Dig Inn — Restaurant in New York

I don't consider myself to be a health food nut, though I often eat with a health-conscious eye. Of all the places that I've reviewed, I probably go to the salad place near my office and the Thai place near my house the most. Being healthy and watching your calorie intake is important, but how much should we sacrifice for it? Everybody would eat incredibly healthy food all the time if it were delicious, and therein lies the problem. Inside everybody's heads, there is a delicious/healthy scale. Sometimes we ignore the scale and get Coldstone. Sometimes we atone and eat brown rice and steamed vegetables. But most of the time (at least for me) I fall somewhere in the middle.

But I'd have to be feeling pretty bad about my eating choices of late to consider going back to The Pump.

First of all, and I'm going to get this out of the way now, I'm of the age when I hear "The Pump" I immediately think of the Reebok shoe craze of the late 80s/early 90s. Okay, done.

Okay, so The Pump the restaurant is sort of set up like a healthy Chipotle. You stand in a line and get to the first guy who asks you if you want a plate, a salad or a wrap, and then if you want beef, bison, turkey, chicken or tofu. The next person in line gives you vegetables, then "good fats" and then sauce. The last person rings you up, and you're out of there. It's a tried and true method, and despite the fact that this place just opened, they had the line moving at a pretty decent clip.

The problem though, was that the food just tasted bad. Steamed vegetables that sit around awhile start to taste slimy. I had the bison, which is normally a pretty lean meat, but flavorful. Whatever cooking technique is used at The Pump strips all the flavor out of it. Yuck. Even the sauces (I tried three) were strangely devoid of flavor. The hot hot sauce managed to be hot but not taste like anything. The balsamic was pretty bad, and the roasted red pepper wasn't much better, and I was really hoping they would somehow salvage the meal.

I guess the brown rice was fine. And I had no qualms with the lettuce. But fast food and health food are tricky to get right together. In my opinion the places that serve the vegetables raw get it right, while places like The Pump really need to go back to the...

This location unfortunately in my opinion got 2 stars compared to the nearby location that just opened up on Lexington & 57th.

The line was outside of the door, it literally was not moving for about 7 minutes. I lasted a total 16 minutes on line.

When I arrived to the servers first couple of them were extremely polite!! The ones who took my side order must have not understood me. I asked for double side of Mac and cheese.. however I received one side. When I asked if that was double sides of Mac and cheese the server was done serving me and had already pushed my bowl to the side, she said it was. ( I’ve been going about once a week to the other location & am fully aware of what a double side of Mac and Cheese is. ) I told her it wasn’t and she insisted it was. Then I had to add sauce and avocado but to my NOT so surprised bowl was already covered and at the register. I understand when you’re busy as an establishment you try to work fast but they need to be more efficient and work on customer service I was ignored twice and then scolded because I wasn’t at the register to pay. I walk over to the register and the cashier is trying to ring me out but I inform her I wasn’t done ordering, her and the other cashier go back and forth, so I interrupt kindly and ask for my extra sides. They looked at me confused, with attitude and got the sides after I paid. Such a mess. I must remember to stick to the other location from now on.

To add more salt to the wound my herb crushed chicken is cold and hard, I want to cry now, all this time wasted and I can’t even...

Since I heard of this place, I had ever wanted to try it. Finally I did it today and the outcome is downright terrible. The food they serve looks like it is cooked by someone who has no idea about food. If you're looking for a country/home style meal, good luck. Your country mother would never prepare this kind of jumbled ingredients for you.

It seems Dig Inn has turned into another franchise restaurant or the one who gave up on cooking their own food by hiring a cheap Mexican labor. Everyone agrees that it is cost effective but it doesn't work if you're not Chipotle. It was disheartening to chew chopped up Brussels sprouts and cauliflowers that were tastelessly dried up. I was wondering for a moment if it is a Brussel sprout season or if they close during the winter. Only a good part of this restaurant is they don't put Adobo (it reads MSG) in their food as opposed to what...