Fresh Kitchen — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

Our organization was hosting about 40 employees for a lunch meeting recently and I was having a difficult time finding catering in St. Pete. The arrangements I made 5 days before the event fell through exactly 50 minutes before lunch was scheduled to arrive. When I tell you I was in a panic, I do mean in a PANIC. I called Fresh Kitchen on 4th Street in St. Pete and an incredible professional named Abbie Marzella answered. She is a Managing Partner there and a force of nature. I was able to get out what happened and how many people I was trying to feed. That was literally all I had to say. Abbie asked all the right questions, had solutions at the ready, and everything would be available in say, 20 minutes? 20 MINUTES, that's all?! Incredible!! I only had to drive to Fresh Kitchen to pick it up. Abbie even made that a breeze. I must have had a crazed look in my eye when I walked in because she saw me and motioned me right over to the pick-up area. She made the payment transaction smooth and provided me with the receipts I needed for expensing. The food, a beautifully arranged selection of the bases/veggies/proteins they're so well known for, was neatly bagged, staged, and ready to roll. All the bowls, napkins, all the plasticware, all the sauces. Set. The next thing I knew, a very nice FK partner named Hailey was next to me and ready to help carry everything to the car. I was able to get back to the boardroom a few minutes early with plenty of time to set up. Our employees thoroughly enjoyed lunch, 100%. Abbie saved my life that day (death by embarrassment is never pretty) but more importantly, the level of customer service and care she exhibited was just beyond impressive. Thank you,...

I like Fresh Kitchen. I liked it in Tampa, and I like it here, too. It seems like all the kinks the place had in Tampa seem to have been worked out in the St. Pete location, which means the portion sizes have been fixed and the food is still fresh.

The concept is a "healthy" style bowl with greens, vegetables, meats and dressing/sauce. I usually get the kale salad with broccoli or cauliflower, but the rest of the vegetables that I've had have been pretty on point too. Sometimes they are not cooked thoroughly, however.

The meat here is pretty solid. I especially like the chimichurri chicken since I don't recall that ever being on the menu at FK's Tampa location. The sauces are all great too. The coconut sriracha is always a winner.

This place gets packed at lunchtime but the line moves quickly which is a relief. The employees here are always more than happy to give you a sample and have always been friendly when I have gone in.

Prices are slightly higher than Chipotle or Moe's, but I think you're getting better quality food here.

Parking is a total nightmare however and sometimes you will have to park in the neighborhood. That's really my huge complaint and the main deterrent from going to...

My wife and I come here weekly, and just noticed today (Jan. 11, 2018) that the portion sizes have been reduced. I received only two pieces of almond chicken, the noodles portion was smaller, and all around it looked like we had received smaller portions. Add on to that, the food temperature was tepid at best.

You guys are awesome, but if you start producing lower quality food or noticeably reducing portion sizes, people will notice and stop frequenting your establishment.

Edit: As of October 20, 2018, they have gone back to inconsistent portion sizes. Previous visits would usually result in enough portion sizes of a six bowl to have a hearty meal, or even left overs. Case in point, ordering the almond chicken used to be around 3 or 4 pieces of chicken. This time, we got 2 pieces. The "new" portion for quinoa and the noodles was so tiny it was laughable, and the portion for the broccoli was 5 tiny pieces. All around, my wife and I are seriously not satisfied.

The food itself is delicious. But if we pay for a six bowl that we know used to have good portions, and now it's definitely less food, I am not going to be happy about it. You guys can do better than that with...