Sweet Tomatoes

If you are a fan of buffets and soups and salads, this place is for you! Heck — if you’re a fan homemade tasting food, this place is for you!
This Sweet Tomatoes is located at the end of a lack-​luster shopping center, so it can be difficult to find if you’ve never been here. But once you walk inside, you are greeted by the salad buffet and a carpet with tomatoes printed on it (these people take their veggies seriously!).
You choose your salads and toppings prior to paying. Patrons sit themselves in either tables or booths and the soups, bakery options, pasta, fresh fruit and ice cream are located in the back and you can go up as many times as you want to sample the many fresh and yummy offerings.
My favorite part of the buffet are the soups and pastas — so many choices — creamy and cheesey gooey macaroni and cheese and two other options that change every so often! Also, there are certain soups and salads highlighted (and changed) each month. For instance, in March, the theme is Latin flavors. The bread options are abundant as well. For example, when I last went to Sweet Tomatoes, there were four types of Focaccia bread (and they all had some type of cheese on them, so of course, I had to try them all!), muffins and biscuits. They also carry Gluten Free and Vegan options, which is a plus.

Not 5 stars because the poor young girl at the register was busy taking both lines, the dish washer comes up with the full rack of utensils and the young girl asked if he could help her by stocking the forks, he just walked away from her. What?! Your a terrible employee and team player! Team work makes the dream work!
Besides that the food was great! The restaurant was pretty clean how busy it was! So can’t go wrong with that!

This is my first time there and I would return. I like building my own salad with a nice variety of toppings. They kept the salad bar clean and had the vegetables that I enjoy to choose from.

Clean, economical, friendly staff. They keep everything well stocked even at busy hours. One of our favorite go to places. They update menu often, but keep anchor buffet items.

I love going to Sweet Tomatoes for its awesome salad bar and delicious soup. However, this location is my least favorite and I will not go back again. I have also been to the Kirkman location and the Altamonte Spring one, both locations can be slammed with lunch/​dinner rush, but all handled pretty well, I went to this Colonial Dr. location few times, and every time I ran into lunch/​dinner rush at some weird hours: I went there for lunch at 3 pm, it was ridiculously crowded, pretty much no food left to eat. Staff were doing their best to handle the crowd, so kudos to these awesome people. I believe problem lies with the management, they need to hire more people to help out, current staff simply can’t keep up with such traffic!
Like I said I won’t go back to this location, I left disappointed every time.

I enjoy coming to this location to get my food to go. Every once in a while I crave a good salad and soup. There’s not too many options near my office, but this is perfect. Their prices are reasonable, and there’s more variety than at Publix.
I love the variety of the soups and salads. You should be able to find a menu on their website to see what is there. One of my favorite salads is the Wonton Happiness. I love how they switch their menu around pretty often. The one thing I notice is that if you come after the lunch rush and before the dinner rush, the food won’t be as fresh. I know they have timers to change out the food, but I find the bread to be awfully tough.
I’ve never dined in, but all the employees I’ve interacted with have been nice.

Love this chain and this location in particular. The multiple soups and extra-​long salad bar are great. I always try 4 or 5 of the soups on each visit. The staff is friendly and the place is usually spotless, although their sanitation suffers a tad during busy peak times.

Hadn’t ate here in years and finally came back. I used to come here almost once a week with my fiancé for years. This was our spot until I started eating healthy and realized that most of the food her is not healthy and also poor quality. After coming here last week I am hooked again. They seemed to have upped their quality a tad here. The soups they had which were more healthy then normal were delicious. I love any of their soups that are not cream broth. The gluten free coconut muffins are so light and fluffy! I would come here for those alone! Wish sweet tomatoes would just offer more meat options.

Basically a big ass salad buffet. They have good options in terms of fresh vegetables, but nothing that I was too impressed by. The person working the register was friendly though. Overall a subpar place.

I love most of the selections every time I visit (no matter the location); this is a truly great place to eat and there’s always something for everyone.
That being said, my biggest issue is that EVERY time I go, the trays are wet. Today (¹²⁄₁₉), not only are the trays wet but the silverware is too. Not sure if that’s a thing for other folks but it is so gross to me. Dry trays & silverware = 2 stars.

Sweet Tomatoes is the best hungover food one can ask for. Which means I come here every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and twice on Sunday.
The star of this restaurant is the chicken noodle soup, which can be a hit or a miss. When it’s on, it’s sooooo good. However, it hasn’t been the same since they started using machines to cut the chicken instead of hand pulling it. Come on, surely you can hire some… absent minded homeless liberal intellectuals from Colonial Drive to pull some chicken meat (hopefully wearing gloves…) There are plenty of them living at this very plaza.
Also, shout out to my homeboys chili and the French onion soup. When the chicken soup disappoints (much like gentlemens clubs on a Monday afternoon,) these homies will shake their tootsies and earn their money.
As far as desserts go, I recommend the frozen yogurt mixed with the chocolate muffin. Then go to your doctor and get some blood work done to check for your glucose levels.

Every now and then I have a craving for a salad bar with LOTS of choices. Today was one of those days. I have been coming to this particular Sweet Tomatoes for close to 7 years now. Their salad bar is always well stocked with a variety of different items. Personally I prefer to start with the mixed greens and add a lot of options but you can start with a Caesar, Avocado or Asian salad and build from there if you prefer.
Well today i started my plate with some mixed greens and added the following items since they all looked fresh… Red Cabbage, Radishes, Zucchini, Carrots, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Red Onion, Green Pepper, Mushrooms, Cherry Tomatoes, Peas, Beets, Blue Cheese dressing and some crumbles and finally some Sunflower Seeds… It may not be your kind of salad but it suited me just fine… I got a bowl of the Canadian Cheese and Ham soup along with the BLT and Cheesy Garlic Focaccia.
The salad ingredients were fresh and YES I polished it off. The Soup was much better than expected but over the years I have tried many of their soups and most have been very good. Some are just not my personal preference. The Focaccia today was a wee bit stale but it is usually fresh and crispy.
I also tried the Split Pea and Potato Barley soup. It could have used a bit more salt in my opinion but it was quite otherwise. Finally I tried the Rosemary Potato soup and it was very good. One thing I like is they always have a variety of soups.
I went back for another smaller salad and also got a plate with a nibble of the Quinoa Feta Salad, Sriracha Ranch Slaw, Sweet Onion & Yukon Gold Potato Salad and Tuna Tarragon Salad. To be honest, the only one of the four I liked was the Quinoa Feta salad. The others were just not my flavor preferences…
Cleanliness — 4
Freshness — 5
Presentation — 4
Staff — 5
Salad — ⁵⁄₅
Soups — 4÷5÷4
Focaccia — 3 (Stale this visit)
Prepared salads — 4÷2÷2÷3
Quinoa — good
Slaw — Too bitter
Tuna — too much Tarragon
Potato — too bland
Overall I have never been disappointed. Some of the prepared salads are not my cup of tea but many have been. Some of the soups have been better than others but overall they have been good. Their twice baked potato and chili are my favorites. The breads were a bit off today and that is unusual. It is not fine dining but it you are craving a good salad bar, you will not be disappointed!

Always have loved this place, however I can’t give it 5 stars because they have changed the chicken noodle soup. It used to have huge pieces of chicken with every dip of the ladle, but this pot was full and had plenty of noodles and broth, but no chicken!!! I would dip and dip and dip hoping for a chunk and all I would get are tiny, stringy pieces. Shame on them for skimping on the chicken. It used to be one of the best soups. Hope they realize the error of their ways. Selection of soups are great always; so are the breads. Fruity drinks are the best.

Pretty solid Sweet Tomatoes location. Definitely very clean, pretty easy to get to. Has all of the typical Sweet Tomatoes selections. Bathrooms (well, I can only speak for the women’s restroom) were very clean and very nice!
Docking one star because my favorite soup, Big Chunk Chicken Noodle, was lukewarm. Never experienced that ever in my 13+ years of going to Sweet Tomatoes. Hope it was just a fluke!

If you’re a person that’s good at fooling yourself, you can visit a Sweet Tomatoes for the salads then have some quite unhealthy dishes and treats on the side and leave with a happy and clear conscience.
On entering you’re presented a long salad buffet. Nothing very exotic as far as variety is offered, unless you consider the Asian salad exotic. You go down the line adding to you’re plate/​s additional toppings and dressings and then pay at the end.
The salads were fine and the ingredients seemed fresh, but my gf and I thought the quinoa tasted a bit off.
There’s a soup and hot pasta line as well; the types offered are changed on a regular basis. Out of the five soups I tried, I liked the cream of mushroom soup and the meatball soup the best. The chicken noodle was bland and I disliked the chili. As for the pasta, there was a penne pesto pasta I tried that was fair. The mac & cheese I didn’t try.
And then, the bakery & desserts. I was pleasantly surprised by the richness of the brownies, and SHOCKED by how good the cornbread was! Not too hard, not too soft and not too sweet. Just delicious.
To top it off, I buckled and had the ice cream and jello. It was just plain chocolate ice cream with Oreo crumbles. The jello tasted, well, like jello.
Regular prices are about 10 bucks a head, and senior citizens (60+) is discounted.
So, Sweet Tomatoes is okay if you just want to take a break from meat, or for satisfying vegetarians. Just don’t classify it as «healthy» eating, because ultimately, the selections you make there are entirely up to you.

Being the carnivore that I am, I was surprised to like Sweet Tomatoes as much as I did. The salad toppings were all fresh, and the greens were not dripping wet like most salad bars.
The soup selection is great, and that’s a plus since 90% of the protein options are soup. ST also has a great selection of breads. The 4-​cheese bread became a fast favorite.
I will say that the ice cream was disappointing. It tasted like a whipped topping of some type. But that’s okay, they have other dessert options.
I’ll look forward to coming here when I feel like eating healthy.

Sorry Disneyworld, but Sweet Tomatoes is actually the happiest place on earth.
Was in Orlando for a weekend with a childhood friend and she recommended this place because if we were to visit Orlando with our carnivorous boyfriends we would not be able to step a foot into this place. Let me just say that we had two nights free for dinner outside the theme parks and after having dinner here the first night, I CANCELLED the next days dinner plans with a friend just to come back to this place because i was so obsessed.
Aside from being so reasonably priced, the food is actually GOOD. At any other buffet the food all ends up tasting the same and you leave bloated from carbs, grease, and sodium but I love the concept of fresh, REAL food and they really have such a great selection. I wouldve been happy enough with the salad bar, but then I you see the variety of bread freshly baked from the ovens literally right behind the counter.
DONT YOU DARE pass on the cornbread that has whole, visible kernels of corn and feel free to slab on some of the honey butter (ALL YOU ATE WAS SALAD AFTER ALL) and do try the flaxseed multigrain bread as well. My friend is tiny and she had at least 5 pieces of the cheesy bread as well. Their soups are yummy as well and they have pastas and desserts as well. They even have a variety of juices/​coffee/​soft drinks for an additional charge which is a great deal as well.
Finally, everyone was extremely friendly and polite. I saw the manager both nights and that he made it his business to actively survey the food supply, cleanliness, and wished us a good night as we left. We had stayed til closing on one night and we were not rushed out and were even given a complimentary bag of chocolate chip cookies!

When someone says they want to go to a buffet, my mind swells with the fear of desperately searching through its endless library of hard coded genetic human history for anything my digestive system might remotely consider edible, bracing for the worst possible outcome. Such as, possibly, internal combustion.
Thankfully, this is a fear that doesn’t come into play when the buffet is Sweet Tomatoes. While the quality of the food ranges from «okay» to «pretty good» (high praise for a buffet which is generally going to be a place that prizes food quantity over quality) anything you might consume is perhaps braced by an ample serving of greens that will precede anything slightly guilty. As a salad bar, the greens are definitely the spotlight, but their soups are what I crave. Also, maybe the tapioca, because apparently I have transformed into an 80 year old at some point.
I’ll also give Sweet Tomatoes a nod for having diverse and cultural cuisines inspire their selections seasonally. At the end of the day, though, the flavors are generally safe and homely– let’s face it, this is suburban America they’re serving. Mr. and Mrs. WASP with their kids after the soccer game might be frightened. But it’s nice that they try to mix it up, especially when they attempt to incorporate the best veggies of the season.
It’s good. Nothing more, nothing less.

I’m a big fan of Sweet Tomatoes, and I like that this one is a little less «industrial» looking than the newer ones (like the one at Lake Buena Vista).
Great fresh veggies, plus I love the French Onion Soup, Asian Ginger Broth, Grilled Cheese Focaccia, Clam Chowder, Abondigas Locas, Indian Bread…

At first when I heard about Sweet Tomatoes, I just thought of the parody Super Crackers that was mentioned in the show Party Down. However, I’m very impressed!
As a vegan with allergies it’s hard to always find food when we (my husband and I) go out that’s safe, but the food is labeled if it’s vegetarian or vegan and all the staff seemed to be able to answer all my questions about the food. The manager even came by and asked if it was my first time eating here, and consequently gave us welcome cookies free of charge and a coupon for out next visit!
I usually try to stick with local restaurants, but this chain impressed me! I love being able to make my own salad, and they always have a vegan soup available. I do wish they had the marinara pasta without cheese but you can’t win ‘em all.
Definitely worth checking out!

Wer genug von Burger, Fritten, Pizza und sonstigem Fast Food hat. Hier gibts Salat!
Richtig frischen leckeren Salat. Ca. 20 verschiedene Salate und für US Verhältnisse gute Dressings oder einfach Olivenöl und Balsamico Essig. Verschiedene Croutons.
Auch empfehlenswert, die Suppen und Chilis und Focaccias.
Alles natürlich all you can eat.
Einfach mal ausprobieren, lohnt sich.
Wichtig. Diese Restaurants schliessen für US Verhältnisse früh, um 21:15 uhr.

I just want to say: I need to come back to this restaurant.
Awesome and inexpensive.