Sweet Beet Station — Restaurant in Talent

I had bad customer service for the third time today, and I’ve resisted the urge to do this in the past because I grew up in Talent and I err on the side of supporting local businesses, but you gotta know when your not treating your customers well. I hardly say anything when I pick up food or dine in and there’s just a low level of rude behavior that has made me thinking about driving the extra distance to Ashland or switching up to Gather for the occasional breakfast treat—I have always been treated with kindness at Gather. One example of what I’m talking about took place before the pandemic. It was empty inside this day, and I was quietly waiting for my To Go order and one of the employees cracked a joke to the other. My brain immediately thought of a G-rated pun/joke that escaped my mouth. Both scowled at me, and continued their conversation. Then I said something like “that was not very funny I know, sorry I interrupted your work”. Neither looked at me or even acknowledged I said anything. I went back to being super quiet and only speaking when I was spoken to from that point out but that didn’t keep them from being rude to me in the future. My wife used to frequent Sweet Beet Station a lot with friends and has encountered the same snarky behavior so she stopped going. She’s an immigrant and hardly speaks English so interactions with people in public that are rude to her are all the more difficult because of the language barrier. I want to make it clear that because we are both minorities I don’t think this has anything to do with race and everything to do with one or two unhappy human beings that work at Sweet Beet that perhaps need to not work with the public anymore. I love the owner and 90% of the staff that work there so I feel bad leaving this review but what happened today pushed me...

I must confess to disappointment with this place. I had been looking forward to trying SBS, and I wanted very much to like the food. The food was... OK. With no other considerations on the table, the food earns three stars. If I generally do better in my own kitchen, but I have done worse, the score is middling. So three it is. Good chile verde is unusual, and I did not find it here. The texture of the pork was pleasing, but the flavor was quite bland. There was more spinach than meat in the bowl. This is fine, I like spinach. But I did not order a salad. For the cost of my meal I could have purchased the ingredients for chile verde at MOC and fed four people with it. With no salad, admittedly. I enjoy restaurants where the kitchen does things I can’t do because of economies of scale, or because I lack the talent. SBS falls into neither category.

The Bloody Mary was another story. SBS flavors their mix with (what else?) beet juice, giving it a bright strontium hue. The palate is not sure what to expect when the eye sees this color, and the disconnect makes it tough to enjoy your cocktail. The garnish was olives, celery, a pepperoncini, and pickled asparagus. Trying to keep an open mind, I ate the asparagus. I don’t recommend this. It was all I could do to keep it down, and I came to regret the effort later.

I left a 10% tip, which seemed reasonable for the service. You pay before you eat, you bus your own table, and nobody comes to see how the food tastes after bringing it to you. This is a bare-bones dining experience for medium money....

The building is an old converted train station with wood floors and a rustic feel. You order at the counter, get a number, then find a seat. Seating indoors is one big room, plenty of outdoor seating but it wasn't quite warm enough. Self serve water station at the front, they bring your food to the table, but you bus your own table. I liked the cute salt and pepper shakers on all the tables, lots of indoor plants and bright decor. When we visited it was probably half full, but the noise level was so high. My poor grandpa had the hardest time hearing us over everyone else in the room. Now the food was exceptional! We tried both breakfast burritos, biscuits and gravy, and the fully loaded pineapple french toast. Each dish came with a side of fresh fruit and a house salad. Everyone immediately agreed the salad dressing was delicious. My traditional family at first thought how weird it was to be eating salad for breakfast but they all loved it. The portions are hardy and the food is so fresh,...