Chopped Leaf — Restaurant in Richmond

This was our first dining experience here ever. I've always wanted to try and after the gym, my husband and I finally made it. The two gentlemen behind the counter were very polite and helpful. The food was amazing, much better than I expected from a "salad" restaurant.

The only downside was a female employee sitting in the booth behind us, watching videos on her phone with no earphones on, with her feet on booth bench. This was at 230pm on 4/14/25, in case a manager reads this.

This behavior should be prohibited by staff and the employee should be reprimanded.

But other than this, we will definitely eat here again, though maybe do takeout if this employee is working again.

UPDATE: 4/15/25 at around 625pm: True to my word, I had brought my gym friend with me to eat here the very next day to try this amazing food. The food was just as good and my friend agreed that it was better than he expected it to be. We dined in and enjoyed our time.

As we left, we were followed out the door by an employee who stopped us and asked me if I was the person who left the review the previous day. I said yes. He then asked me what was wrong and I explained. He tried to excuse the employee's (he stated she is actually the manager) behavior by saying she was on her break and has the right to watch videos on her phone at any volume. He also said she has sciatica and that is why her feet were on the chair in the booth. I said this was not food safe for a restaurant. He said that the benches are cleaned once a day and that it wasn't a problem.

He also said that she was the manager and had worked there for 7 years and they've never had any complaints regarding these issues before and her behavior on breaks has not changed. He also said no other customers complained, so why was I so upset.

I can't begin to tell you how many things are wrong here, not least of all being confronted by an employee telling me how unhappy they were with my review and that I shouldn't have made my review because now they're having to deal with their head office.

If it really wasn't a big deal what this "manager" was doing, why would there be any trouble?

And I didn't realize for me to be upset with an employee's behavior, it needed to be agreed upon by all other customers present. Nor do I think that an employee putting her dirty shoes on the bench of a booth and only cleaning it once a day (and not immediately after she did this) is OK! Any customer who sits on the bench after her shoes were on it might care.

While this person didn't raise their voice nor did they present as angry, it was still confrontational and incredibly uncomfortable. I didn't understand what they wanted from me other than to reprimand me about next time talking to them in person instead of making a review online.

Needless to say, this has soured me against this restaurant. I will no longer patronize this establishment and neither will my friends. I hope this staff learns what customer service is and how to treat the people who keep their business open.

Finally, chasing down a customer to accost them about a review should...

This was my first dining experience with the chain and I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised with the food! I would have never come in if it was not highly recommended by my friend. The Cranberry Pesto Sandwich was well balanced with its sweet and savoury ingredients, and the Sunshine Salad was flavourful and refreshing. I was fully sated after my delicious meal.

The only thing that ruined the entire experience was the encounter my friend and I had with a male employee as we left the establishment. On April 15th around 06:25pm, we were confronted regarding a review my friend had posted the previous day, commenting a female employee on her phone with the volume on high and her feet on the bench. The staff member listed excuses, stating that she was on her break and it was her right to have her phone's volume the way she wanted. He told us that she had sciatica and that's why her feet were on the bench, but reassured us the benches were "cleaned once a day". He also mentioned she was the manager and had been working at this location for 7 years. He questioned why my friend was so upset, as no one else complained about her phone's volume. He continued to state that the "negative" review affected their business, since its posting.

I myself have worked in the food industry for a number of years as well and I can honestly say that the male staff member that confronted us this evening was completely unprofessional. The excuses that he listed, defending the female employee are in clear violation from a food safe standpoint as well as a poor example of representing Chopped Leaf as a whole. The entire exchange outside the location was uncomfortable to say the least.

I, and my friends will not be coming back to patronize this specific location in the future. I urge anyone from the main office that oversee these reviews to re-educate the staff at this location on Steveston Hwy and No.5 Rd on proper decorum and...

Extremely disappointing experience with this location today!! I came in during my break and went up to the register and waited a good two minutes before i had to call out to the employees who were talking on their personal cellphones, to be assisted. The girl then came to the register with a foul look on her face like I had interrupted an important meeting. Then asked what I wanted.. there was no “hello how are you doing today” or even “how may I help you”, she then proceeded to rudely take my order. I expected her to be more polite as she was dressed in a managers uniform. As my food was being made the girl was loudly talking in Punjabi to her coworker, I could not understand what she was saying but it sounded very impolite. My salad was aggressively passed to me and not even a thank you was exchanged. I left this location feeling very disappointed with the customer service, I have visited many different locations and have received extremely friendly service in the past. This came as quite a surprise therefore I won’t be returning to...