(Not so) Sweet Greens

I have worked at the same office for over three years now. Even though I limit my lunch outings to once a week, I had run through all the lunch options ad nausea within the first year. Therefore, whenever something new opens in Dupont Circle my coworkers and I waste no time in descending upon the new destination. Generally, this leads to a short lived obsession where we eat there every week for two months until the old places start to look like better options. For example, I fancy myself to be a relatively health conscience eater and when they opened the Five Guys in Dupont a year or so ago I ate there three days in a row.

Therefore, I was very excited to discover the new restaurant Sweet Greens on the way to CVS sometime last week. The line was wrapped around the PNC Bank Building that houses the restaurant and I sent an excited mass e-mail with details of my discovery as soon as I returned to the office. Roshelle and I made plans to eat there and purposely left the office at 11:45 to avoid the long lines that I had witnessed. I had done some research before our excursion and knew that Sweet Greens specialized in salads and frozen yogurt and that the Dupont Circle location was the second restaurant in the chain (the other original is in Georgetown and a Bethesda location is coming soon). I was pretty amped up about our lunch and even more excited when Roshelle and I walked into a virtually empty restaurant with no lines in sight. The ambiance is very nice with wood panelled walls and floors, green walls, high ceilings and lots of light. The choices at the salad bar looked fantastic and although expensive (salads start at $8) I was sure they would be worth it.

Roshelle ordered the Chic P Salad: with mesclun and baby spinach, grilled chicken, chickpeas, cucumbers, roasted red and yellow peppers and garlic pita chips topped with a hummus lemon tahini dressing. I am a little old school when it comes to salads and selected the classic Cobb Salad with chopped romaine, grilled chicken, Gorgonzola, egg, bacon, avocado and grape tomatoes. The staff were very pleasant and Roshelle and I wished that we could sit in the calming green room to enjoy our salads and then maybe get some yogurt. Sadly, we both had meetings and I had to head back to the office. Roshelle promised to give me an update on her salad later that day.

Upon returning to my desk, I called Roshelle within five minutes to find out how in the hell you were supposed to open the plastic to go container. She was having similar problems and we agreed that the printed directions "twist here" were not helpful at all. I finally got mine opened but ripped part of the container and cut myself a little bit in the process (minus one point for Sweet Greens). The next disappointment came in the form of the very small piece of cold, dry bread which on the menu is described as "warm and fresh." The salad itself started out great. The chicken is far better than anything that I have eaten in salads from Cosi or Potbelly. Very quickly, however, the salad became too much. The Gorgonzola and avocado all start mushing together and the dressing just became way too rich. I finished half the salad and felt like $9 may have been a little too much to spend on that salad. Roshelle's review came in the form of a chronic stomach ache that lasted until the next morning. This, I don't think we can completely attribute to Sweet Greens however. Roshelle tends to have a sensitive tummy and I think the mixed bell peppers, garlic pita chips and tahini were a bit of a risk to begin with.

In sum, I don't think that Roshelle and I will be rushing back to Sweet Greens anytime soon. Other co-workers have had better experiences than we did, specifically those who used the "wrap-it-up" option (your salad of choice is turned into a wrap sandwich). I would like to go back and try their frozen yogurt at some point, but I think it is back to my old stand bys for the time being.

Sweet Greens
1512 Connecticut Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20036
202-387-9338
http://www.sweetgreen.com/