Crushed Red

Not a great first experience. I placed my order online so I could quickly pickup my order on my way to work. When I arrived, they were having a steady but not crazy busy Saturday night and appeared to be very adequately staffed. However, my order of flatbread and salad, which I was picking up 15 minutes past the requested time, wasn’t ready. The cashier told me they were having trouble with their ticketing system, but somehow miraculously my flatbread was ready even though they hadn’t pulled my order (???). So, I had to wait for my «salad» to be made, which took just a couple of minutes. I say «salad» because it was chopped within an inch of its life and what I got was more like a Cobb Salsa than Cobb Salad. Since I had to wait for the salad and they gave me my flatbread when I walked in, it was already cold by the time I left. While I as waiting for my salad I was asked if I needed flatware, and when he handed me my salad, he asked if I needed a bag. For almost $ 19 for flatbread/​salad, these should be a given, not an option.
I’ll give this place another chance, but they just did not have their act together tonight.

Super tasty, organic, vegan and gluten-​free options… And all are delicious! We started with a cheese and tomato shareable (appetizer) which was dressed with balsamic and pesto… Really good, though they could have gone a little easier on the pesto. Between the four of us, we tried the Southwestern Salad (loved the fresh avocado addition), Farmers Market (sweet and satisfying) and the Wild Salmon (well-​balanced and filling). Our toddler had the kids pizza, and I loved that it was organic AND tasty. The portions were just right, and being able to choose the size of salad (three options) meant we all got exactly what we needed. The atmosphere was gorgeous — modern shabby industrial — and their use of cloth napkins and real silverware are one of many reasons the restaurant is green and zero-​waste. Love love love this place and hope they expand their chain to Florida soon!

Crushed Red has the best quality salad. I always order the cowpoke steak salad. The ingredients are all very fresh and lettuce is freshly chopped as well. The price is reasonable. Again, love it!

Today was my first time visiting Crushed Red and I LOVED it! I had the mini Cobb Salad and I took it to go and ate it back at my office. It’s one of the best salads that I’ve had in St. Louis — it is the perfect ratio of ingredients, I will definitely be back often and I can’t wait to try the pizzas and soups!

Solid lunch or dinner spot. Our party of 4 moseyed in for a casual dinner, and we each made our own salad. I liked that you can choose your size too: mini, regular, or large.
Plenty of veggie, cheese, and protein toppings and other accoutrement (dried cranberries, almonds, tortilla strips, etc) as well. I would say the piece de resistance is how the salad is chopped into pieces before being served up. It tricks your mind into thinking you’re not just having a bowl of spinach.
Flatbread pizzas also offered, as well as beer and wine!

I have been there several times since they opened in Kirkwood and was always satisfied with the food and the service. They have a great selection of salads and pizzas.
I have heard several complaints from people who said that they would like to stop by for a glass of wine with friends but that quantity of wine that they serve is too small for the price that they charge.

I ordered on line. I arrived promptly to pick up order. Staff had some difficulty finding order. My salad had walnuts in it even though I excluded them on my order.
Cup of soup is really tiny. You are better off getting a bowl.
Pear Salad was good.
I feel like this location is still working out some process and ordering issues

i am so jealous they have this in City Place after my office moved out of here. If I was still close I would be here weekly. Their pizzas are small, but filling and unique, and their salads are otherworldly. Their ahi tuna is great on their salads. The service is friendly and fast, and it’s a reasonable price for lunch! I love doing the build your own pizza and making it as spicy as possible.

Good location and similar offerings to the other Crushed Red locations in town. There is a lot going on along this stretch of Olive so you need to be looking to find this place.
Soups are a welcome treat on a blustery November day… especially their squash soup. Rich, creamy and it warms you from the inside. Exactly right for lunch on the first day of snowfall.
The flatbread was also pretty good. I had their roasted chicken with Gorgonzola. Good crust, creamy and stinky cheese but the roast chicken was simultaneously dry and flavorless. Other ingredients seemed perfectly fresh.

This is the second time I’ve been to the newer location on Olive after visiting a few times in Clayton. I much prefer this location. The layout/​elbow room of the dining area and the parking situation are better.
Again, we I shared the Roasted Chicken Gorgonzola pizza and This Pear Is On Fire salad. We love them both! We pass on the habanero salad dressing — too spicy for us. So far, we’ve tried the balsamic vinaigrette, goddess and ranch. We like them all but aren’t crazy about any one in particular. Anyway, the pizza is killer (not huge, fyi) and the salad equally so. One of the best parts about this place is how much they chop their salad ingredients so you’re not navigating huge pieces of lettuce. With everything chopped finely, the salads are dense and meal sized.
The checkout seems like it could go a little faster and this time, myself and another customer were both waiting for a few minutes while employees right in front of us didn’t say a word to us. «We’ll be right with you» always works.

This has become one of my favorite lunch destinations. Great choices and friendly service make for happy repeat customers. Love to create my own chopped salads. Welcome back cobber is a winner too.

Yummy!!! Love this place. Great atmosphere and great food. Created my first pizza here and it was delicious. Service and quality of food is great. The location is great also!

Walked in and not sure of the process. No one to greet you. Expected to know the process. After our initial «order» for a family of 3. Shuffled to the salad bar. Then going to order the girl behind taking our drink order took forever. After we paid she said your drinks would be out in a few minutes. After 15 min of us standing waiting for our drinks she said she was «swamped» and they are coming. Swamped must be two people in line behind us. Terrible.

Great place for lunch! I work down the street and we all love this place. It’s a perfect place to please a variety of people with various diets and preferences.
I have loved all the food I’ve gotten there except one mishap. We decided to order ahead and run into pick it up because we had limited time. When we showed up, the staff/​host asked my coworker to clarify her order and then made hers right there. Meanwhile, they had mine ready so I had to stand and hold it while they made her salad. We were very clear using the online system. I asked for no Gorgonzola on my pizza — especially since I had a migraine and strangely ONLY craved this pizza (yukon steakhouse). When I got to the office it was smothered in Gorgonzola. I was too starved to go back so I ate it and paid for it the rest of the day. It just defeated the purpose of planning ahead so maybe that will get worked out.
However, I still love the food and I will still be back. I won’t order ahead any time soon so I’ll save visits for when I have time to stand in line or dine in.
If you are in the area, I recommend it for the variety and quality. The service is great in person.

I could eat one of these salads every few days. Crushed Red makes me want to make better salads at home. The salads are the shining star at Crushed Red. Flatbreads could be better.
Ordering at Crushed Red takes work. First flatbread orders are taken if you are getting one. After you place a flatbread order you walk to the salad station. The mini salad is a lot more filling than it looks. If you are getting a flatbread, appetizer, or soup… only get a mini salad. If you are eating the salad as your meal, go for the regular. The salad choppers will build you a salad of your dreams… just tell them what you want. I always ask for my dressing on the side. I love ordering the Create Your Own Salad which comes with four toppings.
Then you go sit down… Parmsean Cheese? Roasted Garlic? Red Pepper Flakes? Jump up and walk towards the front door. You will see a small station with these items and small cups.
Super fast, ultra-​casual. Quality ingredients. On-​line ordering now available.

I LOVE Crushed Red! When I heard about the Crushed Red opening in Creve Coeur, I screamed and called my boyfriend who was in different time zone and was asleep. Whoops? This was breaking news. I then eagerly scoped out the location and waited for their opening.
The first time I came in shortly after they opened, I thought the service was a little slow, but I thought they were just finding their beat. At my next (several) visits, I definitely noticed a pick up in speed and efficiency. They got it!
The welcome back cobber and south of the border are two of my favorite salads. They also recently had a seasonal spicy pear salad that was amazing. I think they are considering adding this to their permanent menu? I totally support that. In terms of size, I get the regular if I am starving. Even then, I usually can’t finish it. Their portions are VERY generous and lend themselves to leftovers :) If you manage to save some room, GET A BROWNIE. OMG. I can’t stress enough how amazing their brownies are. Incredibly moist and rich.
Highly, highly recommend.

I was kind of excited for this place to open but I have to say it did not live up to my expectations.
I got the Tunapalooza. There was waaaay too much dressing on it. The lettuce was therefore soggy and the texture ruined it for me. I wish they would have asked if I wanted the dressing on the side.
My friend was also disappointed with his salad. With all the great options in the area for lunch, I doubt I’ll be back.

I had the south of the border salad and added chicken and it was amazing and very filling. They only have pizzas and salads, but the uniqueness of their menu makes up for the only two meal options. The salads are huge and always fill me up. The pizzas are on the small side but good with a side salad. I would definitely go back!
Overall Satisfaction: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Taste: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Price: $ 10-​$ 15 per person usually
Environment: very upbeat and fun environment. Good for a business lunch date.
Service: ¹⁰⁄₁₀

My girlfriend and I came here for lunch today, meeting at 11 a.m., right when they open.
We were on our way to a matinée at the AMC Creve Coeur theatre and wanted to make sure we allowed plenty of time for the transit from one to the other on busy Olive Street.
It was a darned good thing we did this. By 11:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m., the line was out the door. My guess is they have a lot of CityPlace patrons, so this location is divine for Crushed Red.
As it happened, we both got the same thing, ~$ 11 each. We drank water.
A cup of butternut squash soup and a mini Welcome Back Cobber salad (field greens, roasted chicken breast, avocado, bacon, egg, blue cheese, croutons and tomato with Goddess dressing). I was embarrassed to order this salad, ’cause the name is inane.
I watched her make my salad, and everything was a big handful. Plenty of protein and a whole hard-​boiled egg, which I love.
We both opted out of croutons, and she changed her dressing to ranch.
The other soups available on Thursday are: mushroom and brie bisque and vegetarian lentil. The butternut squash soup (per the website) seems to be offered every day.
Check out the website for soup offerings of the day:
The butternut squash soup was so silky, could have been a little bit of cinnamon or nutmeg in it. Perfect balance. It is sweet, but so is butternut squash.
The Welcome Back Cobber salad was amazing. So full of protein. I ate a little of the mini, and that was enough. I took leftovers home in my chilled cooler (always in my car), and it served as another meal.
Crushed Red could be difficult to find. The stripmall is set back a bit from Olive, on the north side, with New Balance, Il Bel Lago and CUTCO Knives, just a tad west of Fresh Market and CityPlace. Potbelly is in the stripmall directly east.
It’s east of the Olive and New Ballas intersection so if you get there coming from the east, you’ve gone too far.
Most of the store signs are obscured by trees. Not helpful. And the addresses are on the glass above the door of each establishment. Small numbers, and you can’t see them from Olive.

Crushed Red is in Creve Coeur — which means creative creations are abound and they are wholesome too. Crushed Red is a fast casual restaurant that specializes in delicious yet healthy options with an artisan flare. Ninety percent of the menu is organic; and personally I prefer my fruit and veggie pesticide free (if farmers can’t breathe it while spraying it — why would I eat it) so the concept of this restaurant sits so right with me.
If you have ever been to one of the other locations (Clayton & Kirkwood) it might have been a little perplexing when trying to order. I think they have learned that a change was needed and there is a drastic improvement from the Clayton location. There is a greeter at the door that fully explains everything. At the first station you will order your flatbreads and soups, then you’re given a number that doesn’t buzz (because that would be irritating) and then you’re off to watch your custom salads prepared. With that said, be patient with the Staff and yourself; and as soon as you get the hang of it you will be totally comfortable and ready to command that menu and all of those options for toppings! In no time like magic your items are brought to your table.
Here you will find fresh salads chopped to order, fanatic flatbreads, soups, fresh fruit options, little cool to go desserts and even wine and beer. There is so much variety here that everyone can find something they like. You can go with a set item on the menu or go rouge and create your own! This day I went with a salad and a flatbread. I had the «This Pear is on Fire» salad (spiced pears, dried cranberries, goat cheese, avocado with spinach and house mix) tossed with jalapeño honey mustard dressing and topped with candied walnuts; and the fire roasted veggie flatbread (artichokes, portabellas, onion, tomato, red pepper, pineapple & Crushed Red mozzarella blend with fresh rosemary).
I was a little leery about the dressing on the salad but it was really good. This salad is seasonal so I thought I would be brave and try something different. The flatbread was good and for the crust to be so thin it wasn’t overly hard or crunchy. The sauce is so fresh and delicious but it was very salty. I had that same salt experience at the Clayton location and it remains here. True the flatbreads are smaller but the price reflects not on the quantity but the quality of the ingredients.
Crushed Red also allows call in orders if time is an issue and you don’t want to sit down (sometimes you need to grab and go to get home and catch that highly anticipated TV show). If you do dine in don’t forget to the leave a tip for the staff that brings your food. For Crushed Red to be so environment friendly — it would better if they didn’t have to-​go salads in plastic bowls and instead opted for something eco friendly that was biodegradable. I am certain that this place will bustle during lunchtime. The service was fast and friendly and the food was fast and fresh; that kind of combo equals a winner in my book.