Organic salads & bowls with fresh ingredients and great service
"This fast‑casual salad chain collaborated with growers to feature specialty squash and beets on menus, enlisting farmers to grow the koginut squash for a signature salad in 2018 and rolling out the orange badger flame beets across locations nationwide beginning in late 2019." - Lisa Elaine Held
"Seen as a heavy-hitter and a typical healthy-ish bowl purveyor that nearly reached the final stages of the contest but was surprisingly defeated by less-expected rivals." - Madeleine Davies
"Once considered a heavyweight in the fast-casual salad-and-bowl scene, this chain was surprisingly knocked out early in the bracket, losing to the idealized bibimbap entry. Commentators described its once-influential ordering-and-eating model as having fallen from its previous prominence." - Madeleine Davies
"The chain’s signature Guacamole Greens bowl—chicken, avocado, and tortilla chips atop mixed greens—epitomizes the modern bowl-lunch: unexpectedly satisfying with a good balance of texture and acid and wrapped in a health-halo that makes it the archetypal bougie desk meal. Beyond the specific flavors, the venue is credited as the pioneer that popularized the fast-casual salad-as-bowl format and the cultural idea of the bowl as an office-friendly, customizable lunch option." - Erin DeJesus
"A cult favorite among health-conscious office crowds, this fast-casual chain is known for bowls and salads like the Guacamole Greens, the Harvest Bowl, and the Kale Caesar salad. It emphasizes sustainability and relatively fair treatment of workers, offers a wide array of global flavor profiles (miso, za’atar, cilantro-lime) and hexagonal bowls that signal clout — all at a premium price (rarely under about $13). The menu’s composed options provide satisfying contrasts of texture and flavor beyond a simple pile of chopped ingredients, though the ordering system can feel chaotic and the brand’s hype polarizing; despite that, the food is consistently good." - Jaya Saxena