I should have loved this restaurant. I am the exact demographic The Foundation seems to be pandering to--a twenty-something vegetarian hipster. While I usually love vegetarian restaurants (especially ones with mis-matched reused furniture and jars for water glasses), The Foundation fell WAY short of my expectations.

I had read some reviews before going, but I didn't think it would be as bad as everyone says. Well, I was right. It was worse. We went at about 5 in the afternoon, so we didn't have to wait in line, and we were seated with menus immediately by a friendly, though scattered and mumbly (possibly high?), hipster dude.

The first thing I noticed was the puke-green walls. They really need to change that colour. The walls were plastered with cliché "revolutionist" quotes printed on white paper in a horribly ugly font. Whoever decorated The Foundation had not been inside a restaurant before, that much is certain. Besides the eyesore walls, the lighting was dim (not a problem for us as it was still light out, but I can see it being annoying when the sun goes down), and the gangsta rap was blaring so loudly my dining partner and I couldn't even have a conversation. The other people in the restaurant were yelling to have their voices heard, which certainly didn't add to the atmosphere.

Our bored-looking waitress finally came over with water after about five or seven minutes of menu-perusing, and was incredibly quiet--apparently the inability to speak loudly and clearly is a job requirement at The Foundation. We ordered, then both chugged our water immediately (it was hot out!) but were never offered a refill. We ordered two dishes to share (the "mingling yams" and the regular nachos) and received the yams after only about eight minutes, then the nachos about ten minutes after that. Not a huge wait time, but the dishes were simple appetizers, and the place hadn't gotten busy yet. However, I prefer to have my food brought out all at once, but I guess if they thought the yams were an appetizer I can see.... no, I really don't even want to try and justify it. They were disorganized, our food was brought out by the happy stoner who served us, not our waitress, and the yam dish was really just gross. Didn't enjoy it whatsoever. The nachos were good, though the cheese was a little burnt in some places. But the portion was enormous.

Since the portions were ridiculously huge, we couldn't finished, and waited for our waitress to come by to check on us and take our food away to box it up. We waited. And waited. She came back into the room... and served the table beside us. Didn't even glance at us. So we waited some more. She came back our way no less than six times over a period of no less than ten minutes, and though she even made eye contact with both me and my dining partner on two occasions, she didn't make any move to serve us. We passed the time discussing the ways we would spend the money that could have been her tip. When she finally came to our table, I told her that we wanted our bill and the food wrapped up, and she only took about five minutes to do that. She brought our bill without a smile or a thank-you.

Having been in the food service industry since I was 13 (and an all-around bleeding heart), I tend to tip at least 15% even if the service is bad. Well, I had never had service this bad. The Foundation received the honour of being the first restaurant ever where I didn't leave a tip. I don't feel good about myself for not tipping, but they absolutely did not deserve a gratuity. I was even toying with the idea of dining and dashing, so our meals would have come out of our crappy waitress' pocket (don't worry, I didn't, I'm not a terrible person).

I understand the vegetarian fare in Vancouver isn't fabulous, but please don't give this place business while The Naam, a much better vegetarian restaurant, is only five kilometres away. Their food is equally as good, portions even bigger, prices just as fair, and they actually serve you. Service seems like an unheard of concept to The Foundation, but it does exist in hip vegetarian places.

I LOVE the food at The Foundation, and it's super well priced. As a student, this is one of my "go to" restaurants.
The service can vary. Sometimes you're left standing at the door for a long time, sometimes you're helped right away. The servers also vary from quick and efficient to lazy and rude. I believe in tipping accordingly, so when I get bad service they get a mediocre tip.
Otherwise, food is outstanding and I really like the lunch server, she's rad.

Try the Molton Tofu, it's my favourite. My boyfriend loves the BLT-ish, but I think it may only be served for lunch.

As for ambiance, I hate the wall quotes, but otherwise it's fine. Suits the food, if you know what I mean.

Finally went to The Foundation today after complaining about going there for months. I went with 3 other friends for lunch in hopes to avoid big line ups and such. It was only about half full of people. Right away you notice that.. everyone who works there are hipsters. And everyone that comes in are hipsters too. So if you're not even close to being a hipster.. you might feel a little out of place.

Okay. It looks worn out. Seriously. The place could definitely use a new paint job.. and replace their really old worn out chairs with "new" vintage chairs or whereever they find their furniture. Apparently the washroom was creepy and the door was broken too. The music volume needs adjusting.. it's not all equal. Sometimes it's blaring and sometimes it's soft. And wtf is with the jars for glasses? It's not cool, the ridges on the jars make it inconvenient to drink out of.

It's true. The service sucks.. so badly. Other than coming to take our orders and dropping off the menus, don't expect a smile or recommendations. Oh, and don't even think about a water refill. They ignore you unless you go up to them. And sometimes they leave your order sitting there for like 5-10 mins before they bring it over to you. And we had to wait for our orders for OVER HALF AN HOUR. Around 40 mins! And this was when the place was only half full! My god, I don't want to know how long dinner would have been.

I'm a vegetarian, so this place is a HUGE plus for me. Despite everything else, I would so come back for the food. And the price. It's so good. One of my friends had the burger which is really good (it's her first time trying a veggie burger, she's almost a carnivore), another had the hummus plate, another had the mingling yam plate (ahhh I loved this, I almost got a take out for this dish), and I had this sandwich.. I forgot the actual name of it. It has sourdough bread that's spicy though. The salad is a plus, dressing was very different from your usual salad. Loved my sandwich. But loved the yam dish even more, it's a mixture of yam and strong garlic dip with tortilla chips and flat bread. They could have heated up the bread more, and if the dip were hot instead of served cold, even better. And with the price? Wow. Each dish was anywhere from 5-8 dollars with tax.

But yeah. If you're not in a rush and with a few friends that have plenty to chat about (so the wait doesn't seem so long).. come here and eat. Great pricing, great food. If they're service finally met up to their food standards, this place would easily be one of my favourite places to eat.

Amazing Food, 6 people, 6 different dishes. Every dish loaded with wonderful taste. The prices are fantastic. The Red Devil beer not so hot but awesome price. $13 a pitcher..The beer took awhile to get to us, as they had run out of glasses! But because they made us wait, note we didn't complain, they gave us a pitcher free of charge. Only one annoyance thats worth mentioning. All of the food, except the nacho's was really spicy! Next time I go I will be sure to ask the chef's to go soft on the spices, especially the garlic. But if you are a spicy, garlic lover who wants amazing vegetarian dishes at phenomenal prices and generous portion sizes this is the place.

The place was packed full of hipsters and alike when 3 others and I arrived at 6:30 for dinner. Charming diner style with a very laid back vibe. Service was only ok, although our server had some solid recommendations which proved to be spot on.
Regardless of the lackluster service, I would definately go back for the large selection and savoury tasting food. We got 4 different things to split amongst us and I loved every single order. The curries were thick and rich with just the right amount of spices, the dressing for the salads were suprisingly tropical, and the pasta with peanut pesto was a creamy twist on a favorite classic. The portions were huge- I went home pleasantly stuffed. Everything is around $10 and you will definately get your moneys worth.

I liked this place when I was younger (had more time to kill so didn't mind the slow service). The hummous dish and nachos are favourites. I like how ALL the nachos are covered in cheese/toppings. I've eaten some bowl with spinach/tofu and peanut sauce, filling and tasty. I didn't care for their burger, but thought their salads were good. Foundation has some inexpensive wine/beers, which is nice. Better than the Naam...

Came here a couple nights ago with 2 girlfriends on the recommendation of a friend. Firstly, the ambiance of the restaurant was what grabbed my attention immediately. The room was fairly dim, lit by candles at each table. It definitely had that 'organic' healthy kind of vibe to it and i'm sure thats what they are going for. But what did not make sense was the 'old school gangsta rap' they were blasting. And by old school, i mean stuff from 10 yrs ago. Nothing wrong with that of course but it just didn't make sense to me. Nevertheless, the place was packed at about 830pm on a tuesday night!

We each ordered a beverage and a milk chocolate fondue to share. The fondue took a very long time to come. We were told after about 1/2 hour or so that it was delayed b/c they thought we were waiting for it as dessert. Service was a bit slow but was understandable b/c they were busy. For $10 you get a fondue (for 3) of very fresh tasting and decent sized strawberries and chopped up barlett pears sprinkled with coconut. The chocolate tasted good, not too sweet but was a bit grainy. In all honesty, I can probably make a better tasting one at home with more variety of fruits and cake to dip.

Overall, I would probably come back to try the food and other drinks b/c the portions seem to be quite large and the drinks are reasonably priced. Only complaint is the atmosphere. Not exactly a place to enjoy a nice dessert (or food) and have a decent conversation.

Even as I write this I realize reviewing Foundation is futile. It doesn't matter what anyone says about this place. It's a huge success. It's always full and I don't think anyone who goes there has ever bothered to look up a review. It's an institution. But just in case someone is unfamiliar with it, or curious, here you go:
I've always had amazing food here. My favourites include the Final Option, which is a nice, balanced, creamy curry, the Molten Tofu, which is an incredibly flavourful tofu and broccoli combo served with spinach and black bean sauce over rice and the Spicy Peanut, which contains tofu, cauliflower, spinach, spiral pasta and sesame seeds served with a wonderful peanut sauce and flat bread. All entrees here are around $9.75, which is crazy considering the high quality and the huge portions. If you are there with friends I definitely recommened sharing some nachos. The small nachos at $8 are a bit of a mis-claimer because they are HUGE. They come with freshly made salsa, which could be a bit spicier but is still quite nice and sour cream. You can pay extra for guac. I don't like guac, but my friends do and they say the guac here is awesome. The nachos are loaded with cheese and toppings. Corn, black beans, onions...you name it, it's on there and it's delicious. They also have nacho specials where you can enjoy such toppings as sun-dried tomato and roasted garlic (yum!) and mango, corn and black bean. For $2 each four people can leave satisfyingly full off of a plate of small nachos. I don't know anywhere else that offers that.
That said the customer service, as many people have commented, leaves a lot to be desired. It isn't always outwardly rude, though on one occasion for me it was. Most of the time it's just absent and slightly dismissive. My last visit there I found a chest hair in my Spicy Peanut. I was pretty disgusted and although I had already ate most of it, I mean come on, should I be charged? It isn't my fault the chest hair was located at the bottom of the plate. I showed the waiter and he didn't apologize at first. He just went "Oh," and disappeared. When the bill came he did apologize and give me a 50% discount though I'm surprised I was charged at all. I guess I could've complained, but we were rushing off to see a show and didn't really have time.
A nice touch though is how you get campinos instead of mints at the end of every meal.
Long story short I guess, come here for great food and great deals, but don't expect to be wowed by the staff. Don't worry, everything else makes up for it anyway.

In my mind, this Foundation is pretty solid. After a while, you pretty much know what to expect.. Longer than usual wait times for delicious, hearty, big servings of veg food. It's a social place, so don't get too antsy; set aside the time to chat and drink and don't go when you're starving. All the dishes are equally tasty and pretty much standard (you know what to expect).

I do have a few complaints as a vegan. Considering most of their menu is vegan, they really need to get vegan after meal candies! Also, I ordered a vegan sugar pie once and it came dolloped with cow secretions and not much apology.

The first time I went to the foundation, I was immediately enamoured with the revolutionary quotes scrawled graffiti-style on the walls, the loud socialist hip-hop music, the retro furniture, and the delicious food!
That said, I can see how many of these elements can divide people. It's perfect for what I'm looking for, but it's not the sort of place I'd expect, say, my parents, to enjoy.
The food is generally amazing, but there are a few dishes which are considerably less exciting; I guess it's a matter of figuring out which ones you like? My girlfriend got a sesame spinach quinoa dish that was quite bland (though they were very accommodating about her wheat allergy), but everything else I've tried here has been excellent, and there is a great variety. A lot of veggie restaurants have a sort of 'samey' quality that can be tiring, but the foundation has enough variety to keep me coming back; and most of the dishes are quite healthful-seeming.
One other thing is that depending on where you're sitting, it can be quite dark if you come in the evening. They don't use lamps, but instead give every table a candle. To me, this is a nice touch, and impresses my environmentalist sensibilities, but to some it has been a turn-off.
All-in-all I would definitely recommend it if you are in to the sort of environment I have described.