Gia Pronto

I had high hopes heading into Gia Pronto, but was skeptical upon entering. First, the place could use a really good cleaning… there is a ton of dust along the ceiling/​signs and the numerous items over which paper has been taped indicating they are discontinued/​unavailable raised a flag for me. The beverage cooler with the sign” these drinks are room temperature” also screams of problems that might be lurking behind the scenes (i.e. broken fridge, cutting corners, health code violations, etc.) I continued on, however, not wanting to judge a book by its cover, but my hopes were completely dashed upon sampling my salad: Something in it was bad – I believe the egg. This place looks like it was once really well-​kept and high quality, but is in need of some re-​vamping. Until that happens, I won’t be back.

Love, love, love. Gia Pronto started on Penn’s campus, where I was a frequent visitor. I refused to be scared off by the sorority girls that called it home. Now, I can go to the business professional version on Market. My office recently moved across the street so I’ll be there a lot. I most recently had the Southwest salad which was super tasty. They put in half of an avocado! The owner is super friendly, and they really care about customer service.

You fill out a little card detailing what you would like. The mixed green/​spinach/​romaine base starts at $ 4, and then meat can be added for $ 1.10 or so, more substantial salad additions like fancy cheese for $ 1, and the less big-​deal additions for $ 0.85 or $ 0.65. It comes with dressing, which you can ask for on the side, and select whether you would like the person to chop up your salad all together, or if they should just mix it. You also get a roll, either seeded (these are super high quality!) or sour-​dough.
Being thrifty, I can keep ‘em down to $ 7 or $ 8. Based on these qualities, it is comparable in price but infinitely superior in quality to Saladworks, a place I will never again enter.
Also because of this, an illustrative anecdote on customer service:
There is this guy who works there who is in his late thirties/​early forties with a few tattoos who is just unusually nice about getting you your salad. He doesn’t wish you a «good day,» he tells you to have an «excellent week!» and he smiles in such a genuinely caring way. My friend came up with a pretty good word for this kind of person: he is a «value-​adder,» which sounds like an expensive snake, but it is really someone who makes other people’s lives better. Like the woman in front of me in line said as she handed him something, «You are so kind! There should be more people like you!» And when I seconded her, when I was paying for my salad, he said, «In good company! Have a great week!» And I just felt so damn pleasant!
On coffee:
I’m not such a fan of their coffee, and found my latte to be under-​frothed. It does not compare to the La Colombe just a few blocks closer to Rittenhouse although it technically serves La Colombe coffee (and so inevitably better than Starbucks). If you want super high quality, you could just head a block down and get a super-​delicious latte at Nook a few steps away from Market down 20^th.

This rating is based on quality of coffee and staff only as I’ve only been here for coffee in the morning.
The coffee is simply amazing. Nothing in the area compares, and it puts the Starbuck’s next door to shame.
The staff… oh my so nice. They greet you by name and through conversation and a certain je né sais quoi leave you ready to have a great day.

Nice little lunch time spot where you can get fresh salads, paninis and even espresso/​coffee drinks. Nice employees and prompt service. fresh, organic foods. Some vegetarian options.

I just discovered this place. They have amazing chopped salads. Everything is so fresh and they have an incredible selection of dressings. Try their Thai vinaigrette. For some reason, it doesn’t seem to be all that busy, so it’s a quick in and out for a weekday lunch. The salads can get pricey if you add too many ingredients, so just be aware. I will be frequenting this place quite often now that I have discovered it so close to my office!

The reviews are true! Definitely one of the better on-​the-​go lunch spots in Center City. The staff is friendly and the space is clean. Expect a wait during lunch hours, but it does move fairly quickly considering each order is custom. I’m a true believer that salads just taste better chopped, and for a place to chop them as a standard practice is very exciting for me. The custom salads start at $ 4.99 for the base and then you pay per topping. I got 4 toppings (including chicken) and paid about $ 7.50, which I thought was fair. They also have pre-​set salad combos if you can’t make up your mind with all the options! The only reason I deducted one star was because of their lack of low-​fat salad dressing options (only 1!). I expected a little more from a salad joint but it won’t stop me from coming back.

Amazing build your own salad place! Be sure to try the homemade seeded roll, the rosemary balsamic dressing and have the salad chopped for you. Be careful of how many toppings you get, as the price can rise rather quickly (but it’s well worth it!).

Tumbleweed salad anyone? This place is like a mini-​ghost town and I think I understand why. Here are the differences I’ve seen in the past year:
1. Fewer choices. I loved getting mango thrown into my salad. It basically made my pathetic day a lot more bearable. No longer available, along with several other salad and dressing options.
2. Quality of service. The bald guy with the glasses who runs the place clearly cares, but I get the impression it’s too little too late. The people building the salad just don’t care. I get a chopped salad that has massive lettuce leaves in it, with a side dish of F bombs provided by the staff. MMM… fresh F bombs.
3. Atmosphere. It used to be quaint place people hustled in and out of in between dreary, suicide-​inducing corporate meetings. Now, it’s pretty empty and for whatever reason, the inside just looks dismal. The place needs an updated design. I’m happy to provide some tips if they write me.
Other than these areas, what you get is OK. The salad is a little wet, but the soy ginger dressing gives the extra agua a little flavor. If you need a quick salad, it’s fine. If you want a decent experience, you can toss Gia Pronto’s salad out.

I love, love, love Gia Pronto. Seriously, this is my favorite place to get a quick lunch in the entire city, and I go here around twice a week for their tasty wares. Of course, they are in my office building, which makes them crazy convenient for me.
The salads are well documented in the other reviews. There is a huge selection of toppings to choose from. It is a little pricey when you add 4 – 5 toppings, but you get what you pay for. The salads and topping portions are really big and you get free bread. I love the sourdough and seeded rolls — they are both awesome.
But I absolutely must plug the soups. In the non-​summer months, there are generally 2 – 3 different kinds of soup, and they are all delicious. The type of soup for sale changes daily. They are priced reasonably too, about $ 3 – 4 for a small and $ 5 for a medium (which is actually pretty big) and they come with a free roll too. The tomato cheddar is a frequent option and I highly recommend it.
The paninis are good too (I especially like the curry chicken and buffalo chicken sandwiches), as are the breakfast sandwiches and the coffee. Seriously, everything here is good. In addition, the staff is polite and friendly and they keep things moving at an organized pace even during the lunch rush. I just can’t say enough good things about this place.

Hands down the best salads in the City. If you are looking for a tasty, CHOPPED (where they mix and cut up the salad for you), salad with lots of variety– Gia is the place. They have two convenient locations: (1) Penn’s Campus, and the (2) Middle of Downtown. The Penn location is ALWAYS packed. Students are constantly in there trying to get their share of greens. The downtown location — fortunately for me — tends to be a lot less crowded and busy.
I really love chopped salads. In New York, the chopped salad trend has taken off with several restuarant chains featuring these type of salads. The trend does not seem to have infiltrated Philadelphia, much to my dismay. Gia, though, is one my refuge in this city for my ever-​loved salad.
Normally I would easily give this place 5 stars, however, the salads do tend to be on the more expensive side. You pay by the number of toppings you want, so the more toppings you get the more you pay. If I get 5 toppings (including protein) the salad is around $ 10 which is a little more than what I would typically pay for lunch. In their defense though, they do use the best, fresh, organic ingredients and the portions are VERY generous.
Overall, I definitely recommend trying it. It is quite delicious and worth the price if you are looking for a «Big Salad.» (Seinfeld, anyone?)

So I’ve decided that I won’t review a new restaurant, except under exceptional circumstances, that I have not been to at least 3 times. Well, why not review the place that I have probably frequented most over the past year — Gia Pronto.
Conveniently located roughly 50 feet (15.24 meters for you metric followers) from my place of work, I have been known to grab a quick lunch from Gia Pronto 3 or 4 days in a week. With scarce seating in the middle of all-​business west Market Street, Gia Pronto is a great place to pick up a fresh, organic choose-​your-​own ingredients salad to bring back to my desk while working (aka reading new Unilocal reviews). I have actually stopped eating salads from any other surrounding places because Gia Pronto’s freshness cannot be beat. They also offer beets and feta as two salad options: sweet.
The paninis are good, fresh and organic as well. I am a fan of the roast beef. One note: due to my general disregard for instructions of any kind, I missed that the tuna panini was made with a tofu mayo. Turns out, much like soy milk, I am seriously allergic to it. Oops. Oh well, no (serious) harm no foul.

Only have a handful of different panini options but it looked like they had a bunch of salad options. Two panini’s distinctly caught my eye – the veggie panini and the pesto chicken panini. The whole grain bread on the veggie panini looked amazing and the pesto chicken had great looking nuggets of chicken breast. I asked if they could make the pesto chicken with the veggie’s bread but they couldn’t do it because they were out of the bread – this was a little surprising because we were there at 11:45 but whatever… I stuck with the pesto and surprisingly it took a solid 5 – 10 minutes of grilling time (we were the only people in the restaurant). BUT, the wait was definitely worth it. Despite not getting the whole grain bread, the italian bread was amazing, the chicken moist, and the pesto perfect. The sandwich is large enough to split and only eat half… but it was so good I ate it all!

I come here whenever I am in the mood for a fresh salad where i can specify what I want.
They have an array of fixings such as grapes, mandarin oranges, mangoes, pasta, veggies and legumes and they say everything is organic.
I have also tried their paninis which are also very good.

What is great about gia pronto is the local ingredients that go into the salads and the sandwiches. I am a big fan of the paninis, particularly the pretty simple prosciutto and mozzarella. But better than anything else, to my mind, are the build your own salads. The mix in ingredients are imaginative and extensive. As an added bonus many of them are organic or locally sourced. The salad dressings are interesting, but my favorite is plain old balsamic vinegar. Be warned that the add ins can get kind of pricey so you won’t be surprised when you get to the counter. Everyone who works there has always been really friendly and nice. All in all a great lunch spot.

I live for their salads! I love making my own — they have every ingredient you could ever want. I also love the bread that comes with it.
Once or twice I got sandwiches and they were ok. The soup is pretty good when they have it.
It is definitely semi expensive (~$ 13 for my salad) but i so put in a variety of ingredients!

Featuring La Columbe coffee, Gia Pronto is always a stop for me in the morning. I first tried this place when I worked at Penn and was thrilled when I took my new job and there was one, yet again, within walking distance of work! Bring your own coffee mug and they’ll only charge you for a small. Paninis feature fresh ingredients (I like the curry chicken salad) and salads are good (though the price can get a little out of control when adding ingredients). Definitely more of a to-​go place rather than eating there.
I feel so sorry for the folks standing in line next door at that Other Coffee Place that shall not be named…

Had a good chicken parm panini here. I am not a big sandwhich eater. Wanted to get a salad but the line was way too long and the cost too high. ($ 4.00 just for the lettuce base and then add-​ons at 50 — 1.25 each.) To get the salad with th ingredients I wanted would have been $ 9.00. (Although I am sure the ingredients are high quality — they have a selection of organic meats to choose from.)
So a plain salad of lettuce, carrots & celery is $ 5.00.
No thanks. Not life altering for me — but OK. Way nicer than fourbucks.

My #1 stop for coffee in the morning. And the egg and cheese bagel redefines «egg and cheese bagel». Whatever you thought it was, you were wrong.
All their ingredients are organic and/​or free range. I’m not sure about their ham, chicken, etc, since I am a vegger.
I did get one of their made-​to-​order salads once, and it was crisp and cool.
The counter jockeys are all smiles and exude a friendly sort of confidence that says «Yes, we know, our café is the shit.»
They also have a good selection of tea, juice and water, and the place is alway clean.
The coffee is high quality and well-​brewed, aside from the occasional awkwardness of ordering a «small, dark Ethiopian».
Stools are convenient and classy but this is definitely more of a stop-​and-​go kind of place (hence the placement on 19^th and Market Streets, right in the heart of pea-​coat-​and-​a-​briefcase alley).

Gia Pronto changed my life. Really. This little caf allows you to create your own made to order salads that are ten times better than any Saladworks that I’ve been too. They have creative toppings such as dried pineapple along with the traditional toppings. You get to choose between regular salad greens and romaine, then fill out exactly what you want on a little slip and they let you know when your salad is done. It’s as simple as that. Their paninnis are also life altering. The bread and filling perfectly compliment each other and you get a good amount for they price that you pay.
The atmosphere, very simplistic and slightly retro with the metal stools and tables, also adds to the delicious flavor of this little caf. If you are ever in the University City area or Downtown. Stop by. I dare you. Just prepare for a life altering experience. &#61 514;.