| rev:text
| - We're giving three stars overall based on:
1.) Quality of ingredients
2.) 100% Vegan (which is rare)
3.) Gluten-Free offerings
4.) The diversity of the menu, including baked goods and vegan "ice cream" treats
5.) Okay, and they also serve alcohol
We can't give more stars because they were not earned.
We'd LIKE to give this place more stars, but we're very discerning. We went twice this week--once at each location. At the Phoenix location my companion had a noodle bowl with tofu, and I had the gluten-free rice bowl with tofu. Each bowl comes with a choice of protein: tofu, mock chicken or mock beef. You're getting charged for it, so you might as well pick one. We shared an artichoke dip appetizer that is gluten-free.
At the Tempe/Scottsdale location we opted for the large size artichoke heart salad. We had to choose a protein (it comes with it) so we chose mock blackened chicken.
We'll start by saying the sauces were terrific (Mongolian and coconut curry). We both enjoyed our flavor choices at each location.
The artichoke dip appetizer was very tasty and we would recommend it.
The downside: Take a close look at the photos and you will see large chunks of carrot and zucchini. While we normally like these vegetables (we should--we are 90% vegan in our household and have high standards for a diversity of vegetables and food preparation. We also manage food allergies), we did not care for the "bite". The vegetables are crisp, about half-cooked, which is usually okay but not in this dish. We are actually used to preparing our dishes with these raw (100% uncooked) because we grate them or spiralize them, but we prefer them fully cooked when they are in large chunks.
Experiment/Note: Try shaving vegetables, grating them, or spiralizing them vs. chopping them into large chunks. You will find that the flavor profile is way different. Especially with a red onion. Thinly sliced is heavenly, but grate them and you're in for a horrible bitter taste that can ruin a dish completely. Super large chunks of red onion in a salad? Unheard of. Yuck. Same goes for carrots and zucchini.
So, the texture and bite ratio of the dish fell short. The large chunks off-set the dish in a negative way. They overpower and it is unpleasant. At home we spiral cut everything, so the bite ratio is evenly dispersed and not overpowering when we're making it ourselves.
Spiral cutting also allows for a lightness to the dish and a fuller plate. We WISH SO BADLY that Green would do this! We get the feeling that vegetarian restaurants serve a bulk of carrot and zucchini to add volume to dishes at a lower cost, and we have the sneaking suspicion that vegetarians eat them this way because no other choices are offered. We take what we can get.
At the Tempe/Scottsdale location our salad (thankfully) lacked the monster carrot/zucchini overdrive. The "big" salad did not seem that much bigger than the "small" salad. We had a problem with the blackened mock chicken. First, it was overbearingly salty. Yikes. Second, it played havoc on our digestive system later. Apparently we cannot handle processed meat substitutes--but we understand that a lot of people *can*, so we're just putting this out there.
We are of the philosophy that more vegetables are key, rather than simply substituting meat. Normally we avoid all substitutions and go for an abundance of colors....avocado, very thinly sliced red cabbage, spiral-cut or grated carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, etc. This salad had none of that, other than a few tiny pieces of artichoke, which left us wondering, "Where's the artichoke?!" Also, the salad contained a lot of very salty, but otherwise pleasantly crunchy, gluten-free tortilla strips.
We get a sense that Green is for people who rely on substitutes, reminding us of "french fry" vegetarians. We'd like to see more TRULY GREEN/NUTRITIOUS/LOW SODIUM choices, with more colors. Truly. We mean, we really do. This place has so much potential and it falls short, which is sad because the two locations are surviving in a city where vegan/gluten-free/organic restaurants are hard to come by. Maybe we're going there because there aren't many places for us to go--but you can create more converts if the bites are better.
We want to go back, but we will be disappointed if we do. We'll go back a few times a year, probably, for that special sugar splurge, for sure. The people who work at both locations are cool and totally nice, and the service was good on both occasions.
This is a sad love letter to Green. We *want* to love you. And sometimes we take risks in love. So we are hoping you find it within you to take menu risks with more vegetables in smaller bites, more colors, and no substitutes because, frankly, we don't need them. Give us an abundance of clean eating with those marvelous dressings.
In short: Grate or spiralize your veggies, add MORE kinds of veggies, and cut waaaay back on the salt. Also, give us a protein free option. We will be loyal forever.
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