Checkpoint 221 — Restaurant in Salem

Newly built, clean place to eat! We’ve tried most places. Would be awesome if more came up with online ordering capabilities.

Pastatastic: Our go-to for pasta now. #6 is our favorite! They make their own pasta and sauces, and are very nice people. They take a smidge longer to prepare, so order this first if you’re going to multiple places.

Medes (Persian/Turkish): Such fun and yummy food! Really nice guy, look forward to trying more!

Gardenia Thai: Great Thai dishes, and they’re quite fast to fulfill orders. Wish they had salad rolls or wide noodles though.

Golden Spice of India: Very nice people, very tasty- our go-to for Indian now. I enjoy the vegetarian option.

Quesadilla Wizards: Fun, unique quesadillas! Sad they don’t have veggie options much anymore. I’d order them more often if they were more competitive with the other carts that are $1-2 less. I had them years ago when they had a quesadilla with beats in it and was so good!!

Sweet Seoul: Korean fusion. Liked both things we tried- all cheese Korean corn dog, and for a dessert Nutella or cream cheese strawberry Tayaiki!

Taqueria Arandas: Good Mexican food- reminds me of a victorico’s/muchas- lots of variety/options.

Los Argentinos: The caprese empanada was great! Looking forward to trying their pizza.

The Salty Shack: We had the cod n chips when they first opened.. personally didn’t care for it. Ironically it seemed like it needed salt. I did appreciate that it wasn’t a greasy breading, but it was a bit TOO dry. They have fun medallion-like fries, but doesn’t allow for much potato in them so think I’d prefer other fries. I heard the cocktail sauce is yummy and that they make their own!

Bobablastic- Good drinks. Would get drinks more often if they were cheaper.

Tin Roof Bistro: Peanutbutter pie was very thick and good. I prefer it over Costco’s. Our burger was okay, need to try one again probably.

Sushi: Was good sushi and a very nice lady. Might have been my imagination but sushi seemed a little small? I usually get tokyroll and perhaps theirs are larger.

Gyro poulos: Still need to try this!

Philly Cheesestake: Mac n cheese wasn’t great. I thought their jalapeño rolls were good.

The Chicken Shack: Haven’t tried the cart yet, but had their storefront in Keizer and was good. Some items are $1 more in West Salem, so I’ll wait until I’m in Keizer, ha.

Nanay’s Filipino Fusion- Wish they came back! Loved many of...

We tried this place for the first time yesterday for Father’s Day. We loved the vibe, the food was great, and all the vendors we tried were super friendly. They even had cards we could borrow to play. They are pet friendly and allow you to bring your dogs. And we love the big picnic tables instead of the uncomfortable metal chairs like The Yard has. We are so excited this place is in West Salem, it was so needed. We will definitely be back. Just come here!!

Also, we highly recommend the fries from the chicken place. So yum!! The chicken strips are good too. Also the burger place has really good burgers and the best banana split my husband ever had!! We do NOT recommend the Mac and cheese at the Philly place. It was $10 for a large and tasted like Kraft Mac and Cheese. The chicken place has a large Mac n cheese for $8 but we didn’t try it. The Philly Cheesesteak was really good though. My son got a kid’s sushi plate at Dreaming of Sushi for $12!! He said it was really good and devoured it, but he was still hungry. We would recommend checking before you go because some of the food trucks are closed on certain days.

I only have one suggestion for the owners. The picnic tables really need to be lacquered. Immediately upon sitting at one of the tables, my husband got a huge splinter and the tables kept snagging our shirts. I love the raw natural wood look but… Also, I would suggest checking the tables for protruding nails. The table we sat at had a nail that kept stabbing me in the leg and catching on my pants. It was the long table closest to back door. This didn’t take away from our experience at all. We really love the picnic tables. Just for safety, you may want to check them for nails and lacquer them to prevent splinters and snags on...

On my last visit, the person tending the bar/drinks area added a tip to my total cost without asking me or flipping the screen over to me for me to choose whether I wanted to provide one or not. Mind you, getting her attention to order was hard as she was chatting with a customer sitting at one of the tables and didn't acknowledge our presence by the register for a few minutes until I called her over. We were looking at her and standing there awkwardly waiting. So, having a tip added to my bill without my knowledge feels like an additional "We don't really care about our customer" move.

While I know that each food cart is a separate business to be reviewed, I did want to mention that the Greek lamb wrap I got from Gyro Platter was disappointing as most of the wrap consisted of lettuce and veggies with a sliver of meat. While I'll give this place another chance to try the food carts I haven't tried yet, as silly as it sounds, I'm gonna make sure to check what I am charged every single time not to be...