We love to try new places, and this is on the newer side - also, I read it was vegan-friendly (I'm vegetarian).
So the menu is pretty cool, with the nutrition facts printed (calories/fat/carbs/protein) beneath each item. There are salads, soup, flatbreads, burgers and entrees as well as an assortment of sides/snacks. They have a full bar as well as mixed juices, including a kombucha drink.
They have a small parking lot with valet available which might be more necessary on busy evenings since much of the surrounding neighborhood is permit only parking. We found parking on the street at 5pm on a Sunday evening.
The atmosphere was casual/clinical - my husband said it was like dining in a department store. (Kinda like Macy's, before Macy's became a dump) - there are tables and booths, some outdoor seating on Excelsior blvd... it was comfortable, but not overly cozy.
Decor includes faux grass plants and shiny canisters - not really sure what they're trying to accomplish there, but it all looks very clean. You could probably get a pap smear there and feel right at home.
We ordered the Mixed Green Salad ($6.50), House Made Hummus and Pita ($5) and two flatbreads - Mozzarella Tomato & Basil ($7) and the Italian Chicken Sausage with Green Pepper Mushroom & Onion ($9)
The salad was not overdressed, but the dressing had to high a ratio of vinegar to anything else. We mentioned that to the waitress and she said she would communicate it to the kitchen - she seemed genuinely interested in whether or not it was overdressed or if the dressing itself was improperly prepared - that was nice. It was an unfortunate salad, however.
The hummus was nice, with a slightly coarse preparation - very house made, with a garnish of olive tapanade. The pita had a lovely texture as well, but was over-salted, and that was really too bad.
My flatbread (the vegetarian one) was also oversalted. Ugh! I only ate half and didn't bother to take the rest home. My husband agreed (and you can trust him, he's a local fine dining chef) and postulated that it was probably the tomato slices that had been oversalted and that the preparation was probably done by sprinkling the salt by hand, and that the person doing it probably had wet hands and therefore the salt clumped and fell onto the food in a greater amount.... well. he's the expert. It sucked.
His flatbread (the chicken sausage one) was "average" - so it didn't suck, that's nice.
Service was attentive and polite, even warm - no points off for service.
We also ordered some of their "natural refreshments" - I had the red moon ($4), he had the ellipse elixer ($5). Mine made my tummy hurt, his was refreshing - just like the menu header said.
This meal could have been SO MUCH BETTER if the kitchen staff were trained on proper seasoning. You can hardly do more to ruin a meal than over salt something - if you under salt, the diner in most cases can choose to add salt... nothing to be done to take it away.
If you're serving entrees up to $48.00/plate, you need to have kitchen staff that can salt properly. No really, you NEED that.
PS - the bottle of water at your table will inform you that the water was made on site, which I get (it's probably filtered on site, whop de doo) but we had a funny moment imagining someone in the back mixing hydrogen and oxygen all the same. :-)
PPS - their satellite muzak station is turned to something that mixes smooth jazz, your favorite Cities 97 tracks and an occasional Muppets number all in 10 minutes. I have no genre for that. read more