Eating Healthy at Greens and Grille

Technically speaking, I'm not a "healthy eater."

No I don't pump my face full of french fries every day, but I also don't go to the extreme of eating organic nuts.

For this reason, it's still a mystery to me as to why Greens and Grille (an Orlando based healthy restaurant concept) caught my attention. Maybe it's the name, or maybe it's simply because I had heard good things about it. However, whatever the case may be, I have been thinking about Greens and Grille for over a year now.

Last night I finally had the chance to check it out, and upon walking in immediately found myself impressed with the ambiance. Imagine a greener, browner version of Chipotle. The menu is on one whole side of the restaurant and looks like it was handwritten on the wall.

The options are......very interesting. Greens and Grille creates menu items you can't find anywhere else, for a full menu click here.

I knew right away I had no interest in a salad or a wrap (just not manly enough). The daily special was, "The Pig" which seemed very appropriate so I went for it. It's a hot sandwich with grilled sliced pork, caramelized onions, cheese, special dressing, and some other stuff layered in.

My order was placed and then I walked past the line where they make the salads and sandwiches fresh (this is not Panera, everything is open and you can see exactly what they're doing). I started getting a little irritated when I met the rather unfriendly employee at the cash register. This is a classic example of a deadbeat hourly employee who controls the destiny of the restaurant.

She grunted my total amount ($9.50 for the sandwich and a drink - WOW) and then handed me a pager. A pager? For what? It was 8pm - there were about 3 other people in the restaurant. She explained briefly that my pager will go off when my food is ready. To the left hand side of the register there is a sign stating that customers can leave their plates on the table and the service staff will pick them up. Wait a second.....they can come clean my plates up, but they can't bring my dinner out to me? Instead, they're handing me an annoying pager in a tiny restaurant with no other customers aside from us?

VrrrbbbVRrgggbbb my pager started going off and I scurried up to the counter to get my Pig and refill my extremely sweaty cup.

The food looked.......amazing. However there was a small problem: the portion size was very very tiny. For paying almost $10 for just a sandwich and a side of potato chips I was imagining a GIANT sandwich.

I took my first bite and the flavors are sensational. As I said before, Greens and Grille has developed flavors you can't find anywhere else in the industry and somehow has positioned them as healthy. The pork, combined with the toppings and their homemade sauce/dressing was perfect harmony in my mouth.

The unfriendly cashier kept walking around the dining room, never offered to refill my drink, but instead quietly stalked our table waiting for me to be finished so she could clear my plate. Here's what I'm thinking: if you're going to walk around anyway and at least refill people's drinks.

I inhaled the sandwich and the chips without much delay, and I was feeling pretty good about myself. After all, their products are all healthy and organic, right?

Well, it's a matter of how you define "healthy". If you say healthy is when restaurants make all of their items from scratch and prepare all dishes fresh daily, then Greens and Grille is your place. If you define eating healthy is Special K bars and 5 mile jogs in the rain, than this is probably not you're place.

Greens and Grille does a great job at a couple things:

1. Innovative dishes
2. Making all of their dishes from scratch

If you're in the mood to drop 10 bucks and you want something that is high quality and tastes great and you don't mind not getting amazing service Greens and Grille is you're place.

P.S. - I asked the manger on the way out how healthy their items were. He dodged the question and explained that they make all of their items from scratch, and then admitted the dishes weren't that healthy.......good who likes healthy food anyway.