Raleigh’s first ever Sweetgreen recently opened up in North Hills, making this North Carolina’s second Sweetgreen restaurant. Originating in Washington D.C., but gaining popularity along the West Coast, this restaurant was created by three college students that wanted clean and healthy eating.
The three owners, Jonathan Neman, Nicolas Jammet and Nathaniel Ru were tired of only having unhealthy fast food options around their college. With the mission of building healthier communities by connecting people to real food, they have created over 921 locations across the United States. With the most being in New York, California, Massachusetts and D.C., this new edition in North Carolina was exciting for many.
The Sweetgreen goal is to reimagine the fast food industry for the next generation. They are doing this by cooking all food from scratch, building a transparent supply network, and building a community that believes in the power of real food. The owners also believe that climate change is the defining challenge of our generation, and the need for regenerative food systems has never been more important.
Their menu and restaurant reflects all of these missions with clean ingredients and clean restaurant conditions. The menu is split into sections based on hot and cold meals. They offer three different protein plate options, seven bowl options, eight salad options and three different kids meals. If none of these options are satisfying, the restaurant also allows you to create your own bowl or salad.
Along with this they also offer three warm sides and two chip options. The warm sides are focaccia, focaccia and hummus, and roasted sweet potatoes. The chips are by the brand Siete, which prides themselves on clean ingredients that taste good. They also have recently added ripple fries to the menu, which are fries that are air fried in avocado oil. They can be ordered with ketchup or garlic aioli sauce.
If you’re looking for something even more on their menu, they have a section of desserts, including a crispy rice treat, cashews with vanilla bean hunks and a salty dark chocolate bar. There is a different kind of sweet for everyone at Sweetgreen.
The protein plates have an option for each of the three main proteins. There is a caramelized garlic steak, miso glazed salmon and a hot honey chicken. All of these options are customizable to make sure every plate can be enjoyed.
The bowls range from warm to cold. There are bowls containing pesto and hot sauce, to bowls containing goat cheese, apple and tortilla chips. The salads are the other major menu item with many different dressings and pairings. An online yelp review said, “Amazing food! Had an Autumn Harvest grain bowl with pickled onions. Tons of healthy filling options.”
Each item on the menu is paired with a picture to show the main ingredients and dressings/ sauces to go with it. They really help new customers to decide what looks good and what they are willing to try.
In the restaurant itself, the workers were nice and attentive. They were apologetic to some of the ingredients and sides not being available. They also all wore hair nets and clean aprons and gloves. This factor can be important to many when they consider if they are willing to sit and eat at the restaurant.
While they don’t offer soda or the normal drinks you would see at a fast food restaurant, they do offer options of probiotic drinks and organic teas and lemonades. They also have a station of free water.
The hot honey chicken plate was flavorful and intricate. The bowl itself was something new that hasn’t been seen in other fast food restaurants in the Raleigh area. The warm chicken and sweet potatoes, paired with the hot honey sauces was a delicious mix. The make-your-own bowl allowed for fun pairings and unique flavor combinations.
Sweetgreen can be compared to Cava and Chopt with the ability to make your own bowls and salads with a focus on clean eating. Junior Madi Herman said, “I’m super excited to try Sweetgreen. I like the restaurants similar to it, so I think it will be a good place to eat too.”
If you’re looking for a new restaurant to try that has an emphasis on clean ingredients that still taste good and fill you up, Sweetgreen is the place for you.
