San Francisco Salad Co. - Honolulu

This morning, security informed me that taking photos of the Christmas lights in Tamarind Park is prohibited. It seems that public access to this private park is more restricted than expected.

I ordered the Italian sausage with potato soup, and it came with bread and butter. I really enjoyed it, and it turned out to be more filling than I expected. It has a bit of a kick to it!

Enter San Francisco Salads. While this establishment is no Hale and Hearty Soups, lacking the build-your-own salad concept and an extensive selection of soups, it excels in offering freshly made, well-prepared salads and tasty soups—despite some choices feeling a bit repetitive. The strength of San Francisco Salads lies in the quality of its meals rather than the quantity. Each salad is named after a neighborhood in San Francisco, providing options from a classic house salad to several chicken salads, including Caesar, Oriental, Greek, and chef's salad, as well as a salmon salad. You can tell the salads are prepared fresh daily, featuring quality ingredients. The soup selections include tomato basil, tortilla, sausage and potato, and chicken and wild rice. I've only tried the tomato basil and tortilla soups, but both are delicious, with the tomato basil being my favorite. Diners can also choose their preferred dressing and bread, with extra bread available for purchase at $1 each. Soft drinks are also offered for sale. San Francisco Salads operates as a one-man show, likely run by the owner who takes orders, processes payments, and packages take-out meals. Despite being a solo venture, the wait is never too long, and service is efficient, if a bit lacking in warmth. While I’ll always miss the DIY salad option from years gone by, this place is perfect for those days when I don’t have a homemade lunch and want to avoid the heavy meal that often comes with plate lunches.

Overall: tasty salad for quick pickup Parking: downtown so try the Alii parking structure or street Cleanliness: clean Ambiance: chill pickup lunch space Noise level: quiet (no tables inside) Recommend dish: whatever you like with the sesame dressing Service: friendly Good bang for your buck?: yup, pretty good deal for downtown Would I come again?: yes! Fun tip/fact: just check out what's in the display case to see what he has; never know what he has in stock This is my go to salad place. Consistently, the greens are fresh, clean, the chicken is low fat, and it's always ready to go. Usually the salads are enough for a meal or two, especially if you paid it with a bread or soup. The owner is also very nice and remembers my order. ~Enjoy!

I couldn't make a fresher salad if I tried. Very decent sized salads for under $10. And I dig that they come in reusable containers.