Coming straight from the East Coast, sweetgreen opened its first Bay Area location to cater to the Berkeley crowd. Serving up delightfully curated salads and grain bowls since 2007, sweetgreen gives back to the community by sourcing organic ingredients from local farmers and partners they trust.
Photo by Andrew Chang
Though you can make your own custom bowl starting from $7.15, sweetgreen also offers a variety of signature salads and grains, including 3 seasonal options, ranging from $9 to $13. Seating is limited, but the salads are made fast enough that you can get them on-the-go.
Photo by Andrew Chang
We at Spoon tried 3 options from their menu to see if sweetgreen lives up to the hype of offering sustainable, healthy, and ultimately delicious meals.
Photo by Andrew Chang
O.M.G. Omega
Photo by Andrew Chang
This is the most expensive item offered at sweetgreen ($13.95), containing organic arugula, baby spinach, basil, cherry tomatoes, avocado, and steelhead (which tastes a lot like salmon). The bowl is topped off with nori furikake and miso sesame ginger dressing. The combination of miso and basil is unexpectedly tasty, and we love that sweetgreen gives you half an avocado in their salads — no skimping here!
Kale Caesar Salad
Photo by Andrew Chang
At $9.85, this salad suits the more traditional crowd with a combination of chicken, chopped romaine, and shredded kale, topped with shaved Parmesan and Parmesan crisps. A squeeze of lime and some amazingly good Caesar dressing give it a special twist.
Umami Bowl
Photo by Andrew Chang
If you’re adventurous, try the seasonal Umami Bowl ($10.25), which is very similar to the Portobello Bowl offered year round. With organic quinoa, farro, Swiss chard, pea shoots, red onion, spicy sunflower seeds, roasted portobello mushrooms, roasted tofu, and miso sesame ginger dressing, this bowl is both filling and flavorful. The mushrooms and tofu are the clear standouts of this dish.
Bottom Line
Photo by Andrew Chang
In the end, the salads at sweetgreen had us scraping our bowls. They were healthy, diverse, filling, and bursting with flavor. The dressings were definitely the best part: Aromatic with just the right amount of punch.
Though the price point is a little on the steep side for college students, we think sweetgreen is definitely worth a taste. Check them out during their grand opening on April 19!