Gardenburger Margherita Pizza Style Veggie Wrap

February 8, 2007 | Reviewer: Jess

Gardenburger Margherita Pizza Wrap

Price: $3.50
Serving: 1 wrap, 4.75 oz.
Calories: 240
Fat: 12%, 8g
Cholesterol: 3%, 10mg
Sodium: 25%, 590mg
Protein: 12g
Carbs: 11%, 34g
Fiber: 20%, 5g

Gardenburger says: Our Italian-style vegetable patty, robust marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese in a whole wheat tortilla. The wrap meets the old world.

Jess says: On the spectrum of life dispositions, I would situate myself somewhere between a cynic and realist. If something shitty happens to you, I’m going to say, “Man, that was shitty”. I’m not going to say, “Everything happens for a reason” and I’m certainly not going to say, “When God closes a door, he opens a window”. I would take you for a beer though, but only if I did not find you intolerable.
Gardenburger Margherita Pizza Wrap
But every now and again, despite my attempts at dodging and weaving the half full glass, I get tricked into optimism. This happened a couple of weeks ago as Abi led me to the work freezer and whipped out Gardenburger’s Margherita Pizza Wrap, purchased just for me! You see, I have been very vocal about my love of the Morningstar Veggie Burger. I eat at least one a week because they are quick and tasty (two key words for me). I am also unashamed of my crush on cheese. And here Gardenburger had combined these forces in to a portable wrap, pizzaed with a little sauce. Abi knew it was right up my alley. I was so excited. I was sure it was going to be grand. You’d think I’d be switching around my Claddagh Ring.

Psyche!

This was nasty! See how the wrap sticks to the plate post-microwaving. I had to get it off by jutting my hand up under there, pulling and sacrificing one of the wrap layers. Also see how the cover’s mouth-watering picture looks NOTHING like the real thing. Inside is merely a sub-standard cheese glob focused solely in the middle center of the wrap. This leaves a lot of bland wrap for you that is hardly worth the effort of bland chewing. No discernible bit of veggie burger to taste. No sauce for sure. Man, this really sucked. And my officemate had delicious sushi and some noodle dish. I was so jealous. I was still hungry and all I was left with was the thin layer of wrap stuck to my plate. Don’t buy this. Furthermore don’t heat this up and eat it. Really.

comments

15 Responses to “Gardenburger Margherita Pizza Style Veggie Wrap”

Molly on February 8th, 2007

Oh God I just KNEW this thing would be gross. Thank’s for the heads up.
MaryAnne on February 8th, 2007

The picture on the box looks good. The picture you took would cause me to write an angry letter to the creators while including a copy of your picture. Sometimes I can forgive a poor frozen meal if something doesn’t heat well because I’m sure it’s 50% the fault of my office microwaves or because I don’t always follow the directions. But this has nothing to do with the cooking. This is just false advertising considering the wrap was missing the insides and part of the outside. What a rip off! I’m angry for you. While I’m on this roll, have you, or anyone from this site, ever considered sending in your review, the photo, and an angry letter to any of the manufacterers of the one star rated meals? A long time ago I wrote Edy’s because their was 10 chocolate chips in my entire gallon of chocolate chip ice cream and they sent me free coupons. Nestle did the same thing when I opened a box of Nips and their were 5 in the entire container. Now that I write that, I feel kind of petty but seriously- 5 nips in a box that says there should be 12? Inexcusable! Anyhow, yeah. Your meal looks disgusting.
thestarhopper on February 8th, 2007

If you treat their other flavor of wrap - the black-bean chipotle- like a burrito, it’s not bad. The stickiness factor is inherent in all the Gardenburger wraps unfortunately. I find if I nuke them once in the plastic and once again in a papertowel, they’re a little more dry. Of course, I add a ton of tapatio to everything I eat, and that’s why I can stand them
Abi Jones on February 8th, 2007

Thanks for the suggestion MaryAnne. I wrote in to Gardenburger with a link to the review, so we’ll have to see how they handle it. I definitely want to try the Chipotle flavor wrap.
TEd on February 11th, 2007

Your posts own Abi’s by a factor of three to one. Thanks for the laughs.
Abi Jones on February 11th, 2007

Yes, Jess is significantly funnier than me.
Jess on February 12th, 2007

Ted, thanks for the ego boost! I have to let you know, however, that Abi is at least 10x more likely to cook you something delicious. In the game of life, I will still put her on top.
Abi Jones on February 12th, 2007

As Jess says, I am “Like Martha Stewart, only hotter, smarter, and sassier”
sunny on February 24th, 2007

I am sorry to hear that this tastes that bad! I just bought some and was about to make it for lunch. Psh. But, I think I did solve the problem of the wrap sticking to the plate. It looks like on the directions it says to keep it in the plastic wrap it comes in, just opening one side for ventilation. Maybe that would help the sticking, but of course… not the taste.
Aaron C. on March 9th, 2007

I just had the misfortune of coming in contact with this today. I was so mad after heating this mess up I immediately sent off an email to Gardenburger (below). Then I was STILL fired up and googled to see if was the only one… haha Apparently not.

“To whom it may concern: I have always been a fan of your products - even though I’m not a vegetarian, I like to use them to add variety to my diet and love the flavors.

And then came the Frankenstinian horror that you call the “Margherita Pizza Style Veggie Wrap”. This this was nothing short of an atrocity. I picked these up at the local Giant Eagle store for lunch at work today and was left to go hungry. The picture on the box has absolutely no relation to what the unsuspecting consumer finds confronting them when they open the box. I found a brown fetus-like lump that when heated in the microwave per the instructions on the box, swells like a wad of whole grain Bubblicious, and later leaks a foul puss not dissimilar to rancid Velveeta.

SHAME ON YOU! SHAME! I have always recommended your products to skeptical meat eaters and they are almost always suprised to find how good they are - health benefits aside, and now I’m going to have to be sure to warn them about this monster you’ve unleashed before I lose my credibility.

God, what an awful awful product. And the pure LIES that you present with the “Serving Suggestion” illustration on the box. Only to a schizophrenic - plagued with cataracts - would that even come close to matching up with the actual product. I expect this from a Swanson “Hungry Man” TV dinner, but not from Gardenburger.

The UPC code from the box is: 084059000853. It’s time to start the recall.

In all seriousness,

Aaron”
Abi Jones on March 9th, 2007

What’s funny is that the Hungry-Man TV Dinners look, in reality, a lot like they do on the cover of the box.
Washington City Paper: News & Features: Blogs on May 21st, 2007

[…] Angel Hair Pasta, Kraft South Beach Chicken Monterey Wrap, Trader Joe’s Lentil Rice Biryani, Gardenburger Margherita Pizza Style Veggie Wrap, and Healthy Choice Creamy Dill […]
Melori on June 18th, 2007

Jess,
Please tell me you don’t use that melamine plate to heat things in the microwave. If so, you are eating chemicals. Please use microwave safe dishes.

Caring about your health,
Melora
Sarcasmo on October 29th, 2007

mine was pretty good. i’m into soggy stuff once and a while. there is nothing i love more than soggy wraps.
sarcasmo
jess on November 1st, 2007

This is false advertising at its worst. I can’t believe this is from this company. Unreal! I ate 1 wrap, basically bc I was really hungry and had no other choice for lunch at work. I finished and actually took the box back out, re-examined the picture, re-read the ingredients and thought, “Really, I must have gotten some messed up box that came packaged with another type of wrap.” However, after looking on the internet and realizing there were only 2 wraps made by Gardenburger, I realized I had been had! This was awful! In no way, shape, or form was it anything like it was supposed to be - no sauce, no mozzerella, nor did I even find vegetable patty. It was all tasteless rice and orange seemingly fake cheese. Do not buy these! I had to pour on the salt just to eat it. Horrible!