Lightening Foods

Lightening Foods has reestablished itself at 201 Pine St with one of the same owners. Looking forward to seeing if the Chicken and Green Beans are the same.

It’s with great sadness that I write my next post restaurant closing eulogy #6 for Lightening Foods…
I only work down the street from here and today, I was strolling down the streets of the FiDi hoping to get my usual pleasing Hail Caesar chicken salad… which is usually a lot of chicken with a side of salad. Unbeknownst to me, the place was boarded up, signs in the window stating new ownership, and the whole feeling of shock and trauma flooding my head.
I did see the sign that was posted to Unilocal regarding them losing their lease and that their last day was on the 19^th of September. So sad… so so so sad. What can I say? I’m just flabbergasted. I ended up going today to get a Tonkatsu bowl from Teriyaki Express inside the Embarcadero Food Court.
I think a Super Duper will be opening up here soon and although I can’t complain about having another option besides Bistro Burger near my work, I still will miss having their heavily portioned chicken Caesar salad for lunch.
Hopefully they can open somewhere else in the city so I can have one last chance of having their food again.

Closed?! Lost lease?! Noooo!
Sandwiches were good and friendly service. Hope they find a new place.

Great lunch place!
The Grilled Chicken Club and BLT are probably the best in the city.

This place is a solid 3 stars. The sandwiches suck but the salad bar is decent. There is a good variety of vegetables and protein so that you can make your own healthy salad. The reason I’ve taken off numerous stars is because of the way the owner and manager treats his employees. I literally saw a guy push one of the bus boys and gesture finger to eyes to pick up a napkin the wind had blown outside in the seating area. It was really rude and he seemed to be going on an ego trip in front of some lady that he was sitting with. Not cool! I hate it when people are rude to their employees. It wasn’t his fault dude. The wind blows everything around outside, you are in SF.
Anyways that is my 2 cents on this place

I used to always ignore this place, dismissing it as yet *another* sandwich place in the FiDi. (Seriously, what is with business districts and sandwiches? How clichéd!)
I finally stopped in and poked around, and their self-​serve salad bar, while pricey, is AMAZING. Full of fresh ingredients and always stocked with organic spinach (a must!), veggies, and an awesome selection of creatively prepared salads, tofu, and side dishes. Seriously, I about squealed when I saw the roasted chicken, HUGE chunks of herbed feta, and marinated mushrooms with avocado. Everything tastes delicious and all of the employees are sweet and gracious– a nice departure from some of this restaurant’s neighbors.
Totally coming back again and again.

This is my favorite place for grabbing quick lunch. I just love their salad bar and hot food options in the buffet. They also have a great selection of sandwiches, my favorite being the Don Juan sandwich, no cheese with extra peppers. YUMM!

Great sandwich/​salad combos for under $ 8.00. That’s a plus in San Francisco.

I pop in once in awhile because I really like the roast chicken. The skin is crispy and the chicken is moist and juicy. I usually get the same thing– roast chicken, some salad, piece of the tofu, the rice with nuts and the sautéed green beans. They have a pretty good selection of salad ingredients and the hot food changes daily but I’ve seen: raviolis, tortellini, seafood paella, pad thai, curries, and lasagna. It’s around $ 7/​lb. so you can get a decent amount of food for less than $ 10 which isn’t bad for the area.
During the lunch rush it can get pretty busy and the line for sandwiches and special salads can be long. If you’re like me and go through the self serve food bar and pay with cash you can be out of there pretty quick. Seating is limited during the lunch rush but after 1:00 I’ve never had a problem finding a seat inside.

I took out one star because it was slightly difficult to find a seat here. It gets fairly busy during lunch hour but their prima facie sandwiches are to die for. It is SO good. Although its pretty much the only sandwich I can try on the menu because I’m vegetarian, I’d still be happy with getting this every single time I come here. Plus it comes with a huge serving of delicious Caesar salad!

Huge portions. I ordered the royal chicken based on the recommendation of my dining companion. It came with lots of moist chicken, veggies, and salad. I’m not too sure on the price as he treated, but I’d say it probably was cheaper than next door neighbor Mixt Greens. The bread they gave though was quite a hard baguette slice.

Prima Facie Sandwich. Try it. Add some chicken for $ 1. Comes with a huge Caesar side salad. So good, so cheap. Total is $ 8 including tax. So worth it. Sandwich is on a toasted sesame baguette with mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, basil, cheese, and pesto spread. what’s not to like? All my fav things on one sandwich… YES!
The buffet looked good and fresh, but very expensive! The sandwich/​salad line is quite long but goes by really fast, and you have the option of sitting inside or outside.

What a perfect stop on my way through the city… I needed a quick bite before an interview and didn’t want to sit down anywhere that would risk me being late. It was fate– I walked in and noticed the self-​serve style, and the freshness of the food choices… and just like that, I was sold. I got just the right amount of food (and stayed away from any greens that could get caught in my teeth), paid my very affordable $ 5.80, and sat down to munch. Then, because of it’s easy location… off to the BART! I will be back, and with more of an appetite next time. Thank you Lightening Foods!

Not bad for a quick lunch on the go. I ordered the special of the day, which was the royal chicken and it arrived to me cold. That was really disappointing. Once I took it home and heated it up, it was very good.
It was served with a ton of veggies which I like. They gave me a whole cut up tomato. Do you know how much tomatoes cost at the market? Ok, not that much but the point is that they don’t skimp on the portions.
Yes, the prices were reasonable and the portions were big. More than 8 oz. of chicken.
The salad bar looked very enticing so I am looking forward to going back for that.
I will return.

Was not impressed with this place. Ordered the «spicy chicken ceaser salad» for around $ 8. You can either get salads in regular, or large. I got a regular sized salad, and I’d say it’s enough to feed 2 people. It was huge, but the food itself wasn’t great. The chicken was a bit tough, dry, and bland, and it was basically just chicken, lettuce, and parmesan, with dressing… nothing to go crazy over, and not very tasty.

Great food in the downtown area but WAY understaffed. My coworker ordered a turkey panini and it took nearly 25 minutes to get. Trust me, 25 minutes seeeeems like a long when you are hungry and also when you are in a rush to make a meeting at work.
Sorry lightening foods. You are still one of my favorite places to go to eat but can you please hire more people during the lunch hours? — thanks!

I’m sure someone else has made this joke before, but lightening foods is not lightning fast.
One of my coworkers went the other day and warned us that they were pretty slow, so we decided to go right at 11 to get in before the crowds. There were very few other people there, but we still had to wait 30 minutes for our sandwiches. 30 minutes for a sandwich?! #1 — that’s just ridiculous and #2 — If I’m going to wait that long for a sandwich, it better be the best freaking sandwich I have ever eaten in my life and unfortunately, it was not.
I have never seen anyone make a sandwich that slowly, it was literally painful to watch. I wanted to jump over the counter and make it myself.
My sandwich came with a salad, but no one asked me what kind of dressing I wanted, so I ended up with italian dressing. Icky.
If I do ever come back it will be to try the salad bar which looked pretty good but I will never order anything here again!

I had their turkey club sandwich, all I can say is eh! Pricey for a salad and doesn’t have zing to it — I can barely taste the turkey!
Wouldn’t go back here.: /

Other Unilocalers (hi Angel) have described this place as an upscale Portico’s which is a pretty spot-​on comparison except for the fact that the salad bar at Portico’s has more true, delicate salad add-​ons (peas, corn, garbonzas, blue cheese, red onion, etc.). This by-​the-​pound salad bar has a brief period of actual saladry before it segues into things I’d characterize as meals I can place atop my lettuce. That’s right: big hunks of chicken, big slabs of tofu covered in sauce, giant (but good) roast string beans, and the list goes on. I characterize myself as more of a salad purist thus I prefer Portico (on Beale) even if it’s not as light and airy inside and even if it doesn’t have outdoor seats.
The non-​salad bar prepared to order food (sandwiches and more) looked ample but I didn’t partake. I was busy trying to figure out how to eat this salad, with all of the oddly shaped large objects on top.

Six months since my last review and my lunch today inspired me to write about some little changes that I really love and highlight the quality of this food bar:
Steamed (possibly blanched?) veggies:
While I love raw carrots, and raw peppers, it’s hard for me to eat raw broccoli in a salad. It just doesn’t taste good to me. They had added perfectly cooked bright green broccoli that still has crunch, but is not raw! Even more reason to get my custom healthy lunch here!
Nothing but the good Stuff Fruit Salad:
Watermelon, Grapes, Strawberry, Kiwi, Pineapple… oh yeah.
Updated Marinated Mushroom Salad:
They have always had marinated mushroom with avocado which I add to my salad instead of adding oil to my salad since it has some olive oil and vinegar already, I can just add some more vinegar to my salad and get the added benefit of marinated mushrooms (so much tastier than raw!) But now, it’s even better! They added black olives (not the canned kind) and marinated artichoke hearts to the mix! Way to make this that much more classy and delicious!
Cold Silk Tofu with Sesame Soy Marinade:
This is just a classic. It is so fresh, and so tasty! Lean protein FTW. I try not to load up on the sauce, but sometimes it’s hard not to add a little more because it is just that tasty!
Cubed Feta:
Don’t ask me why, but I really love feta in cube shape rather than in crumble shape. This one is sprinkled lightly with herbs. The shape also allows you to know for sure you are eating exactly one 1″ cube of cheese. Calorie counters rejoice!
Not Costco Balsamic Vinegar:
Since all I really put on my salad in balsamic vinegar, I really appreciate the quality of the vinegar here.
Only complaint was that my splurge ¼ cup of Paella was cold and had crunch rice. The calamari in it was way over done. So much for the splurge part… maybe next time I’ll get a little of that creamy pasta that always looks divinely fat and calorie loaded ;)