Chris The Saladman

A true one-​man operation. Chris the salad man stays back on the fryer and directs his girl not to answer the phone while repeating how busy they are. Slow service. The food was good but overpriced. I felt sorry for some of the customers that phoned in orders and came in three minutes early because they are directed that they would have to wait three minutes and how busy they were. It was made loud and clear to the customers how many exact minutes they were early. I would suggest somebody on the fryer to make the finger steaks so Chris the owner can show his true charisma and interact with his customers and I for a more pleasant dining experience.

I will start by saying I will not be returning. It is one of those magical places that has both terrible food and terrible service. You walk in and they rush you to order. They are irritated when you ask questions. Silverware and water glass was dirty. Floors were dirty. The waitress messed up my salad which was very simple. No olives. To be polite I asked for a bowl to scoop them into instead of wasting it and having them remake it. She never brought it. Tortilla in salad was dry. Chicken had huge pieces of fat. Vegetables were so big they needed to be chopped but I was never given a knife not was I ever checked on after my food was brought to table. They also only give you enough salad dressing for half the salad. Prices are also incredibly ridiculous. I vote no for «Guy» to visit this place.
Lastly My favorite part was when I asked the waitress if cucumbers came on the salad she responded with «no. We put zucchini on it which I like better anyways» I truly was not asking her if she liked zucchini better than cucumbers nor did I care.
⁰⁄₀ stars if I could. Why would you call yourself the «Saladman» bc salad is very obviously not the specialty. I was never asked how everything was or else this would have been told to you in person.

Way over priced. I went for lunch and got the lunch special finger steaks… 6 little tiny finger steaks, with a huge amount of fries. The taste was good, but I went for the finger steaks, not the fries. I don’t think I will be back as it was $ 11 for the meal and a drink.

Not real impressed with the phoilly cheese steak. No cheese sauce to be found which made the overloaded sandwich dry. Being an east coast gal, it did not compare to a true Philly

Saladman is a jumble of strangeness with an identity problem. My first dilemma was understanding the menu. The unlaminated paper menus at the tables are unprofessionally and hastily typed using a word document and don’t offer descriptions of the dishes. If you want to know what you’re ordering you need to squint from your table at the minuscule print on the hand written board at the back of the restaurant or, like I had to do, stand in front of the board like an oaf with your butt in a seated customer’s face.
The menu indicated that any salad could also be made into a wrap, and when I clarified this with the lady taking my order, who I gathered to be the owner’s wife (so, Saladwoman I guess?), she said, «Oh you don’t want it in a wrap. It’s messy. The only reason we offer wraps is because when we had our food stand at the fair the customers demanded wraps from us. The salads are served open face over a tortilla. If you want it in a wrap we charge you more for it.» Utterly confused, I told her I didn’t think I would need the tortilla at all then and she replied, «Oh I just put half a tortilla under the salad. You eat the salad and then munch on the tortilla.» Still perplexed, I agreed and decided on the chicken Caesar. While waiting for my food, I tried to process the strange explanation I just received. Referring back to the jumbled mess of a menu, I saw that the salads came in two sizes, small and large and the wrap option was priced as a large sized salad. The small salads with chicken cost $ 10 and the large salads (and wraps) were $ 12.50. First of all, these prices are pretty steep (which was further confirmed for me after I saw the portion and quality of what I received). Basically, they charge an extra $ 2.50 if you want your salad folded up in the other half of your 10 cent tortilla??? This just makes no sense.
My salad arrives – a small handful of romaine, a sprinkle of parmesan, boxed croutons, and a meager portion of what appeared to be packaged, unseasoned, pre-​cooked chicken chunks (fake grill marks and all!) all of which, just as described by Saladwoman, was slopped on top of one half of a dry, plain, flour tortilla. It was underwhelming. Caesar salads aren’t the most exciting thing on the planet (perhaps I should’ve opted for one of the more exotic sounding Asian or southwestern salads), but even though I wasn’t expecting anything fancy, I did expect quality ingredients and a hearty portion based on the price point. It would take very little effort to elevate this dish – artisan or house made croutons, freshly grilled and seasoned chicken breast, and a piece of garlic bread or flatbread instead of that pathetic and tasteless tortilla.
I didn’t have an opportunity to try any of the sandwiches, but I sampled one of my dining partner’s finger steaks which was really the only highlight of the whole experience. The steak was tender and flavorful with a very nice crispy batter. I could tell these were handmade. However, they were served over a pile of soggy, limp, greasy fries. The fries appeared to be handcut, but were sadly cooked improperly. The finger steaks are also expensive but it seems less painful to pay this because they are made from scratch with very good quality meat. Perhaps the place’s name should be changed to Finger Steakman.
Speaking of this, the Salad/​Finger Steakman himself was also in the house. He was very loud and boisterous and meandered through the restaurant boasting about his establishment. I appreciate his pride and the steaks are clearly the signature item here, but the other dishes were an overpriced disappointment, and the service was hurried, inattentive, and unwelcoming. The owners seemed more concerned with creating an arrogant homage to themselves and trying to get on «Diners, Drive-​ins, and Dives» (as indicated by the petition they have at the counter to meet Guy Fieri) than creating a positive experience for customers. Lastly, the bathrooms are foul – sticky floor, crud on the toilet, soap scum in the sink, and a grimy film on the door and paper towel dispenser.
Despite the delicious finger steaks and my mild curiosity to try the sandwiches, the cold and abrupt service, inflated prices, and unwelcoming atmosphere is not enough to coax me to return.

Best finger steaks around. But, the service was HORRENDOUS. After we got our food we never saw the server again. Had to go to the counter to get more sauce & we sat for well over 20 minutes with empty glasses. Never did get any refills on our drinks. The finger steaks almost make it worth it. Almost.

With a name like «The Saladman», I haven’t given much thought about this place. I am not a saladman (unfortunately).
The Place — decorations were fun, and they were playing Beatles (yay)
Food — they have more than salads (thanks to the outside Fingersteaks banner for the heads up). They had sandwiches and other stuff too. Of course, I went for the fingersteaks. They were super tender, and not full of nasty gristle. The fingersteaks had just enough batter (some places displace the meat with batter). I didn’t find the fingersteaks overly greasy, but you got to keep in mind that it is fried food. I didn’t like the fries, but it was more of a style of fries. They are the kind you find in the East (Five Guys Style). I like my fries super crispy.
The Saladman, Chris — Chris made sure to ask us how we liked them. We said we loved them (we really did). Chris said, «I think they are pretty damn good…» lol. He stands behind the product. If it wasn’t for his extensive regional fingersteak verbal history, I would suspect he was an east coast transplant. Yes, he remembers the Torch days and still thinks his are better and I agree. He said he marinates the steak for 2 days and makes his own batter.

Food A
Service C–
I’ve been here a time or two and always receive a cocky attitude. It’s almost that you are an inconvenience. However, after reading reviews and listening to coworkers, that’s just how the owner is and for that I can accept it. The food is very good and it’s down right comfort food!

Went in & had lunch… Wait time was a bit long but the pastrami sandwich was to die for! Others had wilted spinach & a reuben, both gave thumbs up… Little faster service & ranking would be a 5 star.

If you like over priced finger steaks, soggy fries, grouchy staff and owner this is your place.

What a wonderful surprise! The food was great, the service was friendly, and the restaurant was very clean. My husband and I were surprised when the owner told us how long they’d been at that location. It had the clean feeling of a brand new restaurant. I ordered the crab shrimp and avocado sandwich with garlic aioli and a side of curly fries. My husband had the finger steak basket. We’ve been searching for a place that has hand cut fries. And we finally found it! They are so much better than the overly processed alternative. My sandwich was one of the best I’ve ever had and my husband loved his finger steaks. His only complaint was that he didn’t order more of them. I would recommend this place to anyone. There is something to please any palate.

Terrible service. Okay food. Undercooked fries. Super oily. Too expensive. Barely any fingersteaks compared to the mountain of oily fries that weren’t cooked all the way and were soggy. Their lemonade sucks. Unclean tables. Cramped menus made from a word document. Coleslaw wasn’t even really coleslaw it was cut up cabbage and apple purée

Chris the Saladman. You’ve got to have real stones to call yourself «Saladman» and even bigger brass to then name your place «Saladman». You do something like that and you’d better have some real back-​up when it comes time to deliver the goods and or the most part, this place does.
Despite the name being Saladman, one of the biggest notoriety elements about this place is their rendition of finger steaks. For those of you not familiar with this, it’s basically breaded pieces of beef. In Salt Lake, the places I’ve been have served it with cheese. Here, no cheese, but a very intriguing coating that carries a complexity with it that strikes me as reminiscent of the whole «11 herbs and spices» motif that KFC spent a bunch of time claiming once upon a time. I’m not going to dissect what I think is in the secret recipe here, but will say a few things: they are good, well worth your while to try and if you do, get the half-​pound basket rather than the quarter-​pound. Trust me on this. Skip the cocktail sauce entirely. It does not mesh well with the coating, which has somewhat of a strong taste.
I also had one of the cheesesteak sandwiches. I don’t recall which now, though the meat seemed to be more stewed ala crock pot rather than chopped and fried. Taste was still pretty excellent, but the bun didn’t remotely come near to holding up to the meat. While I thought this was an ok sandwich, I’ve had way, way better in Salt Lake too many times to hold this too close to my heart. Fries both times were also incredibly, excessively salty. Whether you order them as the regular handcut or the thin spiral things, you’re best to order them without salt and season them personally. Iced tea mix in the fountain was one of the better ones, though, I will say.
Chris is a very friendly guy and cares deeply and passionately about his food and if you want the place’s history, buckle in. You’ll get it. His salads look like dreams come true and frankly, if I get that way again, I’m getting one, which is a pretty rare thing for me to think. This place may be named appropriately, as those looked like they were way better done than the «hot» side of the menu, though I’d clearly say that side is no slouch, obviously, given the rating. So if I’m not even hitting the stuff he does best, this may wind up gaining another star, if I get the chance to return… Staff, in addition to Chris, was also pretty friendly. Keep in mind, this is mostly a lunch counter with limited hours, so plan accordingly. It’s also not very well-​marked, especially, in the strip mall it’s in, so keep an eye out for the green-​lettered sign.

This is a great little lunch spot. The interior is very clean, and the service was friendly. Our waitress went out of her way to answer questions and get us everything we needed. My niece ordered the BLT with avocado and fries on the side… delicious. My sister and I both ordered the apple Gouda salad. I initially asked for it in a wrap, but the waitress informed me that it’s pretty messy and much better in a salad, but at least they put a delicious tortilla on the side. Loved it!

I went here once with my boyfriend, needless to say we won’t return. The menus are cramped and convoluted, and without ample descriptions of what the food entails. The printed menus and website are no improvement, either.
We went in about…45 mins before closing and basically our options were «to go» or get out, was the attitude of the owner. He claims to have «the best finger steaks in Boise», which they’re not. Greasy and heavy with batter and no actual flavour to them. Even Rockies has better ones and I’d not eat those twice.
For being a «salad man» the salad options are extremely poor. The attitude of the owner wins him no favours, either. The poor design of the menu, combined with sub-​par food and and attitude of the owner… we won’t be returning.

Love the salads they taste amazing but not sure they are worth all the money we pay for them!!! he used to have a event truck and i loved them at the fair but i feel like the prices are about the same as they are when you see them at the fair!!! also he is only open tell 3 and i work pretty late so he is never open when i really need not even dinner … the owner is pretty rude and i always have to pay an arm and leg for ranch … they have other food witch is amazing but same thing a little pricy for what your getting… when calling to order out i have to call at least 4 times before he picks up and my orders always come to over 40 $$$

Even though this place is right around the corner from my office, I will NOT go there again. I have been there a couple of times, the owner is RUDE, brusque, and just not a good person to be working the counter. He really needs some people skills! To say he has ok food is about right. Nothing special or to write home about. I tried the finger steaks… ONCE…the most disgusting things EVER. The batter was thick and greasy. I ate one, and within 5 minutes was so sick to my stomach, I threw the rest away. That was my first visit there… figured I would give them one more chance and had just as bad of an experience.
I had to have a special order of no tomatoes on a salad (due to allergy), I ordered it that way and when I received it, had tomatoes all over it. I explained that I am HIGHLY allergic to tomatoes and Chris was rude to say, just pick them off. Does he not realize that an allergy means that they cant just be picked off? one bite of juice will send me into a potentially fatal reaction. That was my last time there.
Dont waste your money

It’s nice to find a guy who is really passionate about his restaurant, and there’s no question that’s exactly what you’ll encounter in Chris, the owner of Saladman. He’s sort of a Guy Fieri wannabe, and he really puts everything he has into his place. I respect that.
I’ve driven by several times and the name just seemed too kitschy to pass up, so when we were in the neighborhood, we decided to stop for lunch. The restaurant is located in a strip mall and it’s small – maybe room for 30 diners. It’s decorated in a 70’s rocker-​muscle car kind of vibe, and they’ve been successful in creating that kind of look. They blast 70’s and 80’s power rock (I think he had an Eagles album on the day we visited). Overall, it’s not incredibly sophisticated, but it has a certain Aqua Velva-​Camero-​Mullett appeal.
We began by looking at the menu board, and like other people have noted, it’s an exercise in squinting frustration. It’s hand-​written and so small and chaotic, I gave up after about 20 seconds. We sat down and picked up some printed menus. Unfortunately, they are not much better. The owner told us everything in the place is made in-​house. Well, that includes the menus. They are very hard to read, overly complicated, and a true mess. They need to find a graphic designer STAT. It’s really hard to see what they serve.
We finally gave up on deciphering the salad options (which is what the place is named after!) and just ordered finger steaks. If you’re not familiar with the dish, finger steaks are a Boise original – battered, deep-​fried steak bits, served with cocktail sauce for dipping. Chris told us several times that he makes the best ones in Boise.
Well, I guess I have to disagree there. The steak itself was very good. It was tender, well flavored, and recognizable as steak, not just mystery meat. The batter ruined it though. It was soggy, not crisp at all, and a real disappointment. I wrapped one piece in a napkin and squeezed a bit and absolutely saturated the paper. In fact, it took three napkins to blot out all the extra oil. I suspect they had a temperature problem with the fryer vat, but since this was my only time eating there, I can’t know if that’s par for the course at Saladman or just an unfortunate aberration.
We ate quickly and left as soon as we could. Our hasty departure wasn’t because of the food, though; it was because of the language. Chris seems to be a «big personality» kind of guy, and I really do applaud that. But he uses pretty colorful language. I suspect he wasn’t even consciously aware of what was coming out of his mouth, but we were there with our 3 year old and I’m just not okay with the swearing in front of preschoolers. I’m not a prude – I think It’s okay for a middle-​aged restauranteur to drop a few «bastards» and «damns» in the company of adults, but I do wish he’d reign it in with children in the restaurant. Because of this, we will not return with our children, which honestly means we probably won’t go back at all.
Is Saladman’s food the best in Boise? No. It’s not even the best in that strip mall. Next time we’re in that area, we’ll go to Kabob House instead.

This place is almost the perfect definition of hole-​in-​the-​wall, at least the way I understand it. For me, hole-​in-​the-​wall means under the radar, if you looked at it you probably wouldn’t be too excited to try it, and when you finally did you’d love it and wonder why you went to big, flashy, brightly-​lit restaurants ever.
Honestly, we’ve only tried salad and fingersteaks. For a place called Saladman, the fingersteaks were out-​of-​this-​world and, most-​likely, best in the state. Seriously, I challenge anyone to try the fingersteaks and then PM me a challenge to a place that makes them better. The fries were outstanding, too. I tried a piece of chicken-​fried bacon, but found the batter to bacon ratio was a little off (bacon way too thin, batter good and crisp, but a little too thick). Might have worked better with some really, really thick cut bacon. Definitely worth a try, if you’ve never had anything like that before.
Wifey had the Crab Louis salad, their specialty, and it was pretty great. The louis dressing was pretty killer and the crab blend was delicious. I am not a fan of shredded cheddar cheese or olives (even if this is traditional), so those distracted somewhat.
I look forward to trying their cheesesteaks someday, too. Every salad on the menu can be made into a wrap (they all come served on a tortilla, I assume to help the integrity of the «bowl». There are a number of other sandwiches and saldads that, god willing, I will someday try. Seriously, give this place a shot. The only con is that this place doesn’t serve beer or wine, which makes sense because it’s a lunch-​only spot. Not their fault that I’m a raging alcohol with a need for a hair o’ the dog so often.
Final note, and I hope you made it this far: Chris has a BIG personality. He’ll immediately accost you and ask if you’re staying or taking it to-​go; he’ll then tell you where to sit. At first, I was a little put off. After we were seated, he happily and pleasantly explained every little thing on the menu in great detail and we left loving the guy. TRY THIS PLACE! I don’t want it to go away, so give them lots of your money.

I tried this place a few time before. It’s a good place to share salad and sandwich with a friend. I’ve been bragging on the Ruben for weeks! But today was very disappointed that they now grind up the meat for the sandwich. Not the best anymore. So when the owner asked how we like our sandwich i explained my disappointment. And I was a bit worried as the owner is very passionate about his restaurant. But he took it in stride. And told me next time to have the steak strips. Which he claims are the best in Boise. So what heck. I’ll let you know in few weeks how good they really are. Haha. I’m sure they are great.
So my only other criticism is that if you try to read the menu board you will go blind. It’s like a wall of Chinese arithmetic. Exactly. And if you ask a question about the menu then you find yourself in a Seinfeld episode… Yep that guy.