My buddy Kevin texted me a few months back letting me know that they were going to open a new Habit, closer to our house (Surprise) than the other ones, and that it would have a drive thru! What, what? I was stoked! We became friends up in the Goleta/Santa Barbara area, which was where the Habit originated. We used to work about a block away from the very first, original location in Goleta. I have always loved their food and was super excited to have one close by. Today I decided to make my way down here.
I got off the 10 on 99th and then made a left on McDowell. Its a few blocks down on the left hand side. I pulled into the lot and made my way around towards the drive thru. First Habit I have seen with a drive thru! About that....... The Habit is probably one of those places that SHOULDN'T have a drive thru. They make everything fresh and aren't exactly the speediest when it comes to getting your food out (not turtle slow or anything, just longer than other freshly cooked spots). I got in the drive thru at 3:40pm and there were maybe 5 cars in front of me. I finally got up to the drive thru speaker and placed my order for a Santa Barbara Cobb Salad. 4:15pm, I was finally parked, eating my food. If you come here to the drive thru, plan on being in line for a while! Because they cook everything fresh, each car in front of you has to wait on average 5-8 minutes to get their food. Unless I have my kids in the car, next time I am definitely walking in and ordering. I finally did get my food and pulled into the parking lot to grub down. Here is how it was...............
Santa Barbara Cobb Salad- I opened my bag to remove my salad, and noticed that there were no napkins in the bag. I hate when that shit happens! Not a complete deal breaker, but really, how hard is it to throw in 2-3 napkins? Anyways........ I ordered my dressing for my salad on the side, and they hooked it up with 3 dressings (only used 2) which I appreciated. I took the lid off my salad and it looked and smelled fantastic! (I had been to the Habit down on 7th a couple of times, and was never too impressed. It was not as good as the Santa Barbara/Goleta locations, or even as good as the Mission Valley location in San Diego.) I poured my dressing on the salad, mixed it in and dug in. The SB Cobb salad comes with a bunch of shredded lettuce, a chopped up egg, tomatoes, blue cheese crumbles, grilled chicken, bacon, and a nice sized scoop of avocado! This salad was awesome! Every component worked together in harmony. Chicken was grilled perfectly, bacon was crisp and crunchy, the avocado was soft and delicious, the lettuce fresh and crisp, the tomatoes perfectly ripe, the blue cheese crumbles provided a nice "bite" and the dressing is not too heavy. Pretty much a perfect salad, and definitely perfect if you are on a low carb diet! I scarfed that thing down in mere minutes and was completely satisfied.
Overall, I will definitely be back! With it being only about a 20 minute drive from my house, too, I should be back often. I don't think I would use the drive thru again though...took way too long. Service from the cashier who took my order and handed me my food was friendly and all smiles. Glad to have this place here and the delicious salad today reminded me of why I fell in love with The Habit back in the day! Good stuff!