Freshii

Photo: Martha Williams

With McDonald’s on every other block and Dunkin’ Donuts rolling out pizza, midday junk abounds, especially downtown. So if you’re a health-conscious fast-food operation such as the Canada-based Freshii, you might have a built-in customer base with people who eschew Big Mac–like meals altogether, but you’d better deliver some flavor to pull repeat visits from the average consumer with under an hour to kill and ten bucks to spend.

Freshii’s concept sounds simple enough—wraps, salads, soups or rice bowls, either in signature combinations or create-your-own concoctions. But upon entering the carryout spot, a wall covered completely with clipboards somewhat complicates things. With the help of maybe four employees (albeit all very friendly), you should finally have your food in hand, but the line from point A to point B seems unnecessarily curvy.

Equally frustrating are combos that sound great but fall flat. The Buddha bowl’s “grilled tofu” was raw and its advertised “herbs and spices” materialized in the form of three cilantro leaves. Likewise, the Green Lotus bowl was two-thirds brown rice with a bit of raw greens, a couple of broccoli florets and unseasoned tempeh. On another visit, there was neither chicken nor spice in the Spicy Chicken Thai “Soup’t” and the “grilled steak” and “roasted potatoes” promised in the Steakhouse wrap were cold, the steak definitely not grilled and the potatoes nearly as frozen as the Yoggi, another strangely named product that turned out to be the highlight of the meals. Basically, Chicago just got another fro-yo spot.

311 S Wacker Dr at Jackson Blvd (312-435-0311). El: Brown, Orange, Pink, Purple (rush hrs) to Quincy. Breakfast and lunch (Mon–Fri). Average main course: $8.