurants (especially in Edmonton) - It doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it an ice cream parlour? Is it a b-grade "Asian-inspired" fast food place? Is it a frozen soup store (seriously folks - there's like 3 stand up freezers full of frozen soup!) Is it an overpriced salad bar (8$ for a salad I could buy in a bag at Safeway and a couple microwaved spring rolls? Really?)? Is it an Aveda Concept Store? Is it a bulk granola shop?

The décor is great, but that's about all that's great. The product selection is arbitrary at best and totally misguided at worst. Food clearly plays second or even fourth fiddle to "Concept"  and "Attitude" and "Flashy". Which, I don't know about you, but I generally go to a restaurant for the food, not the "Concept" or the "Flashy".

If I were you, I'd head straight to Sunterra in Commerce Place or one of the restaurants in Rice Howard Way rather than head to WTMC because, as any Albertan might say, WTMC is "Big hat, no cattle".

Rating: Food - 2/7 stars, Service - 4/7 stars, Decor - 6/7 stars

Comments

[Tanna]

Big hat, no cattle. Now that sounds Texan and I haven't heard it.
I shall avoid WTMC if at all possible.

[kalyn]

Love the big hat, no cattle. Also, what a great photo you have in your blog header right now.

[Don]

Hmm, I don't rememeber ever saying anything like "big hat, no cattle". Maybe you've been hanging out at too many free range cattle farms.. :)

Eep.. suggesting Sunterra over this place is pretty scary! (decent overpriced sandwiches but I find their entrees rather.. bland..)

They used to have pretty bad coffee too (even now it's "starbucks" coffee.. but just the brewed stuff, no coffee drinks)

I am referring to downtown of course.

[Lyn]

Don. I agree - I'm not a big fan of Sunterra's "Big Pans" they always look so greasy and I always have to doctor them up with loads of salt and stuff. But I'd rather eat a sunterra sandwich than anything from WTMC.

[Lau]

Oh thank god someone's said it. I totally agree with you. I was sick was arguing with people in my office about how overrated, and overpriced Wild Tangerine's takeout place was.

Although I've been saying that about Sunterra too for years.

[James]

Sorry, but your review doesn't make any sense. First of all, the food at Mobile is awesome and secondly it's not cooked in microwaves. If you look at the overall concept, it does work. It's the concept of mind, body and spirit. Healthy gourmet food made with fresh ingredients, rather than scarey packaged questionable-dated foods from other places, healthy products for the skin and body, and an overall concept of freshness and good living. The bottom line is that the food is awesome, it's healthy, and it's reasonably priced. The to-go box dinners are maybe $8.00 compared to the outrageous prices at Sunterra. As for chewy springrolls, I've had their springrolls several times and have yet to have one that was greasy, chewy or less than great.

[Alison M.]

I just visited Wild Tangerine Mobile in Manulife and I'm hooked! There's a difference between what we generally think of as take-out and what is really considered take-home food. This is take-home gourmet healthy food. I'm a runner and knowing I can get a meal to go that is going to be good for me and easy to prepare is a real treat. It's different and maybe that's what scares you off, but if you really take time to pay attention to what it is they offer and the whole idea behind the food, you really get that it's a whole body food experience, not just food you shovel into your mouth and wonder if it tasted good. This food is great and I'd recommend it to anyone anytime.

[Angie]

I disagree with parts of your review. Although the "microwaved spring rolls" aspect of it initially turned me off, I do love their Panko Chicken with mango mayo. I always leave there feeling full (but not STUFFED) and satisfied... which is better than my McDonald's habit which I always feel guilty about after... haha. I noticed that when it first opened, the place was always packed! But now, when I go down there at 12:30 to grab my lunch I'm usually one of two people there and the wait time is nil. Appears that either the novelty wore off, or most agree with your views. I suspect the latter. But whatever... I say... "woohoo, no lineups!" :)

One thing I wanted to point out in your review.... Sunterra. Sucks. Sorry to say... if you ever have had their yogurt cups you would agree (they are barfalicious. grapes and raisins?! the yogurt is runny and the sh*t they put on top... wtf is that, it tastes like cr*p). I had their spinach and chicken pizza when it was the special one day... BLAND. BLAND. BLAAANNDD. Overpriced. $9 for a fruit salad that I could buy the fruit for, and make at home for about $2? Honestly, I spent $9 at Good Earth buying fruit such as pineapple, honeydew, peaches apples bananas grapefruit etc... and I had fruit coming out of my ears for a week+. I know they have to make a profit, but they are just capitalizing on people's laziness to go shopping. Seriously, guys in suits waiting in line to spend $59 on a banana is ridiculously hilarious...

[Angie]

LOL I meant 59 cents, not $59.... hahaha. Now THAT would be funny..