Greens and Grille — Attraction in Orlando

“That right there is the perfect salad,” raved my friend who brought me here for lunch today. Since 2010 she’s come here regularly to build her own salad and said she was pretty sure a couple of the staff had been there since then!

It’s true, Roberta at the register happily enthused, staff love working here. Pedro at the grill and Artak working the front room have worked here over a decade. This is a small business that’s thrived on this corner since 2005, surviving the pandemic with its loyal staff and clients, some of whom come 5 days a week and are known by name!

The owner’s name is Brian and he’s behind the success of this restaurant which is in a class by itself. What makes it stand out: a chef develops fresh toppings and options which they put out for tourists on the weekends (it’s a satellite restaurant for Mall at Millenia) but they keep the favorites for the weekdays, and the regulars keep coming back.

The price for a salad is unmatched in Orlando in my experience. I built a large vegetarian salad which included a choice of base and five toppings for

I decided to stop here for lunch, looking for a healthier alternative. The place was packed, which I attribute to it being in the heart of millenia mall. Employees and shoppers alike must go here. I was a bit overwhelmed with the menu, so I asked the cashier for some suggestions. They were very helpful and patient to answer my questions. That was the extent of any positive feedback I have because it all went downhill from there.

I ended up choosing the “Angus Steak Philly Cheesesteak”. It had been several years since I had one, and I don’t eat red meat often so I was looking forward to indulging in this. I waited about ten minutes for the food to be ready. When I went to pick it up, I saw the tray sitting on the counter with some employees. Immediately my eye wandered to a fly that landed on my food. I was sooo close to making a complaint, but I was starving and it really didn’t stay on for long so I let it go so I can eat and get back to the office. As soon as I sat down, I will admit I was disappointed with presentation. It didn’t look anything like a Philly that ive had before. It was a wrap, not a roll. And the cheese hadn’t even melted properly! But again, I was starving, so I took a bite. My biggest gripe was that there was hardly any meat at all! When you think of a cheesesteak, you expect to be eating steak. This “angus steak” was more like ground beef, and very little of it. It was stuffed full of onions and unmelted slices of cheese with small bits of ground meat. I thought I’d look online to see if maybe I remembered cheesesteaks the wrong way but nope! Literally every pic of a cheesesteak is just how I remembered it… except this place doesn’t meet the expectation. So between the fly, the unmelted cheese, and the ground meat they call “angus steak” … I was very disappointed and don’t plan to ever visit again. DO...

I would have given 5 stars but the service was poor and staff is untrained. I walked in with my girlfriend to get catch quick healthy lunch break from the hectic Saturday full of errands. It was our 1st time trying out this place and we were skeptical since most heathy places are not usually tasty. We ordered wraps and the guy taking the order asked, it comes with a side chips or you can choose another side?

I was surprised that thought, if a place is truly are offering healthy choices then why compliment carby,oily chips with healthy meals. Throw in baby spinach or mixed greens, etc. as options. It will probably be cheaper and healthier than chips.

Anyways I asked what are the choices. He gave a list of veggies, we took 2 veggies options and offered our credit card. He pointed us forward to walk around the corner to pay.

My girlfriend proceeded to the payment and checkout counter and asked me to get a table for us. When she returned, she told me that our $18 wraps were now almost $30 with tip. The sides are $4 each.

Hmm.. here comes the kicker - it seems to be designed this way to make you pay more and feel silly if you want to correct. Whether that’s designed that way or whether the staff was not trained properly, if a store is offering choices they should also make it clear that’s an extra 45-50% added to the cost of the meal and not speak in a tone to make it sound like its a choice of subs for the same cost.

It’s not the question about an extra $8-$10 we spent, it the principal behind it.

I’ll be going back again soon, I’ll video record my experience and I’ll alter my star ratings down to 1 if I find that this is a consistent practice the store follows or I’ll raise it to 5 if the staff clearly states which items can be substituted without a hidden catch and which items come at an...