Spudnick’s

Closed. Boo? This place rocked. Hope another location opens.

Spudnick’s is now closed.

Stopped by here while looking for a quick, cheap bite to eat during my lunch break. I was blown away by the chili. It was so chunky and tasted surprisingly fresh, and best of all, the guy at the counter loaded it with cheese. Prices were pretty fair — $ 3.50 for a small cup, which was just enough for me.

I had a panini here during lunch and it was very underwhelming. The service was okay, but really it was the food that was disappointing. The bland ingredients of runny cheese, red pepper, and chicken made the sandwich soggy. All in all, I will not be returning.

I was surprised by how much I liked it here! Food was great, very nice to sit outside on the patio, and the $ 2 upgrade deal (add side salad, soup or bar fries (YUM!) plus a drink) is terrific. Very friendly and helpful staff. Just wish their menu was simpler. Will definitely be back.

This is place is definitely worth coming back at least 3 times a week! The staff is very really awesome and friendly! food… sandwiches and fries are amazing! this place is close to perfect and is for sure on my top 5. overall a 9 out of 10. good job!

Not bad for a shop that hasn’t been open that long! I used a livingsocial voucher I purchased recently while having lunch with a friend here. I got a flour tortilla wrap untoasted with turkey, apples, mandarin oranges, and parmesan, with spinach. She got a panini with chicken, mushrooms, sauted onions, corn, and avacado pesto spread. We made one a combo and got an extra order of soda. All together it was $ 21, so after using the voucher it was only a dollar! Awesome! And it was a lot of food too. We both only finished half our orders and barely touched the fries that came with the combo. I have to say, I like my wrap very much. And my friend said her panini was super tasty. I love the customization of it all. And best of all, it’s healthy (ish) depending on how you make it! The prices are standard, not pricey but not cheap either I think. But with comparable Westwood choices, you can’t go wrong choosing this place for a lovely, healthy lunch spot. =)

If you call it a paninni, you better have a paninni press (whick you didnt)
my Ciabata bread was soggy, all I’m saying is get a paninni press heck, get a few goerge foremans… cause that quiznos like oven blows!

This place is clean. It is new to the Westwood area. Probably open for a few months now so they might still be working out the kinks, hopefully.
I had the tuna wrap with spinach instead of lettuce (per their recommendation) and bar fries. The food was fresh. The tuna had a lot of water so every bite some liquid drips down the bottom. Wear a bib or eat over a sink. The spinach substitute over lettuce was a good recommendation. But because the tuna was so watery, it washed out any taste.
The bar fries was good. It was garlic and herb. I had the chipotle-​ranch dip. The dip was also a little watery.
The service was good and very friendly.
If I could, I would give this place a 2.5 star, but I’ll round up because of the friendly staff. If I try this place again, I’ll update my review.

Try it!
Fire roasted chicken panini — ⁴⁄₅. Really good. A lot more chicken than I would expect. A little too much sauce, but that’s OK. I’d order it again.
Fries — ⁵⁄₅. Great. Not the sweet potato fries, just the regular bar (?) fries. Really crispy, garlicy, delicious.
Staff is really friendly. If you are unhappy with your food (unlikely), just let em know! I’m sure they’d try to fix it. Restaurant is clean. Knocked down a star cause it’s a little on the pricey side.

I love any lunch spot that has reasonably priced, tasty, and healthy options that can be ordered and consumed with time left to spare on what is, for me, a tight 60-​minute lunch hour.
Since its opening, Spudnick’s has become another solid lunch player and continues to improve in each of the aforementioned areas with every subsequent visit.
AFOREMENTIONED AREAS
Price:
Very reasonable. A straight-​from-​the-​menu salad will run you about $ 8 (with tax). You’ll pay a bit more to design your own salad as that starts at about $ 9. Sandwiches and potatoes are in the same range.
Tasty Options:
Tastewise, I’ll just say that I love cobb salads and have ordered that every time I’ve been here. This is extremely unlike me as I usually like to conquer as much of the menu as appeals to me. However, I just really, really, like that salad. Paired with their made on site chipotle ranch and you’re good for the rest of the afternoon. I personally found that I enjoy the salad with turkey over the chicken because it comes cubed in more manageable chunks and is more moist. Also, I hate when a cobb salad has blue cheese «powder» and am in love with the fact that I can find actual chunks to seek my teeth into. Oh, and they have good bacon!
The fries here are good if you like them skinny and crisp.
I’ve tried the cheese/​bacon potato and that sucker, on top of broccoli cheese soup, is delicious. I’d order it if I weren’t avoiding carbs because potato carb is happy carb, true story.
Oh, and that brownie is evilly delicious (which I tried from a promo coupon).
Healthy Options:
Everything’s laid out for viewing when you walk in and looks fresh and ready for consumption. The makings for a healthy, clean meal are all laid out. Of course, one can sabotage one’s self with a few «cheat» items, but I won’t judge you.
Fits within Lunch Hour:
The speed has definitely picked up over time. I cut it very close my first visit, but now I can come in and eat with time to spare for a leisurely walk back to work.
BONUS AREAS
Service:
The staff here is really knowledgeable and alert. They’ll take your order quickly, happily offer recommendations, and check in with you to make sure your meal came out the way you hoped it would.
Portion:
The salad comes in a giant metal bowl and, for the same price, you get nearly double a half-​sized CPK salad.
Sidewalk Seating:
I really like the brick bench seating along the sidewalk. Just sayin.
AREAS FOR CONSIDERATION
(Really just one)
Layout:
It’s a little weird. There’s a whole line up of ingredients that you walk by prior to ordering. It becomes wasted space when it gets crowded, but the register moves the line along.

First of all, any restaurant in Westwood that offers Kaplan students but not UCLA students a discount is not going to make lots of friends.
That said, the food was okay, but underwhelming. More like 2.5 stars than 2, but NOT 3. Nothing was really wrong, but it was hard to be excited about it. Tough to come back to a place like that when there are so many other tastier choices in the village.
I had the Waldorf Salad — it arrived promptly and looked pretty tasty, filling a large metal bowl. But disappointment set in when I saw it was really, noticeably short on chicken. Big bummer. Plenty of greens, walnuts (PLEASE toast them, caramelize them, something — they were sooo bland…), apples, cranberries, cucumber, bleu cheese, and celery, but the combination of fairly unexciting ingredients coupled with a sincere lack of dressing left the salad cold and crunchy on the plus side, but largely lifeless on the minus side.
The young staff are very outgoing/​friendly/​helpful, although the server/​busser really pushed us to post positive comments here on Unilocal.Sorry, Skippy… I’d have loved to, if the food had any taste, and three times as much chicken.
My lunch partner had a southwest wrap and sweet potato fries. Her first comment about the wrap was «They sure use some grisly chicken here!» Not a good sign.
She shrugged and pronounced it «acceptable,» but not worthy of a second trip. The sweet potato fries were fine, and were a decent-​sized portion. Nothing more to say. Everyone has ‘em now and they really do seem to taste the same everywhere.
Maybe I’ll give them another shot, but *shrug* I dunno.
So, uh, yeah. Meh. I’ve experienced better.

I didn’t HATE Spudnicks, but I didn’t really enjoy it, and I don’t think I’ll come back. There’s nothing wrong with the food, it’s just very heavy and the menu is SO overwhelming. There are a lot of options, and very quick, so I guess that’s a + for some.

I would not go here. It’s not BAD, but the food is just very heavy and overwhelming. I went here for dinner, but it’s good for a quick lunch. There are a lot of options, so there’s something for everyone, but it’s just not the best I’ve had. It’s quick and easy though.

It’s really new and everyone there is trying to make their food better. It’s so adorable. The manager tells everyone about their «beef» and gives you a sample of chili… which is really good btw! My bf got the fire roasted chicken panini which he really enjoyed and I got a turkey club wrap w/​a spinach tortilla. That was good also.
But they ran out of sweet potato fries! Boo The bar fries were fine, kinda meh, but they’re baked and not oily at all, which is a plus.
One of the guys working had us try his broccoli and cheese soup which he was working on and wanted our opinion. Awwww how cuteeee. I like how they’re trying to hear what ppl think about their food so they can constantly improve.
Wait here is probably a little longer than you would expect for a fast-​er food place like this, so if you don’t have at least 15 minutes I’d go somewhere else.

Definitely been curious about this place. On an ordinary day, my first choice would have been a baked potato with chili, but that seems like a lot of carbs & I almost always eat out for Friday nite’s dinner. I opted for something more moderate, like a ham & cheese panini with a cup of chili. The very friendly cashier handed me a number and told me to take a seat wherever I like.
Food came quickly, and everything tasted pretty good. The panini isn’t the Corner Bakery style of a sandwich with grill marks on bread. This bread is a little fluffier than a pita bread, but definitely not a slice of your conventional bread. Probably saved some calories by not covering it in butter. Anyway, there is a honey dijon sauce that goes well with the ham, and no complaints on the sandwich. The chili is thick, but not too thick, and nicely seasoned. If you’re the kind of person who appreciates a hot burger with cold lettuce & tomato, then you would appreciate this chili. Hot (temperature hot) chili is served with refrigerator-​cold sour cream, with cheese just starting to melt. The temperature contrast is a pleasant shock, and the flavors blend well.
The employees are definitely trying hard, and I didn’t see any signs of new restaurant/​new kitchen syndrome, altho my order was pretty simple. The only drawback for me was the price. The meal in the picture was $ 13, which is only $ 1 less than the oh-​so fancy Napa Valley Grille Yountville lunch. Still, a good alternative when I don’t have as much time for lunch, and will maybe get a spot in the lunch rotation.

Got a freebie card while walking on the street the other day, so my friend and I both decided to go there for our first time today. The staff were extremely friendly and the selection was great.
My friend got the Meat-lover’s panini and kept going on about how «freaking awesome» it was! I had the Turkey avocado and thought it was good but could have been better. I could have been that I’m too accustomed to eating overly spicy food though.
Overall, I would highly recommend this place and probably will be back to try more of the menu while on vacation here in Westwood!

This was my first time there and it was at around 11:00am, so there was no long line, which was a good thing. The place is nice and clean (always a plus).
The people that worked there were pretty cool, although the manager was sort of mean to the cashier when he didn’t offer us their «foodie card.» I understand that she was just doing her job, but the place isn’t huge, and my friend and I were on the other side of the counter. It was kind of off-​putting since the cashier was really nice. I felt kind of bad. However, the manager sort of made up for it by engaging the customers (us) with conversation. She turned out to be a nice person in the end.
The food was really tasty. My friend and I both ordered the «Meat Lovers» panini. I love caramelized onions, which is why I chose this panini, though I kind of regret not getting the fire roasted chicken panini and splitting it with my friend. The meat was soft and tasty. The BBQ sauce wasn’t too over powering, so you were able to taste all the flavors of caramelized onion and roasted red pepper. The bread was warm and was, surprisingly, still firm despite all the juices from the ingredients. The bar fries were a nice mixture of soft and crispy. They weren’t too salty or greasy, which is great since they come with a guilt-​inducing flavored ranch dipping sauce. The sweet potato fries are also amazing. I wouldn’t dip them in anything because they’re just perfect by themselves.
Overall, my experience was pretty good. It’s a little overpriced, in my opinion, but I think the quality is worth it.

I went back two more time afterwards… and i just had to take away one star… i wish i could give them 2.5 stars. They are REALLY trying and the employees are very nice! But they have some work to do on the food… especially with all the competition in Westwood.

Opening day! It seems a bit confusing at first and the array of salad toppings is a bit dizzying, but it’s a fun place overall. The lunch rush was a bit slow and hectic, but I’m sure they’re just getting into the groove. I had the Turkey Club Wrap, then spoiled myself by getting the Baked Sweet Potato Fries as well. My wrap was put together right in front of me. Tasty! Unfortunately, the fries were lukewarm, soggy little blobs. Even the Chipotle Ranch I chose as my dipping sauce couldn’t save them. Happily, when I approached the cashier girl, she seemed to already be aware of the issue and immediately offered to get me new ones. She also told the kitchen staff to up the crisp– factor. They can’t improve if you don’t speak up right? Customer feedback and great customer service to receive it! The fries were also much better the second time around. They were piping hot, crisp, and delicious! I also appreciated that the lady I took to be the owner was walking around to greet and check on everyone.
They’ll need to work on the speed issue, but at least all the employees were chipper and apologized to everyone for the wait. The salads looked delicious (and ginormous in those big silver bowls!) so those are next on my to-​try list!