Elite Event: Sneak Peek at Mad Greens – Hilton Village

I’ve never heard of Mad Greens until I was able to get into this event. I thought, hey. it’s a catchy name, and has greens in it. must be about salads! I was wrong in that they offer more than just salads, such as wraps and hummus options.

Just like everyone else has said, we were able to choose any salad or wrap we wanted from the menu. I chose the Don Quixote salad which had mango, sweet corn, jack cheese, avocado, and greens. Topped it off with an amazing creamy ginger dressing for an overall wonderful salad. The portions are quite large and I had to take some home.
We got to sample juice, wraps, and the tofu which were all amazing! I also liked how there were root beers for the soda fountain that were very tasty! Loved all the options here and how organized, friendly, and just nice the whole staff was.
Definitely 5 stars in my book!

The Elite event at Mad Greens Hilton Village was my first Elite event on Unilocal!I must admit that I went in with somewhat low expectations. Hilton Village wasn’t very close to our house and I figured we’d be given a few samples, some awkward conversation, and hit the road. The event was quite the opposite.
We walked in to a crowd of people. Everyone ( Unilocal elite, +1s, and the staff at Mad Greens) was very friendly and enthusiastic. We were able to chose whatever salad or wrap we wanted off the menu as well as samples of hummus, juice, wraps and protein. I ordered the Mad Cesar salad (minus chicken, plus avocado, plus mad spice) and my +1 ordered the Don Quixote. We are big eaters, but were completely satisfied with the smaller salads that we ordered. The shrimp and tofu were both great add-​ins. I think next time I’m back I’ll substitute any of the meat options for the grilled tofu!
The beet hummus was by far my favorite & I’m not typically a fan of beets! All of the different hummus options are worth a taste. I make green smoothies most days for breakfast at home, but the Bright Buzz juice was spot on at Mad Greens — I will probably try to copy something similar at home in my Vitamix! I didn’t get the opportunity to try a wrap as the samples all had meat, but they looked quite tasty!
Overall, I’d give Mad Greens FOUR stars and the event itself FIVE. I’m not sure that I’ll go out of my way to get to Mad Greens, but will definitely hit it up for a quick lunch/​dinner option if there is one nearby. Thank you Mad Greens and Unilocal for putting on such a great event! I’ll definitely try to get into more events in the future!

I have to give MAD props (see what I did there?) to the staff here at Mad greens for a great event and a sneak peak at what Mad greens has to offer.
I got the Mark twain with the steak instead of the chicken and I added the mad spice to it. My god was that a good pasta salad with one heck of a kick. The mad spice adds a great flavor but will quickly light you up. I really liked it. My date also enjoyed her salad (I can’t remember what is was) and was even impressed the leftovers held fresh until the next day.
I thought the grilled shrimp was also really good and to my surprised I also enjoyed the grilled tofu. I actually added some of the later to my pasta as it helped cut the spice a bit. I am not a tofu lover so that surprised even me. The hummus sides were good as well but I am not a fan of the beet one then again I am not a fan of beets, the others were good and the jalapeño had just the right level of kick.
The staff did a great job handling a packed restaurant they handled a long line quickly and everyone seemed happy.
I will be making Mad Greens a regular stop for lunch as the Tempe location is near my work.

The entire week, all I could do was rave about how great Mad Greens was to my co-​workers. haha. Walked into a great atmosphere and crowd at the event. We got to order our own salad and I chose the Don Quixote. It just seemed so delicious when I read what was in it. And what was better was that I was able to add some olives into there. It really brought some extra flavors and an extra salty kick! Then there were some tofu and shrimp skewers and some wraps. I thought the tofu was ok, but the shrimp and wrap was so good. Linda had ordered a turkey panini and I tried that too. It was perfect. There was so much salad in the large salad size that I packed it for leftovers.
I also ate some hummus. Some roasted garlic, roasted beet and spicy avocado and I would say that the avocado was my favorite. They were all good. I think the best pleasant surprised was the soda machine. I don’t drink soda but when I tasted the vanilla crème soda, I couldn’t stop drinking. haha. Next time, I shall resist. Actually, the next time I went for lunch, I still drank a soda. So the NEXT time, I shall resist drinking the soda.
The event was great! I had so much fun catching up with everyone and just enjoying everyone’s company. It felt so lovely and euphoric. I love you guys! And of course, thanks for the AWESOME Mad Greens staff for putting up with us. And thanks to Gabi for stepping and just being awesome and setting something up like this. I really appreciate it!!!

Talk about gettin’ my green on!
It was my first time hearing about Mad Greens so this even was a real eye opener. Colorado you sure come up with great food places: Dutch Bros, Chipotle and Mad Greens … need I say any more?
It was a packed event and had tons of new faces I’ve never seen before, but that was a great reminder of the endlessly growing community of Unilocal Elites! Checked in with Gabi to grab a cute veggie stress ball and lined up for a taste of Mad Greens. I decided to go with the Don Quxiote though I was debating on the Edgar Allan Poe but thought the latter might be too sweet. The Don Quxiote salad came with grilled shrimp, mango, avocado and a ginger dressing I believe. The great thing is that you can pick and choose items to go on your salad, the size and how much dressing. The large salad was huge and was made/​mixed well. I got the medium dressing as well as the Mad Spice powder and it was delicious! Light, refreshing and a tad bit of heat made it so good.
There was also a few appetizers, wraps, sodas and fresh juices to try. The Cilantro hummus was amazing, Avocado salsa fans this is Avocado Salsa hummus reincarnate! The shrimp and tofu skewers were awesome. If they can make tofu skewers this delicious, you know they’re doing something right. I really liked the sun dried tomato wrap and the Green juice they had, I found the Banana, Carrot & Bee Pollen one to be too sweet and a bit thick. I truly appreciated their Maine Root soda selection and the fact that it is Organic and Fair Trade.
Thanks Gabi & Mad Greens for an amazing event, it was a full house! Erica for snapping away awesome pics and Mad Green’s staff for being so information, open to questions and the awesome food! Can’t wait to be back!

I was so happy to receive a confirmation for this event, knowing what a success the Tempe event was… but this time, I was on a mission to meet Karen W… you know, the beauty in the top photo spot for this event.
When I arrived (a tad early), I was happy to see Gabi M running the show, and Erica G working the camera. Since the festivities hadn’t officially started, I started photographing the unblemished display of cuisine. Then Erica photographed me photographing food, and I photographed Erica photographing me photographing her.
I got to sit with Mia N… Winning! She and her plus one kept me engaged with riveting conversation about their interesting careers. Feeling inadequate, I told them that I work in the human cloning industry, but couldn’t keep up the ruse, as my lame «What do you call a dna replica of Queen Elsa? Ice Queen Clone» pun fell flat.
I limited myself to the hummus and wraps, because I’d partaken in the salad at the Tempe event, and I just adore the cilantro jalapeño hummus, and the blt wrap.
I also got to meet newly elite Rashmi G, and provide my theories about who nominated her, and watch my #YelpEatsMadGreens IG photos lose to very worthy opponents. And I finally had the opportunity to meet the lovely and talented Tigra C, who promises to join us on the mountain! Yeah girl!
I walked away with a corn cob stress «ball» and a satisfied stomach. Mad Greens knows how to hook it up!

I must thank the beautiful Gabi for the tracks this event ran on, she is so clever and organized! It was nice to see my fellow Unilocalers and I realized they were mostly female and pretty, so the view was great while partaking of some solid salad choices!!!
Mad Greens has to be the best salad place in America. Unbelievable choices of ingredients (I wish I had counted the available ingredients, it’s mind bending. Lots of baby greens, spinach, kale, romaine, then tossed with I do recall some of the protein choices like grilled steak, 3 kinds of chicken, grilled little shrimp, bacon crumbles, eggs, anchovies, several kinds of chunked and shredded cheeses, (Blue, Cheddar, Feta, Goat, Jack, Mozzarella, & Parmesan) different kinds of seeds and nuts (almonds, pumpkin with or without their MAD spice, sesame, sunflower, & walnuts. Are you starting to get the picture? I need not mention the 19 different veggies and eight fruits available. All these can be added to your salad topped with twenty different home made dressings and they ask you «light, medium or heavy» application! I wonder who has that very labor intensive job of chopping and cutting and tearing, I get weary thinking about it. Come on down to MadGreens, 2 blocks north of McDonald on Scottsdale Rd. All your salad dreams will come true!!! And thank you Unilocal for inviting this old foodie :)

Lots of creative salads, wraps and paninis! I love fresh & modern vibe of the restaurant.
Some of my favs:
*Those piri piri shrimp are scrumptious
*Main Root soda fountain made with fair trade real cane sugar =super cool and delicious (i rarely drink soda but I was intrigued and had to try)
*Crazy Ivan –yes please! Beets and goat cheese always scream my name.
*loved the smokey flavor on the grilled tofu
* MAD GREENS team is super friendly and provided great service
A couple of wishes for next time:
*little extra melty time for the cheese on my Annie Oakley panini
*larger cuts or slices of beets in the Crazy Ivan, while delicous, I found my self on mission to find the beets and get them to stay on fork
Mad props!
Great job! Be back in soon!

The food was amazing! I loved all of it but I think the Hummus trio selection was my favorite. (and I am a bit of a hummus snob-​lol) The Beet Hummus was unique and yummy. Beets must be the new sliced bread. They are everywhere and oh so good. I chose the Mad Molly Brown for my salad selection and added some extra goodies. It was really good, so fresh and healthy. The Wrap was pretty outstanding too. It was also a special treat trying some of their fresh juice selections. I had tried Main Root soda in Portland this summer. As a union gal, I am proud they are choosing an employee friendly company for their soda selections.
Everyone was so nice here. The staff were very kind and accommodating. It was great seeing Chrissy, Andrew, and all the new folks I met. I was so happy to bring my fellow Foodie friend Char to spread the wealth.
Gabi is great! She works very hard these days and puts on a good show. The raffle prizes made me smile/​laugh. Ha, Cucumbers and Broccoli. How perfect is that? You are so clever! I really wanted to win some of that Mad Spice. Oh well, I am a winner just for being invited and being Elite. Come on and open Downtown Phoenix location. I can’t wait.

Fun event hosted by Gabi! The menu is extensive with different proteins, dressings, and mix-​ins for your salad, wrap, or sandwich. I opted for the Edgar Allan Poe and tried some of the Caesar salad.
I partially ordered the Poe because the incongruous image of Edgar Allan Poe awaking from his drunken stupor after a night of raucous gambling to stumble into a Mad Greens store surrounded by people in Lululemon yoga pants to order a fresh, healthy salad and a juice bar smoothie seemed humorous to me. I also thought the salad itself sounded pretty darn good. I can see why it’s Poe inspired. It had a deep, darkly colored allure, and the addition of Port wine dressing would be something he’d definitely be keen on. The steak in the salad was excellent. It was tender, with a very flavorful marinade.
The Caesar was also quite good. In contrast to the deep, rich Poe salad, the Caesar was more crisp and refreshing. I enjoyed both equally.
Despite the massive amount of people to make salads for, all the staff handled every request with ease and grace. I appreciated that they were very attentive to each order, making sure each salad had the right amount of salad dressing on it, etc.
The drinks here are equally as good as the salad. The samples of juice were excellent and I loved the Maine Root soda fountain as a more socially conscious and downright tasty alternative to your regular Coke and Pepsi options (If they had the Maine Root blueberry flavor I’d be here all the time!).
Gabi was a great host, greeting, explaining the time line of events for everyone, introducing the owner and manager, and generally making sure everyone was happy.
Thanks for a great event!

It was a packed house on Sunday night; Mad Greens was the place to be! Being only the second person in line was a little nerve-​wracking but I decided to go with the Ty Cobb salad (with ranch instead of blue cheese) and added croutons. I got the standard size which was actually big enough that I wasn’t able to finish the whole thing! All the ingredients in the salad were fresh & crunchy and the dressing was spot on. The additional offerings such as the wraps, hummus, piri piri shrimp, and juices were really tasty as well.
The staff was friendly & helpful in making sure that we got our food quickly. Like I said, it was very busy so it was a bit difficult to communicate with them while they were making our salads but I got exactly what I asked for!
The owner took time to give a bit of a background on Mad Greens & answered all of our questions. I’m glad that they’re planning on opening more locations in the valley because I can definitely see myself being a frequent patron of this fast, convenient, healthy, & tasty place.
Thank you Gabi, Unilocal,& Mad Greens for another fabulous event!

I’m MAD for these greens! The Crazy Ivan salad was awesome. I never had a «cherry» salad dressing before, but it turned out great! My friend and I also really liked the juice samples. I had never tried bee pollen before but it just tasted liked nothing. I’m assuming there are some health benefits to it, if they added it to their juice. I was too stuffed to try the wrap or hummus, but I had them last time at the Tempe Marketplace opening, and they were super delicious.
Mainly what I liked was how friendly the employees were. The only thing I didn’t like was that it was hard to talk to them/​hear them when the place was really packed!
Thanks so much Unilocal and MAD Greens for a fun Sunday night!

Excellent Event. Way to go Unilocal and Mad Green’s. Looking forward to more locations in the Valley. Good Luck Dan and the Mad Green’s Team!

Great event. This is the 3^rd location in Arizona for this Colorado based company. There is such a need for healthy quick food and Mad Greens fills that need. They use locally sourced fruits and vegetables and make all salad dressing in house. There are many different ways to make a great salad and there are also pre selected options to help you decide. The staff was very very helpful and happy.

My second Unilocal Elite event and I am just as impressed, if not more. I’ve been wanting to try this place and there’s actually one closer to my house that I may frequent more. I came in and was warmly greeted by interim CM Gabi and another Unilocaler. They had veggie stress «balls», I got the eggplant, and a raffle entry. We took a seat and received a menu to peruse. Lots of salad combos with a variety of proteins and flexibility with substitutions, always important to me. I ordered the Don Quixote and it was yummy. They also provided three types of hummus, pita bread, grilled shrimp and tofu, and wraps. I couldn’t have any of the latter because they all had chicken, but the food was plentiful and the salad huge. They also provided juice samples. Everything is healthy, most is locally sourced and organic. The setup was similar to Chipotle and Fired Pie: choose your greens, proteins, toppings, veggies in a bowl. They also have wraps and paninis.
The place was packed with Unilocalers and their guests and everyone seemed to enjoy the food. The staff is wonderful and made sure everyone was doing well, and chatted with us. Dan, the D in MAD Greens, answered questions and told us about the company’s roots in Colorado. I love that their iced tea is from there and they have fair trade sodas. So cool! They plan on expanding their locations in Arizona and shared that the next one will be on 7^th Ave and McDowell Rd, a prime downtown Phoenix location.
After the q&a session, the raffle and Instagram winners were announced. I was so excited to be the first raffle winner! I really wanted the 3lbs bag of broccoli. They also gave me Unilocal sunglasses, a coupon for a free salad, and a bottle of MAD Spice, a delicious blend of peppers, chilies, salt and chocolate extract. I put that in my purse for food emergencies since its the perfect addition to any salad, and food in general. Everyone received coupons for bogo salads on their next visit to this location.
Overall, fantastic event and I thank the staff at MAD Greens, Gabi and all who were involved in planning. I look forward to my next visit!

My first elite event was a success! Was super crowded here but the staff did an excellent job of handling things which definitely helps. The line was kind of long when we arrived, but it moved fast.
After much deliberation I decided on a half caprese sandwich (Mona Lisa) and half quinoa super fruit salad.
We couldn’t find any seating at all inside so we ended up sitting outside and it was nice and quiet. They were super apologetic about us having to eat outside, but it wasn’t a big deal! Our food came out pretty quick, and it was delicious. Only complaint was that the panini was a tad soggy, but that happens when you use balsamic sometimes ha. Hummus was great, my favorite was probably the plain, my friend loved the jalapeño cilantro one. The grilled tofu was tasty as well. My friend got a panini also and loved it! Juice samples were incredible too.
Great service and fresh, delicious food. Certainly glad I went!

MAD Greens is taking over the Valley, and stealing Elite Unilocaler’s hearts in the process! What an awesome (and.healthy-ish?) event! Sorry, but I just love their house-​made dressings too much.
We each got to order a salad of our choosing — and I went crazy and made my own — plus a few select wraps, three hummuses (hummii?), two fresh juices, teas, and fair-​trade cane sodas.
The staff was cah-​razy excited to be there, and it showed in their every guest interaction (even more so than at the North Scottsdale and Tempe Marketplace locations!)…the kind of service you don’t expect to receive anywhere, let alone a fast-​casual joint.
The Unilocal schwag (carrot stress reliever and more Unilocal lip balm?) was on point, as usual thanks to Gabi!
Can’t wait to meet our new CM, though it’s been great having Gabi events!

(Lyrics — Né-​Yo — Mad)
I’m staring at it, and sitting wondering what I should be tasting
Umm every ones talking, cause talking just turns into Unilocaling … oh!
And now as I’m Unilocaling over here, she’s Unilocaling over there
All that means is all of us are listening
And what’s even cool, that we all remember why we’re Unilocaling
So both of us are at Mad Greens ( Unilocaling for)
Mad Greens (trying for)
Mad Greens… woah!
And we are here for Unilocaling
Unilocaling
It should Unilocaling
To an Elite Event we got oh Baby!
I know sometimes I will go green
But Bo Bobites can we sing it now
Cause I can’t sleep through the hunger pain
Girl I wanna go to Mad… Greens with you
And I wanna you to go to Mad… Greens with me
Yes I wanna go to Mad… Greens with you
And I wanna you to go to Mad… Greens with me
I’m sooooo happy Mad Greens open down the street from me! No more driving to Tempe or North Scottsdale for this salads!
Another Elite event and boy do I love them! I can’t wait for the next and always good to see my fellow Elites. Let’s just say dang it feels good to be an Elite!
I’ve been to other Mad Greens opening with Unilocal and in general and I always enjoyed their food and their Maine soda. I love the Siam I Am, but this time around I shot for the Edgar Allen Poe; a steak salad with apples, pears, bleu cheese and walnuts. Overall, the steak with perfectly tender while the apples and pear provided a lovely crunch! Free wraps, but I’m not much of a wrap guy. Their hummus is to die for! I love love love the Siracha Avocado!
In the end, thanks Gabi for putting in another lovely Elite Unilocal gathering. I’m real excited to meet our new CM soon! Finally, I got 2^nd place for the Instagram challenge!

I cannot say enough about this wonderful evening at MAD Greens. It is about time that we get a tasty, quick & easy, salad AND fresh juice spot in town! I’m seriously the happiest camper right now. From the AMAZING salad bar {with every topping imaginable… including grilled peaches, like what?!}, to the fresh juices {made on site}, paninis & wraps, MAD Greens has everything that you could ever want & more!
I ordered the Crazy Ivan salad {because I love beets & goat cheese!} and it was light and perfect. I loved the Sherry Molasses Vinaigrette {…all of their dressings are homemade right there!}. The grilled citrus chicken was delicious as well! There are SO many salad options to choose from, it was so hard to pick. I will definitely try a new one next time so that I can get a feel for some of the other unique creations! The Piri Piri Shrimp {Um, best flavor ever!} & Beet Hummus {So unique!} were delightful.
I am not really a soda drinker but the fact that their fountain sodas are sugar sweetened with fair trade certified, non-​GMO organic cane juice, I couldn’t resist trying the Vanilla Crème {Oh em gee, it was basically dessert!}. They have a wonderful variety of iced tea flavors as well!
Thank you so much to the MAD Greens Team for inviting Unilocal Elites to try out your new spot! & Thank you Gabi for creating an amazing experience! I will be back very soon! {Beware: I may even become a regular!!}