Honeygrow

«HONEY, GROW UP!»
This review is so overdue but here goes!
As a fan of this humble farm-​to-​fork spot, I say that you’ll never look at stir fry the same again. Honey grow, offers some suggested mind-​boggling options of flavorful stir-​fry, and satisfying salads. Some find it a bit expensive for a «quick-​serve» stir fry, especially when you customize your own, but once you try a handful of freshly-​made noodles, made by some hipster staff, that’ll guarantee you an instant mood booster.
Extra notes on the side:
— I love ordering on the touch screen. It is awesome.
— Gluten and vegan-​friendly, for the most.
— I have tried, almost, every suggested choice on the menu, and I also created some of my own. My favorites are the sesame garlic, and spicy garlic stir-​fry.
Yum-​Yum!
Four and Half Unilocal

I use to pick up food here for lunch. I always do my own stir fry with wholegrain noodles, shrimps and vegetables! That mix is really good. It’s enough for two meals!

I don’t hate it. It’s always a mediocre pleasure with Honey Grow for me. Speaking of chain stores.

Wow was I disappointed. I decided to go here with my brother as he loves healthy eating and organic meals. We both ordered different meals and added different toppings and the food came out so oily!!! AND NOT incorporated with each other! The vegetables were barely cooked, just thrown together and with sauce on top! This is NOT a meal!!! I will post pics of what I mean later! Completed disappointed

This is one great place for some great stir fry. My stir fry included tofu, sesame seeds, spinach, and broccoli with the garlic sauce (tofu costs extra). The mean was fantastic, the most enjoyable part of the meal was how fresh the ingredients were. The portion for me was just right, not where I felt that I was overindulging but not lacking either, it was just right.
The only issue that i run into is eating with friends there. The lines are long and the location can be crowded so it is tough to have more than a friend or two with you, when trying to eat at the location itself.

I liked that you submit your own order through a kiosk, very hip. I ordered the Sesame garlic and it was a bit too salty for me, plus they forgot to add beansprouts to my order and it was an additional $ 0.35 for each added item. Although it was too salty for me, the ingredients seems to be very fresh and I like that we can watch them cook your food.

You know when you want to like a place so you keep trying it in hopes that it eventually gets better? Well, Honeygrow is that place for me. No matter what time I pass by this place, its packed– always. I figure I have to be ordering the wrong thing, I have to be going at a bad time or its just a bad day. To be honest, its just over hyped.
I’ll be super brief about this place since at the end of the day its an Asian inspired chipotle with screens instead of people that you pick all your items from.
–over priced
–not enough food
–spice scale is completely off
–lack of flavor
Sorry Honeygrow, I’m going to go against majority here and say you’re not all that you’re hyped to be.

This place is AMAZING! I always see a line out the door, which is a huge deterrent for me, but on a week when everyone is off for the Holidays, I decided to pop on in. Boy was I glad I did!
I learned that the line is because of the funky layout where people are waiting for computer screens to place their order. I went for shrimp and tofu over wheat noodles with the red coconut sauce, mushrooms, zucchini and spinach, crispy shallots and cilantro… and about 5 minutes later my food was ready! I also loved being able to pay right at the kiosk. Brilliant.
I sat down with my to-​go container, and my soda (1 point off for saccharine sweet sodas… even the diet one! just carry pepsi or coke. The organic options don’t taste much better but they sure costs more!). Upon opening the container, i was so so happy. A side car of sriracha was also an added pleasantry. My food was warm, and delicious. Everything was so fresh and tasty.
I saw no discernible trace of crispy shallots, and I paid $ 1.25 for an additional protein– tofu. There were two (2) little cubes floating around in there. Not great value… especially for a $ 15 stir fry + soda. Other than that. my food was filling and delicious and it felt at least somewhat healthy. I now get what the fuss is about!
I’ll definitely be back here, but it makes me sad that seating is so limited! I tend to just bring my lunch when I eat alone. Dining out is a social occurrence, and I can imagine that finding a seat here during the week might be a challenge… but I’m up for it when the mood strikes!

Stopped in here for the first time the other day after a friend had informed that this place wasn’t just for salads. Intrigued, I decided to stop in to check out the stirfry options (wasn’t craving a salad). I liked the ordering setup — you input your order in the computer and the staff gets it on their end and then you just hang out until your order is called. It’s pretty straight forward, I thought the spicy garlic sauce was pretty tasty and I got chicken as my protein, although I wish I hadn’t I could have done with just veggies. Staff was very polite and friendly; eating area was super clean; prices were pretty spot on. I’d stop in here again for some take out!

one of the interns wanted to get lunch here. it was my first time trying them and i asked her to get me the sesame garlic stir fry. by the time she got back, i was starving. now, if i wasn’t so hungry, i may not have been able to finish this. it was SO salty! the vegetables and meat tasted fresh… just everything was drenched in sauce. why???
sigh…since their ingredients seem pretty fresh, i’m open to try some of their other options though. we’ll see.

There are very few lunch spots I frequent, and I think it’s hard to find a place that consistently blows your mind for lunch! But honeygrow is an exception, I am totally obsessed. I have to be honest, I have only had one salad (but they look amazing!) because I absolutely CANNOT walk in here and smell these amazing smells without getting stir fry.
Their egg white noodles are fab and they have all kinds of stir fry recommendations, or you can build your own. They have vegan options, veg options, tofu, free range chicken, beef, pork… everything! Tons of veggies to add, spices, fried onions, and seeds, greens, and 6 different sauces to choose from. You can also choose to have light stir fry sauce or sauce on the side. Plus they obviously have sriracha, soy, and hoisin on the side that you can add yourself as well.
AND IT IS ALWAYS AWESOME. They’ve never made a mistake with my order (the touch-​screen ordering system certainly makes it quick and easy), and they are very efficient. This is without a doubt my go-​to healthy lunch spot if I’m in the area, I’d be a much less content person in the middle of the day if I hadn’t found this place! Love love love it! Come early to beat the lunch crowd.

I’ve been to honeygrow twice now. The first time, I ordered the honeybar with fruits, coconut flakes, chocolate chips and buckwheat honey. I knew there was going to be honey, but I didn’t know it would be HONEY. It was a kick in the mouth, overly sweet honey. I thought the only saving grace was the maple yogurt that was an extra $.50.
The second time, I tried the stir fry. I love being able to customize the order on the screens. I do think that it’s pretty expensive to add the tofu for $ 1.75. The price of convenience, I guess. I brought my rice noodles back to the office. The portion is okay. I could probably split it into two lunches. I wasn’t overly wowed by the taste of the stir fry. It was a bit heavy and greasy for me.

My husband and I were looking for some dessert before we turned in on our first night in Philly. We stopped by insomnia cookies, but left because we didn’t want anything heavy before we went to bed.
My hub said he was looking for something fruity and light so I spotted this gem across the alley from Insomnia Cookies. He was looking for a smoothie, so we walked in and asked what their best smoothie was.
Turns out they only had one, but the lady behind the counter suggested that we try their honeybar, which is their custom parfait — you choose three fruits, 2 toppings, and your choice of honey. We decided on two honeybars. My husband got one with blueberries, bananas, and pineapple (pineapple is 75 cents extra tho), buckwheat honey, and their homemade whipped cream. yum!
I got blueberries, bananas, and strawberries. I chose the wildflower honey, their homemade whipped cream, and opted for their yogurt. SO GOOD. They were both very excellent, with or without the yogurt. I definitely recommend the whipped cream! So yummy! Kinda pricey, but I think it’s worth it being that it’s fresh fruits and they get their fruits and veggies from local farms. The honeybar looks small but it’s very filling!
This place is right around our corner from our hotel which is great, bc their kale smoothie is excellent and I think it would be. A great way to start my sightseeing morning!

So, I’ve gone to this honeygrow about 20 or so times now (I work right down the block), and although still pretty good at times, they are very inconsistent. I always order the same thing. Rice noodles with the red coconut curry sauce. There are times my noodles are extremely overcooked and breaks way too easily. Sometimes, the sauce is too watery and doesn’t stick well. Oh, and they got rid of the pepper flakes which I really enjoyed. It gave the noodles a nice kick.
The lines are still very long. I went before noon yesterday, and the line was still out the door. I thought me going early would avoid the rush, but nope! The upside is that they are faster at getting orders ready. I remembered waiting a good 30 minutes before, but yesterday was a fair wait time. They also now have a greeter that tells you when the next computer is ready so you’re not wondering when you are up to order.

Excellent!
–whole wheat noodle salad
–kaleatta
The salad was delicious. Instead of shrimp, I topped it with falafel. I also added romaine, arugula and mozzarella. We waited in line for about 10min, but it moved quite fast. The kiosks really speed the process up. I really liked the ability to completely customize my whole order.
As for the kaleatta, it was okay. I probably wouldn’t get it again. The texture was sort of weird. Not very sweet.

Atmosphere
— long lines, even at 1:30pm
+ despite the long lines, the food comes quickly after you order (~3−5 minutes)
+ cool machine ordering system; quick and easy to navigate
Food
+ my stir-​fry concoction ($ 7.75) — chicken w/​egg noodles, (light) sesame garlic sauce, broccoli, red onions, baby bella mushrooms, cilantro & pickled cucumbers
— definitely go with light sauce if you’re more sensitive to salt like I am, otherwise you’ll be drinking a gallon of water to try to balance out your salt intake
— noodles were clumped together at times, and were difficult to pull apart
— the pickled cucumbers were REALLY pickled; a little too much for my taste
— the overall stir-​fry really is just average; nothing particularly special or unique
+ the grilled broccoli was great; my desperate attempt to «eat healthy»
Overall, Honeygrow is good but not great. It tastes good when I eat it once in a while (and by once in a while, I mean once every couple of months), but it’s not worth the extra effort to go out of your way for.

This is the healthiest, freshest «fast» food you can get in the city. I’d still obviously prefer Five Guys or Chipotle but if you’re trying to avoid extra calories and/​or non-​locally sourced ingredients (who cares though, right?), you can come here and have some great quality, locally grown, organic food.
I’ve been here twice. The first time, I made the mistake of custom ordering a stir fry instead of opting for the suggested ones. This is where it gets tricky. The initial base prices for the noodles and protein are clear, but unless you’re paying super close attention to what you click on the screen for each additional topping, you won’t truly know what you’re paying till you checkout and then at that point you don’t feel like redoing it and you kind of already have your heart set on whole wheat noodles, shrimp, cilantro, edamame, mushrooms, lemon miso dressing, etc, etc, etc. I know what you’re thinking– duh! Toppings are always a la carte, but trust me when I say you can get carried away. I ended up spending $ 18 with a fountain soda on a weekday lunch. Ridiculous. It was damn good, though. No regrets.
The second time I got the $ 10.95 suggested one that had chicken, mushrooms, edamame, regular noodles and the lemon dressing. It was delicious and a lot cheaper (however, the chicken tasted kind of like that pre-​made rubbery kind you get at Saladworks– hence, why the shrimp is better). Overall, it’s still DAMN tasty and hot and fresh and swimming in sauce and chockfull of all types of tasty local ingredients (the veggies are super crunchy and wonderful). Also, the size is HUGE-​like too big to eat in one sitting (though I’ve pushed through and done it to the point of nausea), but not big enough to split into 2 meals unless you have will power and control over your food intake, in which case, good for you.
PRO TIP: When picking your dressing preference, go with «light,» cause «regular» is actually fairly heavy for my liking and by the time you get to the bottom of your Chinese takeout container, it’s kinda drenched and hard to eat. I wouldn’t do on the side cause it’s easier to eat when it’s all expertly mixed in together.
They also offer really awesome looking salads and smoothies and juices, so maybe I’ll try them another time. Also, seating is a little awkward and it’s kind of small and gets confusing when it’s packed.

I“m obsessed with this place. So obsessed that I’ve come 3 days in a row and actually waited for them to open up at 11AM.
The salads and noodle stir fry are awesome and I especially love the honeybar with 3 different kinds of fruit, granola, honey and yogurt. It’s so good that I felt like I was eating a delicious bowl of ice cream. So good that I was actually sad when I was done eating it. The only downfall of this place is that it’s a little easy to get carried away when you get to select anything you want from a screen of delicious salad options like tempura baked chicken, shrimp, whole wheat noodles, candied cashews, squash medley… I’ve definitely come out of here with $ 15 dollar salads. Regardless, I will definitely be back here.

Solid.
A little on the pricy end for what they offer, but they make it up with flavor and service. You order on a monitor screen for either a salad or stir-​fry. The salads didn’t look substantial enough for me so I opted for the stir-​fry. They have preset options, or you can completely customize your entrée. As a first timer, I opted for one of the presets, and it surpassed my expectations. This is kind of like fancy lo-​mein, but without sacrificing the asian style to it. The ingredients definitely taste more fresh compared to your average lo-​mein takeout, but most dishes here will run you ~$ 10: a price I’m willing to pay for fresher ingredients and a not-​so-​upset tummy.
The atmosphere here is pretty lively — the cooks put together your food behind the counter, and you seat yourself to open tables. It’s serve yourself, so no one is bringing your food out to you. There is one circulating employee who is extremely friendly, and will even ask if you want your water refilled from the fountain. Great service.

I currently live in NYC now and writing this review has me ready to jump in my car and drive 1 hour and 40 minutes just to get some stir fry. YES IT IS THAT GOOD. This had to been my favorite spot in Philly while living there.
This location in Center City gets very busy during lunch time and the after work crowd. When you first walk in you are normally greeted by an employee. You then step up to the kiosk to place your order. Stirfry, salads, or their sweet dish that incorporates fruits and honey and additional toppings.
The wait for you food depending upon the day and time is normally under 10 minutes. The food is always fresh and hot. Very rarely my order is wrong but they are always helpful in making it correctly.
They use alot of local products and produce which I love.