It’s a quarter to noon at the office and once again, I have no clue where to head for lunch. I consult Google and find a list of restaurants in the Stone Oak area near my workplace. A few minutes of scrolling brought me to a new, healthy restaurant off of Sonterra. Now, typically for me, the thought of a salad bar prompts groans, cringes, and a “no thanks.” Filling a bowl with browned lettuce, dry meat and questionable veggies sounds far from appetizing. And who knows how many dirty fingers have reached for that ranch-dressing ladle? Dare I take that chance?
Luckily for me, Salata offers a (literally) fresh take on the salad bar, and a health-nut’s dream—a rare find in San Antonio. I walk in to find a Chipotle-style assembly line that exclusively serves salads, wraps and a few types of soup. After deciding to go with a salad, I choose between an array of greens—romaine hearts, spring mix, spinach and “Salata mix” (a combination of the three). Servers then pass my large, silver bowl down the line, filling it with various veggies of my choosing. Salata offers just about every salad topping you could dream up: from sundried tomatoes and mushrooms, to pumpkin seeds and chickpeas, they’ll have you covered.
After the veggies comes the fun part: adding the dressing and meat. With ten different dressings, five types of seasoned chicken, roasted turkey, salmon, shrimp, crab and seafood mix, the possibilities are overwhelming in the best way possible. I go with a hearty portion of pesto chicken and fat-free sundried tomato dressing, a complementary pair.
Each salad is served with your choice of bread. While they normally offer a variety of flavors, the busy lunch hour had left me to decide between only pesto and whole wheat, which was fine with me. I keep with the pesto theme. The day’s soup selection included tortilla, tomato basil and broccoli, each served with bread as well. The last stop calls for croutons and avocado, the latter for an extra charge.
My only criticism of Salata would be that at $8 per bowl—plus $2 for chicken and $3 for seafood—the pricing is a little steep. The quality of the food is excellent. The service is commendable. I’m just not sure I could afford to frequent the restaurant as much as I would like.
However, that won’t stop me from returning for round two. So here’s my suggestion to you: next time you find yourself in a lunchtime rut, take a walk on the healthy side and check out Salata.
Salata, 700 E Sonterra Blvd #1107, San Antonio, TX 78258
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