Daniel B.
Yelp
gusto! is great. I'm a fan of this chain and they've only improved since opening their original location in Brookwood Hills in October 2014. This location on Ponce De Leon Ave NE is the company's second location. It opened in July 2016 across from Dugan's and Hotel Clermont. I like gusto! because their food is healthy, delicious, and affordable, it's served quick, and service is typically good with a friendly staff. We need more restaurants like this.
This gusto! is in its own freestanding building. It replaced a location of The Real Chow Baby (https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-real-chow-baby-atlanta-3). There's adequate free parking in the back and on the sides of the building, reserved for customers only.
The space looks great. They've really opened up and modernized the place. There's plenty of seating inside and lots of patio seating outside. Inside and out, there's a mixture of regular tables and long bar-height tables. The inside has a snazzy buttoned banquette and the outside tables have umbrellas. The restaurant has a fun feel to it with bright colors (white and yellow) and colorful artwork and graphics. There's an open kitchen and the patio is string-lit.
This is a fast-casual restaurant where you order and pay upfront. Everything is made-to-order in seconds and you pick up your order when checking out. The menu is simple. You choose a base (rice, greens, or half and half), protein (grilled chicken $9.15, spicy grilled chicken $9.15, grilled shrimp $11.95, grilled portabella $9.95), and "gusto" or flavor/ingredient combination that the restaurant has designed. Your gusto can be served in a bowl (common) or as a wrap (flatbread wrap). Across all the locations I've tried so far, I've yet to come across a gusto I didn't like. Each gusto comes with a bag of housemade sweet potato chips. They have a kids menu too.
At this location, I tried the Chipotle Mango Avocado with spicy grilled chicken ($9.15) and the Chile Sesame BBQ with spicy grilled chicken ($9.15); both with half and half brown rice and mixed greens. I also tried a High Road Craft sugar cookie and mango ice cream sandwich ($4.95). They have a self-serve freezer next to the register with assorted pops from King of Pops and ice cream sandwiches from High Road Craft (two flavors available during my visit: chocolate and mango). Everything was fantastic.
The Chipotle Mango Avocado came with avocado, mango, black bean, and corn salad tossed in a cilantro lime vinaigrette, topped with jack cheese, and served with smoky chipotle pepper cream sauce on the side. The Chile Sesame BBQ came with radish, cucumber, carrot, and jalapeno salad tossed in a sesame citrus vinaigrette, topped with cilantro, and served with spicy Korean chile BBQ sauce on the side. The bowls both looked and tasted fantastic. Very colorful and appetizing presentation with fresh and flavorful ingredients. The flavor combinations worked (they were quite tasty) and the bowls were filling and satisfying.
The sweet potato chips are cooked in-house. They were good. Crispy, yummy, and not overly greasy. I noticed they serve the housemade chips at this location and the original location on Peachtree. However, the smaller West Midtown location serves gusto-brand sweet potato chips that look like they were made and packaged at an off-site facility. You get the fresher ones here.
The High Road Craft ice cream sandwich was outstanding. If you want to treat yourself, it's worth it. The dessert was better than I expected and one of the best ice cream sandwiches I've had to date. Generous portion size and excellent quality. So good.
Daniel at the register was very hospitable. gusto! uses the Square POS system so receipts are conveniently and automatically emailed to you once you're set up.
I probably won't come back to this gusto! much because the West Midtown location is right around the corner from me. However, if I lived in the immediate area, I'd most likely be a regular. For fast-casual healthy food in Atlanta, this place is one of the best.