Be Leaf

This place is delicious — pricey but worth it if you’re looking for a delicious salad in the loop. The fiesta Fresca Mexican salad was really fresh and tasty– highly recommend if you want a made to order salad

Love this trend of healthy lunch spots that aim to source local ingredients! Tons of delicious flavor combinations, seasonal options, relatively fast line (even when it looks long!), plentiful portions, and… that scrumptious whole grain bread on the side ;)

I’m pretty particular about salads and I am in love with this place. Granted, it is not a cheap place to get lunch (the steak/​southwestern salad I usually get comes in around $ 13…), but I would rather bring my lunch most days and get something good when I do eat out than pay for something mediocre every day. There are plenty of salad bar/​quinoa bowl type places in the loop open at lunch but Be Leaf is absolutely my new favorite. Great food, cheerful staff (yes, this makes a difference!), and a fresh, pleasant ambience. Even good music if I remember correctly.
In addition to quality, tasty ingredients (hormone-​free meat, grass-​fed beef, a lot sourced locally), I LOVE that the owner/​manager has made a point to use only compostable utensils, cups, bowls, etc. There also seems to be a good selection of interesting drinks and food to grab and go (rather than order and wait). Kombucha, quality juices and pop, etc.
I hope this place sticks around as it’s definitely my new go-​to.

This place is like Chipotle for salads. You can build your own or go with one of the premade options. I got the Chi-​Cobb-​O. It seemed to have a good balance of proteins (chicken, bacon and egg) and a variety of greens. I thought the salad itself was ok. The combination worked well, though the serving size is small for something so fluffy. The maple yogurt dressing is what I really enjoyed. Perfect hint of sweet.
The price point is high for the portion size, but it’s a healthy option for lunch and seemed to be of good quality.

Was really hoping to be wowed by this! I wanted to try this place for a while. I did like the ambiance and the service was efficient! Now to the salad…
Ordered the Chickpea of the Sea after browsing for their salad options online and ordered it with kale in lieu of the romaine. However, the kale leaves were huge so they were very hard to eat and it was difficult to see what actually went into the salad. The hemp seeds also added an unnecessary and unpleasant crunch to the salad — I would leave this out. I first thought my quinoa was undercooked when I kept crunching on the seeds.
In addition, the harissa shrimp threw the flavors off. Overall, I feel like another salad combination would be better since the flavors were all over the place. The salad was also not tossed very well. Some parts were coated, others were not.
I would take this off the menu — for $ 13 I think another combination could work better.

Disorganized ordering process. Stingy portions. This is the definition of price gauging. There were so many ingredients listed on the menu that I was expecting to have in the salad and there was just one of them (1 crumble of cheese, 1 pepper, No tortilla chips etc). You’re way better off going to Mixed Greens where you can get unlimited toppings for almost half the price. Never wasting my money here again.

I was looking for somewhere in the area and chose Be Leaf cause it’s close by my office. I will have to preference this review with I’m not a salad person to begin with. I got the cobb salad and I found it just okay. It’s nice you have a lot of ingredients to choose from, but I felt my salad was made up of mostly lettuce. It’s also a little on the pricey side.

I really like beleaf and am willing to pay a higher price for their salads. Just tried the new seasonal salad with roasted Brussels Sprouts. Delicious, except… I ordered chicken to be added… they charge $ 2.50 for that. I paid the extra but didn’t get my chicken. Not good!

Hail Kale Cesar salad substituted with salmon and made with extra parm crisps. I have this salad down to a science and it is my most favorite lunch. I have found it difficult to stray from my usual but my colleagues have tried other salads and say they’re just as good as my usual. Love this place. Always fresh and good.

Was excited to check out this restaurant. But after trying their food, I don’t ever want to go back. Service was great though.

I’m basically on a mission to find my favorite middle eastern and salad place (s) around the office. There are plenty of chains nearby, and while I’m not above them, I like to stay a little smaller. But that any of that matters, I walked in early on Monday and ordered a chicken Cobb-​O directly at the register since I was the only one there. Truth be told, I had originally wanted the build your own, but after using their online ordering system, I found it would have been easy more expensive for the few substitutions I wanted. Just the same, the produce was fresh, the egg was cooked perfectly, and I tried maple, yogurt, Dijon dressing for the first time.
Overall, I was pleased with the quality and quantity of my lunch. It won’t be my first choice for salads since customization can be pricey.

I never realized how hard it was to get a simple salad with no sugary/​dairy additions until I searched my area trying to get specific toppings. Every salad nowadays has feta (or some type of cheese), cranberries, corn, quinoa, avocado, bacon, etc… and hardly any of these places have a ‘make your own’ option. The salad I got was suuuper simple: arugula, romaine, roasted cauliflower, jicama, cucumbers, chicken, jalapenos, and a sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil. Because of certain health issues I am only allowed to eat specific foods. I have to restrict sugars which means no fruit or carrots. I am not allowed to have any carbs. This place was PERFECT because they allowed me to pick exactly what I needed and it was a pretty large salad :)
The chicken was also amazing! I am not sure why people think it smells gross or looks gross… but it was actually really really good and made my little simple salad spectacular!

I have chosen to continue eating at Be Leaf on the days I work downtown, and the issue I had a few months back has since been remediated (portion sizes). Overall, this is a great place to get a healthy salad downtown. There are several options from which to choose whether it be a salad on the menu or a build your own. I typically build my own but I limit the number of «premium» toppings (e.g., avocado, beets, edamame, etc.) to one because the cost of the additional toppings is not always commensurate with the amount they actually give you. Nevertheless, it’s nice to have a place near the office that offers healthy food.

Ive been looking for a good salad place & I found a deal through Unilocal.
What a waste of $ 9!
I ended up throwing my salad away after I picked at the small amount of toppings they add.
The main reason it went in the trash was the chicken.
Which im pretty sure is canned. It smelled like tuna and it was the consistency of canned chicken. So disgusting.
For the price you are paying, its not worth it. I should of gone with the steak.

Be Leaf has been a great addition to the area. The salads are great with plenty of variety, tons of ingredient options, and good quantity. It is on the pricier side compared to other nearby lunch options. If prices were a bit more reasonable, I could actually see myself eating here everyday.
Well, I’ve been there a BUNCH of times and tried quite a few pre-​selected salads:
1. Squash the Beet — Best one I’ve had
2. Hail Kale — Good
3. Falafelosophy — Good
4. Quinoa-​based one — Decent, though it’s a LOT of quinoa :-)
5. Apply Ever After (or something like that) — Meh…
You can also build your own salad, but that seems like an intimidating task — there are just way too many options. Honestly, the menu could be set up a bit more intuitively. Or maybe just charge by the weight like a lotta places do.

Solid 3 stars. I’d try it again.
Pros:
A TON of options and fresh ingredients to choose from.
Quick assembly line process… they know what they’re doing.
The «greek to me» salad was tasty.
Cons:
Portion size… I was hungry again within an hour.
I need more protein than the one small scoop of chicken added to my salad.
$ 10.50 after tax for a not so big salad.

I was really nervous when I took a bunch of my co-​workers to Be Leaf for lunch the other day. There were a few nasty reviews, but we’re all really big fans of salad places.
When we got in, we were immediately impressed with the décor of the restaurant, as well as some of the fancy salad ingredients. As for the prices, they were a little high, but the portions were generous.
I ordered the chi-​cobb-​o. First of all, I absolutely love the name. But aside the name being cutsie, the salad was outstanding! It had kale chips in it which sound kind of scary, but I quite enjoy. They were such a pleasant complement to the flavors in the salad.
I will definitely be going back. Can’t wait to try the Squash the Beet!

Best salad in the loop and one loses weight while being inside this hip gorgeous and fresh locale
Very reasonably priced and smiling staff and adorable owner ! Be leaf is a find!!!
Kale for all;)

I was super excited to find a new salad place in the Loop! I am vegetarian (mostly vegan) and LOVE salad so I thought this would be the perfect match!
I went ahead and ordered the Fiesta Frasca Salad– Made Vegetarian (as it usually comes with skirt steak).
I had the following concerns:
* PRICE!- When I went to check out, the cost of the salad made vegetarian with tax was almost $ 15! I am used to what I thought was pricey, $ 10 salads from Protein Bar that at least come with quinoa
* NO UTENSILS– I got my salad to go, and found a lovely place to eat outside, only to find no napkins or fork to eat my salad with. I know new food trends are in, but I don’t think eating a salad with your hand is on of them.
* GRAY UN-​EDIBLE PLASTIC THINGY IN MY SALAD– After I secured a fork from a local Panera, I was ready to dig in. I took a small bite and it tasted good. I started to stir the salad up a bit, and noticed a gray plastic hook in the middle of my salad (please see picture attached). Is this to help compensate for the lack of skirt steak?
Thus, I am quite disappointed with this new place, wish they were more accommodating to vegetarians, and didn’t place foreign objects in my food.
PS– I would like to say the girl who checked me out was nice and friendly! The first bite of salad/​dressing was good (before the hook was found and the salad was tossed– who knows were plastic hooks come from these days?!).

I «be leaf» I was legally robbed. $ 32 for two smaller-​sized salads (one with chicken/​bacon/​avocado and one with falafel/​tofu as extras) and two cans of Coke. There are so many other awesome food choices worth their price point in the area.