Salad bar

Hi
I am looking for any restuants that have salad
bar. Southwest and western suburbs of Chicago
thanks
Dennis

That's a bit of a broad request. Do you mean a salad-bar restaurant like Sweet Tomatoes, or a place like R.J. Grunts?

Sweet Tomatoes is in Lombard and Aurora and while some may scoff, it's not bad.

http://www.souplantation.com/locations/fm/

Jasons Deli has a good salad bar, and for a chain their sandwhiches are really good too. Lots of meat.

http://Jasonsdeli.com

Locations:
Chicago, IL: Southloop
Naperville, IL
Oaklawn, IL
Palatine, IL
Park Ridge, IL
Vernon Hills, IL

Oaklawn and Naperville locations may be close for you.

I'm with spinynorman99---Sweet Tomatoes is a pretty decent place for lunch. The soups are good.

ndgbucktown wrote:I'm with spinynorman99---Sweet Tomatoes is a pretty decent place for lunch. The soups are good.

I had lunch at this place and thought it had the most disgusting food I've had in years. Every dressed item tasted like sour patch kids. Gross, artificial-tasting sweet and sour stuff topped barely-thawed vegetables and limp "fresh" ones. Almost asked if the manager was there so I could spit the food out in front of him. 10 completely wasted dollars. Maybe I should have had the soup.

ndgbucktown wrote:I'm with spinynorman99---Sweet Tomatoes is a pretty decent place for lunch. The soups are good.

Agreed. As long as you avoid the pasta which is pretty bad.

Can't go wrong for the price.

jlawrence01 wrote:Can't go wrong for the price.

Lunch was $10. For that price I will admit to going more wrong once in my life in Amsterdam, but that's it.

Kennyz wrote:

ndgbucktown wrote:I'm with spinynorman99---Sweet Tomatoes is a pretty decent place for lunch. The soups are good.

I had lunch at this place and thought it had the most disgusting food I've had in years. Every dressed item tasted like sour patch kids. Gross, artificial-tasting sweet and sour stuff topped barely-thawed vegetables and limp "fresh" ones. Almost asked if the manager was there so I could spit the food out in front of him. 10 completely wasted dollars. Maybe I should have had the soup.

The soup wouldn't have been any better. I'm with you, this place sucks.

If I need a salad bar fix in the western burbs, I go to Ruby Tuesday's. It's not much of a salad bar, but it gets the job done. It's not like the old days out here, when there was a place called Fitzhugh's in Fox Valley mall that had a killer salad bar, or the original Claim Company in Oakbrook and Northbrook (the new one in Northbrook is only a shadow of the original).

nwilliams wrote:There are various salad bar in the Chicago but the most popular one is the Sweet Tomatoes which provides the best soups and service. Fogo De Chao's Food is also great for the salads. R J Grunts also includes the great salad bar with the music and service. It allows you the best green vegetables and a fresh fruits as well as the toppings, which creates mouth watering.

We will all remember the day the computers started writing on their own ...

John Danza wrote:

Kennyz wrote:

ndgbucktown wrote:I'm with spinynorman99---Sweet Tomatoes is a pretty decent place for lunch. The soups are good.

I had lunch at this place and thought it had the most disgusting food I've had in years. Every dressed item tasted like sour patch kids. Gross, artificial-tasting sweet and sour stuff topped barely-thawed vegetables and limp "fresh" ones. Almost asked if the manager was there so I could spit the food out in front of him. 10 completely wasted dollars. Maybe I should have had the soup.

The soup wouldn't have been any better. I'm with you, this place sucks.

If I need a salad bar fix in the western burbs, I go to Ruby Tuesday's. It's not much of a salad bar, but it gets the job done. It's not like the old days out here, when there was a place called Fitzhugh's in Fox Valley mall that had a killer salad bar, or the original Claim Company in Oakbrook and Northbrook (the new one in Northbrook is only a shadow of the original).

Sweet Tomatoes must vary wildly from location to location because the one we go to in St Charles is spotless and well cared for. Everything has always been very fresh and crisp. As for dressing, I always use the blue cheese and it's been fine. We just stay away from anything but the salads and the soup. As for Ruby Tuesday, the last time we went to one the salad bar was tiny and had very little other than bare basics.

LikestoEatout wrote:Sweet Tomatoes must vary wildly from location to location because the one we go to in St Charles is spotless and well cared for. ....

Actually, the one I went to was also very clean, and the staff seemed to be working hard to keep it that way. It was a pleasant, open space with comfortable seating. Only the food was terrible. Everything else was above average.

When I think of salad bar, I think of sneeze guards and then the rest is down hill.

I have not been to any Sweet Tomatoes in the Chicago suburbs, but the one in Orlando is littered with crying babies, dirty plates, kids grabbing items off the salad bar with their hands, etc. So not to stereotype the place, but to me, those things alone keep me away. I recall them having some type of tuna salad with noodles that I enjoyed about 10 years ago, but that alone is not worth a trip.

When I was younger, about 12 years ago which was way before I had the maturity to enjoy food, I used to love the salad bar at Ruby Tuesday's, particularly the croutons made from pumpernickel bread.

Now, this does not count for salad bar, but I always loved the soup, salad and bread sticks from the OG (Olive Garden). I have not eaten there in years, but if I lived close to one and wanted salad, that is where I would go.