Croutons

I didn’t have much in the way of expectations going into Croutons. It seems to be higher-​end fast food with better quality ingredients — very much like Panera, but with the focus on salads instead of on baked goods. Not much in the way of ambiance, but good for a quick lunch.
The bloke and I each got a half sandwich/​salad combo. The portions were great for $ 9 — a massive salad and more of a ¾ sandwich. We both liked the margherita sandwich; the sundried tomatoes and pesto were tasty. The chicken was a little dry and tasteless, but sliced thin enough that it didn’t matter much. The salads (pear gorgonzola and granny smith chicken salad) were pretty underwhelming. The dressing tasted like straight vinegar and the salads were primarily lettuce with few fixins (and few croutons, funnily enough).
Overall: a good meal for the price and speed, but still essentially fast food. We’ll come in now and then for a quick sandwich.
I did love that they were serving Townshend’s as their iced tea choice. Way to support a local business!

The salads are usually pretty good. Today, my pear salad was huge but mostly lettuce… a lot of lettuce. The reason I’m really doing this review is that Croutons on Greenwood Ave was extremely cold today! I don’t think there was any heat. The concrete floors and plastic chairs that felt like they came out of the walk-​in freezer didn’t help. The atmosphere looks cold and is cold. Once my nose started running and the finger tips were turning blue, it was time to leave. I hope they do something to warm the place up a bit.

So, I want to start by saying we really enjoy croutons, we’ve been here many many times and have enjoyed it most times. If you ever get a chance to try their Corn Chowder, don’t pass it down! However, it is best to not go here when they are within 15 minutes of closing. I ordered the Californian, which I have many times before; sourdough bread, Swiss cheese, bacon, turkey and avocado… It looked like my 6 year old made it, there was ONE slice of meat, ONE very small «clump» of cheese, practically no avocado two ½ slices of bacon. The bacon covered less than ¼ of the sandwich, we asked them it they could remake it because it was lacking on all departments. The woman up front was very nice and said of course, however when I got it back all they had done was add ONE more slice of meat… Nothing else. It tasted poorly, and looked even more unpleasant. Moral of the story, stay away from the Greenwood Croutons, go to Redmond or the one on Century!

Croutans has two locations in Bend. They do soup, salad, and sandwiches (words cannot express the level of goodness in each bite). Why don’t they have one of these in Portland?

Food is OK– but seems to have been better at meetings I’ve attended which they happened to cater. Very noisy during lunch time, so don’t go there if you want to have a nice conversation. Parking is terrible.

I was somewhat disappointed in the small salad I had ordered. I had to search for the chicken and condiments. If there was a quarter cup of it amongst the bountiful lettuce I would have been surprised.

The food here is fresh, delicious, and healthy. Though a bit expensive, the size of the salad will more than make up for what you spend. I love the combo deal with the sundance salad and turkey artichoke pesto flatini. Sooo good.
I usually come during lunch for to go orders, which always takes at least 20 minutes. So take a friend or something to entertain yourself while you wait! Gets pretty loud when it’s busy, so I really just come for the food.

Food is very good but the noise/​poor acoustics ruins the experience. Went to meet a friend for lunch and the background noise was so intense that we left without ordering.

This restaurant is a study in contradictions.
First…the good. The salads are quite good. fresh, good quality vegetables, and nice salad dressing. Well done!
Alas…the problems! The restaurant and restrooms are unacceptably dirty. The staff are not addressing the floor, the tables, or the restrooms. This problem gets to be significant during busy periods. Students from local schools often arrive en masse and overwhelm the capabilities of the facility. More staff with better tools and better management will be required to correct these issues.
I surely hope corrections will be made to preserve this restaurant.

Best chicken rice soup I’ve ever had! The small Cobb salad is larger than most large salads but delicious. I will be eating here again.

The food as always and at both locations is great, fresh and affordable. However I think there is a lack of hospitality in regards to employees and the customers. When I’ve called in orders I have found the staff unprepared when I arrive and almost unhelpful.
I.e called in a order, was told it would be ready in 20min arrived 25min after and order still took an additional 15min. Tried to pay on two parts (large order
I will continue to come because the product is good, but if I can swing by the West side I most likely will.

I was excited to check out a salad restaurant, as I was craving a healthy meal. The service (ordering) was friendly, I just wasn’t very impressed with the food. I ordered the Chicken Caesar Salad and it was just O.K., it was nothing special. The chicken was cut up in little cubes and the presentation was unremarkable. However, the price was reasonable and I did get a big portion. I didn’t love it, so I won’t be back.

Love this place! Fresh and healthy! Great prices! The Sundance salad is my favorite with added chicken breast. I also enjoy the cream of avocado soup and lettuce wraps. Never been disappointed!

Have had the Caesars salad at both Bend locations now and it was definitely better here.

Good food! You can taste the freshness. I had The Southwest sandwich and it was orgasmic! It was a good size sandwich too… my gf and I were able to share it and a bag of chips and we were good. Also tried their Mango Mist Iced Tea and it was very tasty. The the wait wasn’t too long either, so all in all a good experience.

Their food is good quality but $ 8.00 + Tip for a half chicken apple salad, and maybe two baby food size bites of chicken. Really? And $ 2 of the bill was for a few slices of avacado on top. WOW! Cafeteria style service and Parking is terrible and now this. Probably won’t go there again. EVER.

Great help!

I came here for lunch today. I got in line and i ordered our food. After I told the cashier everything i wanted she looked at me and said «what»? So i told her again what I wanted and she again asked what. She was just gazing off into space. So I reordered for a third time and she got it right this time but told me a different total than was on the little screen. She never asked if I wanted a drink or chips.
My food was good. Ironically, the croutons are not that great.

First visit – and in love. The tomato basil soup is yummy as is the Granny Smith chicken salad. Both winners in my book!

In addition to posting hours of operation for this newly opened eatery, the sign taped to the entry doors contained a footnote that went about like this: «Thanks for your patience as we train our new staff.» No patience required since the friendly and efficient staff here are the reason for a round up to 4 stars. Food 3 stars, location 2 stars, friendly staff 5 stars.
NEW EAST SIDE SIBLING LOCATION TO ORIGINAL WEST SIDE
If you’re familiar with the original Bend Croutons on the west side (SW Century Drive) you’ll find exactly the same menu here, salads of all kinds in two sizes, a few sandwiches and a few flatbreads, as on the west side. In fact, since Croutons East and its’ westside sibling are part of the small (seven only) chain of the Southern California originated Croutons, the cookie cutter efficiency that comes with «fastish» convenience food chain formats applies here. Which is not a bad thing when it guarantees consistent quality.
I’ve been not such a big fan of the original Bend location because my experiences there over more than a handful of years have been that it is sardine can tight for furniture arrangement and at times the salad ingredients didn’t seem fresh. But this new Croutons location has a much better layout for tables and chairs in a bigger space letting you actually move from one point to another and salad ingredients seem fresh indeed.
MENU
Omnivores, vegetarians and vegans all will find items on menu to make them happy. There is a small kids’ menu too. (Lots and lots of little ones present this week during Spring break.) And prices are as all Crutons, reasonable for what you get. As example, a large Sante Fe (one of the vegetarian options) salad that easily fed two clocked in at $ 6.95.
ORDER TO NOSH TO BUS
If you’re not familiar with Croutons process, you stand in line to order from the nice folks at the counter from a menu posted over the the counter. Pay for your order. Receive a «table card» with a number on it. Choose a table (much easier here than the West location) and take your seats. Your food is delivered to your table. Bus your own when done.
I APPRECIATE…
… in spite of the «fastish’ food format here, Croutons serves their salads (and sandwiches and soup although those wouldn’t be my choice here) in melamine like plastic bowls and dishes and not in disposable paper or plastic stuff. I ialso appreciate that they don’t overdress their salads. Sound like small things, but for a chain they are good things for sure.
BEING PREPARED
A couple of hitches in the giddyeup you may want to know in advance:
1) No paper menus were available to peruse and the ingredient details lines below the salad titles on the menu board were small enough for text that some were struggling to identify ingredients and holding up the line in the process as the very nice counter folks were asked «what’s in the…».
2) This building has very few parking spots in front. It used to be an assistive medical device store and the few spots were probably fine for that purpose. But for a popular eatery, the parking is dicey and the route through the lot, such as it is, is too. Not to mention cars are entering the lot from busy Greenwood Avenue. Be careful out there… as they say… this lot is an insurance agent’s dream. A handful of extra parking spaces are on the backside of the building.
3) The spare but cool modern interior design means lots of hard surfaces for sound to bounce off of which means this is loud when the place is full. My lunch companion kept saying «HUH?» Not a bad thing, but a thing if you’re planning on conductinig business over lunch.