CLOSED: California Monster Salads

The concept is great, but my salad wasn't. You can choose from many different lettuces and veggies, as well as many vegan dressings. Sad thing is, the dressings didn't taste good. I got my default, balsamic, and thought it was terrible. It was so terrible that I requested another dressing, which also was not good. I paid extra for avocado, but they gave me bruised pieces (brown avocado). Overall, for $11 I was not impressed and ended up throwing away most of my salad. I wouldn't recommend it.

Had read about this place on HappyCow, and finally stopped in to try the food. Here's my California Monster Salads review.

Was here in March 2012 for lunch. It's an independently owned eatery and a good place to grab a quick salad and soup. You can sit outside on the sidewalk and enjoy the downtown Santa Monica scene.

I opted to build my own salad, choosing my greens (spinach + baby greens), which came with choice of 5 basic toppings (I got sliced carrots, red bell peppers, cucumber, water crest, chickpeas), choice of dressing (a mandarin orange balsalmic vinegrette), and paid extra $1 for avocado. My total for the salad was $10. It was served it a large bamboo bowl and dispoable biodegrable cutlery. Good salad.

I also got the very hot kale veggies soup ($5) and sampled their kale lemonade.

The kitchen makes the salad dressings in-house, and I was able to sample 2 vegan ones; both yummy. If you are vegan, be specific.