Having been a regular for many years now, I was put off by my most recent visit. The woman was very rude when I placed my to-go order. I asked if a roll was vegan, which I had previously been told it was not, and I was assured ot was infact vegan. So which is it? I didn't order it just to be safe. I did get miso soup which was EXTREMELY salty, even way over board for miso soup. After paying for my 20$ to-go dinner I asked for a side of peanut sauce, which is about a teaspoons worth, and I was told I had to pay for it. That is one way to rub a regular wrong. I will not go back. read more

I ordered a five spice beef noodle soup. The amount of noodle is literally one full spoonful, so less that it can't full anyone's stomach. Lots of vegetable but NO noodles! Doesn't worth $8 at all. read more

I went with two of my buddies during a really busy time and there were only two people working. The lines were long, and it took forever for our food to arrive, and it was warm when we got it. The tea rolls were good. It seemed like everything had a curry taste to it. Good place to go to eat at a fast pace and chat up with friends. The seating arrangement was crowded, you bump into people as you try to get into your seats. read more

I was pretty disappointed with my meal here. I ordered the shiitake udon noodles with tofu, and was very excited because I've had similar kinds of dishes elsewhere that were delicious. The noodles had no flavor--it just tasted salty and greasy. My water glass also smelled terrible. The only redeeming part of my meal was the iced passion fruit green tea, which had real passion fruit in it, but it was too sweet for me, even though I generally like sweet things. read more

I have been coming here for ten years. The tea rolls are perfect. Ample veg options throughout the menu. I do miss the days of BYOB. But this place is still fantastic. Lovely atmosphere. read more

It's my first time having the impulse to write a review on yelp. I ordered a double salmon egg benedict for $12.95. The poached eggs are almost raw! and the whole thing is very cold. I can barely finish it. The side salad is small and not good. The waitress is also very indifferent, forgetting to give me glass of water until I ask. I would definitely go to Esselon, lone wolf or bread & butter instead next time. read more

Lived in the area for quite awhile before finally giving this place a try. Discovered I hadn't been missing anything. Everything I had was utterly bland (yes, including the famous 't-roll'). There was nothing offensive about anything, per se, but at these prices, no thanks. I'll go somewhere where the food actually tastes good. read more

After growing up in Western Mass and moving out to the midwest a few years ago, I can honestly say that there is not a restaurant I miss more than Fresh Side. The curry chicken tea rolls are just the greatest thing. Can't wait until I get back there... read more

Love the chicken teriyaki and pad Thai tea rolls!! Make sure to get the peanut sauce. The shiitake mushroom fried rice is also super tasty, but I haven't been very impressed with other dishes I've had. they are generally pretty bland. read more

This place has gone downhill. Just had their coconut curry, the worst I've ever had. The sauce was gelatinous and tasted like it had cream cheese in it, the tofu mushy. Tea rolls have rubbery rice paper. Used to be much better read more

I absolutely LOVE Fresh Side. I have been going since they opened, and have never had a bad experience. I am really addicted to the Pad Thai roll, which means it is a struggle to order anything else, but every time I branch out I am not disappointed. Top it all off with an asian apple soda? Yes Please! read more

This is a great place with friendly service & wonderful food. I would highly recommend the pad-thai tea rolls.

I'm not a huge fan of fusion food, so I'm not that excited about Fresh Side. My stomach also gurgles way too much after every visit, so I have doubts about how fresh the food is. I can usually eat anything, bad food included, so this is unusual. They say uncooked vegetables carry the most bacteria in restaurants... read more

Yeah, Fresh Side can be loud and the service can be just terrible. So don't go there when you're in a hurry. Take it slow. Enjoy these chicken pad Thai rolls, the Vietnamese rolls, the shrimp pad Thai, and Japanese spinach salad. Dessert? No, think I'll skip it. But nonetheless-- one of my real favorites-- very cravable. read more

Really good spicy chicken tea rolls! In general, food is very good. They also have a great selection of tea.

I love coming to fresh side, especially for their spicy chicken curry tea rolls and other flavors :) I used to come here every week when I was still in Amherst as they serve some of my favorite yummy foods: tea rolls, Thai iced tea, chicken pad thai, curry rice, and ribs~ read more

Tea rolls and chilled green tea made my day, and week, and quite possibly my month. The complaints about service mystify me, but I know that many people expect very chipper servers, etc. The "new" space is comfortable and unpretentious - I am so glad this place is still here. read more

I used to come here quite regularly whenever a friend made the suggestion, but I always found the food mediocre (though I enjoyed their teas). I finally stopped coming here because I got some really bad food poisoning recently--like *really* bad, and there are so many other comparable restaurants in the area that I'm not going to risk it. Considering the food poisoning, I think I'm being pretty generous with the stars! read more

It was our 7th anniversary when we wanted to go back and try this asian fusion restaurant this Monday, August 27, 2012. It was a disaster: When we entered the restaurant, we smelled cleaning product all over the place, the lighting is poorly designed, the person who sitted us didn't even say one word like: "Hi" or "Welcome", the waitress was starring at us when we asked for sparkling water as a drink....and the best part was the food, oh my goodness, the miso soup was COLD and very watery, the rolls were ok but the sauces that come with them were watery as well and our main dishes were a complete disaster, you could smell that after taste of chicken when it hasn't been cleaned properly. The size of one main dish could serve 3 people easily. And when we wanted to pay, the waitress takes our credit card and comes back telling us: we don't take Discover, please use Visa or Mastercard. Anyway, we're never going back to Fresh Side, it changes dramatically since they first opened, what a shame! read more

Awesome awesome food , superb food ! The curry cellophane pasta and coconut noodle soup are our all time favorites. Strongly recommend this place. read more

I absolutely love their pad thai tea rolls!!! I go back there often and always order the same thing. The peanut sauce is amazing.

Delicious, light, and unique Asian fare. Excellent service. Favorites are the spicy chicken tea rolls and peanut noodle salad. Also very reasonably priced. read more

My favorite place to eat in western ma. Love all the tea rolls. Have been eating here since I was a umass student around 96'. Never disappoints. Keep it up Kent and the rest of the crew. read more

The service can be bad when things are busy. But, sadly, I don't really even care that much. Fresh Side has a unique cuisine. I have been searching for Pan-Asian tearolls ever since I left the Western Mass area, to no avail. The pad thai is amazing and does not compare to most other restaurants I have ordered from, as they include more vegetables (especially recently). The tea rolls are also fantastic - my favorites are the pad thai, the thai basil, and the chicken teriyaki. For dessert, the cheesecake is a good choice. In my opinion, the cheesecake is worth it. Really delicious. I understand how frustrating it can be waiting to get a waiter's attention, but it's all worth the food. It also can get very loud during its busy times during the college season. But, it IS in the center of a college town. So, every time I go back up to Western Mass, it's a must-have. read more

The food here is amazing! I would classify this place as an Asian Fusion restaurant. They have a great variety of classic Asian dishes with a little signature twist. They also have a great variety of teas that they will constantly refill if you run out. (personal favorite is the cinnamon ginger and hibiscus.) They are known for there Tea rolls so I suggest getting one with your entree or just get a bunch as your entree. I love this place. read more

This is the worst "restaurant" I've ever had the misfortune to come across. I could eat better by picking out of a garbage truck. Honestly, even the water tastes bad. Also the renowned "t-rolls" are disgusting and taste like nothing. Not to mention the service which is glacial speed. Even the silverware is dirty. The menu is misleading in the way that it says you will be getting food when in fact you receive reconstituted protein matter. My friend ordered cold noodles and instead received an entire head of lettuce with sauce that must have been made of frog innards. The one good item I ordered was an iced coffee, which was nothing special, but the sheer grotesqueness of the rest of the food made it seem like the drink of the gods. Unfortunately for this "eatery," it is located next to actually good places to eat, (LaVeracruzana, for one) and I do not expect it to survive the next business year. Additionally, if you have the misfortune to be seated outside, you will be delighted by the smells of the local sewer system and the body odors of passing local denizens. Also when sitting outside, the wafted scents from nearby restaurants will make you so hungry that you might even eat the "food" placed in front of you, on plates that are not round; the dishes are in fact rectangular, and would not fit on the table they were so long. If you are seated inside, the tantalizing scents of the dead rodents in the kitchen will make you ready to devour your "meal." You will also be entertained by the "cooks" "working" behind the bar. Their attempts at making "food" are tragic. The lighting is a fascinating floral color and the tables could be flat if placed on a slanted floor. The entire seating area could fit inside the bathroom of a legitimate establishment. The chairs, I suspect, are made from petrified wood; I envied the guru that sits on a bed of nails. You will notice all of these characteristics before your "waiter" arrives, because they really put the word "WAIT" in "waiter." I believe the dinosaurs went extinct while anticipating their food at this restaurant, which I will not name, as I do not want to be convicted for international biological warfare violations. The menu is not only confusing -for it seems to have been designed by a toddler using a pirated chinese knock-off of Microsoft office being run on a computer that was upside down and had the default language as swahili- but it also is overpriced and values "t-rolls" above gold. Returning to the dishes.... Mine probably said "spot" before it was repainted and used for humans instead of dogs. This "flatware" (which was flat) was complemented by water glasses that are used by elementary school cafeterias the world over. The only reason it is receiving any stars at all in this review is that the Yelp developers did not anticipate such a horrendous "joint" actually avoiding legal prosecution for long enough to get reviewed, therefore, this "eating place" deserves no stars at all, but got one through a loophole. Another reason not to trash your money here is its "cuisine." Asian Fusion would accurately describe it, if Asian was fused with compost. Yet another (are you sensing a theme?) misleading aspect of this dump is its name. My "food" was fresh, yes, but vomit is not improved by freshness, nor was the "assemblage" I inadvertently ordered. The sauce was most likely turtle mucus. The culinary warfare this business (or should I say terrorist organization) practices is unmatched by any type of nuclear warhead or plague in terms of its destructive force. If you are ever faced with a choice between radiation poisoning, infection with the black plague, honorable hara-kiri, doing yoga inside an erupting super-volcano, or consuming the abominations let loose on the world by the "chefs" of, I call it by its true name, Rotten Zone: choose any option but the last. Save yourselves and humanity while you have the chance. Do not go here. You will regret it. [this review was written by two experienced food enthusiasts] read more

The service is a tad slow. The food is good and yumms...I like the vibe both inside and out.

I used to love Fresh Side, but my experiences there have been decreasing in quality over the past few months. I ordered my usual Pad Thai and it came out burnt and mixed with some other noodles with spices that are not normally in their Pad Thai. I didn't notice the different noodles until a few bites in. It did not taste like Pad Thai at all! I told my waiter, who brought out the manager. I was told that they changed the recipe that night (why didn't they say anything when I ordered it? why wasn't that noted on the menu?). They offered me a free piece of mousse chocolate cake (which was very yummy.) But then when the bill came out, they only took $2 off of the Pad Thai. To top it all off, that evening I got sick in the middle of the night and didn't sleep. I ended up missing an entire day of work and stayed in bed until 4pm. I will never go there again. They weren't mean about it, but I don't think that their customer service skills are what they should be. read more