California Crisp in San Francisco, California: A Restaurant Review

California Crisp is a small West Coast chain with eleven stores, ranging from Southern California to Northern Oregon. Their take on quick serve dining is to try to make it both tasty and healthy, and they've been at it since 1979 so you figure they've had some amount of success at least.

Like other California Crisp locations, the menu focuses mostly on salads, soups, paninis, deli sandwiches, baked potatoes and kid's meals. Salads on hand include the Caesar, Mixed Green, BBQ Chopped Chicken, Chinese Chicken, Tostada, Spinach & Mushroom, and Classic Cobb. Seasonal fruit salads are also often made. At this location, soup consists of one rotating "soup of the day" accompanied by either cornbread or a roll.

Sandwiches available include hand carved roast turkey, chicken salad, tuna salad, ham and swiss, and a BLT made with avocado. Sandwiches are also served with a choice of potato chips or pasta primavera. The panini variations include Chicken Caesar, Roast Turkey Breast, Grilled Chicken Breast, and a vegetarian consisting mostly of eggplant.

As far as the potatoes go, you can get them baked with butter, margarine, sour cream, cottage cheese, melted cheddar, cheddar and broccoli, bacon with onions, and a lite version employing low fat cottage cheese, non-fat milk and lemon juice. Kids can avail themselves of macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly or a grilled cheese sandwich.

California Crisp always seems to have the longest line by far during the rare occasions when I pop in on the Stonestown Galleria food court, and in this case it seems to be for good reason. It probably is the best overall food here in the food court, but you'll pay a premium for it. Eight bucks for a salad or pasta with not a whole lot of meat and a not so big portion size is just too much to ask, no matter how well you happen to make it.

The paninis and sandwiches are OK but not stellar, and at nine to ten dollars a pop, they need to be stellar to merit the pricing. As it is they are overpriced. Watching the back of the store operations for just a bit will also reveal to you that they microwave quite a bit of the stuff they prep with, lending some doubt as to exactly how "healthy" eating here really is.

California Crisp
3251 20th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132
# 415-564-4254
http://www.californiacrisp.com/