Sweet Tomatoes

Came here with the family on Sunday night — it was BUSY, but even with so many people here, the staff stays on top of cleaning the tables and restocking the food. Yes, it’s a buffet, so don’t expect to be blown away, but overall, pretty good food at a fair price.

As buffets around this town go, Sweet Tomatoes is pretty decent. And I’m totally addicted to their salads, which as you may or may not know, is the first thing you build (unless you don’t) when you walk in the place. I always try to take just a «little» bit of the things I enjoy on salads, and apparently, there are a lot of things I like on salads because they always end up being huge! The dressings are pretty good too. Not vinegary. Vinegar is best left to other things such as pickles, pickled veggies, and has many other good uses — just not in salad dressings. After you pick up your salad (or not) and get to the cashier, you can pay for a drink or go for water. They have pretty darn good coffee, too! It’s not Boyd’s, which is another example of yuk. And they had «plain» flavored coffee, and vanilla nut flavored coffee. Good. The other food items you can get are small pieces of pizza, various flavored muffins; chocolate, blueberry and one other I forget. To accompany the muffins, they have honey-​flavored whipped butter, packaged butter (I forget the brand name), and garbage margarine. Of course, I always opt for the honey-​whipped butter, hehe. They have different pasta dishes, which to date I have not found to be too tasty. The pasta is always overcooked — I mean to the point of mush. Pasta should be al dente (which means «to the tooth», so you can chew a bit). I’ve tried 3 different pastas and was disappointed 3 different times. Now the soups aren’t bad. They’ve had chili, chicken-​noodle, and others that I’ve rather enjoyed but didn’t have any this time around. Oh, for dessert, they have «Soft Serve» (which is gross) and accompanying sauces and sprinkles, and the kids just love it. They also have tapioca pudding (my fav), sugar-​free chocolate mousse, fruit (yay!), and jello. All in all, this is a great place to go when you’re on a budget and/​or you’re going with a bunch of family members or friends.

Sweet Tomatoes is a great soup, pasta and salad bar/​buffet for those looking for good, more balanced dining options. All you can eat premade salads, a byo salad bar, soup line, baked potato bar, pastas, a baked breads selection, and a small dessert bar are included.
Recommendations: their blueberry muffins and cornbread are fantastic, as well as their biscuits to accompany their tomato bisque.
The atmosphere is casual, and it is great for lunch and diners of all ages.

To my eternal shame, I admit that I’m a wolf who loves a good crisp salad. I love the crunch, the fresh flavor, the bright acid, and the inevitable layering of garlic in nearly every dressing known to man and animal. For whatever reason, I keep thinking that this Sweet Tomatoes will sate my inner vegan beast. Sadly, the monster within remains unfulfilled.
That said, I still enjoy going to Sweet Tomatoes for everything else they serve. While I rarely return to the salad portion of the restaurant after the initial pass through, I’m constantly returning to the soup section for a bowl of what they call chili, or a slice of sourdough and their fresh whipped honey butter. For the price, I’m always quite pleased with my meal.
Let’s be honest, though, this is a chain buffet. The food and décor are standardized and the service is variable. What I will say is that the cleanliness level at this location is a bit off the charts. I wouldn’t be surprised if some manager has OCD and inflicts their demand for obsessive table-​clearing on the poor staff. I have deliberately placed utensils and napkins in such a way to imply that I do not want them cleaned up, only to return to a spotless table less than 45 seconds later.
Edible food at a low price point. I rate this Three Little Piggies.

If you’re from or have ever lived in San Diego like I have, then you know this place as the Souplantation. Either you love it or you hate it. It was a hit with us. I liked all the salad options. My 7-​year-​old son loved it because of the cheese bread, jello, and the pasta bar, and of course the unlimited ice cream bar. My husband thought it was okay, but wished there had been more meat in the dishes. He did like all the different soups (many of which had meat). It’s definitely one of my favorite places for an affordable basic family meal. I wish they had these in the Puget Sound region where we live!

This is the best Sweet Tomatoes in the area. The people here are amazingly kind and have great customer service skills.
The salads are fresh and are being constantly replenished and the pasta is made in front of you.
The staff is always cleaning and tidying up. The place is never messy or dirty, even after being full to the brim.

I come to this place only when my sister come the children here, they love it, I do not care so much for this place, mostly it is nice just so we can hag out together. they have some food that is good, like the soups, I love their cream of mushroom, and the fresh salads, but then the pasta dishes are not that good, overcooked sticky, and tasteless and unhealthy, but it seems that kids love this kind of foods. their baked focaccia is plain and does not have much flavor, but again the kids seem to love it and they find it yummy, the desserts are alright, the lava Chocolate cake is not that bad, once in a while I indulge myself into sweets and this is my treat each time I come here, it is good that the children can have more than one serving, it seems to be what makes this place so much fun. One thing that is nice is the staff, very friendly helpful, have good customer service skills, it is a bit uncomfortable if you want to have a quiet and calm lunch, it is not possible, it is a very loud place and very crowded, each time, but overall it is an OK place for families and kids

Man oh man. I love the chicken noodle soup. It’s old school Soup Plantation recipe and has that clear broth that I cannot find an equal too. Maybe Din Tai Fung but that’s not all you can eat for $ 11. I wish there were more healthy options like this.

Had breakfast here not worth the. money waffles from a toaster. Cold scrambled eggs. No breakfast meats. Most of the food was cold. Dishes dirty. Buffet area not kept stocked. It felt more like the breakfast ypu get at a motel that offers free breakfast. Like the dinner salad bar better. Maybe they should just stick with that

It’s been a while since we have been here but a coupon was incentive enough to give it a another try. The start was a little rough. The ad showed a pretty nice looking outrageous orange cashew salad. Apparently that was for last month. I would have been eager to try «this months» special salad but there was none to be found. Perhaps that second bowl of iceberg lettuce was in the spot something a little more enticing was, last month.
The standard fare was fairly consistent with what I remembered. Competent but nothing special. I like bacon pieces on my salad and while they don’t have that on the main salad area, I was happy to find those by the baked potatoes.
The food is fresh but uninspired and for $ 20 for lunch for two now a great value. It’s been several years since I was here last and I don’t see any reason to return for a few years more.

I decided to take the wife and kid out to eat yesterday for a ALL YOU CAN EAT soup and salad bar. First off I’m not a real big person into eating out anyhow. We all walk in and do what the sign tells you to do. As were in line there were around 6 others getting a salad fixed. Here are the complaints about this visit to this location:
#1 15 plates were sitting at the top, all were dirty with food and what not on them. This was about it for me, But the wife and child love salad bars.
#2 the cashier was extremely rude and not polite to us as we were first to pay, But somehow we were the last to pay.
#3 several cups were dirty as well and agree letting the cashier know, She placed them back into the cup holder after giving us cups that «we’re clean» which they weren’t.
#4 After I paid for the meals the cashier just placed my change on my plate and never once said thank you or enjoy your meal, But to the other customers she was happy.
#5. I asked to talk to a manager to allow him to know how we were treated during our experience of paying for the food and about the dirty cups and plates.
His reply was, «Well I will offer you a refund of your money and your asked to leave the store» I never asked for a refund, I was only bringing our experiences to your knowledge. He left and made us stand there for almost 7 minutes while other customers were staring at us like we were some kinda criminals or something. He brought the money to us as we were standing there and he said, «Here is your money dude, Now leave my store » I went on to ask for the General Manager information because I don’t know this guy and I’m not a DUDE.
The General Manager came out and we discussed our experiences there with each other. She offered her apologies to us and offered to «comp» the meal on the house. After all of this, my son who is 12 was hungry so I took her up on the offer. I ate 0 plates of food, the wife ate 0 plates of food, and the son are 1 plate of food. I lost my appetite after noticing the dirty cups and plates and silverware.
Food was gross
Food was cold
Food was scattered all over the floor
Bathrooms were disgusting
Employees were rude to us
Highly recommend you go to another location rather than this one.
503−369−8218
If you want to call and talk about this with me.

Wife and I had an ok meal here. I’m not a fan of a no meat meal, but the wife wanted to eat here. The salad bar had a nice selection of toppings to choose from and at least 5 different soup selections. The hot pasta dishes weren’t very good, the flavors were just off. Maybe the cook had an off day.

Great salad/​soup buffet! Always clean and staff very friendly. Great selection of seasonal items too! Sign up for there club veg for great coupons!

I am typically not a fan of chain restaurants because they are homogenized to the point they’re boring. The same is true for Sweet Tomatoes; it’s boring. It’s a serve yourself, buffet style restaurant with salads, soups, pasta, pizza, baked goods, and soft-​serve ice cream. There isn’t a single remarkable thing on the menu. Everything lacks flavor and is typically unhealthy (despite attempts to make you believe you’re eating well).
That said, I eat here frequently for my weekday lunch. Solely because of the to-​go salad bar option. For $ 5.59 I get a sizable plastic container and fill it full of romaine lettuce, spinach, red onions, radish, celery, beets, jalapenos, pickles, garbanzo beans, peas, corn, and cracked black pepper. A side of the fat free ranch dressing and I know I am going to be full until dinner. You can’t get a healthier fresh salad at this price.
Pro tip: Sweet Tomatoes opens at 11:00 am and the early birds get the veggies leftover from the day prior. Arriving after noon ensures you get the fresh stuff.

I crave Souplantation /​Sweet Tomatoes since moving up to the PNW from California. Since they don’t have one up in Seattle, I always stop by when I head down to Oregon. This one hits the spot…

I do love Sweet Tomatoes. It’s a great place to get all the salad and soup you want with some extras like bread items too. I do wish they had organic stuff but it doesn’t stop me from getting multiple plates of salad bar goodness and sampling all 6 or so of their daily soups. It’s fairly clean and not usually too busy but it can get a little crazy at night when all the families show up.
I’d avoid the pasta but then again I like it al dente and you can’t do that on a buffet. Everything else is pretty fresh and overall not bad especially when you can get your fill and sample little bits of it all, I like that.

This isn’t exactly fine dining, but it’s a decent place to pig out on salad and soup.
The pasta is generally gross and the baked goods are often very dry and tasteless.

I tried … I really did. But three strikes … you’re out! How do you take fresh (looking) ingredients, «homemade» blue cheese salad dressing, and put it together — and make it tasteless? I DO NOT KNOW — but Sweet Tomatoes has figured out how to do it! Hats off folks … but I won’t return. Potato salad? Dressing that looked (and tasted) like water colored with milk. Zero flavor. Watery soups. Only bright spot I found on the soup line was the corn chowder. Pastas are soupy. Breads and rolls and such were «ok» — some were dry, some flavorless — but not all bad. I’ve wasted three lunch hours there, and will not return. Spend your money elsewhere.

The crowds tell the story … Sweet Tomatoes is a hit with Portlanders! So much so, our family always tries to go later in the day, to catch the lull between the lunch crowd and the dinner crowd. We eat at the Tigard Sweet Tomatoes between 12 and 14 times a year, and have done so for many years.
In our experience, the salad bar is almost always fully stocked, and the ingredients have always been fresh. We like the variety of soups (but do wish Mushroom Soup was available more often) and the breads are refreshed every few minutes.
We did like the bread much better when the dough was delivered by our local Franz Bakeries, as opposed to being shipped up from California, the way it is now. I am sure the quality is there … but it was a noticeable difference, and the bread just doesn’t seem as tasty.
If you have not had Sweet Tomatoes cater an event, you are missing out! The caterers come out of the Clackamas store, and in the last several years have purchased catering for three large work– and family-​focused events in Salem. Yes, they will come all the way to Salem! We could not have been more pleased with the help the catering staff gave in planning the food for the events, the punctual delivery and setup at the events, the quality and amounts of the food provided, and the value we received for our dollars. At each event, our guests were thrilled — and as the host at these events, it just doesn’t get any better!
Oh, check the web for coupons, and sign up for Sweet Tomatoes’ loyalty club … they send coupons to your e-​mail throughout the year, and in your birthday month.

Great place to go with family for some good buffet options at a good value. Salads… soups. Carbs, soft serve.
The staff was very friendly. I was greeted and talked to by at least 5 different people within a half hour asking me if I needed anything and they all were very nice.
I’m not a huge buffet lover but this one seemed a littler healthier than most options. They are really clean as well.