Tender Greens

We had a quick dinner at Tender Greens in Irvine Spectrum before watching a movie next door at the Regal Cinemas IMAX. It's a beautiful space where Tender Greens is located. Here's what I recommend: - Chipotle BBQ Chicken Salad ($14.85): this was a delicious salad and you could really taste the marination of the meat. There was avocado, queso fresco, tortilla strips, and a cilantro lime dressing. Highly recommend. Huge serving as well. - Bolognese pasta: this is a new item on the menu so we gave it a try and it wasn't bad! Tender Greens has been branching out to these other kinds of dishes other than just salads and sandwiches and they're doing pretty well. Pasta was slightly undercooked but the Bolognese sauce was delish with all the cheese on top. If you're in Irvine Spectrum and want something a little healthier than all the other options available in the vicinity, go check out Tender Greens.

I tried Tender Greens for the first time. The menu had soups, salads, bowls, and plates. Very healthy and simple. I went with an entrée which comes with two sides. I selected the panko crusted eggplant, arugula salad, and mashed potatoes. When the plate was served, I noticed there was no sauce for the eggplant and no gravy for the mashed potatoes. I'm a gravy and sauce kinda girl. I proceeded to eat my meal without any sauce and gravy, and it was delicious. I have no complaints. The eggplant was perfectly crusted with the panko and perfectly fried. The eggplant was perfectly sliced, not too thick, and not too thin. After that first bite, it didn't matter that I didn't have any sauce. The arugula salad was perfectly dressed with parmesan and fennel shavings. There was a piece of toasted bread drizzled with olive oil and herbs. The mashed potatoes didn't have gravy, but they tasted great. I'm not sure if the restaurant had gravy or sauces. I enjoyed how everything tasted so much that I didn't even bother to ask if they had any. My daughter tried the Thai bowl with shrimp and coconut sushi rice. I loved it. The vegetables were fresh and crisp. It had that great Thai peanut sauce with a hint of refreshing lime. My son had the buttermilk fried chicken entrée with fingerling potatoes and arugula salad. The chicken was moist and perfectly breaded and fried. For drinks we had the watermelon Aguas frescas, the greens juice, and mint lemonade. Every juice was delicious and refreshing

What's the most important thing I can say about this place? The food here is delicious and affordable. They have great steaks, mashed potatoes, and salads. You can create your own dish by choosing from their selection of Plates, which includes different types of meats/fish, greens, and sides. They also offer ready-made Bowls. The presentation of the food is beautiful and fresh, and the dishes are served quickly.

Bread and crispy fries were burnt, but the salmon plate was good. Packaging was amazing and couldn't have asked for anything more. They also added a note showing that the order was double checked, but I wish they had swapped my burnt side dish and bread with a good one. Probably they were just checking if everything has been added to the order and may be it was not really a quality check.

Straight to the point of healthy choices and delicious taste. Ordered their Pacific bowl and the salmon came out to my liking of crispy, savory and furikake seasoning compliments the sauce that came with it. The staff was helpful and were able to suggest several choices that are on the menu. The food came out to our table in a timely manner and the staff checked in on us during dining.