Cafe Yumm!

I went here today and I was deeply disturbed. For being an over priced place… I would have assumed they wouldn’t MICROWAVE food, BUT THEY DO.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them microwaving my food to heat it up. I will be sure to tell others to not go here.

First of all, let me say that I love Café Yumm. I have been a loyal patron of the chain for more than 2 years and nearly always order the same thing. The Lake Oswego Café Yumm, however, has left me with nothing but disappointment, and now anger. For the last 8 months or so, my food has either been luke-​warm or cold about every other visit to this particular Café Yumm. I have talked to two different managers about it and received a canned answer that the cold food items on the top of the bowls is what is making me think my food is cold. I’m sorry, but if that were the case, my food would always be cold at every Café Yumm. It is not. In fact, not once in the last 2 years has my food ever been cold at the Café Yumm on the PSU campus – and like I said, I typically order the exact same thing. Today I had hoped my food would be good. I have been craving the Yumm sauce and was hoping this would be one of the days where the food wasn’t cold. No such luck. My bowl was so cold today that it was completely inedible. I took it up to the cashier and told her that my food was too cold to even eat. When she told the kitchen, one of the people in the kitchen yelled through the window at me that they could «re-​heat» my bowl for me. Excuse me, you want to put my cold bowl of food containing avocado and tomatoes in the microwave??? No. I declined the offer and asked for my money back. The person in the kitchen continued to give me excuses through the window stating that the cold items on top were what made me think my food was cold and that they would be happy to make me a new one with the rice and beans in a separate bowl so that I could mix it myself. If the rice and beans had been hot to begin with, this wouldn’t have been an issue, but they weren’t. They were room-​temperature at best. I was told that a supervisor would come out to speak with me, but that never happened. The cashier just brought me a cash refund to my table and told me they could make me another bowl even though they were refunding me. I guess she didn’t catch the problem between me and her less than competent co-​workers in the kitchen…
My suggestion to anyone wanting a Yumm bowl is to go to the Café Yumm on the PSU campus. Avoid the Lake Oswego store – it is full of a bunch of lazy, incompetent people with no sense of service or proper food handling.

I started going to Café Yumm in college and I’m not going to stop now. Newbie? No worries, here’s the down and dirty need to know:
–You won’t like Yumm Sauce. At least not right away. I didn’t and neither did anyone I know. It’s an acquired taste and while I can still sometimes find it a tad overwhelming (also loaded with calories), I do enjoy it. Pro tip: get half the usual amount or on the side.
–They don’t want you to eat meat. Okay, I made this up. Maybe they don’t care. But I don’t know why else they would charge $ 2 for a few bites of (cold) chicken. They now offer two kinds: original (plain) and seasoned. There is very little taste difference.
–You’ll probably complain about the price. Okay, you’re going into a trendy, local, vegan friendly chain that serves organic rice bowls. Did you expect a bargain? Realistically, they’re a fair price for the fast casual category that Café Yumm fits into.
–They are 100% friendly about customizing your order to fit your dietary needs. I always get half the usual sauce, no dairy, sub avocado, no tomato, add chicken. They’re always polite about it and it’s only been messed up probably 3 times in the several dozen times I’ve eaten here.
–You’ll never know how to describe it. «It’s like a healthy rice bowl thing place. And they have this weird sauce…» is the best you’ll do. It’s okay, just take them to lunch here and they’ll see for themselves.
–If you’re in a rush, call ahead. It can get busy during peak lunch/​dinner hours, but if you call ahead, you can just walk in and pick it up at the counter. Easy peasy!

A little confusing when you walk in the door but once you take your time and order a bowl it’s pretty tasty. I’ll go back for sure!

Café Yumm isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve become pretty fond of it lately. Healthier than a lot of lunch options when you’re on the go.
I had the Smokey Bowl with Chicken Breast added. Has a little kick to it, but not too much. Total lunch came to less than $ 9.
This particular restaurant is a nice one. Well, all of their restaurants I’ve been to in the Portland area have been nice. Very clean, plenty of space.
I’d recommend it.

I actually go to the different Café Yumms around Portland a lot. They are a bit expensive for what you get, but you know you’ll be satisfied when you’re done eating. Sometimes i just want some basic food with decent ingredients and Café Yumm delivers! I recommend the Yumm baby bowl for my avocado lovers.

Ok so I loved it! The name says it all. Similar to Laughing Planet and the yum sauce is not only healthy but tastes great. The menu is simple and easy to figure out. The bowls are really really good I got a med original then went back that night and did it again only added chicken it was really that good!!!

The food is good. Yum sauce is awesome. I was surprised that the tempeh Rubin had over 1000 calories (it was good tho). My family had the teriyaki chicken bowl. They thought the chicken was on the dry side and would have preferred the original. Over all, for a meal on the healthy side, I prefer laughing planet.

Good place. Very clean and the staff at the front end are super friendly guys. The bigger guy at the front will call you by name and knows a lot about the menu. I can appreciate friendliness as well as a $ 7 bowl with all organic healthy food in it.
If you can’t, go back to McDonalds.

I just went here for the first time and I will NOT be going back. I like the food, and have never had a problem with their downtown location. But this time my order was made incorrectly. When I told the staff member (Monica? I think) she ARGUED WITH ME. I haven’t had dairy in over 6 years but suddenly I ordered it? I don’t think so. She was rude and abrasive about a single order and blamed everyone else but her. From now on I’ll pass on having some disrespect with my improperly made, thanks.

Quite a nice splash of ‘different’ for the area — the Salmon burger is nice, and their ‘Yumm’ bowls particularly good. The ‘Yumm’ sauce is definitely… special. As some have noted, it’s very different from what sauces most are used to — very savory/​sour. Odd on first taste, but REALLY good once you give it a try.

Café Yumm is definitely the place to go if you are «trendy» and don’t mind overpaying for mediocre food.
The restaurant is clean and has a nice appearance. The wait staff was friendly and prompt. The restaurant claims to have fresh and healthful food, which is a nice option if you are tired of the ubiquitous grease bombs from your local fast-​food chains.
Sadly, the cons far outweigh the pros for this particular diner. I don’t mind paying a little more for something that is unique and delicious. However, I DO mind paying A LOT more for something that will be forgotten 10 minutes after this post.
I ordered a medium ‘Yumm bowl’; Jazzy something or other that claimed to be spicy. I asked if I could make it hotter and was told that they could add extra green sauce for $ 50, so I opted to do this. I was asked if I would like chicken, tofu or tempeh. Given that I had never heard of tempeh, I asked for a description — a soy product with more texture than tofu. Since this sounded rather mysterious, I chose chicken. My total was $ 8.95. I thought this was rather steep for a bowl of rice, beans and chicken, but I plunged ahead. When my order was called, I received my to-​go container, which was about the size of a soup container from Safeway. This was just about tiny for a $ 9 lunch!
Luckily I was taking this back to work where I had a bowl because there is no way that you could mix anything in that little container and I don’t like to eat two bites of chicken, a bunch of rice, and then a few bites of beans, avocado, etc. The last straw was that the flavor was completely lacking. It wasn’t terrible, but it was certainly nothing to get me excited. What’s more, my extra helping of their «spicy sauce» did nothing to kick up the heat. I finally settled on using their «soy sauce alternative» and sriracha sauce, which gave me some flavor and heat, but was ultimately too salty.
In the end, if you want to «look cool» and «keep Portland weird», then by all means, throw your money away at this place. I’ll find a better bang for my buck and treat for my palette.

New healthy choice for great food! Had the yummy bowl and it was better than pictured. Staff friendly and helpful when they learned it was my first visit, sure won’t be my last

This place has its strong and weak points, so I’m giving it three stars. I’m appreciative of the healthier choices provided here (more so than your typical fast food restaurant). The quality was good, but not great. However, their food is very overpriced for the portion you get. One of my criteria for frequenting a place is that their food is better than what I could make at home, and unfortunately this place did not make that cut. I would rather overpay at Whole Foods than here.

This is my favorite lunch and now my go to take-​out dinner. I’m so excited they opened here in LO. The secret is the sauce. Everything else in the bowl is just good fresh food, which makes you feel better about eating out. Buy the Yumm sauce in the store and you can even make the bowls at home for yourself. Yumm!

Great concept with healthy bowls and organic ingredients. Food did not match the potential.
— yummy sauce was not great, but totally covered food

Café Yumm is one of those places I crave. Their Yumm sauce has become a staple in our kitchen. The food is freshly prepared, the portions are modest, which seems to irritate some reviewers, but I like it. The prices are higher than fast food, but definitely on par with the fast casual type of restaurant that they are. It is hard to describe their menu, fusion is really the best word. I wish they would open up more locations in SE and NE PDX.

Café Yumm! is filling a niche market. People either love it or hate it; there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground.
Here are things to hate:
The food is not excessively spicy.
The portions are not excessively large.
It is nothing you could not put together at home with a bit of time and energy.
Here are things to love:
The quality of the ingredients is better than most QSRs. (They claim that, «Over 50% of the food we serve is certified organic, including: brown rice, red beans, black beans, tempeh, red salsa, free-​range eggs, field greens, yogurt, tofu, peanut butter, and more.»
Though the portions are not excessive, they are filling. (There are 3 portion sizes of bowls available.)
They can and will, at no extra charge, take the time to explain options and modify any order to fit dietary needs.
The ambiance is conducive to conversation. Not the usual cacophony associated with many quick service restaurants.
We went to Café Yumm!, in Lake Oswego, with a party of 7. Two were vegans, one was vegetarian, and the rest omnivores. We went to the right place. The wait staff was quite patient as we sorted out our options. Everyone was satisfied with their meals.
It is sometimes difficult to find a restaurant that can provide multiple options to both vegans and omnivores, but Café Yumm! can do just that and at modest prices.

Food was great. Service was fast and friendly. Glad a café yumm opened in my neighborhood!

You would think they could get a vegan order correct, but you would be wrong. The spaced out youngsters at the counter may nod and repeat the order, but don’t be fooled. It will be covered in dairy. It’s odd because I talked to the counter girl for several minutes about making my meal vegan. I carefully explained that I didn’t want any dairy. Definitely open your to go box before leaving.
Overrated and overpriced.