Mendocino Farms — Restaurant in Roseville

Mendocino Farms feels like the “fun foods” section of Trader Joe’s where the newest items are either a canon hit, or a depressed tofu nugget whose only special quality is a ghost pepper flake addition.

For the two of us, we had the “Not so fried chicken” in a salad format, the vegan banh mi, and the Thai chicken sandwich.

What appears to be their signature, the “Not so fried Chicken” looks and tastes like canned chicken that was thoroughly cleaned of its preservatives (aka not so fried). The twist is, instead of croutons you have the crunchy fried bits from fried chicken. Perhaps the sandwich form is better, but salads are truth givers without the carb cover of bread to hide the lies. And I am going to doubt the bread can save this identity drama.

Next was the Thai chicken sandwich. Not sure what part of the meal can claim itself as “Thai.” It was essentially a fried chicken sandwich that would lose ten fold against Chick Fil A and Popeyes. Perhaps if some additional, actual Thai ingredients entered the scene, the sandwich could be saved.

I mentioned how Mendocino Farms is like Trader Joe’s in the hits and misses, so it is time for the surprisingly huge hit. Introducing the bashful but beautiful Vegan Banh Mi. For some reason this creation was the perfect balance of flavor and texture. There was ample tofu covered is excellent spices, some greens to balance the sandwich, and the bread was not too hard. We would definitely suggest this meal over anything else at the restaurant.

Would we come back? Probably not. No, not even for the Vegan Banh Mi. If it were sold in Trader Joe’s, then yes we would...

I LOVE Mendocino Farms. My wife and I have tried several items and they are all delicious. We love the decor and fresh feel of their restaurants and food. We’ve been to the Sacramento location several times and this was our first time to the Roseville location. The green juice tasted a little different than we are used to at the Sacramento location. It tasted too sweet and not as “green” as it usually does. We also felt like the food didn’t taste quite the same as we’ve ordered in the past as well. We informed the team of our thoughts and they politely took the feedback and said they’d look into the flavor discrepancies. Overall, still great food and I feel like it’s more related to new location challenges with getting all the flavors dialed in correctly instead of a real reflection of what Mendocino Farms...

Mendocino Farms is a sandwich and salad fast-casual restaurant. They are known for catering to people's food preferences. They offer delicious and reasonably priced gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian meal options. The not so fried Chicken sandwich is fantastic. The roasted chicken breast is topped with crispy buttermilk batter, known as Mendo's Krispies with herb aioli, mustard pickle slaw, tomatoes, pickled red onions on a toasted ciabatta. The interior of Mendo's is homey and decorated with natural, outdoor color tones. Large Windows act as walls and make use of a small restaurant space. The large patio on the side, offers additional seating. This is a good lunch date spot, since the patio offers privacy and there are plenty of places close by to extend the date. IG:...