Fuel

We ordered take out tonight for our first time trying Fuel. The number of delicious sounding options plus the healthy factor made it a no brainer. I called ahead to see what soups were being offered and was told, tomato basil and baked potato. Tomato basil is one of my faves, so I chose that plus a strawberry spinach salad with chicken and my boyfriend got a south Philly panini. The panini was good but nothing extraordinary and the bread was a little soggy (possibly from the to-​go container). The salad was bigger than I expected and fresh– I enjoyed it (note: I substituted balsamic dressing). As for the soup… I can’t even begin to explain how disappointed I was. It looked like a container of old, dark, oily sauce that was days old. The taste was even worse. It was not fresh, and it tasted like chunky, spicy marinara sauce — I couldn’t even get down a full spoon. And there was no sign of basil anywhere. For $ 4.50 a container, and based on a picture I saw on Unilocal that looked like creamy tomato soup with croutons, I expected more! I threw out the entire container. Had it not been such a cold night, I was have brought it back. I gave this place 3 stars only for the other food and because I’d give it another try (sans tomato basil) but I’m definitely skeptical.

Ive eaten at Fuel several times and always feel great afterward. Eating here is making a conscious good choice. It’s healthy food, served quickly and relatively cheap. It tastes great too there’s no compromise in how the food tastes, despite it being healthy. They have new music playing and tell you what the track is called on a flat screen. They have interesting beverages and smoothies. What’s not to like? They even do a brunch on Sunday mornings that is damn good. Pro Tip: if you are wondering where all the single ladies are at, they are at Fuel.

I tried to call today for delivery and the gentle man on the phone acted like he couldn’t hear me I think when he heard a black voice he started to act up on the phone one time when the man who delivered the food
he just flung the food at me… I like Ardmore pizza the best customer service… fuel sucks…

I tried Fuel today for the first time. I ordered a Caesar salad with an addition of chicken. The salad came to a little over $ 11. It is a little pricey for lunch. The lettuce and tomatoes were great but the croutons were burnt and yet they were all mushy. Not one croûton had any type of crunch and seemed stale. The salad was just ok. It wasn’t a terrible salad but it wasn’t excellent either.

Offering entrees under 500 calories, Fuel proves you can offer fast (ish) food that won’t break your diet or your wallet.
I can really get behind this place. Eating out is almost always a bad idea for your health, even with some restaurants offering «healthier» options that can still approach 1,000 calories. Fuel is all over Groupon, so when they offered a $ 6 for $ 20 deal I couldn’t resist picking it up and going that night. The interior is very bright and lively, with lots of wood and brightly colored plastic, but my girlfriend and I were very confused as there was no menu above the order area. Turns out you grab a paper menu as you walk in and order off of that, which seems like a major oversight from the restaurant as we observed we weren’t the only ones to make this mistake.
The menu features items all under and around 500 calories, so of course I ordered the 577 calorie Thanksgiving Special Panini ($ 9.95), made with roasted turkey, orange cranberry sauce, sliced apple, goat cheese and spinach. It was really tasty, especially the cranberry sauce and, the MVF (most valuable flavor), the creamy goat cheese. My girlfriend got the T.B.M. Pesto (250 – 650 calories, $ 9.95) made with tomato, house made mozzarella with Rocco’s Pesto. The MVF this time around was the pesto, which I could have on every sandwich ever.
Overall, except for the menu snafu, I was very satisfied with Fuel and left the restaurant content. Definitely get the Groupons and give this place a shot.

I had placed a large pick up order Sunday evening 10/​4, I’m glad I checked the bags before I headed home, the soup of the day was forgotten. I went back and the lady upfront had asked me if I would like another soup. That was great, it showed they cared about their customers. The Caesar salad was one of the best I have ever eaten. The lettuce wraps were good to ! Everyone else enjoyed their salads and flatbreads, & rice bowl, the only downfall is we live 20 mins away so the bread gets a little bit soggy ! Next time maybe we can enjoy dining in instead of the take out.

grilled cheeeeee$$$e is the bomb

The food is not only healthy it’s delicious. The selection is good & the specials are terrific. I like that it’s not only a restaurant but also a smoothie & juice bar. The staff is efficient & friendly. My favorite is the sweet potato risotto bowl! Fills you up & is only 500 calories

I waited, in unbearable anticipation, for this new location to open down the block from me. I had been told that the South Philly location was lovely, and I was very excited to have a healthy take-​out option so close to my apartment.
Unfortunately, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. My first order here was the Thai Chicken Wrap and the Wake Me Up Smoothie. The quality of the meal and the time it took to make (nearly twice as long as promised) were not proportional at all. Both the wrap and the smoothie were definitely yummy and healthy, but the meal itself was mostly a disappointment – especially when the high price tag is taken into account.
I might be willing to give this place another shot considering the fact that my visit was fairly close to the Grand Opening. Perhaps they have worked out some of the kinks since then? Either way, it will be up to friends to drag me there because my wallet will likely keep me away otherwise.

I’ve been meaning to try this place since it opened and was excited for my first order here. I ordered the sweet potato fries and grilled chicken on wheat. I enjoyed the sweet potatoes and was excited to try my sandwich. When I opened the box the first thing I noticed is that all my greens were brown and shouldn’t of been served. Not just a little but they were obviously not appetizing. I still (unfortunately) decided to eat my sandwich and with my first bite I bit into something hard and I got stabbed in the side of my mouth by a huge pointed bone. I have pictures of this whole debacle. So let me say this was my first and will be my only visit. Unbelievable!

Delicious lunch! I especially like that you know all the ingredients and nutritional information in a dish before ordering. I had Thai Chicken salad. The main downside is parking. Lunchtime is busy and parking spaces are hard to come by.

Good quick healthy spot. I like the casual order at the counter vibe. The prices are pretty good there were alot of options on the menu. They had veggie juice and rice bowls which looked great but I went with the fuel chopped salad which was just what I needed. Definitely recommend this place if your looking for a quick, casual, healthy meal.

I went here with a friend of mine today, and I would say we had an ok time. My main take away with this place is that for the price of the meal, the food quality could have been higher. I think that this is more of an issue with the chain overall than with this particular location.
I ordered the California scrambler and my friend ordered the South Philly frittata. The smoothie we got was the Orange Banana blast. The lady who helped us behind the counter was friendly and took our order quickly, so no problems there. She served us the meal at our table, which was nice, and it was made lightning fast. But once we started eating we felt pretty underwhelmed.
The food isn’t bad, it just isn’t great. I would have expected it to be fresh, local, and/​or organic. I looked around the restaurant and I noticed that none of these words are used to describe their food. Their main angle in promoting their food is that it is all under 500 calories, which is great for people watching their weight. I don’t know where they source their food but it had a fast food quality to it.
My smoothie was icy and didn’t have a strong fruit taste to it, like I would have expected. It almost felt like liquid water ice than a smoothie. I hardly tasted orange or banana, mostly rasberry and ice. Maybe they need to play with the portions of fruit to balance out the flavors. My scrambler was pretty good but just not fresh tasting. It is hard to describe, but it just tasted like I could have gotten the same thing at pretty much any fast food chain, like Corner Bakery or Cosi.
I wasn’t a big fan of the décor, acid green and hot orange… I felt like i was in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoon. But that’s a detail I could overlook if I thought that the food was better. The space is big, clean and bright, I just didn’t like the color palette they went with.
I will try a couple of other things on the menu and see if I can find something I like better, but if I could offer constructive criticism to the restaurant owners, it would be to step up the food quality. Also, consider using more local and/​organic ingredients to the menu. Most customers that eat at a place like this, and pay good money for food, want a better food product.
Pros
— convenient location for locals and near Ardmore train station
— big, clean space
— friendly customer service
— healthy menu with low calorie count
Cons
— food is ok but not good enough to warrant a return visit anytime soon
–fresh, organic, local ingredients should be a staple in the menu
–parking is in the back of the building, and you have to drive behind the entire building complex to get around it, and then walk through to the front (I wish Ardmore would remove the meters from this parking lot)

Juices are delicious! I would come back any time for a healthy juice!
I had «Make me tan” — carrot, ginger, orange juice and my kids had a smoothie and they loved both of them.
spinach artichoke dip is amazing as well!

This place is so awesome! Everything under 500 calories; so great for me and my diet. I went here the other day for a smoothie. I
Got the peanut butter banana smoothie;
So good. It was like drinking a milkshake

I wanted to like this place. Truly, I did. .. It’s an easy, convenient stop between the Regional Rail station and my house, so if things had gone well today I would have become a loyal customer. But this vegan is staying far, far away and advising all other vegetarian /​vegans to beware.
I went to the front of the counter shortly after 4:30 pm and asked about the shamrock shake and whether it could be made vegan, and the lady operating the register (according to the receipt, her name is Michelle) assured me that was possible. She then asked me if I wanted anything else, and I asked whether they had any sandwich options that were vegan. She didn’t know off the top of her head and referred me to the printout menu. I settled on the Thai panini and requested tofu. .. after asking at least once whether the sandwich contained any dairy. I reiterated that I wanted the tofu (and not chicken) as I was paying.
I then stepped to the side as she made the shake, and to my surprise she reached for the skim milk as she began to mix the beverage. .. this was immediately after she had taken my order. I stopped her and asked politely whether she was using skim milk, and she realized her mistake, apologized, and made a new shake with the soy milk. (To her credit, the shake was good.)
After waiting a reasonable amount of time, my sandwich was brought forward, and since I had ordered takeout, I thanked her and went on my way, looking forward to a delicious (albeit a bit pricey) vegan dinner.
Imagine my disgust when I got home and discovered that my sandwich did *not* contain tofu. .. it was chicken! I don’t understand how this happened, as the receipt clearly said «Thai Tofu» and the seasonings and ingredients were for the Thai panini. Now I am eating the cucumber and part of the bread as well as the lettuce on the side. .. but no protein, which I paid for.
I am disturbed that a local chain that markets itself as health conscious and advertises vegan and gluten-​free options would have such a careless attitude towards the preparation of its food and its orders. Sadly, I cannot recommend this restaurant, especially not to individuals with dietary restrictions.

Most of the times that I come here, I leave wondering why I came back. I give Fuel yet another chance because the location is convenient and the food is relatively healthy. Then I regret my decision to dine at Fuel at least 75% of the time.
Food is meh. They claim to use the freshest ingredients. Last night I had a «rice power bowl.» It seemed to contain the freshest minute rice, frozen veggies, uncooked /​unmarinated tofu, some peanuts, and a sauce. Everything is scratch cooked here, which can be a good thing, but I feel a little upset when I remember that I could have made a better version of whatever they’re serving with ingredients in my pantry, fridge, and freezer in the same amount of time. These ingredients do not make a delicious meal, or a meal that’s worth paying $ 12 for. Yes, I understand that Fuel offers tons of coupons and rewards, but is this really the best strategy? It makes sense to reward your loyal customers. The constant presence on groupon should really be reconsidered: it cheapens your offering (why pay full price when I can get the food for half off) and forces you to charge more in order to make a profit (no wonder the prices are inexcusably high).
With all the negatives, the employees are super friendly and good at their jobs. The sandwiches are tastier and less of a rip off than other items on the menu.

Wow. Where to begin, this is such an awesome place, just as good as the one in south philly which I’ve gone to frequently from the service to the food. The service was really nice and polite. The food came out so quickly, just as my friend and I got settled. The whole menu is under 500 cals, which is just a plus on top of everything else. I can’t wait to come back again!
The south philly panini is what you need to try. Their balsamic on their salad is so good!(get extra)

I was SO happy to see Fuel opening up a location right down the street from my apartment! I have been to the center city location once, and loved it, so I was getting rather impatient for my location to open. The food is good and fresh, the staff is friendly, and the service is pretty quick. This spot has a nice bright atmosphere, and I’m sure it will be nice in warmer weather to enjoy your meal outside.
So far I have had brunch and a regular sandwich for dinner. I love that you can customize everything, and nothing is loaded with excess oil or grease. Another nice perk is the bottomless coffee with the brunch menu! I don’t think the prices are too outrageous, no more than you would pay for a meal at Corner Bakery or Panera, and at least you know what you are getting is healthy and super fresh. No major calorie bombs to worry about. I am sure I will be frequenting this spot whenever I am looking for a quick meal that I know is good for me, too!

Three words: cold, soggy tofu. We were really excited to try Fuel and came out feeling underwhelmed. I gave 3 stars because the atmosphere is cool and the restaurant has potential. Unfortunately, the kitchen has some catching up to do. I ordered the spicy tofu flatbread and it came out with basil instead of cilantro. The tofu was advertised as «grilled» but definitely was not. In fact, I’m not sure it was even cooked at all besides being run through the oven with the flatbread. Definitely not worth $ 11. I hope Fuel can improve the food enough to warrant us returning. I feel like the TVs could be put to better use and display visuals of either the menu options or the menu itself. When there’s a line, I’m not sure how they expect people to order from the paper menus at the front.