Tender Greens - Palo Alto

In my previous post, I had written about new openings in Palo Alto recently. The city already has a health conscious demographic which made newcomer, Tender Greens, a perfect fit for the Stanford Shopping Center. Tender Greens is a sit down restaurant specializing in salads, although you do order at the counter. Unlike Pluto's or other salad bars where you choose your own ingredients, there are already set salad combinations designed to have complimentary flavors. Tender Greens recently invited me and my husband for a complimentary lunch. 

($2.75) Agua Fresca - you can't go wrong with watermelon juice. It's always refreshing. 

($12.50) Tuna Nicoise - seared albacore tuna with baby greens, tomato, potato, capers, green beans, quail egg, olives, sherry vinaigrette, and a slice of buttered garlic toast.

I was very happy with my selection. There are large pieces of fresh tuna, sweet tomatoes, and the portion size was very filling. That garlic toast is so good. I highly recommend this dish and would get it again.

($12.50) Backyard marinated steak sandwich with butter lettuce

The ingredients in this sandwich were all high quality and wonderful on their own. The steak pieces were large and cooked perfectly and the roasted peppers were a nice addition. It just lacked a flavorful sauce to bind it together well. There is an aioli spread which tasted bland. 

($4) Side of red quinoa salad with radish, cucumbers, pickled radish (?), and a garlic toast.

This is definitely a side I would order again. Quinoa is a healthy grain to fill up on while feeling very light. They seasoned it lightly and enhanced with the other vegetables. Again, the toast is wonderful.

Our whole meal

($2.50 each) salted caramel with white chocolate, and chocolate chip cookies

For dessert, our waiter brought out warm cookies. They are the BEST. Just absolutely, the best. Chewy, soft, perfect. Salted caramel is better than chocolate chip although the choc chips were also one of the best choc chip cookies I've had too.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

The food at Tender Greens is really fresh and tasty if you are into healthy salads. Although the price is expensive, it is Stanford Shopping Center and you can easily make a salad worth $12.50 with all the add-ons at Pluto's, which I consider to be in a similar category. The line gets very long at lunch even though it moves quickly. I highly recommend the tuna nicoise salad and also to finish your meal with a cookie. Why not? You deserve it after eating healthy salads.