Unlike Tossed they do not have house salads, it's entirely create your own which threw me a little whilst queueing, what would it be??? With a sense of urgency and being somewhat rushed along by my salad maker I opted for tuna, beetroot, tomato and cucumber. I had wanted avocado but they'd run out. This sounds very dull and it certainly ain't pretty but it was suprisingly good.
It was large, scoops of each ingredient are fairly generous and I was really full afterwards. It's a bit pricier than Tossed and there's a 5p charge for cutlery and paper bags, as well as a £6 minimum card spend so I ended up spending more than I usually would.
Whilst obviously food like this is in no way extraordinary, if, like me, you tend to eat something light for lunch (I prefer to save myself for a bigger dinner most days) then create your own salad bars are a good way to keep things interesting and I'm happy to see more of them popping up around the city.
Salad Factory
74 Chancery Lane
Holborn
6/10
12 comments:
I had a salad in Chop'd the other day which was gorgeous. Warm Puy lentil with goats cheese, well worth. £5
Hopefully I'll make it to Chop'd eventually. I saw one of your tweets the other day Dan about a bizarre concoction you had there, an interesting choice of dressing if I remember correctly?!
Boo hahaha - yeah. No idea what I was thinking - Had Jamaican Jerk Chicken.....and chose French Dressing. Honestly, it was gross. Didn't go at all....but seeing as I'd just spent the best part of a fiver on it, I forced it down.
So the lesson there - choose your dressing wisely.
Oh definitely eat it anyway! Hahaha, it does sound pretty gross - you certainly learned the hard way.
Goats cheese and lentil sounds great though, they have a puy lentil base at Salad Factory too which they don't at Tossed so I'll give that a try next time for sure.
Bored of Tossed??? Impossible. I love that place. I haven't tried the others yet, but my friends who work in the City have tried Tossed with me and say it is the best one. We went to their Westfield branch where they have a grill and do lovely grilled halloumi!! mmmm
Hi Sarah - I never thought I'd say it, and it's not true actually, I'll never tire of Tossed, the combinations are endless!
I too visited the Westfield branch and was amazed by the portion sizes. That's the one thing that bugs me about the Covent Garden branch, it depends on who serves you as to how generous or stingy they are with the ingredients.
I still love it though.
How can you be bored of Tossed? The combinations are endless there but I usually go for the Signature salad it's the best. Beside, I have not seen Sir Philip Green and David Hasselhoff in Chop'ped but I did see them at Tossed!
Okay - I take it back, I've seen the Hoff too lurking about on St Martin's Lane! Apparently he's been staying at the St Martin's Lane Hotel. If it's good enough for the David it's good enough for me!
ive not been into tossed but have heard good things. Problem is they are all too far west for me being based in the city.
Having said that there are quite a few salad chains out east, with the salad factory being the best by far.
Iv tried chop'd but wasnt impressed. The staff were rude and seemed more interested in talking to each other than to me, and the portions were terrible. They only give a tiny amount of dressing, and as i love my avocardo the salads end up being much more expensive than the salad factory, despite feeling a much smaller salad.
Vital ingredient had no atmosphere and again seemed to be really unorganised, with a very small selection of ingredients.
Salade was ok, but didnt do anything to blow me away so I tried walking down to holborn and trying pure california. However they just felt like they had taken the worst ideas of all of the above and tried to make it work by giving it a bohemian feel. Not for me.
The Salad Factory, although as you say, far from being amazing, just seems to me really honest. They make everything fresh on site each day including the dressings and the staff are always really friendly and seem to remember a face better than most barmaids do! If you are thrown by what to have, just ask them! they've suggested some great salads to me in the past when iv not known what iv fancied.
Ill have to make my way over to tossed at some point to make my mind up about which salad bar is best...
Hi Sian - yeah I'd definitely recommend Tossed, worth the trip I'd say.
I'll have to ask the guys at Salad Factory what they'd suggest next time I visit, I was a little thrown by there being no house salads to choose from really.
I'm happy to see more and more of these places opening up in London.
None of you have done your research! Vital Ingredient was the first compnay to sell made to order salads in London, they are the best and always will be. All thier ingredients are prepared feshly in each of the shops and you can taste that, The staff are great, really frinedly and helpful. Their soups are also amazing. Our whole office is hooked on Vital Ingredinet and yes we have tried the others!
I agree with bmman, Vital Ingredient is in a different league to the other salad places we've tried in London. In fact I am just about to go and get my lunch there now!
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