Lightening Foods

Na na na na
Na na na na
Hey hey hey
Good Bye
Sad.
I’ve always had a good lunch meal here.
But there is hope Mission and I think Main is where the other one is located. Burn some calories on your way and then add some

Today was their final day at Embarcadero Center 3. I chose the grilled chicken sandwiches as the last meal there. What a great deal. It comes with soup and salad, yet it costs only $ 7.
Initially, I started to buy lunch from this place for its proximity from my work. But I came to like it a lot for their healthy menu selections and the fact that you can control the portion of your own meal.
So sad to see you go, Lightening Foods!

I’m so bummed… I went to Lightening today for my usual takeout salad and found out they are CLOSING THIS WEEK! It looks like tomorrow is their last day… they had a big sign out saying «goodbye» but unfortunately black-​lined/​taped over the reason why… I’m guessing BP raised the rent on them…
Where am I going to get my spicy chicken and salads now??? I guess I have to go to Wildflower now… sad…

This place made me sick.
I’ve working at Embarcadero 3 center for over 2 years now and liked the overall choice of food around here. It was raining on Friday so I decided not to get my shoes wet and just grab a quick salad downstairs at Lightening Foods. Maybe I should have gotten there earlier but it was the usual mess at the salad bar. Most of the cooked foods have been raided and nothing much left. Got my usual of what was left over, got back to my desk and ate it. Soon after, I had to jump out of a meeting to use the restroom. God it was disgusting diarrhea for the rest of the afternoon. I could not hold down solid food for the rest of the weekend. Luckily I’m feeling a lot better today and can write this Unilocal review. Up next, complaint to the health department !

Life is relative– and relative to all the salad bars on Earth, this is 3-​stars. But relative to the dismal selection of overpriced and overcooked fare in the downtown San Francisco lunch scene, this is for sure 4+ stars for sure. In fact, the price to overcooked ratio here is less than most any other place. The outdoor seating is also 4-​star. I’ve been eating here since the dot-​com days, and I will continue to eat so long as it is in within walking distance to my employment. The food is tastefully presented, not overcooked or over-​salted, and there is organic spinach and rotisserie chicken. Pasta dishes change on a daily basis, and the food tasted good. Only problem is the plates are bit too big and there is a tendency to over eat. I am a fan though, for sure.

It’s a buffet you can put in a to-​go box. The cost is by how much your food weighs. If possibly stuffing everything in that to-​go box that your belly could only endure, it could ring up to as much as $ 8-​$ 10 a meal.
But if you go there after 2:30pm, the cost is half off. It’s a way to help rid the food after lunch hour. But that is why I always anxiously wait till 2:30 to scavenge whatever roasted chicken and potatoes are left.

Nice variety of salad options, but there were some things I was hoping to find and didn’t see (certain dressings & salad toppings). Also, after 1pm doesn’t seem like a good time to come, since some things are gone and are not being replenished. Chicken for one, which my co-​worker loves, was totally out. She wanted some of the chicken for protein since salad by itself was not enough. I did enjoy their spinach lasagna. I don’t know if I would come again, but have to admit the price was good for salad & extras, especially considering that I have been browsing menus for other salad-​serving places in the area and I’ve come to the conclusion that salad will cost me $ 10 no matter where I go — except here.

Hmm. Quite a variety of responses here.
I came in with no expectations. Ordered a sandwich and got an amazing deal. The grilled chicken on focaccia is served with sun dried tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, and it’s not only moist — it’s good! Especially after they panini grill it. Comes with a salad drizzled with a sweet and sour dressing (tasty), free soup (cream of broccoli) and a roll.
All for $ 7.
Dude. That’s a HELL of a deal, considering this is the FiDi we’re talking about. Don’t know about their salad bar and they had one dude manning two cash registers… but that doesn’t diminish the good deal. Or the good sandwich.

I’ve never been one to stick something in my mouth without knowing where it’s been.
At Lightening, not only are you unsure of where the food has been, you also aren’t sure what the hell it is. Labels would help, but I guess that’s too much to ask.
Overall experience is better than Wildflower, but not enough to get another whole star. I actually have to walk more than 10 feet to this place, which makes it all the more disappointing to find it picked over and unappetizing.
The layout looks user-​friendly, except if you’re on one side and can’t reach the salad topping on the far side. Never fun.
Hit /​Miss as far as warm dishes go. No labels so you never know what you might be dishing out– I stay far from anything questionable.
Spend over $ 10, as I’ve found I always do, and you get a free soda and tiny roll. Gee thanks. At least that’s better than Wildflower, but there’s still no reason I should be spending more than $ 6 at this place. The food just isn’t worth it. Might as well go to Toaster Oven across the way, save some cash and at least you know what you’re putting in your mouth.

Yeah, so I’m not a fan. I found the actual *salad* choices limited and wandered back and forth thinking «I must be missing something!» Nope, I wasn’t.
I can’t comment on the non-​salad choices such as lasagna, mashed potatoes, etc. etc.
I felt like I was eating lunch in some cafeteria — the interior was stark, wanting for a little personality. blah.

I went there to grab lunch today. I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich that comes with a salad. Guess what? I noticed on the board that sandwiches also come with soup of the day now. Today it was split pea soup. My lunch was so much food that I had to split it with my co-​worker. I’m still stuffed… major food coma!
Salad Bar: I’m pretty bad when it comes to the salad bar. I load up so much that my bill is usually over $ 10! I guess because I want to try a little bit of everything… well a little too much isn’t it?!! I like how they change the variety of the hot selections everyday. One day it’s Italian pasta, next day it’s Thai. Now I have to figure out which days they serve what… guess I have to go everyday to find out!
Thank goodness I opted for a sandwich today… for $ 7 bucks I got a huge lunch!

I would go here often If i worked around the area! I was impressed by the salad/​pasta bar they had once you enter the premises. The sandwich selections aren’t as large as other sandwich places that’s for sure. The max of probably 6 kinds of sandwiches and few salad specialties.
My friend and I were particularly intrigued by the egg salad and smoked salmon combo on green onion bread and how that would taste like. So we decided to order two sandwiches and split both so we can both taste one another’s. The other sandwich we ordered was the Spicy chicken on foccacia bread. I thought for a price of $ 6.45 that it was a great deal since this came with a side of salad, side of soup, and breadstick with butter! The whole deal can stuff you up pretty much! and it is healthy too! I am usually not a big fan of healthy but this was good! i was satisfied. the bread was a good size, nice and toasted. The egg salad and smoked salmon sandwich was interestinggg. edible but interestingg.
Went around 12:30pm and line went by pretty fast! Outside patio for a nice weather luncheon like today where you can people watch the business men in suits :)

I’ve worked at my current employer for 2 years and during that time I’ve always heard good things about lightening foods but even though its close by I never went and tried it.
So today my friend and I decide to head over and I expect this amazingly fresh salad bar. Instead I find standard fair like spinach, bell peppers, carrots, and broccoli. I figure they will redeem themselves in the pre-​made salad area but instead I find only three things that don’t have meat in them. I get some mediocre pasta salad, bland fried ricey thing, and some really squishy marinated tofu.
I found that the layout of the place made me really claustrophobic and made checking out difficult.
To top is all off when I was eating my tofu a little fly came crawling out from underneath it (I really hope it landed there after I put my plate down).
So I really tried to love you Lightening Foods but alas I don’t think I will be coming back.

Do-​it-​yourself salad making is a consistent disaster for me. I’ve been looking for a new salad bar near work but should have known better as soon as I walked into this place. I won’t be coming back
Lightening is just… tired. Tired lettuce, cold prepared dishes, boring selection. I do like the setup (the isles are nice and wide for passing up laggers) even though the whole place looks like a Piccadilly Cafeteria.
After you fork over 7 bucks for a drab salad, you have the option of sitting in a packed table area next to the cash register, or sitting out on the veranda overlooking the sweeping views of Embarcadero 3 (Coincidentally straight at The Toaster Oven… which will REALLY make you wish you went somewhere else for lunch).

What a great spot for a SUPER HUGE cesar salad for under $ 6! It is insanely big, but the dressing is on point. Tangy, garlicky, and just the right amount of anchovies mixed it!
Even their salad bar looked great.
We had the Prima Facia Special for $ 5.75 and it fed two women with great appetites. Definitely must go back!

So far so good. Good fresh salad selections. Go early cause they do run out of food. I have been there at 1:15 pm and was scraping around, and I’ve been there at 12 pm and everything was in abundance. Salads are by weight. So you are surprised at check out. Good thing I had my credit card with me to take care of the $ 2 difference! They need one of those weight scales that lets you see how much you have before you pay! Kinda like a price scanner they have at Target!
The hot food at the salad bar is good too but it weighs too much so I just stick to the «lighter weight» stuff.
Free bread and butter. (plus 1 star)

I have never been a big fan of buffets. I think it all stems back to childhood and awful memories of the food at «Fresh Choice.» The only highlight was the frozen yogurt bar and this one didn’t even have that. It was the first thing I looked for.
It did however have some dishes that were pretty good. We are talking «mid-​week lunch break good» — not «dinner date» good. The best selections I tried were the Thai peanut chicken, pasta salad, and the salad that I concocted from the salad bar. I did a damn good job. The delish balsamic dressing helped. I am sure I will be back for another mid-​week lunch. I just suggest staying away from the dry fish.

I don’t like food that moves.
One time at a fusion restaurant I once ordered this dish with mushrooms and bonito flakes. It came and I was shocked to see that the entire top part of the dish was moving. It was like a bunch of brown little critters were doing the wave in my fancy white bowl. I was disgusted and asked the waitress «Hey ma’am, what the crap is this?» She explained that it was just the thin bonito flakes wafting up from the hot steam. I was very afraid and never wanted to eat anything moving again.
Then one day I go into Lightening for lunch. Help yourself, weigh by the pound food. Usually they’re pretty tasty with a kick ass roasted chicken. I open my take out container and start eating my salad. Then it happens again! AHHHH Food shouldn’t move! It was a little tightrope walkin’ maggot crawling on the edge of my box.
Hoy! Hoy! Hooo… y! — that’s me semi-​gagging.
I took it straight to the cashier and demanded that I get a refund… all $ 5.50 worth! «Hey, ma’am! I wasn’t planning on having a lunch buddy today, but Maggie here kinda scooted in front of me w/​o me asking!» Don’t call me a cheap Chinese; I just wanted my money back because I wanted to get a burrito the next street over.
I don’t blame LF for this… we eat bugs allll the time w/​o us knowing, especially on leafy greens. But I knew this time and it almost stood up to shake my hand, so I cant come back here ever.

This ain’t lightening… it’s really heavying. Why are the leafy greens the last thing I grab when I’m at a salad bar. Somebody call my nutritionist.
I like this one a lot better than the more claustrophobic one at Mission and Spear. There’s room to move. There’s no big black woman screaming «EXCUSE YOU!» when I accidentally bump into her bulbous butt at the cash register. There’s no little Filipino woman barreling through the line with a need to beat me to the last chicken leg. Uh-oh…I feel a «Crash» moment coming on. I make Sandra Bullock look nice.
Lots of choices at the salad bar. Too many. Same routine. Lackadaisically, I tend to pick up a few spinach leaves to give the semblance of a salad but immediately go for the pasta salads and chicken thighs. I put in a few cranberry slices just for kicks, and them I cover it all with the honey dressing. OK, I know it’s wrong, but it is pretty good stuff. And if I’m not supposed to have it, then tell me why it it there to grab? Riddle me that, Batman.
There’s actually room to navigate in case you don’t want to wait for the anorexic secretary ladling cold tofu cubes in her tray. And the staff here is a lot nicer. Instead of smirking if your tray adds up to more than ten dollars, they tell you to grab a free soda. It my be further away from my office, but I’ll walk a few more blocks to come to this Lightening outlet. And hey… EXCUSE YOU!
FOOD — 4 stars… a most robust «salad» bar, but I tend to go for maximum capacity
AMBIANCE — 4 stars… room to breathe and move
SERVICE — 4 stars… they’re nice here
TOTAL — 4 stars… worth the extra steps to eat at Heavying… I mean Lightening Foods

I stumbled upon Lightning Foods while I was looking for a sandwich for lunch. I got in line and ordered a Grilled Chicken panini. They actually grilled the panini (unlike some places where you get a cold panini). The sandwich came with a salad.
Tucked away behind the cashier is a place you can sit and eat your meal. I sat and looked at the club one exercise class while I ate (talk about entertainment! I saw a lot of bouncing heads).
The sandwich was pretty good. The chicken was moist, not dry and it came out hot (that works for me!). Salad was ok, not spectacular.
$ 7 lunch is cheaper than what you get for Manhattan Hub (you only get a sandwich there!).