Tender Greens

Fast and yummy! I came just before noon on a Wednesday, and although there was a line, it moved quickly.
I had the prosciutto and kale special salad, which also had slices of melon and strawberry, and a bit of a kick from the jalapeño mint dressing. It was great! I also thoroughly enjoyed the focaccia bread that I got as a side.
I shared a strawberry almond cupcake with a friend; it was pretty good, but not as good as the salad or focaccia.
I didn’t like the crostini (came with the salad) or the kale chips, both of which were insanely greasy.

I’ve previously had mixed feelings about this place, but lately may be coming around to liking it. The cons: it’s bougie, and slightly overpriced. The pros: so many healthy options, and a good amount of food (probably just a tad too much to eat in one sitting).
I blame myself for not looking at the nutrition information before ordering last night — it’s possible that a meal here could be in the realm of 800+ calories, but also possible that it could be around 500 or so. Best to check beforehand, if you’re counting!
Also, apparently it’s possible to sub grilled veggies for mashed potatoes? Who knew!

I’m a huge tender greens fan (since living in San Diego)!!!
I’ve been meaning to stop by because I had been craving a tender green’s hot plate. I always trade off between the steak or the tuna. I also trade off the salad lol. I either get the spinach with goat cheese and hazelnuts, kale or arugula. Their plates come with garlic mash and a crostini.
I’ve tried their tomato soup before and it’s tasty! Their desserts are such a tease. I hate walking by and seeing what they have available for the day. Ugh. I just want it all. The last time I was here I had to walk away from corn bread… Do you know how much I love corn stuff and corn bread!!!
Good price for a hearty meal. I always have to try and not over eat everything. It’s difficult. /​:
TL;DR-get the protein on a plate. Steak and fish cooked medium. It’s always perfect! Pick a simple salad. Best lunch ever.

For $ 20.00 I enjoyed a mediocre salad. All the ingredients were fresh and in season, but I would’ve rather enjoyed them all separately. There was a crunch aspect missing, as the host did tell me they were out of the pecans or walnuts (can’t remember). She said she would substitute hazelnut instead, but the memo must have been missed in the kitchen. Besides that a bit too much dressing for my taste and the side bread could’ve use a nice hint of garlic.
Don’t worry Tender Greens, I am still a fan. Perhaps I’ll have to opt for an other salad next time.

My husband and I LOVE Tender Greens! We go three times a week for dinner no joke!

I went there for a weekday lunch and the line is super long. It took 40 minutes before I could put a bite in my mouth. So plan for that.
I ordered a Big Salad called «FALAFEL» which has spinach, tomato, cucumber, parsley, red onion, lemon, tzatziki, cabernet vinaigrette.
I wouldn’t get it again.
The taste was okay and the biggest disappointment was the size. They labeled it as «BIG» but it is a very very very light salad and a smaller portion than all of their Big Salads. I was still so hungry after eating this particular salad for $ 12.
Plus the bread they give you is not an actual bread. It’s an extremely oily thin cracker with some seasoning on it.

Crazy expensive lunch option, but I always leave as a Happy Vegan! That said, I highly recommend the Happy Vegan salad minus the farro wheat and cranberry salad.

I’ll start by saying that I expected a lot from Tender Greens, given I always pass by this restaurant and see a line out the door and wrapping around the building. I thought I nailed my order when I saw it on the menu (Chipotle BBQ Chicken Salad) and ordered it at the counter. I was instantly up-​sold into a cup of tomato soup as well, which I wouldn’t have ordered had the cashier not asked. Thinking that an add on cup of tomato soup with a salad would usually be $ 2.50 — $ 3.00, I let her add it to my order without hesitation. It wasn’t until I got to the cashier at the end of the process when I found that my salad ($ 12), soup ($ 5), and drink ($ 2) + tax was a whopping $ 22!
I asked for the receipt presuming that there must have been some mistake only to find that there was no error, only my error for being up-​sold on the soup and choosing to eat here in the first place. The salad was dry, and the dressing was nowhere near a chipotle-​cilantro dressing as claimed on the menu. The soup was average at best. I took two bites, closed it up, and gave it to a homeless man on my walk back to the office. Hopefully, he enjoyed it and didn’t write a scathing Unilocal review on top of mine.

Long line but it goes by fast. Everything looks super delicious as you walk down to the cashier and it’s not very expensive! I got the special chicken and rice soup with bread and a side of brussels sprouts. I really liked the soup which was $ 6 and the side of veggie is $ 3. Will definitely return! Lots of indoor and outdoor seating as well.

Let me start by saying I love the food at Tender Greens, it’s absolutely delicious, but do not order from the Fremont St store if you’d like it delivered in time. Twice now they have completely ruined executive meetings by being more than 30 minutes late on delivery, even when ordered well in advance. The excuse «we are busy» just doesn’t cut it I’m afraid. We are all busy…
More fool me for giving them a second chance.
This will be the last time I use Tender Greens, which is a shame, the food is wonderful.

Very overpriced, overrated, overly crowded, but… Still a nice option if you want to sit down and take a proper lunch break. And you know what’s good, what to pass on.
Get the soup and a simple salad, skip the big plates and salads. Why? The big plate meals involve fatty proteins, mashed potatoes (if you pick that side) so buttery they are more like paste, and a $ 14+++ bill. The soup is delicious, hearty, seasonal, and a decent size, so the also not-​so-​small simple salad, which is very fresh and tasty, makes it a complete meal and that costs several dollars less.
Another note on the proteins… I’m a if-I-feel-fat-in-my-mouth-I’ll-spit-it-out kinda girl. It freaks me out to see, feel, taste an actual flabby piece of it… And all their proteins involve this nightmare. Even the tuna. Blech! I even had to fish a chunk out of my chicken curry soup once, but I survived. Barely.
Lots of tempting desserts. I have to eat gluten free but the red velvet whoopie pies taunt me every time I’m in line. I’ve heard they are good.
Overall, if you want a good salad there are better options in the surrounding blocks with shorter lines.

Long line, salad + soup = ~$ 20 with tax
Tuna nicoise salad ($ 12): very fresh greens, but wouldn’t get the tuna again. enjoyed the dressing.
Chicken rice soup ($ 5): tasted home-​made and fresh, which was great. not much meat/​stuff, mostly broth
Overall, would probably come back when in the mood for a salad, but would watch my budget next time I come.

I switch frequently between favorite salad lunch spots and Tender Greens often tops the list. It’s consistently fresh and tasty. The only downfall is that I’m not the only fan. If you go during prime lunchtime, there’s usually a long line snaking around the corner.
I’m loving the falafel salad right now, but there’s a nice variety of options, including a build your own salad/​sandwich/​hot plate. After ordering, you continue down the line, next to everything being made and a selection of desserts. I couldn’t resist a chocolate chip cookie last time and it was really good.
There’s plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, perfect for small or medium sized groups. Prices are comparable to other salad destinations in SoMa and its central location builds up the appeal even more.

Mandatory minimums rise 10% yet they raise the price of soup 25%, and they don’t even fill the soup all the way up. The kale salad looks like it should be used as a Safeway produce garnish. The staff are lovely though, with props going to the cashiers and line chefs. This place is a dream to the otherwise void SoMa salad scene and a nightmare to my bank account. On top of it, they charge tax on the food, SF health tax, and then of course I tip on top of that. Sometimes I can’t get out of here for less than $ 18. A better model would be to do something along the lines of Darwin Café: Include everything in one price. No hidden fees. But I really got pissed when I saw how much better the food looked in the LA stores, with cheaper prices. Lame. The owner will probably reply a generic response to this, but when I further inquire outside Unilocal he simply ignored. :(

My sister raves about this place so we decided to try it out. Honestly, it was okay.
I ordered the fried chicken and mashed potatoes with honey spice carrots. The best part was definitely the mashed potatoes — they were so delicious and buttery. The fried chicken was disappointing to me – lacking in flavor, dry, and the piece I got was missing about ¹⁄₃ of its skin, which made me pretty sad… cause let’s be real that’s the best part! The carrots were okay, not bad, not special. I noticed I just ended up dipping my chicken and carrots in the mashed potatoes because it was the most flavorful thing on my plate.
I will admit I prefer strong flavors, so I felt the food was bland here (minus the mashed potatoes). My sister loves it, so it really depends on how much flavor you like.
Overall I’d say it was okay, I probably won’t visit again though — considering its pretty pricey.

This place never fails! The food is super fresh and they have great protein options. My favorite is the herb brushed albacore. It’s light and comes in a generous portion. You can add either a small salad, a large salad, veggies, and/​or mashed potatoes. YUM! They also throw in a piece of a toast to go with it.
Watch out for the daily specials those vary from pasta dishes to meatloaf. They also have an unbelievable changing selection of dessert. I love their flavored cupcakes and tarts.
The only negative is sometimes the line takes a while and it’s always out the door!
Don’t forget to get a glass of wine or beer for dinner. Parking is around the corner at one of the SM lots. Enjoy!

The good: Fresh ingredients, good specials (like the orzo side), bigger portions.
The bad: The prices — it’s pretty expensive for salad.
The ugly: The loooooong lines here, even as early as 11:40.
Ultimately it’s good, but it’s salad (and other plates).

My coworkers rave about this place a lot, so I figured it was time I try Tender Greens myself. Despite the somewhat sizable line, the girl behind the counter was efficient at getting everyone’s order, but was a bit rude to customers when asked questions that required more than a one word response from her. She wasn’t very good at hiding her dislike towards, well, just about everyone in line.
I got the Chinese Chicken Big Salad and a green iced tea, but unfortunately they were out of the broccolini and fennel pesto pasta so I got a banana caramel whoopie pie instead (nothing like substituting pasta for a giant cream-​filled pie). I knew the salad was going to be $ 12, which I think is pretty outlandish, but my total ended up being $ 21 in the end. $ 21 for a salad, a small-​sized drink, and a whoopie pie.
That means that the tiny drink and the pie were $ 9 between them. I’m still trying to figure out why.
The whoopie pie was undeniably delicious and huge, but the salad was mediocre at best, from the flavors down to the overall size of this supposedly «big salad.» The chicken was totally bland, I asked for the dressing to be tossed in my salad and I could barely see or taste any signs of it, and there was nothing particularly special about anything in the salad. It was one of the dullest meal experiences ever.
The only things keeping this review at 3 stars instead of 2 are the pie and the tea, both of which were delicious (the tea was especially refreshing on such a warm night). Walked away totally confused about what exactly it was that I paid for tonight.

A place that’s offering lots of fresh vegetables? Maybe I should give it more than 3 stars. Still, the vegan offerings are only a couple, although I’m sure you could easily modify many of the options, although the ordering is a little confusing for a first-​timer.
I had a foccacia and grilled vege sandwich with butter lettuce salad. The sandwich was good, and the lettuce was OK. But it’s $ 13.50! I know, I know, this is SoMa and I’ve been spoiled in Oakland, and I knew exactly the prices when I came here, and they have very large lines, so they can easily justify it. But still :-\
The sandwich turned out to be not so filling in the end too — after I got back to work I finished off my falafel from Liba Falafel from the previous day (and let me tell you, *those* are filling).
And finally, I’m not usually bothered by meat; after all that would be antisocial, and totally unrealistic, however, the sight of steak grilling (which represents to me right now, a huge contribution to the drought) and tuna (which is an apex predator), was a little off-​putting too. But maybe that’s just my vegan tendencies coming though.
In any case, I very infrequently eat in the city, and there’s so many other places to try, so it’s unlikely I’ll come back soon, if at all.

The way Tender Greens is described my my colleagues (and now also by me) is as follows: that over-​priced salad place with the long line… but it’s quite tasty and worth the wait.
I usually come to Tender Greens when I’m having a lunch meeting scheduled: it gives me the chance to get out of the office, go on a short walk, have a nice catch-​up chat with whomever I’m meeting and then enjoying a healthy lunch meal.
Here’s how it goes: you get in line — there’s inevitably a line after 11:30am right up until 1pm. Then you order your meal, which will then be freshly made while you’re getting ready to pay… another queue! (If you want to be smart, go place an order online, but even recently I’ve seen the p/​u line getting longer as well ;-)
Tender Greens is heaven for someone who loves to pick & choose. You can create an kind of salad, make any kind of substitution or addition. Well, if you follow my reviews, then you know that this is hell for me: I hate making decisions! But… Tender Greens is also good at offering you great-​sounding salads/​meals. I typically go for the special salad or meal of the day…
So, if you’re in the mood for an over-​priced salad place with a long line… come here!