Esther’s Soup Kitchen

This place is a great deal and so tasty! I was looking for a cheap vegan lunch in the Yonge/​Bloor area and I’m so happy I discovered this place.
I had a small ‘veg lunch’ which was rice, chickpeas, spinach, potatoes and another veggie which I’m not exactly sure what it was but it was good! It was $ 6 for a small, but I couldn’t finish it all, so I had a nice little portion saved for later.
I think I may ask for less spice next time because I don’t do well with spice and I had no idea just how hot this would be! My nose was running! If you like spice, take it as is, but if you’re like me (aka super white) then maybe see if it can be dailed back a bit.

Not bad at all. Good quality soups and wraps – probably the best in the area if you don’t mind a bit of Indian flavour with your lunch.
The lunch time lines aren’t as bad as Salad Days next door or some of those Pita places on Cumberland.
Like the other eateries in the area, they’re only open for the white-​collar lunch rush from the adjoined office building and other buildings nearby.

The only thing I get from this place is the chicken soup, I’ve tried their other soups but not really a fan. I like how the chicken soup is different than the usual, it tastes light and really good on a cold day. However, their service is REALLY slow. But I do like how they don’t add sugar/​flour/​starch to their soups.

The Butter Chicken here is A TRAVESTY. Like, a total, full throttle, cluster fuck of a failure. It is also a DANGEROUS meal because their shit is re-​heated in a Styrofoam container in a GOD DAMNED MICROWAVE. Gordon Ramsey would not be amused. If you are serving food to people and making them pay 10 bucks for your shitty ass, bargain-​bin butter chicken, don’t you dare microwave that shit. STYROFOAM IS NOT MICROWAVE SAFE. IT LEECHES CHEMICALS INTO YOUR FOOD. IT CAN CAUSE GASTROINTESTINAL ISSUES AND IS KNOWN TO HAVE LONG TERM EFFECTS ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. ALSO, FIRE HAZARD. Get the fuck out of here with your shit Esther’s Soup Kitchen. You are a joke show.
First off, the whole meal is taken out from their refrigerator in a Styrofoam container, which is my first sign that things are off to a really bad start. Then they plop their over cooked, gristle ridden, fatty, cheap cut of chicken on top of their crunchy over cooked rice (anyone with a passion for Indian food understands that the magic of butter chicken, is that the best kind is usually the most expensive cut — the white meat — chopped into bite sized cubes, marinated for lord knows how long, and slowly simmered to infuse that magical butter sauce flavour into the chicken.) At Esther’s, they use dark meat, and a terrible tasting cut too, you know the one, that cut that tastes like a mealy copper (Barf). And then, the best part is, they go into the back of their kitchen, where no one can see, TO HIDE THEIR SHAME OBVIOUSLY, to microwave the whole thing. Honestly wtf. I understand you’re a soup joint, but Jesus Mother Mary, there is no reason for you to half ass a butter chicken. Because the stuff you serve on the plates to your ~Dine in Patrons~ looks pretty good and is plated beautifully. So what’s the deal?
Like, I can’t even go on, because it was just so disgusting. Likely one of the worst meals I have ever consumed. I’m unfortunately going to remember it for a long time. That’s how bad it was. I feel like I need a shower now, that’s how dirty I feel.
In all honesty. I hope one day they burn down their set up because THEY DESERVE IT. MICROWAVING STYROFOAM IS A FIRE HAZARD. YA’LL SHOULD KNOW BETTER.

Today I had quite the craving for some hot soup. Since I go to school right near Cumberland terrace I knew there was a soup place that everyone raves about. I decided to finally check it out since I absolutely love soup.
I ordered the small soup and salad combo which cost me almost $ 10. The salad was a lovely little spinach salad with boiler egg, strawberry, mango and peppers. Absolutely delicious. My soup was cauliflower and potato. It was extremely tasty and I enjoyed it very much UNTIL I noticed something at the bottom. Thinking it was a noodle of sorts, I picked it up with my spoon and took a closer look. Right away I knew it wasn’t a noodle. It was in fact, a broken rubber band!!! Obviously I wasn’t pleased so I took the soup up to the counter and waited for someone to come over. When they did I explained to them what happened. The response I got was «well what do you want me to do about it» I didn’t really know what to say except «I don’t know? But I don’t want to eat soup with elasticity in it»
The lady then proceeded to tell me that there is no way an elastic band could get into their soup and that they do not even use elasticity nor have elastics anywhere in the shop. She told me I must have dropped it in and continued to ask what I wanted her to do about it.
I have NEVER in my life been so insulted. What in the world would I accomplish by putting rubber bands in my own soup! It’s not like I asked to be compensated or to get free food given to me. All I wanted was maybe an «I’m terribly sorry» and perhaps someone to check the remaining soup in the pot for other objects.
Needless to say, although delicious, I will not return.

This is a great place for your homemade soup fix if your mom didn’t make you any recently. They have 8 – 9 different types of soup each day and chili. The best soup is their muligatawny and roasted red pepper and eggplant.
Small is around $ 4 and large is around $ 7. While that may sound expensive, it’s worth it since there’s no MSG, no oil, no starch, etc.
It’s worth the money and a large can be a meal in itself.

I love this place! It is homemade soup for a reasonable price. Small is around $ 4 and large is $ 7 including taxes, but it is way better than a Timmy’s or Longo’s soup.
Their large soups can be a full meal and their small soups can be a meal for people with smaller appetite.
I’ve had their lentil, muligatawny and beef barley soup. The beef barley is okay, but the lentil and muligatawny are to die for.
What’s great about this place is that it has none of that artificial garbage, no msg, no oil, no starch, no flour, etc. It’s a great price.

I’ve never been disappointed with their soups. Service is fast and the ingredients are fresh. Great prices too!

It’s true, chicken soup really is good for colds and flus, but none of that Campbell’s soup shit please! Ugh those flaccid noodles and the ridiculous sodium content alone could brine your digestive tract! Back to topic, Esther’s Soup Kitchen is everything a good soup place should be in that they add no flour, cornstarch, oil or cream to their soups.
You can definitely taste that hearty simplicity. The chicken and rice soup ($ 5.99 for approx 400ml in a styrofoam take-​out container) had a good amount of chicken breast meat with basmati rice and parsley and was not obscenely salty.
Here are the benefits of Esther’s chicken and rice soup with respect to cold symptoms;
Nasal passages clearing– CHECK!
Temporary cessation of bile colored mucilage being coughed up — CHECK!
Return of some semblance of lingual flavour mechanisms — CHECK!
Seriously, homemade soup-​making moms everywhere, be warned, Esther’s may very well have the cold remedy chicken soup recipe cornered. Save yourself the grief and just don’t tell mom about Esther’s. Let’s just keep this our little cold’n’flu season secret!

I have been dying to find a good soup place close to work. I love having soup for lunch, but I find that so many places try to pass salt ridden congealed slop off as soup. I was becoming extremely discouraged until a friend recommended I try Esther’s. What a difference! It has an unmistakable homemade taste AND it’s apparent that their recipes aren’t a ½ salt to soup ratio!
I had the Mulligatawny and it was wonderful! It has just the right amount of heat so you’re still able to taste the other flavours with just a welcomed warming spicy undertone (especially enjoyable on a cold day in Toronto!). It’s chalk full of chicken and hearty veggies so you feel energized to get on with your day afterwards.
As for pricing, for a small soup and bread it only cost my $ 4.50. After reading some of the other reviews, I guess it just depends on what you order as I found the cost of my lunch to be quite reasonable. I’ve paid far more for substandard soup elsewhere and would gladly fork over more than I did for soup of this calibre.

Ordered the Butter Chicken and then watched as the lady pulled chicken out of the fridge, separated it with her fingers, added butter sauce from a Ziploc container (also out of the fridge) and placed the dish, including the styrofoam container in the microwave for 3 minutes. $ 10.13 please!
Got back to my desk and while the meal was definitely heated through properly, the taste was completely unappealing. If this dish had been $ 5, I would have considered it a lesson learned and been done with it. Having spent ten bucks on this mess of grossness I felt compelled to return it. The lady behind the counter couldn’t understand why I would want a refund but acquiesced when her coworker noticed the other people standing there listening to me explain how terrible it tasted.
For the record, I did try to remove myself from the front of the small shop to voice my complaint but when the lady pushed back, that’s when everyone else noticed my complaint.
I’m sure their soups are wonderful, just don’t stray from that section of the menu.

This is a good place to go on a cold, wet day when you need a little soup to soothe the soul. The place looks like someone’s kitchen, with shelves of spices and other ingredients within their reach. The soup place is small, and is situated in tthe solarium-​setting inside the Cumberland stretch at Yonge and Bloor, overlooking Cumberland. The food is good, though a little pricey for my tastes. I was hungry the most recent time I was there and I ordered a large beef barley soup and a chicken curry roti – the total came to $ 17, well beyond what I usually pay, and I felt obligated to lick every ounce of roti wrap off the packaging to make sure I got my money’s worth. The soup was good. The roti was just okay, and the curry taste wasn’t strong. I’ll keep going here on occasion, especially when I don’t feel like going outside to get lunch (this place is accessible inside via the underground system for a few blocks’ worth of businesses). If you go, check out the antique cash register – it’s pretty cool. Seating is limited to a few stools alongside the counter and the communal seating in the walkway.

Who knew cold soup could be so good?! Spicy Mango with yogurt (yes, it’s a soup) is a refreshing summer treat.