Fresh Choice Restaurant

This place is still open! I love coming here for lunch. Love the variety of cold & warm foods they offer.

Stopped by Fresh Choice in Vallco, which is definitely open. I’m glad, because I love this option for dinner. Price for dinner was $ 9.99, and they have a note on the salad bar requesting patrons pay cash, which is reasonable to keep the $ 9.99 price which I view as a good deal. Salad bar was full of fresh choices (no pun intended), soups were good, and everything was there I remember from earlier when I used to visit regularly except the frozen yogurt/​ice cream dispenser. Open for business, and I’m glad!

This Fresh Choice (and I believe all Fresh Choice restaurants) is out of business. There is a sign that says «California Fresh,» but it wasn’t open the last time I was at the mall.

If I could give zero stars, I would.
Terrible experience here last night. My fiancée and I came here after a movie for a bite to eat. The prices had been jacked up since the last time we had gone here. I almost suggested going somewhere else, as I don’t think their offering is really worth more than $ 10. But, she is a college student, and has a discount card for 15% off, issued in November so I kept my mouth shut.
We got to the cashier and handed the card over, to be informed that the place no longer offers discounts as of October 1^st. There was no signs at the beginning, and the pitiful display at the cash register was turned away from where the customers could see it in the line,
We spoke to the manager, who did not seem to see the problem with handing out discount cards AFTER they stopped giving out discounts. We did not wish to make a scene, so we paid and ate. I wish we didn’t. The roasted potatoes were half raw, the dressings were watery, and the macaroni and cheese bland and overcooked. The only decent things I got were a cold noodle salad (bland but good with enough salt) and the tapioca pudding (overcooked but tasty). Even the chocolate pudding was watery, lacked taste, and just looked wrong.
I will not eat here again.

I used to be a regular at Fresh Choice (including this one in Cupertino) for the last several years. But things have really changed at this Fresh Choice (and likely their other locations), but in a pretty negative way. For those who may not have seen it, there are notices at their entrance stating that as of October 1, 2012, they will no longer honor coupons/​discounts (including AAA members) with the exception of the senior discount.
Their salad bar is okay at times, but the overall quality of their entire food selection just isn’t worth having to pay more for. And Fresh Choice also recently discontinued their weekday special of $ 7.49 (or something like that) between 3 – 5 PM, so we end up having to pay more for lunch and/​or dinner. At this point, I’d probably rather stick with Sweet Tomatoes, as they have better offers and their food is much fresher.

I come here for one thing only — the Chinese Chicken salad. I think it’s their best item.
I had the rudest experience today. I got a to-​go-​box and filled it with the Chinese Chicken salad. The woman behind the counter said to me «don’t take all my chicken» and ‘there’s more chicken down there” (chicken standing alone in plastic wrap that you have to pay extra for.) I wanted salad, not just chicken.
She kept eyeing me the whole time… and at the register she said «next time I’ll have to charge you double.» So so rude.
Why offer a to-​go box for salad but make snide comments and eye people when they actually put the salad they want in their box?
I will think twice before stopping by this location.
(Btw, the chicken in the salad was rather stringy, old, and cut in chunks.)

Located in the ghost town known as Vallco Mall, this Fresh Choice is always a nice alternate every three or four months for me and the hubby. It’s never too crowded and the food is kept fresh and the space is constantly cleaned.
We love making exotic salads to start and then go for the soups, breads, pizza slices, and pasta. They have a nice little dessert bar with a tapioca pudding and whipped cream that hubby insists on having to end his meal. But they also have fresh sliced fruit for me too.
Overall, a nice place to go when you want something different and not fancy. Great way to have a simple meal and relax.

Came back here recently to see if it had gotten any better over the years. Sadly, it is still not «fresh». All the hot foods tastes like it has been under the heat lamps for hours and are all very dry. The salad tastes like it has been sitting around for a couple of days. Service is pretty poor as well when I went. Had to wait for around 3.3 minutes until a cashier came to take our order and this was like around 1230pm.
Summary: In my opinion, go to sweet tomatoes.

This particular Fresh Choice has pasta (Fresh Choice in Sunnyvale is out of pasta most of the time or does not make it at all anymore). This restaurant has a good set of choices and so far it was fresh.
Down side is the cashier, they like to overcharge, yesterday I came with my 70+ mom and they had charged her as an adult without using the 60+ discount. That of course could be seen as a comment to her but when I asked to correct the cashier rejected it.
But then again a Fresh Choice is expected to be around 3 to 4 stars. If its more then I would as manager say to increase the prices (which BTW I think they have done over time).
So 3 stars for the food, 1 star for the service, average 2 stars.

Sinking downhill fast
The Fresh Choice restaurants used to be great. You could get some good, healthy salads, soups, breads, etc and not break the bank. Recently, over the past few years, we’ve noticed a discernable lowering in quality and service to the point that we no longer want to eat here. The soups are lukewarm at best; the salads don’t really have a lot of flavor or many choices, and the service staff has really been reduced. As a result, many of the foods don’t seem to be replenished fast enough, there’s alot of plates and food droppings on the floor, and no one seems to be able to respond properly. It didn’t used to feel this way, but we’ve seen so much deterioration at this Cupertino store as well as the Sunnyvale store that we just don’t think this is worth it.
Sad, because we used to like eating here a lot.

Fresh Choice is like Sweet Tomatoes’s underachieving sibling. I kind of feel bad for it.
My boyfriend and I decided to try out Fresh Choice today for the first time in years because it just so happened to be in the same mall as the movie theater we were heading to (AMC 16 at Vallco). We usually go to Sweet Tomatoes next to Costco, but it was too far and we were under a time constraint.
We go in. First thing I notice? NO ONE is in there. Well, it is only 4:15PM, so whatever. I grab a tray and a plate and get to work. I notice that there is a lot more salad variety than there used to be. Cool! I like the Chinese chicken salad and the tuna tarragon. I’m sad about their French dressing, though. I remember I used to put it on my plain pasta as a kid, and it would be one of my favorite things to eat at FC. But now, the French dressing is just nasty. Oh, and their pita bread almost broke my teeth. Please FC, don’t give me another reason to go to the dentist.
The pricing was alright, though. It was $ 16.22 for the two of us. Not bad at all… if the experience ended here, I would’ve given this place at least 3.5 stars. But nope, onto the breads and soups.
There were no pizzas out at first, and only a few pieces of bread, muffin, and cornbread. My boyfriend scoped out the soup selections, and told me that they looked «gross.» I went to go see for myself, and scooped up some of the New England clam chowder just because I used to love it as a kid. The color was sort of grey-​ish and the consistency was watery. I had a few slurps and gave up. Fresh Choice was really letting me down!
I also had the cornbread with honey spread + honey. The cornbread was cold as expected, since there were barely any customers inside. The honey spread seemed dry, and didn’t want to stick on my cornbread. One disappointment after another! This is unacceptable.
Then I had some mac n’ cheese, which also seemed a little old. The cheese was drying up inside the container. At this point, I gave up entirely and erased all expectations and standards I had for FC. Those great memories of eating here with my family back in the day when the restaurant was packed and it took at least 20 minutes to find a table were GONE! I was so very sad.
At first I thought, «Maybe their food wasn’t as fresh because it’s too early to eat dinner and no one’s in the restaurant anyway» (I like making up excuses for places I used to like). Well, my boyfriend and I went to go watch the movie, and by the time we walked past FC again, it was around 7PM. The place was still empty, and I’m pretty sure the bread baskets were too.

I give 4 stars only to the fact that fresh choice has definitely improved their food selection.
It tastes more fresh and healthy!
I love their chicken noodle soup and strawberry salad!

Lots of new items than the traditional salads.
There its more diversity on the menu.
I really liked the kale salad. It was tasty and I know it was good for me.
To my surprise they also had vietnamese phở noodles.
They also carried the red rooster hot sauce.
the soups are usually my favorite, they are hearty and chucky. I love the clam chowder. Lots of clams.
I tried the pozole… im impressed they had it, but I was nt impressed by the flavor, very salty and kinda a mushy.
Ok…the muffins are delicious. Hello peach cinnamon. enuff said.
I will return again when craving a light dinner.

One of our work-​time staples we go here on a bi-​weekly basis.
Nothing to make note of here, it is as advertised. The place is clean, quiet, and always well stocked. The food is fresh, as the name would indicate, and there is quiet a variety.
If I had to pick one thing as a negative it would be that they do seem a little understaffed. My positives would be that they dont make you feel rushed such as a place like Sweet Tomato’s does.
All in all if your in the hunt for some healthy food with fast moving lines this is a good option.
PS: End your meal with a soft ice cream covered brownie… FTW!

It was a mistake coming here… Nothing about this place is actually fresh at all.
SHITTY CHOICE!

Brother wanted to go to Fresh Choice for his b-​day dinner… after the meal, definitely not the «best choice»…
Usually you can find something that is decent at Fresh Choice, since it IS buffet, but when we went on a non-​crowded Monday night, the soup was too salty, the salad was mushy, the bread was too hard, the blueberry muffins changed recipes and were too sweet, and they were out of chocolate ice cream in the swirl… The only good things were the lemonade and the small baked potatoes…
It may have been because there was little turnover of the food and perhaps it had been left out for a while, but it was definitely a let-​down for my brother and our family…

Found a 25% off dinner coupon for here = $ 32 total for 5 people!!!
Love coming here when just feeling for some fresh greens and soups.
Everything is always fresh and lots of choices. Tastes are all pretty basic but really hits the spot when you’re not looking for anything fancy.
Only small complaint is that this location is pretty small– seating area is narrow and long which means it can be a trek to walk back and forth from table to food area; but hey, more exercise to free up that belly space right? =)

Instead of topping off on soups and bread like I usually do at buffets like Fresh Choice I just decided to pile up my plate with salad, chips and pizza.
The ceaser salad was okay, too lemony and had browning pieces which I picked out. Everything else was okay. They had garlic roasted hummus today which I enjoyed with the tortilla chips provided.
The soups here really aren’t that great, too watery and bland. The pizzas on the other hand are delicious, my fav being the Pesto Garden Veggie. The baked potatoes were just that as well.
Service was so-​so. I found that I had to stand around and look for plates to get food with since they had ran out? There was also only one cashier.
9.99 is pretty high compared to Sweet Tomatoes, especially when FC lacks in variety and number of choices provided.

This is basically Souplantation for northern California. The food is ok, nothing special. It’s a buffet after all.
The thing that really annoyed me is that the whole meal is deceivingly advertised at $ 9.99. They ask if you want a fountain drink, and if you accept, that bumps the bill up $ 2.30. After tax the whole meal is over $ 13, so you better eat a lot.
The best thing about this place is the choice of salad toppings. Aside from that, everything else is just ok… With all the other choices for food in the area, I doubt I’ll go back.

Man do I love my buffets! Fresh Choice is a great place to go regardless of if you are alone or in a big group. Right now they have Phở’ soup and it is very good! You get to make it yourself. The amount of salads they have now are big. Be sure to use your AAA card to get a small discount off your meal.
This location has been here for years. So happy that they’ve made it through the change of mall ownership. They are not as busy as the Blossom Hill location, that is just a mad house.