Fresh Choice Restaurant

Worst Fresh Choice of all the ones I have been to. They have everything. The only down side to this place is that there aren’t many people there during the weekdays. You’re basically either left with what’s leftover, or nothing. Either you have to fight for the garlic bread/​pizza, or there aren’t any to begin with. The clam chowder looks like it was made in the morning. Long review short, I would drive extra miles for Sweet Tomatoes or another Fresh Choice if you crave salad buffet.

Out of business.
Apparently, ALL locations are closed. Too bad, since I always liked this chain.
«Popular salad buffet Fresh Choice goes dark» — Mercury News
By Heather Somerville
Updated: 12/​15/​2012 08:29:24 AM PST

Bad sign: on the door saying that the water will be turned back on after they pay the water bill.

Business closed as of 11÷29÷12.

A buffet of decent food for an extremely affordable price.
With my current state of health consciousness, my favorite part was their extensive salad bar. They had tasty options like the strawberry spinach salad and healthy offerings like kale and hummus! Mmm hummus. Many many servings of hummus.
The soup, pasta, pizza, and bread selections are minimal, but they’ve always been minimal. Their soups are a staple item to get, and unlike Sweet Tomatoes, they’re a bit more generous with clams in their clam chowder. The dessert section is a shame to see, but at least they have fruit.
$ 8.69 per person for weekday lunch, which is totally worth it for all-​you-​can-​eat spinach, kale, and hummus (yes, please eat your veggies!). I would recommend signing up for their email list for a $ 1 off coupon, which reduces the price to $ 8.32 after tax. How inexpensive is that?!
Please don’t have super high expectations when coming here. Fresh Choice may not be the freshest choice, but it provides a good balance of no-​fuss food options without breaking your wallet.

Ok…
3 stars for the food!
5 stars for service.
It was our first time at Fresh Choice. Ok, I’m into salads, and my husband, not so really! I had to convince him that they had unlimited pizzas and soups! He was sold.
He didn’t really like the food, but I loved the salads. He said that the butternut squash soup sucks, but he ate it anyways. He loved the combo pizza and the soft serve ice cream!
I had the chinese chicken salad and baked potato — my son had fake mac n cheese, chicken soup and corn. The phở soup was so fake! Don’t get that! It sucked!
The service was really great, though. As soon as you walk in, they greet you. Jose, the service guy kept on checking on us to see if we needed refills, and if everything was ok. He was so nice.
I would go back BY MYSELF for the salads. I wouldn’t make my husband and son come back here again.

You know, this place has really gone downhill. I used to go here about one or twice a week. I have stopped going because the salads here is just not good compared to Sweet Tomatoes. The day I went, there was no corn and peas. Even the tuna taragon was gone! As for dressings, they stopped serving fat free ranche. WTH? Isn’t this a salad bar and people come here to eat healthy food? The soups here are also well below par. Clam chowder is missing clams, chicken soup with small amounts of chicken.
You would better off going to Sweet Tomatoes. They recently opened a new location in Mountain View. Anyone reading this review shouldn’t go on the weekends because i usually go and don’t want longer lines.

Came here for Father’s Day because the in-​laws love this place, and I feel like the food has gotten worse over the years. I use to love this location and I love Fresh Choice, but they are making way too many changes to their food. The one plus, however, is the pizza got better! Other then that, I’m not too fond of their corn bread, brownies, and Chinese chicken salad anymore. Definitely not like what it use to be.
This place is always busy with tons of families, and they don’t seem to churn out food to keep pace with the diners. This last time I was hear, they only had 3 slices of pizza left when I got to the bar. The second time I got up to get more food, they had no more brownies.

This by far is my favorite Fresh Choice restaurant! Could it be that it is because it is the first Fresh Choice I’d been too. Oh well, who knows, who really cares.
Salad bar, pasta bar, soup bar, bread bar, desert bar.
Great place to get stuffed to the max.

This one is so much better (cleaner, more variety, bigger) than the one in Daly City. If I lived in Mountain View I would definitely be visiting this Fresh Choice!
Don’t forget AAA card gets you 10% off.

Wilted salads. Flavorless soft serve — seriously, where was the flavoring??? I love soft serve!!! Nachos used the same cheese as the mac-​n-​cheese. Muffins were overdone and pasta was rubbery. All that for $ 11. What a deal! :-/
Only reason it even gets two stars instead of one is because there is one server clearing tables and he is super nice and efficient. The nice guy was the only redeeming thing about this dinner. So sad because I have great memories of this place as a kid. Oh well. One more place we don’t have to go to.

The Chuck E Cheese version of Sweet Green. This is a California type buffet. I went here with my cousin and her family as it is a good place for families with something for everyone. They have some pizza, soups, vietnamese phos etc. However, the large salad bar is the heart of this restaurant. The salad bar is very complete with some very fresh toppings, I especially liked the peas and the pepperocini peppers. This is not a place for foodies, but is a nice buffet that is much healthier than most of the all you can east places you will find.
Dr. Thomas A. Wong
Hoya Hoop Club Director of Communications
Proud Member of Generation Ewing

Love to go through line and get my greens and grits.
My wife is embarrassed about how high I pile my plate, says I can go back for seconds, but THAT is no fun. I kind of do it now to bug her.
Works like a charm.

Bummer. I love salad buffets too
Price?
It’s pretty standard compared to Sweet Tomato right around the $ 10 mark.
Restaurant?
Clean and organized even during the rush on late Sunday afternoon. The staff was pretty good about collecting dirty dishes. Warning! I love kids, but there is something about this locations where parents feel their 3 – 4 year olds are ok to wander on their own. There are blind corners and I always see 1 in 5 people running into a kid because of this.
Food & Quality?
This is where it goes downhill. I’ve never seen their food look so unappetizing before. Pasta noodles were hard. Soups were hardly even warm, food was mixed with other food, missing serving utensils, empty trays, nothing to offer. They need to work on keeping appearance up. The
servers in the back were just talking and not refilling the food.
Service?
They say hello when you enter and they ask if they can take your plates. That is about the only service you will receive.
Sweet Tomato wins by a long shot.

What happened to the Fresh Choice I despised? My aunt wanted to have lunch with my dad and I tagged along since there was no food at home. We went on a Sunday afternoon and it’s usually dead. it was popping like an painful pimple! There was a small wait. maybe it’s because we got in the line with slow salad making people. Everything was much fresher than before and cleaner too.
The garlic pizza was good. The soups not so much. I tried to make mac and cheese but since they keep the macaroni noodles in water to keep it warm (instead of mixing drained pasta with the cheese) it was really soggy even after using the slotted spoon. I liked the broccoli salad and they had a few more additions to their salad bar like jicama, hummus (I didn’t try), salsa and chips (which were actually crunchy and not stale like I thought they might be) and a few other things. The sugar free tapioca pudding was really good. It had crumbled bits of brownie. yum. I actually helped myself to two more brownies and crumbled it in my second bowl of pudding. Who knew I would ever betray the ice cream?! Sorry but you have been replaced with something more savory, not freezing and even more scrumptious.
There was an employee walking around refilling peoples water which was really nice. I’ve never seen that so it caught me off guard in a good way.
I hope they keep up the good work because this was the best experience I’ve ever had at ANY Fresh Choice!

Fresh Choice? They should rename this place to Carb Choice, because that’s all you’re going to eat. Aside from your initial salad, you’re going to be stuffing yourself with muffins, pasta, pizza, and soup.
Their chicken noodle soup is actually pretty decent, with super fat noodles. Yum. Also, their cornbread is very delicious. Aside from those two things, everything else is mediocre, as you’d expect from a buffet. Don’t forget to print a coupon, as it will save you $ 1.50.

I really like Fresh Choice. $ 8.5 is a pretty good deal.
There is pizza, soup, salads and lot of dessert. The salad bar is pretty good with a lot of variety. I was feeling good about the fact that I was eating healthy stuff till I got to dessert… The calorie count went out the window at that point. I lose my self control around ice cream and unlimited toppings.
Would not recommend going here often since the variety is not that big other than the salads but everyone once in a while this place is A-​OK.

I am a big fan of salads, so I like coming here because there are so many choices when building your own salad. They usually have a special salad that is seasonal, and old standbys like Caesar salad and the Chinese chicken salad (a personal favorite).
Besides salad, there are lots of things to pick from like muffins, pizza, soups, baked potatoes with all the fixings, and a dessert bar with fruits, pudding, jello, etc.
You can eat as much as you want, so it’s nice having all the variety. The food is pretty good and not bad for about $ 10 for dinner. I can never leave here without getting some chocolate and vanilla swirled soft serve in a cone!

I have to say, I really prefer this location to the one in San Mateo. In San Mateo I feel like my sanity is lost a little bit with the screaming kids, and not so clean food displays. I figured that it was just like that in all Fresh Choice restaurants but apparently I was wrong. I love the Mountain View location. Everything is so clean! And always filld up and ready to go. Even after a rush of people their food areas are clean and tidy.
Their salad bar is far superior to others I have experienced. The seats and tables are promptly wiped down and trays taken away. And the staff is friendly and fast. Always politely asking if you need anything, or if they can take a tray or plate for you. I will come to this one only from now on.

I’ve always liked Fresh Choice — it’s a good place to go for all-​you-​can-​eat salad, soup and pasta (although I’m sure no one eats it) for a cheap price.
This Fresh Choice in Mt View, however, should be renamed STALE CHOICE.
Came here on a Monday evening with the bf because we were too lazy to cook. We wanted something light (salad) and something warm (soup). Upon entering, we noticed that the place was quite empty. We figured that business was probably bad due to the economy. We should have known to walk away, but we didn’t.
The salads were old. Stale pieces of lettuce. The entire salad bar looked like it had been sitting out all day. Nonetheless, we got some and trekked forward.
Got to the soup bar, everything looked fine, except all the soup had a film over it, you know the kind that shows the soup hasn’t been touched/​stirred in awhile? But it tasted fine, so I got 2 bowls.
After that, I took a look at pasta/​pizza. I’ve been to fresh choice before, I know what to expect. This is not gourmet, but it should be edible. It wasn’t.
Lastly, we took a look at the fruits/​dessert bar. There was a row of old and browned cantalope. Then next to it was a row of old and browned honeydew. I think I’d be sad if i was a piece of fruit sitting there in fresh choice, knowing that no one will chose me.
It was a truly disappointing experience. When we got home, I visited the toilet about 30 minutes later and let me tell you, the food was NOT FRESH!