Salata at Grand Parkway Shopping Center

Salad is not normally my thing--barbecue and burgers are a more comfortable beat.  But I am determined to broaden my food horizons, so I stopped in on a fairly busy Sunday to see what this place is about--I have not been to a Salata before. It's like Subway or Pie Five for salads, as opposed to a salad bar. You tell your salad builder the ingredients and they build it for you. I like to be complete in the description of what I order, so here goes--a small salad with

Spinach
Spring greens
Cucumbers
Celery greens
Jicama
Corn
Hard boiled egg
Smoked turkey
Pumpkin seeds
Spicy chipotle ranch dressing
Pita chips

...and a cup of broccoli soup.

My soup and salad

The shop is not that big, but the salad selections are more diverse than a normal salad bar since they do not have to make ingredients reachable from under a sneeze guard. You can go nuts on ingredients--I tried to be moderate, but it's hard in the face of all the choices. My intention to eat "healthy" went by the boards and I ended up with a meal well over 1000 calories. Calories are posted on every item, so it was easy to add up just how much I had loaded on. Service was polite but not noticeable, which in a place like this is just fine.

The portion size is huge. You get a pretty generous bowl for the "small", three broadminded people could easily share one, or you could get it to go and make multiple meals from it.

Overall I enjoyed the salad, though since salads are not something I normally order I am not an expert at constructing one. The one strong preference I have is that spinach is the best salad base--most greens have no flavor or are bitter. I just picked whatever looked good and resolved to like it. It was filling, and the spicy chipotle ranch dressing actually has a kick to it. The pita chips were delicious, nice and crisp and salty.

The soup was something of a surprise. On the menu it is "broccoli" soup, and one usually expects that to be cheesy or creamy. This one was a little creamy, but they should have called it "broccoli-artichoke" soup, since there was a lot of artichoke in it. I'm not a fan of artichoke, to me it is overly sharp and sour, but if you like artichoke you would like the soup.

Yelp regularly asks if the restrooms are gender neutral. In Salata they are not, but they might as well be--it's two single-person bathrooms. The men's room was in use so I didn't get to see how clean they were.

The tea bar is cute. I went with standard black tea, which was very strong and held up well to being diluted with ice. Decor is otherwise extremely neutral, an eggplant wall with a saying on it and that's about it.

The pricing can be a bit confusing. You start with a $7 bowl for a small, but proteins are extra, and there are other add-ons. By the time I added a drink and a tip I was up to $16.

Overall a good place if you like salad. A bit expensive, but you get plenty for the money.