Sweet Tomatoes

Everywhere we go, no matter how close or how far, when I ask my daughter where she would like to eat she hollers for SWEET TOMATOES! She loves this place!
It appears all the stores are basically the same. We like the mac and cheese, and the cornbread is pretty good. Tapioca pudding is sweet enough without being too thin or goopy. Huge selection of hot soups, which is great when you are traveling with a bunch of tween girls. The selection on the salad bar is quite varied, usually, and always seems to be fresh and refilled.
Service was friendly, and helpful.

Came to Sweet Tomatoes last night with my fiancé and son around 4. I got a coupon in the mail for $ 10.29 each adult for dinner after 4. Which is a super deal, so we thought we’d try it out.
The inside looked a bit rundown. I know this isn’t an upscale buffet or anything, but as salad options go, it’s nothing special, or out of the norm you’d find at a potluck. No artichoke hearts, tomatoes (ironically) edamame, or anything nice like that. Just plain toppings.
Other than salad, they have lots of soup choices, baked potatoes, breads and muffins, or 3 types of pastas. Not much of a selection at all. All they have for dessert is ice cream. The Sweet Tomatoes in California always had pineapple upside down cake or some new dessert every time you visit. There are not a lot of flavors in the dishes here.
I do appreciate the managers attentiveness here! He asked me if I was looking for something in particular and then when they were out of baked potatoes, he said he’d personally walk to my table to let me know when they were ready. (Extra star for courtesy)
For the $ 10.29 I’m not complaining, but I would never come here for any more than that. Not worth it!

I wasn’t sure what to expect. My wife raved about this place, and so we finally made it to one. This is the closest to where I live, and it’s not quite a two hour drive.
The salad bar has a very large selection of items, including some things that aren’t seen on many other salad bars. The extra varieties of salads (potato salad, pasta salads, etc.) are incredible. I didn’t care for some of the varieties, which detracted my experience a bit.
The soups were great. They had a ratatouille, which was awesome, and a sizzlin’ siracha udon — which underperformed. It tasted good and had some decent spice, but tasted a bit like just miso soup.
I did definitely get my money’s worth. Is it worth the long drive? As a periodic treat, yes. As an on-​going thing… that’s a little bit of a stretch, but still worth it.

All you can eat salad is always a good thing, but this place also has other stuff as well. Let’s face it if you have teenagers this is the place. They can eat all they want and you still pay one low price. The non-​salad items are pretty much cafeteria style pizza, spaghetti, soups, etc. Soft serve ice cream is always a hit too. I used to come here alot when my kids were still at home, not as much anymore. This is still a good place.

The service was great… But the food was to die for… Literally… I got food poisoning from this location after eating the Cesar salad and the tuna tarragon… The Cesar was wilted and tasted off so I didn’t even finish my salad… And the tuna didn’t taste right either… By the end of my meal I was in the bathroom throwing up the salad and couldn’t even work the next day because I was praying to the toilet God’s the next day…

My last visit is just that, my last visit. The overall cleanliness was on par with a locker room, complete with the smell. I did send a complaint to their HQ and got an e-​mail from the manager asking me to call and explain what the problems were. Not one to chew my words (nor sweet tomatoes food) twice I decided to do my non verbal and not visit again…

It ain’t always easy being a vegetarian in the Couve.
Most places around here don’t seem to give more than a passing nod to the idea of meatless eating. Even the nicer places seem to only have one or maybe two choices to offer.
It’s like 1987 over here. A veritable alternate universe.
I think the salad bar is my fave part of this place. Next comes the soups, then the baked goods and finally the pasta. I tried a basil lime pasta that in IMO was a no-​go. Just sayin’.
Like most buffets, getting here early is a good idea. We’ve all seen what can happen when people who shouldn’t serve themselves choose to do so.
The choices are pretty mainstream, especially when compared to some specialty places in Portland. Having said that, everything is at least adequate and the salad part was great.
I probably bumped this up a star because of my wife. It’s nice to go into a place where she doesn’t need to wonder if the ‘vegetable’ soup was made with beef stock.

Not very gluten free friendly. On line they advertised gluten free pumpkin muffins and some sort of gluten free potato dish. The potato dish was available too bad it had absolutely no flavor whatsoever. I have accidentally tasted napkins that tasted better. The gluten free pumpkin muffins were not available, but they did have a large selection of butter based gluten free toppings for them available. The gluten free chili was ok. If you are looking a good gluten free meal I Can’t recommend ST. They do have a very friendly and helpful staff.

Stopped here for lunch on a business trip. First experience with a restaurant whose bathroom smells like cake batter. That’s not something you usually get. That was extremely pleasant. The food was very fresh all the veggies were crisp and fresh and the rosemary potato soup was delicious.

Here now. Good food I must say though am surprised that the price is so high. Never been here before and you walk in and no one greets you or explains the concept. Two people looked at us floundering and went about their business. Sad. Beverages cost $ 2.50.
If I come back (if) I will make sure I am more hungry and thirsty!!!

If you like food that is mostly bread-​based and tastes like nothing in an environment that clearly caters to those seeking quantity over quality and a seating area that smells like urine try Sweet Tomatoes!
When I am scooted off to a senior care facility I hope the food is far better than the pablum served here!
Disgusting

We came in today @15:28 (The time on our receipt after getting our salad and paying.) We were greeted by smiling faces and a clean salad bar. It was a good veggie selection, but lacked fruit.
The other items were comparable to other places like it. I have no complaints in that area as well.
Where the rating goes down is when we went to sit down. The young man caring for our section, did not give a rats ass about the customers.
He stood in the middle of the walk way and talked to one table for about 40 minutes. He was there when we got there and he basically stayed there until we left. The old man behind us complained that he wouldn’t move to let people go by.
He never said hi, until we were more than half way done, when he finally came to get our pile of dishes.
Most of the guest just walked up to him and handed trays over, at which he said he would take them and then proceded to pile them on a table nearby.
The whole time there was a big table behind him that needed clearing, and we had to step in food to get to and from the table,(it appeared that a small child had thought that corn was fairy dust and chose to sprinkle it on the forest floor) and because he was blocking the other way, even after being asked excuse me several times.
After twenty minutes we began to get irritated.
We could see the kitchen staff busting their butts. One cook would who I will call, «Sideburn gauge guy» for obvious reasons, drummed up small talk, about the heat in the kitchen, and although he was busy, he had a smiling face and a wonderful attitude. I think he is one reason did not choke the lazy, yapping employee who littered our aisle.
@16:11 Yapster, was still going strong and I quit looking at my clock. I don’t know where management was this whole time…
My boyfriend and I often debate who should be tipped in the service industry. He says that everyone should be tipped even for the worst service. I disagree. I think you need to earn it… for the first time he agreed with me.

Love this place. The produce section is great and always fresh. The restaurant is typically clean and well kept. They typically have a good selection of soups… vegetarian, vegan, and regular. No complaints from me.

First time I went to Sweet Tomatoes I really liked it. As I have returned with friends, I have liked it less and less. Other than the cafeteria type feel, I have found that the salad bar is awesome, the soups are average, and the pasta is not very good. For example, instead of having some pasta noodles with marinara sauce, it’s eggplant marinara pasta. That by itself is not too bad, I could just choose something else. But the other choices are things like tuna/​green pea pasta or a bland alfredo pasta that needs a lot of salt and pepper.

This Sweet Tomatoes location is like a cheap discount outlet mall of Souplantaion salad buffets with irregular service and lower quality, but at regular prices. Oh Souplantation … I never thought I’d miss ya, but your sister restaurant Sweet Tomatoes was far from sweet, neat, or a treat to eat.
After one visit with the family, I have no desire to return. There was no one helping clear empty plates so four different times we simply took them up to a counter near the drinks station and dirty plates & bowls. The ice cream toppings area was disgustingly sloppy. The soups area wasn’t much better.
The healthiness of the food other than the raw veggies is always a question when it comes to this AYCE chain. Who cares, right? If you’ve decided for convenience sake or laziness that you’re going to pig out at Sweet Tomatoes then go ahead and stuff yourself silly, but accept that the calorie intake is off the charts.
Join Club Veg for email coupons. It’ll lower the hit to your wallet … though it won’t help your taste buds or bulging belly much.
Sweet Tomatoes in Vancouver, WA … 2 stars:
1. Not very neat
2. Not very sweet

Friendly staff, delicious fresh food! My favorite here in town always your money’s worth! Irish potato soup is the best soup I think so good! Get a coffee and ice cream afterwards.

I haven’t had Sweet Tomatoes in years. It was such a special treat when I was growing up. It was the healthy Home Town Buffet. I recently went back after about four years. The salad bar was pretty good as usual, there are many toppings and solid prepared salads to boot. But after you get past the register to the soup, pasta and baked goods area everything went terribly down hill. The soup wasn’t very tasteful, and they have altered many of the awesome flat breads and muffins from past visitations. The pasta bar wasn’t helping either. The special was a basil lime pasta that was nearly too sour to eat.
Salad is pretty decent but everything else has gone terribly down hill. I don’t see myself returning anytime soon but I won’t rule out a second chance.

I hunt down Sweet Tomatoes wherever we go when we are traveling. There’s nothing better than getting fresh, real food. They had a great chia superfood gluten free muffin and some killer quinoa lime salad. It changes all the time but they always have something good. Everything is labeled for vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options so it’s great for anyone veggie or anyone with dairy or gluten allergies.

All you can eat ! Pasta, soup, and salad, oh don’t forget the desert. Finally a place where I can be a complete gluten and not feel so guilty. Four different kinds of salads; of my own creation (ah thank you). Chili with corn bread little muffins; make my mouth water thinking about it, and I just finished eating. Plenty of room, plenty of food, and the crews working are pleasant and make sure that if you leave a dirty dish on your table while heading for another, they’ll get that out of your way before you’re back to your seat.

As someone that generally does not prefer buffets, I was impressed with Sweet Tomatoes. It was way cleaner and the food served was much tastier than an Old Country Buffet type restaurant. Also, I think the concept of a salad buffet is pretty neat!
That being said, the food was average. The Alfredo was cold and bit bland and my soup was very watery. Everything else was fine. Unfortunately, the salad bar isn’t all you can eat; very disappointing.
Again, Sweet Tomatoes was cleaner than most other buffets I’ve been too. There is definitely a family-​friendly atmosphere; plenty of families and kids aRound, but there were no issues. Service was wonderful though! Everyone was very pleasant.