Salad Extraveganza

I love the concept. Place looks clean. Parking blows during peak hours. Extremely disappointed with the açai bowl. There was more ice than açai. The açai mixture is supposed to be thick!

I went here with my husband for the first time and immediately noticed a foul smell… we just thought maybe they just threw out the trash or something and moved on, I just wanted a smoothie. The girl asked me what I wanted, I told her and she said ok and then looked away… uhhhhhhhh am I supposed to wait in line? Move forward? So I went ahead and walked towards the register. The same girl walks up to the register and rings me up, luckily I had checked in on Unilocal for the 50% off and it came out to $ 3 and some change… the cup is the size of a grande at starbucks. Another girl began to make my smoothie, she scoops in peanut butter, then uhhhhhhhh HEB brand low fat frozen yogurt? Okay, that’s weird… I thought I was supposed to be getting something healthy…
The ingredients for the HEB frozen yogurt is: Milk, Sugar, Cream, Skim Milk, Corn Syrup, Fat Free Yogurt (Cultured Pasteurized Skim Milk, Sugar, Modified Corn Starch), Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Maltodextrin and Less than 2% of Mono‑ and Diglycerides, Cellulose Gel, Cellulose Gum, Carrageenan, Salt, Vitamin A Palmitate.
Yeah, Sugar is #2 on the list… not to mention the modified corn starch and corn syrup (more sugar)… then she added some silk organic almond or soy milk and then alot of ice which she came out from behind the counter to the soda machine to get. The smoothie was more of a melted milk shake consistency… another thing my husband noticed was that the almond milk was sitting out, as in they didn’t pull it out if a fridge which could explain why it was so watery. When we left, we were still smelling that not so pleasant smell and when we stepped out we noticed it smelled nicer outside than in the store. I really wanted to like this place, but we won’t be coming back. What a shame…

Fast and friendly service. Delicious salads. Fresh ingredients. Highly recommended.
Will definitely return.

Salad Extraveganza is my favorite food, yes FOOD! All of their salad toppings are fresh, and their salad dressings are all homemade.
I am a pretty tough salad critic, but Salad Extraveganza far exceeds my expectations. For only $ 11, you can make a MEGA salad that feels like it weighs 5 lbs! This includes a choice of protein including shrimp :) I have asked for shrimp every time I go, and they have given me 2 heaping scoops of shrimp. I cannot wait to again. The best part is you don’t feel guilty after eating it.
Please add a location in the Cinco Ranch area!

Superb visit today! Don’t let the size of the salad bowls fool you. They hold a lot. The salad bar choices are endless. Had me feeling adventurous. Ordered the tomato quinoa soup which tastes just like tomato basil. Yum!
They’ve got these detox drinks sitting near the register. I didn’t like them but that’s ok. They had a fountain machine and tea urn (I think).
The staff were all friendly. Some more than others. The owner (his name escapes me) stopped by our table to greet us. WOW was he cute. His passion for the restaurant was apparent.
The waffle was delicious! Lite and fluffy. We had one for desert and it left nothing to be desired.
The décor was awesome. The Orange spider-​webby chairs and resin river rock tables really make the place pop. Very comfortable dining space.
Looking forward to my next visit.

Great place for HEALTHY eating. Fresh stuff served fast.
Clean and worth the drive. Close to good shopping.

I finally got to try out salad extravaganza and I’ve got to say that was the best salad I have ever had. This coming from a guy who doesn’t normally eat salads for lunch.
I was feeling sluggish today and didn’t believe that the mega salad would give me any energy but I’m surprised to say that it did while also filling me up. If you like to eat healthy and are looking for a new place to try out, I highly recommend this restaurant.
My only regret is that it there isn’t a location closer to me because if there was one I would frequent it.

Despite the fact that I just received a truly lovely complement from a fellow Unilocal enthusiast calling a 5-​star review of mine «delusional and psychotic», I feel its my duty to solider on in these trying times and enlighten you with more of my «horrendously written… as if by that girl in class everyone hates» thoughts with a trip to SE, a pleasant break from the WFM salad bar.
I should begin by noting that although the name, Salad Extra-​VEGAN-​za, suggests a certain absence of animal products, do not be fooled, we are in Houston and bacon bits and feta are two members of the cornucopia of ingredients that can rest atop your spinach/​romaine/​kale/​spring mix/​all of the above salad of dreams.
Clearly I went for the «mega salad» — clocking in at either 48 or 72 ounces, depending on how hard you want to go, it is glorious — if I tried to list all of the toppings I’d exhaust all of us, but rest assured that if you want to put in on a salad, they likely have it (peppers, broc, chick peas, cilantro, olives, sweet potato, wasabi peas, egg, hominy, papaya (weird), apple, strawbs, chia, flax, sunflower, salmon, quinoa, chicken, smoked turkey, shrimp, tofu, etc) — you can load as much as you want on there — most of the ingredients looked fairly fresh (though the apples and shrooms had started to brown a bit, not unexpected) and I appreciate that they don’t skimp in doling out the goodies.
The staff was completely lovely, though the vibe is a bit… misogynistic…as the workers wear shirts that pronounce «she doesn’t work out, we don’t work out»…and I understand that the emphasis is on living a healthy lifestyle (walls plastered with inspirational suggestions to «be active daily» and «crossfit = real»), but it’s still an odd choice for a uniform tee. Like they say, you can take the gal out of Wellesley, but you can never take the «I’m offended» out of that lady.
Went at lunch time as was one of 6 ppl in there — no line — though I think they do a brisker take-​away business. Less ladies who lunch than nearby office workers looking to get their greens on — v casual. Space is bright, lime green and orange accenting the casual white space — back of the store needs a new coat of paint as the trip to the bathrooms caused me to slightly question how clean everything reallllly is — but overall, if I lived in Houston, I’d for sure return.
My massive salad w/​salmon was $ 11.10, I think w/​o protein it would have been $ 9ish. The wraps are around the same. They also do acai bowls ($ 6−8ish), sweet or savory whole wheat waffles, tacos, soups, wraps (salad, nestled in a spinach or wheat tortilla) — all of which are under $ 11 — in short, it’s a hefty quantity of food at delightfully reasonable prices. While none of it will blow your mind as it’s functionally whatever rando collection of veggies and dressing you decide to go with, it is one of the rare times I’m actually sated after a salad I didn’t craft, so for me, a win.

So if a place like this has all their ingredients listed publicly for their smoothies, they should stick to them, right? And if they run out of an ingredient, they should let the customer know, right?
I ordered the Acai Smoothie. They ran out of yogurt (I think) so they used scoops of vanilla ice cream instead. Isn’t this place supposed to be healthy and for clean-​eating? I’m confused. Also, shouldn’t they have informed me that they ran out of yogurt (if they did) and will be using ice cream instead? Substitutes always need to be communicated. Granted, the smoothie was good but it turned out way too sweet, and I cannot drink more than a fourth of this.

Don’t get the tacos.
My salad was fine but nothing great. Vegetarian protein options are very limited: creole seasoned quinoa and plain tofu. Vegan salad dressing is also limited to balsamic vinaigrette and salsa. Their sundried tomato dressing has Parmesan cheese in it. Why?!
Kale and vegetable soup tastes a little weird because they use pineapples in it.
The saddest part is the tacos my husband got. See photo.

I feel compelled to update my review and take away a star due to my experience today. I’ve been recommending this place to friends, and took a co-​worker here today for lunch after bragging about it.
We both decided to do the small salad, and the woman at the counter didn’t say a word the entire time. She didn’t explain anything to my co-​worker, and when we both picked out quinoa in addition to chicken, she didn’t say anything then either. Luckily I was there to tell her to try the different dressings, or she may not have even known that was option.
When we went to pay, I noticed our individual bills were over $ 11, which was like what I paid for a large salad. I didn’t see a sign anywhere that said extra protein is more and she never showed me the receipt. I asked about it, but she didn’t answer, and I didn’t want to make a scene, so I asked for my receipt to be texted to me, put in my number, then waited.
After eating my salad for a little bit and not receiving the text, I went back up to the front to ask about it. Turns out there’s a $ 1.99 charge for an additional protein that is stated no where except for on this receipt. I let her know that there’s no sign and she said the employee should’ve told us and it was her mistake and she’d talk to her about it. That’s great and all, but that doesn’t really solve the issue that I feel completely ripped off. She then told me next time I should ask before giving my credit card. So what was she going to do — dump my salad? Dump the quinoa out of the salad? Argue with me? The whole thing just didn’t make much sense. She also gave me the vibe that was she annoyed at me for calling this out at all. I’m a huge fan of strong customer service, and this was completely flat.
I debated re-​reviewing after the incident, but I wasn’t as impressed with these ingredients either. The avocado had a bunch of brown spots everywhere, and I even debated ordering it, but it’s such a staple of my salad. My co-​worker found the head/​root part of the tomato in her salad, which should never end up in a salad.
I left it at 3 stars, even though this was a 2 experience, because I’ve had such a good experience my other 2 times. I’ll be back eventually, but I’m sadly now a bit more turned off. I hope this was a fluke.

I work in the Greenway Plaza area and I’m always looking for new spots to try for lunch. Extra points if it’s healthy! One day I was craving something other than Chick-​fil-​A/​Chipotle (this doesn’t happen a lot), and I was torn between Salata and Salad Extravaganza. However, I decided to go for the latter.
FYI: you can order online, but it has to be a minimum of $ 20, and within a 3 mile radius (perfect for me because it’s down the street).
You basically choose as many greens (kale, spinach, romaine and spring mix), veggies (bell pepper, broccoli, tomatoes, chick peas, wasabi peas, etc.), fruit (hominy, pineapple, coconut, etc.), seeds and nuts (almonds, chia, flax, etc.), cheese (feta, parmesan, etc.) as you want without an additional charge. This can make for a pretty filling salad! The charges start adding up when you want extra dressing and protein (of course).
I give this place two thumbs up. I really like the variety, and they do not skimp on the ingredients. If you don’t mind paying upwards of ~$ 10 for a salad, go here. To me, I don’t mind because I like to eat (somewhat) healthy, and sometimes it’s a pain to pack your own salad for lunch. When I went to pick up my food, it was a huge box! I only ate half, and saved the other half for dinner. They also have a variety of pressed juices, so it’s a place you won’t feel guilty eating.

Still very great, and the healthiest option in the area by far. That said, I feel they could use a few tweaks:
— frozen yogurt ice cream in the smoothies — come on, much cleaner, greek yogurts are out there with more protein, less sugar, and creamier tastes
— more vegetarian protein options needed — regular cubed tofu is pretty boring, there are so many other varieties, give the vegetarians the same love you give the carnivores with different spice and flavor combos
— the whole bright restaurant thing i understand, they’re trying to be up front, fun, clear, etc. it’s a little cafeteria esque though in practice. restaurants tend to be slightly dim for a reason, i don’t think it has to be dark, but capture some sort of a relaxed mood versus chowing down in a mess hall
This might sound a little neg, so I should contextualize this all by the fact that I stop at Salad Extravaganza over mainstays such as Uchi because it’s so clean, tasty, and the assortment of greens are wonderful. The greens are always fresh and crisp, and the owner pays attention to the provenance of his items.

Another wonderful experience over the last 24 hours … yes, we ate dinner last night and had lunch today but we can’t help it! Salad Extraveganza is the place to be for deliciously nutritious food and incredible service. I also wanted to thank you all for making my special smoothie request possible last night. I throughly enjoyed the sweet taste, even though people looked at the funny color in my see-​through cup. No judgement, IT WAS DELICIOUS! We also tried the Peanut Choco smoothie and it was literally out of this world. I love how I can have a tasty treat and still feel great! PS You guys make me smile, thank you!

I threw my salad out.
Nothing tasted good.
The turkey tasted actively bad.
It wasn’t rotten — no need to call the health department.
But the whole salad literally left a bad taste in my mouth.
*******
Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln — how did you enjoy the play?
I am afraid I didn’t like very much of the rest of my Salad Extraveganza experience either.
The owner intentionally, by artistic choice, cultivates
a my-​way-​or-​the-​highway in-​your-​face approach —
which would be genius if he hit all the right notes
and plays badly when he hits wrong notes.
The decorating gives a lot of orders.
«STOP EATING JUNK» on the front window.
«IF SHE DOESN’T WORK OUT IT WONT WORK OUT»
on t-​shirts hanging all over the wall.
The owner can’t be bothered to cover up the bottom of the soda machines so the ugly plumbing is there for the full view of the patrons.
I tripped over boxes that were partially blocking the way to the men’s room which he could not be bothered to close.
There is no menu but a series of signs spread around the restaurant, in a hard to read color scheme that matches the furniture.
Food is given private names meaningful to the owner. «Spicy Rooster Soup» for example is beef-​mushroom soup with quinoa. Assuming that the visitor actually FINDS the reference to Spicy Rooster Soup — which is buried on a blackboard in the back of the store — I can’t figure out how the customer is supposed to know that this is beef and not chicken soup.
The primary decorating in the main room is a mural with a set of privately meaningful song lyrics referring to being dumped romantically.
All of the above would be just quirky if the food was good — but it is not.
He uses the same commercial salad ingredients you can get at Salata across the street — which is a combination of fresh and good — and not so fresh and not so good. Semi dead broccoli. Canned black olives. Poultry made from pressed chicken/​turkey breast product. The dressings and the hot peppers don’t cover up the fact that a lot of the items aren’t that good.
Soup fares a little better. The Spicy Rooster was a middle of the road beef and mushroom soup made more filling with the not unwelcome addition of some quinoa. The broth was okay and the mushrooms still had some life to them. There were jalapenos in the soup — and I am coming to appreciate that jalapenos boil up very well. Chalk up one for the chef.
*****
Other Unilocalers have had better luck with this place … but then they also like Salata as well, which is another questionable call.
If you are starved for salad places, don’t want to go to an Asian restaurant for your veggie fix and don’t want to have to cram down a burger or fried seafood … then Salad Extraveganza can certainly do.
But healthy food can be so so much better than this!

I love you, Salad Extraveganza. Why don’t you have a location downtown? This needs to happen ASAP so I can stop throwing my hard-​earned money away at Salata. Yes, the two are similar in concept, but Extraveganza is everything Salata is not.
If you’re here, you’re already willing to pay a premium for someone else to assemble a salad using ingredients you can buy at the grocery store. Some of us are lazy health nuts, so this is perfect. The produce is fresher, there is a larger variety, the prices are reasonable, and the staff is friendly. They even have sweet potato and quinoa!
I got a small kale salad with chicken for under $ 9, and the portion was incredibly generous. When I requested a certain topping, the server didn’t just lightly sprinkle half a teaspoon like they do at Salata. I asked for more eggs (gotta get that brotein), and she actually gave me a full second serving! And she didn’t even have a pained expression on her face. Is this real life?!
For dessert, since you’ve been hitting the gym, reward yourself with a waffle or acai (ah-​sah-​EE) bowl. Or try one of their smoothies, which is kinda ridic at $ 7, but if you check in on Unilocal,it’s 50% off. The acai smoothie is SO GOOD.
There’s only one thing I can think of that Salata offers over Extraveganza, and that’s a free slice of bread with your salad. Well, they can keep their stale bread.

Recently moved from California to Houston and was afraid that I’d have the stereotype of unhealthy food as my only choice for a quick meal. Not that I have anything against ribs and brisket… but I do get guilty after several pounds of it. This place offers a nice retreat from the Whataburger mentality (again…nothing wrong with it once in a while).
The lunch deal is pretty sweet– a good way to try their salad and soup. Can’t help but get a crazy serving of veggies as they have a broad selection of roots and legumes that look like candies in a bowl.
Tip: they can be a bit heavy handed on the dressing, so I’d recommend asking for half the ladle or dressing on the side. The dressing is great… but I went in for a salad with dressing, not dressing with a sprinkle of leaves.
The «detox» water is interesting: blend of apple and cinnamon. Chill it on ice and it’s bomb.
Have yet to try the smoothies, acai, or baked goods.

I was excited to find this place because they have acai bowls (açaí na tigela), and I have not found any other place in Houston, TX that offers this. Unfortunately, there was not really much taste to it, as it was very watery. I haven’t given up hope, so I will try it one more time. I have given this place a generous score because they are offering healthy alternatives to fast food. However, the taste was not really as fresh as I was hoping for.
Pros:
–Huge variety of toppings for wraps
Cons:
–Chairs are uncomfortable
–Tables were soiled and not cleaned off

Note: the rating is mostly based on the service I received.
I was excited to try this place out given the rave Unilocal reviews. Since I was in the area, I decided to come in for a quick lunch — around 11am on a Saturday morning — to be exact.
I walked in and was greeted by a young gentleman asking me what I wanted to order. I mentioned that I had never been there so he proceeded to tell me about the options they offered in a very unexcited kind of way. Fine, no biggie.
When I got to the protein section, I questioned which options were gluten-​free. He stared at me like I was an idiot with the «chicken-is-of-course-gluten-free-it’s-not-made-of-flour-what-kind-of-question-is-that» look. Um. well young lad, the seasoning could contain gluten. That was my response minus the first part. He stammered in his response so it was clear that he didn’t know the ingredients. Sigh. Anyway, I picked turkey since he wasn’t of much help. Wish me luck that my stomach doesn’t feel terrible afterwards.
Next were the dressing options. Again, he didn’t know which were gluten-​free. Double sigh. I tried a couple — the house mix, the mango, and the lemon lime caesar. I opted for the mango but instead he gave me the house mix… I didn’t discover his mistake until I was eating my salad. Triple sigh. Since I was in a rush and didn’t have time to point out his mistake and ask him to remake my salad, I just let it go. He probably would have forgotten what I selected anyway.
The salad tasted fresh, but any place can achieve this as long as they offer variety and fresh veggies/​toppings so not much to say about that. The service, however, needs improvement. I don’t want to be there if the workers don’t either. The fact that this place is all about eating clean and healthy, the staff needs to be better educated on that topic. Otherwise, how can you accommodate and provide recommendations to customers?

I strongly do not like wasting my valuable time looking for parking to give an establishment my money. You don’t have to agree, this is how I feel. Lunch hour is madness when parking. I’ve had several bad experiences at Salata, so I decided to give this place a try.
I ordered the 72 ounce salad for $ 9.25 before taxes and a kale yea smoothie for my business partner for $ 6.55 before taxes. The cashier told me my total was $ 17.10, and I really wanted to ask her, «For that?» But I do not like asking people rhetorical questions. I understand the $ 6 smoothie, but almost $ 10 for that side serving salad. This is where something called customer service kicks in, it’s not common sense for everyone, so I understand. If I was the cashier and saw the customer was paying for 72 ounces but clearly it’s not even 16 ounces, to ask the customer would they like more of the same toppings for the value. Then again, that’s just me and my opinion.
I’ve been working since 6 am this morning and was getting the chance to eat for the first time of the day. After I went back to work and ate my lunch, I was so aggravated because I was still hungry, and I had to continue working with a growling tummy.
As I left the establishment, there was a group of ten business men walking the strip looking for a place to dine for lunch. I overheard one guy saying the name of the salad bar, as if he was curious. One of the ten men said don’t bother. The other men asked why, the one guy said too expensive. I wanted to tell to give it a try, but after my baby salad, I could not argue a reason for them to give it a try.
I gave the smoothie to my business partner and he looked at my salad and asked, will this hold you through work, clearly not. I asked if he wanted a salad and he replied, if it’s that small for $ 10, I rather eat elsewhere.
Everyone experience is different, but at this point it looks like I will do better purchasing a salad by the pound at Phoenician Specialty or central market or whole foods.