The Salad Bistro and More

My friend brought me to this place and all I can say is he is really a friend. It is an excellent place just for a fast, easy good healthy meal. With the choices that they have you will never go wrong.

Being vegetarian, I come here for a great salad. They will make it with all the ingredients that you want and it has always been perfect. They also make good pizzas and a very tasty side bread. They staff and owner are friendly and helpful and I notice they are always keeping the place very clean. Definitely a must if you want affordable, fresh, healthy food.

salad never tasted so delicious !!! and the service there is awesome. I would recommend anyone who wants a healthy meal

What can I say I’ve been driving by this spot now for about two months.
Today I decided to go in and have lunch.
I ordered the Milano for lunch which is the chicken fettuccini Alfredo. Wow wow Wow amazing dish
The place is clean highly maintained the staff very friendly.
This place is a must go!
Can’t wait to try the pizza !!!

How does one screw up spaghetti & meatballs? That’s what I ordered and it was (sorry to say) awful. The sauce was way too sweet (almost had a ketchup sort of taste) and the meatballs were terrible-​dense and hard and not tasty at all. Honestly, no one would find this dish good. It’s been awhile since I’ve left food I order untouched, but I took three bites of this spaghetti and had to leave the rest. I didn’t like feeling like I wasted $ 10, but it was that bad. If this were a chain restaurant, I might have asked for a refund. But since it’s probably more mom and pop, we just left– we did have to go down the street for a second dinner though. This was a huge disappointment, as we live walking distance away.
On the other hand, my husband’s turkey patty sandwich was at least decent. It wasn’t good, but it was ok according to him. On the service front, the girl behind the counter was barely cordial (very unenthusiastic, even though we told her it was our first time there), and she had no idea what kind of meat the chili was made with. The rest of the employees were sitting at a table near the drink dispenser just chatting amongst themselves. With such bad food and service, there’s really no reason we would come back again.
Edit: The owner’s response is below. While I appreciate them taking the time to read the review, I don’t think it’s cool to say people have different tastes and justify an awful-​tasting dish that way. I would urge them to actually make an order of the spaghetti for themselves, sauce and all, and eat it. They’ll know that truly is a terrible dish and they should either learn how to properly make it or remove it off the menu. While it might be true that their salads are where the really shine, it’s not ok to have items on the menu if they are just plain bad. In any case, this is a perfect example of how something like that can alienate a customer. Definitely the worst meal I’ve had in awhile.

I was like a kid in a candy store, couldn’t decide which toppings to choose for my salad. lol! It was delicious!
Staff was very friendly, definitely coming back.

The salad was excellent and fresh. We ordered the margarita pizza and that was also excellent. Some places go too sweet or not enough flavor in sauces but this was great sauce for the pizza. We seen it and the reviews and decided to try it out. Great decision for lunch. The staff we’re very friendly and welcoming for our first time there. Give them a try you won’t regret it.

WOW! We had a vendor deliver Salad Bistro for a lunch and learn, I was able to meet George and BOY! Did he knock the food and customer service out of the park!
He brought table cloths and a couple extra goodies on the house!
All of us were super impressed with the amazing salad, sandwiches and fruit!
Thank you George!

April 24, 2016
Found this place and decided to check it out. This quaint little spot has been opened for a little over a year and I can see that they are still learning the trade. The owner, is very kind and a cheerie fellow. He came out to greet us, customers, and went back to work behind the counter. We can see he is very hands-​on kind of a guy.
Lets get to the food, shall we?
I ordered the Capistrano Sandwich and the fiancé ordered his own personalized pizza. We both loved our food very much and we enjoyed it to the point where we wanted to take it back home so we can savor the rest of it when we watch our tv shows.
Capistrano with a side of broccoli soup–
The broccoli soup was too salty for me. I had to use the bread from my sandwich to dip into the soup to make it less salty. I didn’t waste any of it though, I devoured the soup-​all the way! Now, my sandwich! I love how the turkey patty isn’t 100% turkey. There are veggies in my patty, which I love love love! The bread was my favorite! It was soft and perfectly toasted. I honestly can just eat the bread on its own, if it were a just the bread on the menu.
The Personal Pizza–
Well, I can’t say much for this because it’s your own PERSONAL PIZZA and you customize it the way you like it. However, I can see that their ingredients are fresh. Their pizza dough is an actual dough that they flatten when you order it through the pizza dough machine. How legit is that? Compared to Pieology, this place seems to be way more fresh.
Overall, great place to check out in Monrovia! I’ll come back again to try out the other sandwiches and perhaps create my own customized pizza. Happy Unilocaling!

I just had an Amazing birthday dinner with my family here at The Salad Bistro. Is was so great and George, the owner was the best! I just reserved a table for my party & he & the staff surprised us & decorated the area and with a birthday cake with coffee. It was so sweet; they kept checking on our party to make sure we were good.
The food was awesome! I had a giant custom salad with chipotle chicken and the husband had a ½ pepperoni & ½ pesto chicken pizza. Everything was sooooo good! Oh, and their music station was awesome!!! Everyone had a great time and enjoyed their dinner and I can’t say enough about the staff– so friendly and funny. We all can’t wait to go back again!

I ordered the Gobbler sandwich which was par as far as taste goes and sub-​par if you consider the price (value).
The reason for the low score is due to the poor service. Sure, the staff was nice but how do you forget to make a pizza when there were only 2 items ordered AND you’re not even busy? I sat outside with my wife, picking at my food (Gobbler sandwich) and waited for her pizza to arrive for more than 15 minutes. After seeing other parties getting their pizza, she inquired about the pizza. The staff totally forgot to make the pizza and blamed it on their system (sorry dude, but you’re not serving very many people to have to rely on a system). There was NO apology for the mishap and WE had to request for a refund on the pizza.
I like the look of this establishment and believe places like this make Myrtle special, so I called the manager (owner) to let him know about this issue since he was not on site during the occurrence. He apologized for the issue and that was that.
Sad to say but this left a bad taste in my mouth and I will not be returning.

They’re called Salad Bistro but they make the BEST MEATBALLS! Like, they’re seriously, SERIOUSLY GOOD!!! I ordered them just by themselves (with a salad) and not on a sandwich because they’re so delicious! But their meatball sandwich is awesome as well! So is their chicken pesto sandwich!
On top of their awesome food, their customer service is the tops as well! The workers are always polite and friendly and the owner is the super nice!!!

I came here with family. It is a build your own type of place. We all ate every bite of our salad and I personally had The Padrino Sandwich which I paired with their avocado dressing for dipping and OMG it was good! The owner was working, and I have to say that he was extremely helpful and genuinely nice!
Needless to say will not be the last time I come.
If you are in Old Town Monrovia this place is definitely worth the stop!
So I have returned, and have to say that I am convinced that this is Old Towns hidden gem! Everything I’ve had has been delicious!

My coworker brought me here today for lunch. Salads, Pizzas, Sandwhiches, & Pastas. Lots of good tasting and very well presented food when it comes to the table. I ordered the Chicken Fettuccini plate.
The owner or manager was very kind and helpful, he really treated us well.
The staff was very good as well. It did get busy during the lunch rush. There was quite a wait in the order line. The chicken was not as thick or plentiful as the pictures advertised. But it was still very good. I’ll definitely be coming back to try the other options.

Pizza per my baby’s request today ½ all cheese and margarita pizza yummy This place deserves an extra plus for being so nice and kid friendly. Offered my daughter strawberries

Two weeks ago I went to the Salad Bistro on a Friday night. First of all it is in a great location in Monrovia. Many options for salads and great flavor. I had a couple of different pizzas and they were all delicious. Employees and Owner are very helpful, friendly and delightful. I highly recommend the Salad Bistro.

Let me just say that the owner, George, is so great! Between his service and the service of his employees… this was a top notch experience! There are so many choices! Pasta, salad, pizza, and sandwiches! It’s amazing! The food was great. I loved the Palermo pasta (pesto pasta)! Thank you George and your staff! We will all be back!

Great service and amazing food!!! It’s in a great location with indoor and outdoor seating. If you haven’t already, come check it out.

One of the best places to eat in monrovia. A lot of selection, clean, and fresh. You have to try this place.

The salad options are awesome. I got the make your own salad. They have classic lettuce, mix greens, spinach, or a combo of those. Many toppings to choose from to make the perfect salad. Same price regardless of what you add (except chicken and I think some other small exceptions). You can tell the ingredients are fresh. They also have some homemade dressings to choose from. I got the homemade avocado lime dressing. All very yummy. I would go all the time if they had something closer to where I live.

The name of this restaurant is a bit deceiving. If it wasn’t fir the fact that I had a rare craving for salad we never would have found a great sandwich, pizza and pasta place also! The place is like a combination of Blaze Pizza, California Pizza Kitchen, Soup Plantation and Togo’s. The ingredients are fresh, there are options for everybody and the customer service is spot in. I will be back soon!

Saw this place on Unilocal and thought I’d get a salad to go. Amazing fresh food. Was a lot of food, very hearty

Everything thing is fresh but the food wasn’t very tasty. How can a salad be tasteless. Pizza… needs work. Crust was bland also. They need to work on seasoning up their food bland. Keep trying. Not impressed.

I am not big on salad dedicated spots, but dang this place is good. I was clueless on what to do since you create your own salad, but I ended up loving my final product. Place is a bit pricey for salad, but you get a huge portion so it is worth it.

3.5 stars. I was excited about the concept of this place because it’s the same as Pluto’s (in Davis and SF) and I loved every salad I made from there. This place, however, has slightly different salad ingredients which were more basic IMO, so my salad was just meh. I think the price came out to a little over $ 10, and yeah it was a decently large salad but nothing about it was memorable. I also got a piece of bread and a cup of soup to go with the meal, and split everything with a friend, so it was enough food for the both of us for the most part. The staff was super nice and friendly though, and joked with us the whole time.

A group of us came here for lunch and had a great experience. I ordered The Padrino, which comes with a soup or salad. I chose the Potato and Kale soup, which was full of flavor. The Padrino includes chicken and pesto, and I enjoyed the combination of both. My friend ordered the same sandwich with garlic mayo on the side, which gave the sandwich a good «ump». Two of my other friends created their own pizza and they enjoyed the thin crust. My other friend ordered The Gobbler which includes turkey and cranberry. She enjoyed her sandwich because it was packed with turkey and the cranberry gave it a nice subtle hint of sweetness. The fresh ingredients made all of our meals taste delicious!
Customer service was on point. The employees were very friendly and constantly checking up on us to see how we were doing and if we needed anything.

Amazing place. The owner is fantastic. They offer a rewards program for kids to encourage them to eat healthy which prompted us to come here for our second visit. The pizza is amazing ! I put everything but the kitchen sink on mine and marvel even the employees! Seriously amazingly nice and helpful staff.

This place was amazing! I was working with my dad and we got hungry, it’s difficult for me and my dad to go out because I’m vegan and he recently became gluten free for his health so this place was prefect. They had so many options that it was fun to chose from, they thought of almost everything. The service was also lovely!

Loved my salad and the selections for salads. However pizza not so much. The dough and sauce wasn’t comparable to places like Blaze or Pieology. Come here for salads, not pizza. Great service too!

If there is one thing I know it’s salads. Their salad bar is extremely extensive and they have every ingredient under the sun. I love the avocado lime dressing and the butter bread. I came pretty early in the day so it was not busy but I can imagine it takes a while to get through the salad bar during lunch. Overall I am very happy with my «do it yourself «salad and ate every morsel with delight.

I visited this place t

I visited this place twice and I first visited based on the great reviews! Both visits were great:
Food: salad choices are enormous and fresh! The portion is HUGE! I had to split the salad into two meals. It was less than $ 10. Compare this to Chipotle or Whole food salad bar, this is a steal! Sandwich was delicious, it did take a little longer time than I expected, but I’m not complaining since it was YUMMY
Service: top notch
Ambiance: clean and simple. I love that they are not stingy with utensils — those are the fancy party plastic utensils
Overall, this is a great place and I hope it will survive and more people will appreciate it because restaurants in old town disappear pretty quickly and they offer very healthy food choices!

I’ve been waiting for a place like this to open up around here. This is one of my favorite lunch spots. Highly recommended!

Quote on the wall «a simple, healthy, budget friendly option when it comes to daily busy professionals.» This place is literally following its commitment to the customers.
This is the only sandwich/​pizza/​salad place I have ever been where owner and staff will come to your table asking how you’re doing. It shows that they do care about their customers’ voice.
We came here for salad and the owner spotted us being perplexed looking at the menu so he came over and explained to us how it works. So for the salad, you craft your own salad from the main salad, fruits, beans, and to selections of meat (chicken, seafood, and vegan). They offer a wide variety of ingredients which satisfies all kinds of picky eaters. At cashier, they also offer complimentary hand-​made bread fresh out of oven. Two of us shared one big bowel of salad only costed us less than $ 12 dollars! Walked out with a full tummy and pleasant experience.

This place is really expensive for what you get. You could essentially just go grocery shopping for a weeks worth of salad ingredients for the price of one salad and a sandwich here.
BUT! The sandwiches are pretty good and it’s nice to have a healthier option they also have one of those magical Coke machines that have every flavor of everything ever. So that’s nice.

Finally, the food and service everyone’s writing about!
Second Sunday in for lunch — wanted to give SB another try after the awful experience last time.
What I’ve learned:
— staff this time handled the rush wonderfully and were extremely nice. Not sure if they’re new or just different employees
— don’t order the Mediterranean salad. It’s bland and a waste of an opportunity to make a master creation
— if you’re not sure — sample! You can taste any salad addition — even the dressing — if you’re not sure
— salads are big enough for 2 — if you’re on a budget, order 1 (they even come with homemade garlic bread)
— order with abandon! There’s only an extra charge for protein
Today’s success: a mixed greens salad with cucumber, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, onions, sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, pumpkin seeds, and pesto chicken — ordered the lemon honey poppyseed dressing but didn’t use it (the flavors of the ingredients were best on their own).
Ate my first salad without dressing today — A+ SB! Thanks for giving me a delicious healthy meal!

This is the 5^th time I’ve been here… the concept, build your own salad, pizza or sandwich, is awesome! I’ve never built a salad or sandwich I have not loved and the toppings are plentiful & unlimited!
I’ve yet to build a pizza with freshly made crust, but there is always tomorrow.
Did I mention the owner is really cool and low key funny… ask him to tell you the «Natasha» joke!

I love the concept of Salad Bistro. If I could describe the set up, it’s like a salad assembly station version of a Subway restaurant (with better décor and more places to sit!).
Upon walking in, the staff was super friendly and helpful. They went over the menu offerings for us since we were first time patrons.
For a set price, you can choose the salad option and add all the ingredients in the station line up. Towards they end they have their vegan and protein options for an additional cost. Salads are tossed and served in giant stainless steel bowl!
I love that the ingredients are fresh and that there’s a lot of variety. They have sandwiches and other entrees too if you aren’t feeling a salad.
The owner seemed to know everyone in the community, which is kind of cool. There’s a large patio seating option and its dog friendly!
I saw some coupons in the Arcadia/​Monrovia quarterly booklet too! :)
Unilocal 100 Challenge — 24 of 100

Super clean, super friendly, and tons of choices.
Came on a Wed at 11:30 am. No wait, but by noon, it was almost full. The prep was a little slow, so I can imagine how long this could be with a couple of customers.
The pizza station is to the side before the salad station. The recommend 5 toppings, but you can choose more than that. I had a salad. They had everything from basics to golden beets and alfalfa. They had BBQ chicken, pesto, and just plain. $ 2 add on.
The salad comes with a piece of bread.
Chicken noodle soup is available everyday and the other days rotate. Wed is split pea.
Over all, not bad, but for the same price, I could go to Soup plantation for unlimited salad and soup, but the wait there is ridiculous if you don’t go early.
Overall, I’m satisfied.
Parking in front and back, accept cards, offers several vegan dressings.

4.5 stars! This place is located in old town Monrovia. Plenty of parking either on the street or there’s free parking in the back lot. Right when me and my friend entered, we were greeted by this old man and all the other workers behind the counter.
This place has build your own salads, build your own pizzas, sandwiches, and soups. I thought they would have multiple soups a day because that’s what their menu looks like online. But when I got there and asked what kind of soup they had, they only had clam chowder and chicken noodle. Boo… I can’t even drink those soups.
Anyways, salad bistro is very similar to chipotle as in you choose any ingredients you want & as much as you want. They have a lot of fresh greens, vegetables, fruits, proteins, and salad dressings to choose from. I can’t name all of the ingredients because there’s too many, you’ll have to go in and see for yourself. They charge an extra $ 2 for protein (they have different kinds of chicken), $ 2 for vegan (quinoa and tofu), $ 3 for seafood. Get the Asian sesame dressing! I personally always like that dressing because I love sesame, so I may be biased and too scared to try any other dressing. It’s so hard to choose because they have so much to choose from.
They give you a free slice of cheese bread with your salad, which by the way isn’t that good. It tastes hard and stale. If you check in on Unilocal they give you a free cookie or a brownie. Their cookies are not tasty at all. They’re hard and obviously not fresh. Subway cookies taste way better, but hey, it’s free so can’t complain that much.
A build your own salad cost around $ 9 including tax. Not including protein though! The workers here are really attentive and nice. They made us feel really comfortable and answered our questions with a friendly tone.

This cute little place opened up not too long ago and is quite popular and packed! It’s a wonderful concept with great service.
We came for their sandwiches, rather than the customized salads and pizza. The sandwiches come with either a side salad or soup. My coworker noted that all the times she ordered soup, there were only 2 choices– chicken noodle or clam chowder. She had not seen the Mon-​Fri soup of the day specials yet.
We got our clam chowder first and it was perfect– not too thick and not too salty. It came with generous clam chunks, so no complaints there.
The strange part was the wait time for the sandwiches. I mean, they’re sandwiches. My chicken pesto/​Padrino sandwich came out quickly, but it was a while before the Albacore Tuna sandwich was brought out. I was able to finish almost half my sandwich before my coworker received hers (she finished the soup already).
My sandwich was tasty albeit salty and very creamy and heavy on the sauce. The bread was a bit more toasted than preferred and the chicken was very blackened and grilled, which made certain parts drier with a burnt taste. However, the overall taste of the sandwich was good.
Friendliness when ordering and receiving food was top-​notch. We were able to order our sandwiches at the beginning of the salad line, but had to wait in the same line to pay for our food. I was a bit confused as to why we couldn’t hop ahead while people were figuring out their salad to make things more efficient. The owner was very nice and was manning the cash register when we went.
I was able to check in through Unilocal to get a free cookie, opting for the chocolate chip, which was quite hard and crunchy for most of the cookie save the very center.
Overall value for food was quite pricey for me ($ 9 – 10 for sandwich + soup) and I was able to finish everything in one sitting. It was quite filling if you finished the whole thing, which surprised me since the sandwich looked quite small.

You don’t need to go to DTLA or whole foods anymore! This place rocks in old town monrovia. Really great quality sandwiches and do it yourself pizzas and salads.
This place is unique, clean, friendly and about quality. Great selection of salad bar and pizza toppings about 35 feet of toppings! Lots of greens and also proteins including chicken and even shrimp. Great selection of dressings. I only wish for maybe a self red wine vinegrette and olive oil choice with maybe a choice of lemon juice and kosher salt like some of the back east salad joints. Plus a coupe soups of the day. The chicken noodle was good. Would also be nice to have some bottled beverages (water, Perrier, honest teas, etc) as options to the freestyle.
Would also be nice to have a long flat bread or whole wheat dough choice as well for pizza. But the prices are very reasonable so you can’t complain about it. Plus a freestyle coke machine with an assortment of flavors on it. Plenty of parking in old town monrovia. Indoor and outdoor seating. Good place for lunch or dinner or with a movie from the krikorian up the street.

My coworkers and I noticed this place since we are always in the area for lunch. They opened on Thursday 3÷12÷15 (same day as Rita’s Italian Ice in Monrovia LOL). The restaurant is located on the east side of Myrtle Avenue just south of Lemon Avenue. If you are familiar with Old Town Monrovia, the location used to be «The Irish Gardener» (Garden & Home Gift Boutique).
Since we wanted to avoid being «guinea pig» customers, we decided to wait a week before trying it out. Six of us came here for lunch on Friday 3÷20÷15. They have indoor and patio seating.
The Salad Bistro offers salads (obviously), soup, sandwiches, pizza, and dessert. Although they are set up similar to Souplantation, this is not a buffet. The staff will assemble your salad for you. Since the menu is a little overwhelming and confusing (being first time customers), there was a bit of a hold up in the front.
I opted for a salad ($ 7.95) and got spinach, mixed greens, mushrooms, alfalfa, carrots, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, hard boiled egg, corn, with Pomegranate vinaigrette and added pesto chicken for an extra $ 1.00. The salad also came with bread. With tax, my total came out to $ 9.76.
The line moved pretty fast, but again there was a bottleneck once we got to the register. The owner was trying to ring people up, and answer the phone (to go orders). It was a bit chaotic. I think they need someone dedicated for «to go» orders because he answered the phone and just passed it to someone else who was clearly busy with other things.
My coworkers ordered sandwiches and pizza. I got to sample the Padrino (chicken pesto) sandwich, and roasted vegetable pizza with added meats. For sandwiches and pizza, they give you a number and will bring your food out to you.
Wow, the Padrino sandwich is so tasty and had to much flavor. I would order that next time. The pizza was good too.
VERDICT/​ADVICE:
I love the concept of The Salad Bistro and all their menu items go together. The food is delicious. They need a second register or an area where people can go if they only want to order a sandwich. You shouldn’t have to wait in the «salad» line if you only want a sandwich, which you can just pay for and then sit down and wait for it.
They also need to add rubber grips on the bottom of the bowls or on the tray. My salad bowl almost slid off my tray after I paid. The guy in front of me saw this and tried to help me catch it. Also, one of the staff (owner’s wife?) was cleaning a table and the same thing happened to her where the bowl slid off the tray and actually fell on the floor creating a mess.
I know they are still working out some kinks, but they are such nice people here. I would come back again since the food was good.
⁶³⁄₁₀₀ Reviews for 2015