Mixt

Mixt is small chain in the Bay Area (which you may also know as "Mixt Greens", their old name).  The concept is healthy salads, grain bowls, and plates, all very customizable, or, you can opt from their pre-designed dishes.  When you order at the store, your ingredients are tossed into a bowl, and mixed in front of you, hence the name (I think?).

Mixt is the sister restaurant to Split (previously, Split Bread), a similar concept sandwich shop.  Both have multiple locations around town.

Visit #1: Delivery, Yerba Buena Location, March 2020

Delivery.  I don't usually opt for delivery, but, the recent Shelter In Place meant more takeout for me, and, when it got cold and gloomy, it was time to finally get delivery.  I just wanted something fresh and healthy, so I ordered from Mixt, a salad place I've walked by a zillion times.  I knew salad would work fine for delivery, and I was needing vegetables, badly.

Unfortunately, this experience left me extremely grumpy.

The positive? The order was quickly prepared, and quickly delivered.  When I filled out the feedback form on the Mixt website, they offered me a free salad or sando to make up for it.  Customer service quality from both Caviar (delivery) and Mixt (merchant) was great.

The negative?  My order was missing a bunch of things, including one main ingredient in my salad, my side, and requested utensils.  All were listed on the receipt, just not included.  I understand running out of salad ingredient and just leaving it off, but the rest missing?  Boo.

It was also expensive for what it was.  With taxes (~$1), service fees (~$2), delivery fees ($0.99), and courier tip, my $10 salad quickly turned into a $20 salad, and, the portion wasn't exactly generous, and the quality wasn't great.  With my missing items too, it all just resulted in a fairly displeased customer.

I won't give much more preamble about the delivery experience though, as this was a one-off through a third-party, early in the pandemic days when everything was kinda falling apart.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of pickup and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes ...

• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

I ordered via Caviar for this, and I certainly don't fault the delivery service, as the ordering experience was simple, I was provided notifications as my order was prepared, and the delivery came quickly.  But ...

Bagged Up.

My order *should* have contained several items, so the big bag didn't seem totally extraneous, until I opened it, and found ... just one item.

I know the bag is needed for the courier, but, still, it felt so wasteful.

Design Your Own Salad. $10.45.

"Romaine Hearts / Baby Spinach base with Cabbage, Shaved Fennel, Roasted Cauliflower, Radishes

Roasted Brussels Sprouts, and Citrus Balsamic Dressing."

My salad arrived with the dressing packaged separately (as they do for all takeway orders), and the non-base ingredients perched on top, again, standard for takeaway, rather than, well, "mixt", as you get in-store.  This is what I wanted, so I could combine into my own creation anyway, adding in a bunch of ingredients I had on hand at home as well.

For the base, I had my choice of 6 types of greens, or 6 blends of grains and greens.  I could select at most two.  I opted for greens, and went for baby spinach and hearts of romaine.  I wished they had radicchio or other bitter greens, but, the selection was decent.  Both were ... fine.  Fresh enough (although the romaine had some brown spots), the romaine was torn into good size chunks, and the portion was about what I expected - this isn't a huge salad, but it isn't a side salad.  Standard, decent quality base.

Next, I could select 5 "Specialty Ingredients", ranging from raw or cooked vegetables, fruits, legumes, grains, herbs, toasted nuts + seeds, or cheeses + egg.  The selection was vast, and picking just 5 was hard (of course, I could pay $1 per additional ingredient if I wanted).  I went for 3 raw vegetables (cabbage, shaved fennel, radish) and two cooked vegetables (roasted brussels sprouts and roasted cauliflower), skipping all other categories.  I had my own nuts and seeds (honey sriracha mixed nuts and seeds and wasabi peas), cheese (manchego, leftover from my incredible salad from La Fromagerie the day before), and fruit (diced pears, also from aforementioned salad) to add in anyway, although there were plenty in all those categories that appealed.

At first glance, I was ... underwhelmed by my specialty ingredients, in particular, the quantity.  At second glance, I was annoyed.  Where were my radishes?!  One of my 5 precious selections, and alas, it was entirely missing.  I can only assume they ran out, and didn't want to substitute something else in case I had an allergy?

The cabbage was just green cabbage, shredded, and the portion of fennel was meager.  I was hoping for perhaps some colorful purple cabbage to jazz up this very bland looking salad, and certainly had wanted some chunks so it gave actual crunch.  Both were lost pretty easily into the salad, due to their shredded nature, and small portion.  A bit sad.

My roast veggies were just as bland looking.  The brussels were ... fine, but not roasted nearly as much as I like.  Just, cold soft mushy brussels sprouts.  I choose not to eat them then, and roasted them more at home later.  The cauliflower was ... really not to my liking.   The portion was meager, which turns out fine, since it tasted ... odd.  I don't know what it was, but it tasted somewhat fermented.  Kinda just funky, perhaps rather old?  I'm not sure.  It was not good, didn't smell right, and I tossed it nearly immediately.

And finally, dressing, all made in house, 16 choices.  16!  All vegetarian except the anchovy containing caesar, and broken down into vinaigrettes, "dressings", and oil & vinegar.  My fridge was fully stocked with tons of creamy dressings, so I decided to pick something entirely abnormal for me, and went for the citrus balsamic dressing, just to try something new: citrus balsamic dressing.  Not a vinaigrette, no oil.  

I liked the dressing, it was tangy and slightly sweet and slightly acidic.  I chose to still finish off a miso mayo based dressing I had leftover instead with my bowl, and just throw a splash of this in for fun, but, I used it several times after, and really enjoyed it.

Overall, this was nothing special, and most certainly not worth the nearly $20 paid (and honestly, wasn't worth just the base ~$13 it would be in person either). ***.

Visit #2: April 2020, Dessert Pickup (Yerba Buena Location)

While Mixt is a healthy lunch option, and salads are the focus ... of course they have to have *some* kind of treat to round out the meal, right?

Packaged Cookie.

They normally offer three kinds of cookies: ginger molasses, cranberry oatmeal, and chocolate chip sea salt, but had only chocolate chip available when I visited, and I was told they'd only have this one flavor for a while.

Cookies were individually packaged by the register, the only treats on offer.  I'm not a cookie girl normally, but I know people like these, and I had heard a rumor that they were Anthony's Cookies (zomg, so good!), but ... they weren't.

Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookie. $2.95.

I opened my cookie and pretty much assumed it, like most cookies, would just go to a friend (again, not really a cookie girl!), or, like the one I had from Ladle & Leaf a few days prior, into the trash (such a bad cookie, wasn't even worth a review!).

The cookie certainly didn't look like much.

It was large, and soft, and had visible sea salt on top, but, I didn't see any chocolate chips (in this one, or any I saw at the register).

But the base was good - it was very buttery, very sweet, a pretty classic, but decadent, cookie base.  I loved the large size, and it was decently soft - a bit crispy around the edges, but the center was perfect for my tastes.  Really, a well made cookie.

The sea salt on top made it pop.

Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookie: Bottom

But what about the "chocolate chip" aspect of the cookie?

Well, "chip" was really not quite the right name for the cookie, as it had chunks, not chips.  It didn't exactly have many though, just one large one, and one part of one.  The chocolate was good, and I definitely prefer chunks over chips, but they certainly could do with more chocolate in here.

Overall though, lack of chocolate aside, it was good cookie.  I probably wouldn't get another, just because cookies aren't my dessert of choice, ever, but, it was a far above average cookie. ***+.

Visit #3: Pickup, Kearny Street Location, June 2020

For this visit, I decided to go in person, so I could 1) ensure that I got all my toppings and 2) see what toppings actually looked like, so I could decide on the spot if something looked good or not.  

This turned out to be a great move, as, well, at least 3 toppings I wanted weren't available (yet were there to select online, so they just wouldn't have come!), and one I did want that was no longer listed online *was* available.  

The experience was entirely different.  I was really, really pleased with my salad, the quality and freshness of ingredients, and the staff were remarkably friendly.

Given this experience, I'll definitely be returning!

Design Your Own Salad.  NOT Mixt. 9 toppings, 1 dressing, bread.  $15.45.

"Kale, garden peas, jicama, striped beets, snap peas (x2), pickled spring vegetables, grilled asparagus, mango, candied cashews, lemon dill dressing."

When you order in person, they usually mix it for you, but I requested unmixed, and I was a complete annoying customer who wanted some things separate (the wets, the fruits, the nuts), as I wasn't eating it immediately, and didn't want sogginess.  They didn't act annoyed in any way, and easily accommodated this request.

For my base, I went with kale, because I had plenty of baby spinach and romaine at home of my own (my usual choices), and I wanted to see what kind of kale they used.  I could see it was baby kale, I was really hoping for crunchy crispy curly kale, but alas, it was baby kale.  I still got it.  Fresh enough, but bo-ring.  Since I was bringing my salad home anyway, I just added some of my own crisp romaine, endive, and mixed greens, and saved half the baby kale to mix in to a salad the next day.  I'm glad I tried the kale to see what it was, but wouldn't get it again.

Next up, the raw vegetables.  I repeated nothing from my previous order, and was pleased to see the new seasonal lineup had many I wanted.

The garden peas are actually steamed (not raw as listed) but they were good, fresh, tender, nice peas.  Always on the menu.  The seasonal snap peas were great - nice sized chunks, super crisp and fresh, great flavor.  I could tell just from seeing them how great they were going to be, or at least, how great I hoped they would, and doubled up on them.  My effort paid off!  My favorite ingredient, no question.

The jicama (shredded) was fine, crisp, juicy, and she gave me tons of it.  Always on the menu, nothing special, but fine.  The seasonal striped beets really didn't look good to be honest, and I almost skipped, but I wanted more crunch, so, I still got them.  They were kinda brown, and dried out, and didn't seem the freshest, but I did really appreciate the chunk size and crunch.  Roasted beets are also available, but I dislike cooked beets, and radishes would have worked too, but those were thinly sliced.  I'm still glad I got these too.

Lastly, the "pickled spring vegetables", which I had no idea what they would be, but hey, I love pickles.  I could see how wet they were, and asked for them separate (top left container).  I still don't entirely know what was in here, greens, other things, but it was all good, nice vinegar level, and I enjoyed them later on the side.  Not sure I'd want in my salad, but great little side snack.  I also wanted pickled red onion, but alas, they were out of it.  I almost randomly got the super fresh and delicious looking pico de gallo, with really juicy ripe looking tomatoes, but, didn't.

Next up, cooked vegetables.  The caramelized onions looked good, but I have tons of onions at home, and didn't want to burn out on my onion patience, heh.  I was thrilled to see seasonal grilled asparagus though.  It was decent.  Very thin stalks, tender, slightly smoky flavor.  I'd certainly prefer larger stalks, less soft, and more flavor overall, but the asparagus was fine.  Not a star, but I was glad to have it too.

For once I was going to add a grain, not usually my thing, but I liked the sounds of the purple barley (Seasonal).  Alas, they were out of it.  So I skipped all the grains (meh to lentils and quinoa and uh, croutons, which they consider "grains").

I don't normally even bother with mango places in the US, even Thai restaurants for mango sticky rice that I love, but, the mango did look rather ripe.  Thin slices.  I asked for it on the side, not intending to really mix it into my salad, but rather, use as a dessert, or maybe breakfast, component later, if it was good.  It was ... fine.  Basically, US quality mango.  Tart.  Not juicy.  Meh.  Wouldn't get again.

For dressing, I was *really* on the fence.  I was craving ceasar, and had run out of ceasar at home, and knew theirs used real anchovy.  But I'm also *super* picky with ceasar dressing, and usually dislike it most places.  I did really like the citrus balsamic from last time, thought the whole grain mustard vinaigrette would go great with the kale and my ingredient picks (seasonal offering), and was randomly interested in the lemon dill dressing (not listed as a vinaigrette), also seasonal.

I asked about the lemon dill, saying I was deciding between it and ceasar, and was immediately offered a sample of each.  I had no idea they did that!  Of course that made it easier, a little sample provided with a few springs of the same base I had chosen.  The ceasar was ok, not as strong anchovy as I like, and more vinegary, so I'm glad I didn't go with it.  The lemon dill was a thick, rich dressing, definitely not a light style, but and definitely not what I normally go for, but I was pretty sure it would work with the spring ingredients I had chosen.  It did.  Flavorful, herby.  I wouldn't get it again, since just not my kind of dressing really, but I'm glad I tried it, particularly with all the fresh peas.

Overall, I was pleased with my salad (particularly with my own salad base added).  The ingredients were fresh, quality was high, and I'd get nearly everything again (not the dressing, not the mango).  That said, $15.45 really still does feel high for a salad to me, particularly as I make salads at home many times a week.  I likely won't visit often because I "should" just make my own, but, if I want a salad out, or want to mix up my ingredients, this was very solid. ***+.

Candied Cashews.

For my Toasted Nuts & Seeds, I went for the candied cashews (on the side).  They were good, nicely candied, I think sesame seeds in there?  Not what I wanted in this salad at all, hence getting them on the side.  I just wanted to try them!

I randomly *really* crave cashews (candied or savory), and the rest of the time tend to really not like them, so these are good to have on hand for the craving days, perhaps to throw on top of ice cream sundaes, or incorporate into my breakfast bowls.  I look forward to them.

Bread.

Bread is always optionally included.

I'm not really a bread girl at all, but, I was craving carbs actually, and had some really good chimichurri dipping sauce at home, so I decided to give it a try.

It seemed fresh enough, but alas, it was ... yup, dreaded sourdough.  My partner scored a slice of bread, heh.  I just can't do sourdough. *+.

Visit #4: March 2021, One Market location

Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookie. $2.95.

Another day, another cookie?

Yeah, not really my motto, but I was going through a cookie phase, and after having a really "meh" cookie from Chez Beesen, really wanted one I could rely on.  The Mixt cookie was good enough in my memory that I decided to get another.

And it was again pretty good.  Again didn't really look like much.  A large cookie, nice sea salt on top, but otherwise, well, looked like any cookie - albeit one that was nicely cooked, no burnt edges, not too dark, soft.  It had a fabulous chew to it.  It was extremely sweet, and basically demanded that I dunk it in a glass of milk, something I literally haven't done in years, but felt entirely appropriate.  

The chips in this one seemed different from before though - there were certainly more of them, better distributed, but they were also smaller, regular chips, and, well, milk chocolate, rather than the larger dark chocolate hunks found previously.  The chocolate was a sweet style chocolate as well, adding to the sweet nature of the cookie.

Overall, really, a good quality cookie - nicely cooked, good size, great "eating" experience.  The pop of salt sealed the deal.

***+.

Visit #5: May 2022, One Market location

Toffee Cookie.

One day, I noticed a different cookie at the register.  I always thought Mixt only had chocolate chip cookies these days, and in fact, if you order online, that is the only choice.  I asked what this one was, and was told toffee.  I gleefully grabbed one of those too.

It was similar to the chocolate chip - slightly crisp but soft, thin style.  Decent crumble.  Sweet.  Little bits of toffee.  Not much more to say about it, a fine, but average, cookie.

***.