Aubergine Kitchen — Restaurant in Orem

I have been to Abergine since they opened in many different locations. I always come back because they have the great tasting food and the right ingredients. I am very particular about what I eat. Today at this location I was frustrated with the order process. I stepped up to the counter and gave the employee our order and she took out a notepad and wrote it down and said now go pay. I come to a place like this because I want to have an active choice as my food is prepared. I want to watch what is put in my bowls and choose to make a substitution if I desire. The menu states that items can be subbed and I am happy to pay extra for what I want. Why have it all set up and not let us watch the process? The employee acted so put out that I would slow down the line to ask for a different rice in my bowl. She hurriedly told me she would sub it and then ushered me to the register to pay. The guy at the register doesn’t know what I ordered so I have to recite my order to him which is fine, but if this is the set up then why not order at the register and then give us our number. This is a petty thing to be writing a review about but I really was not happy about the hurried way I was rushed through the line. I realize the place is busy but I come into a restaurant when I want to eat inside and am happy to wait my turn while people are given the time and attention they want. One of the best things my kids like are the cheese bread rolls. They had run out so we had to remind them after we had eaten to get them. I love the food and won’t let this stop me...

In theory, Aubergine sounds like my kinda place with their advertised healthy and flavorful meals, however; I feel deceived. Perhaps this has more to do with the fact that I'm not a Utahn, but the flavor is exactly what was missing (amongst a few other complaints).

Now I've been here twice, each time getting something different: first, the Mediterranean bowl with chicken. I liked it well enough, but found it was lacking in flavor. Very salt and peppery, if you catch my drift, with a watery tahini dressing. Tropical smoothie was not bad, and the cheese breads were good! Overall, a decent experience but nothing great.

Second time, I decided to make my own bowl with salmon. Again, same basic salt and pepper flavor only this time, the rice was crunchy. Not a little crunchy, a lot crunchy. We also paid way too much for their brownie bites that ended up being very sub-par for the price. I left feeling very cheated as most people rave about Aubergine, and here I was adding my own salad dressing at home to try and salvage a $20 bowl that left a lot to be desired.

So if you ask me, I don't like Aubergine and I don't get the hype. Service is fine, vibe is fine, concept and menu are great with a lot of options. But the execution of the food and the flavor is greatly lacking, especially for the price point. I want to like Aubergine. Utah doesn't have a Flower Child, Original Chop Shop, Salad and Go, etc. So you're pretty limited for the usual healthy food places, although I just can't bring myself to spend more money on...

I’ve been coming to Aubergine for many years, but had a really bad experience today and I don’t think I’ll be coming back.

One of the things I ordered was a banana monkey smoothie and I order this smoothie pretty often. When I took the first sip I noticed there wasn’t any dates in the smoothie and didn’t taste like it usually does. I tried to be nice when asking if they could add a few dates and their reply was “uh… I can add 1”. They blended a date in but the blender had water in it, so my smoothie came back with a lot more liquid to the point they had to add a taller lid and tasting like water. I went back to see if they could make a new one and explained what happened (I felt like since I was paying so much for a banana smoothie, it should at least taste good). The girl who was re-doing my smoothie got very upset and when the manager (?) came to talk to her, she was pointing at me and rolling her eyes while talking to the manager (or maybe it was another worker). I felt very uncomfortable and decided that it was ok to leave without a smoothie so I wouldn’t cause more problems. My husband went to tell the girl who was going to re-do the smoothie she could cancel our order and the other worker just said “are you sure?” And let us leave without even offering to issue a refund.

It sounds like they care too much about making money and nothing about how customers feel or fixing their mistakes...