GrubGrade

Wendy's Berry Almond Chicken Salad

Fresh off the national release of four new summer salads (read our review here), Wendy’s has begun testing a Berry Almond Chicken Salad in both the Salt Lake City, UT and Richmond, VA markets. Have a gander:

It all starts with sweet fresh strawberries and delicious plump blueberries. Then we add roasted almonds, shaved Asiago cheese, 11 types of greens and tender grilled chicken. Topping it all off is our fat-free raspberry vinaigrette dressing with acai juice. It’s a wholesome mix that tastes great and is great for you too.

Now this is a salad I could get behind! It’s also comparatively healthier than Wendy’s other salads, coming in at 460 calories and 16 grams of fat (5.5 saturated) including dressing and almonds (the dressing packet alone is 100 calories and contains 22 grams of sugar). Apparently it’ll only be in select stores until the summer ends, but based on the response this might be a future addition to the Wendy’s menu. Has anyone tried the Berry Almond Chicken Salad? We want to know your thoughts!

It seems like quick-serve restaurants are constantly making attempts to bridge the gap between fast food and something a bit more.  Every burger joint seems to have a meatier restaurant-style burger these days and the often-scrutinized McDonald’s has upped the quality in it’s newer offerings (see McBistro Chicken Sandwich).  When we see fast food menu items reach the $6 area, it’s hard to look at them as “just fast food”.  Along with the prices, the quality is also being amped up.

The latest menu items to fit the pricier/higher quality realm at Wendy’s are the New Garden Sensations Salads.  Over the past month or so, I’ve tried all four and here are my impressions. (more…)

Once upon a time, I scoffed at the idea of going for a burrito bowl over a burrito. These days, it’s not unusual for me to go without the tortilla and it’s not so bad.  I can’t really say that less carbs, calories and fat is my main reason either.  I always seem to order a side of chips and end up using them as my utensils.  I’m a big fan of Chipotle because they have very good guacamole.  California Tortilla on the other hand has very bad guacamole.  At Chipotle, my move is to scoop some guac and let it act as the spackle  for the burrito bowl dig.  At Cali Tortilla I just go guac-less and the experience is still pretty solid.  My bowl of choice at California Tortilla is the Low Fat Caribbean Bowl and guacamole isn’t needed because the mango sauce is on the main stage.

With “Low Fat” in the name, some might consider it not very tasty right off the bat.  Just because there is no cheese or sour cream doesn’t mean it’s not a tasty choice.  The Low Fat Caribbean Bowl consists of grilled marinated chicken breast, Mexican rice, black beans, low fat Caribbean mango sauce, fresh salsa and romaine. All the ingredients are generously portioned and always fresh in my experience. (more…)

So this will officially wrap up our reviews of Chick-fil-A salads until a new creation emerges.  Previously, we have reviewed the Chargrilled & Fruit Salad, the Chargrilled Chicken Garden Salad and the Chick-n-Strips Salad.  The Southwest Chargrilled Salad is the fourth and final of the CFA salad reviews here on GrubGrade and this one is a great pick.

The Southwest Chargrilled Salad from Chick-fil-A is described like this:

Slices of spicy grilled chicken breast on a fresh blend of Romaine and Iceberg lettuce, with shredded red cabbage and carrots, vine-ripened grape tomatoes, a roasted corn and black bean relish and a subtle blend of Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses.  Served with tortilla strips and spicy dressing.  Made fresh daily.

Right off the bat I’ll just say that every single ingredient with this salad comes off as fresh and quality. It’s hard to believe that this is a fast food item.  Everything seems to be carefully thought out and together. (more…)

I went out at lunch the other day to try a new place to eat, only to find out that the place I had intended to go to isn’t there anymore.  I had a few choices surrounding me, but I settled on Wendy’s.  I wanted to get something new (to me), healthy and fresh, so I decided on one of their Garden Sensation Salads…the Mandarin Chicken Salad.

Mandarin Chicken Salad from Wendy's

Described by Wendy’s as:

A masterpiece of Asian tastes and textures thats sure to please.  With succulent mandarin oranges, crunchy sliced almonds and crispy noodles on fresh, crisp greens-all topped with a warm, sliced Grilled chicken fillet.  It’s unforgettable!

I don’t know if I would say that this salad is “unforgettable”, but it does stand out among the fast food salads I’ve had in the past.  (more…)

We have reviewed two of the four salads at Chick-fil-A here at GrubGrade.  Our most recent salad review featured was the Chick-fil-A Chicken-n-Strips Salad.  One comment that came in was from a loyal GrubGrade reader, who is now an official GrubGrade writer, Bear Silber, asking if you could get the Chick-n-Strips salad in a grilled chicken variety. Well Bear, you can!  Introducing the Chick-fil-A Chargrilled Chicken Garden Salad.

This salad is your basic garden salad, containing the same fresh ingredients as the Chick-n-Strips Salad.  You have a blend of fresh Romaine and Iceburg lettuce, surrounded by crisp shredded red cabbage, shredded carrots,  fresh broccoli florets, juicy vine-ripened grape tomatoes and a blend of shredded Monterey Jack and Cheddar Cheeses.  The salad is topped with strips of  chargrilled chicken breast.  The chicken breast slices are tender and very fresh.

The salad comes with individual packets of butter garlic croutons and honey roasted sunflower kernels.  You have 8 salad dressings to choose from.

• Choices of salad dressing: Buttermilk Ranch, Blue Cheese, Caesar, Fat-Free Honey Mustard, Reduced Fat Berry Balsamic Vinaigrette, Light Italian, Thousand Island and Spicy dressing.

Once again, I chose the Fat-Free Honey Mustard dressing (60 calories, 0 fat grams, 11 grams of sugar in a 1.23oz packet).  It’s a creamy and light dressing that doesn’t overwhelm your taste buds and take over the salad.  It’s a great complement.

This is the healthiest salad from Chick-fil-A, with only 170 calories and 6 grams of fat (the crouton’s and sunflower kernels will add 150 calories and 9 grams of fat), as compared the the Chargrilled & Fruit Salad with 220 calories and 6 grams of fat, and the Chick-n-Strips Salad with 450 calories and 22 grams of fat.  I’ve become very familiar with the higher quality salads at Chick-fil-A as of late and I’m happy to say I have not been disappointed yet.  Chick-fil-A salads have just never let me down taste-wise and if you want the healthiest salad option, this salad is the one to try.

• Pros: Healthiest Salad on the Chick-fil-A menu.  Fresh and tasty ingredients.  Big, filling salad.
• Cons: May be a little pricey for some at nearly $6.

Taste:   8.00/10

Value:  7.50/10

Grubbing on the Go:  4.75/10

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GrubGrade:   8.00/10  (Very Good)

(Overall GrubGrade is not an average)

Price:  $5.55

ChickfilA.com

Nutrition Info: (Salad Only with no toppings)

Calories – 170

Total Fat – 6 grams

Saturated Fat – 3.5 grams

Carbs – 10 grams

Cholesterol – 50 milligrams

Sodium – 860 milligrams

Sugars – 5 grams

Dietary Fiber – 4 grams

Protein – 22 grams

Jamba Juice had many other writers taste their new items. Here is a list of those involved and links to their reviews if they’ve posted them:

Ken Kuhl – Fast Food News
www.foodfacts.info/blog/
http://www.foodfacts.info/blog/2009/06/jamba-juice-announces-new-food-menu.html

Jessica Simmons – Epic Portions
www.epicportions.com

Taylor Corner – Food Beast
www.foodbeast.com

Leng Touch – Fat Cat Who Created a Vegetarian
www.lengslog.wordpress.com

Abby Abanes – Pleasure Palate
www.pleasurepalate.com

Stephanie Stiavetti – Wasabimon!
www.wasabimon.com

Wandering Chopsticks
www.wanderingchopsticks.blogspot.com

Carol Green – Uncovering Food
www.uncoveringfood.com
http://www.uncoveringfood.com/2009/06/blended-bliss-adds-bite-jamba-expands.html

Mari Suzuki – Secrets of a Kitchen Wizard
www.kitchenwizard.wordpress.com
http://kitchenwizard.wordpress.com/2009/06/13/food-is-coming-to-jamba-town/

Denise Lee – Denise Does Dessert
www.denisedoesdessert.wordpress.com
http://denisedoesdessert.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/jamba/

We previously did a review on the Chargrilled and Fruit Salad from Chick-fil-A.  We have also have  reviews on grilled chicken sandwiches from 3 of the popular chain fast food restaurants, (The Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich from Chick-fil-A, The Premium Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich from McDonalds and the Ultimate Chicken Grill Sandwich from Wendy’s).  Well, I decided to step out of realm of “grilled” and give the “Chick-n-Strips Salad” from Chick-fil-A a try.

Described by Chick-fil-A as, “Hot Chick-fil-A Chick-n-Strips served on a fresh blend of Romaine and Iceburg lettuce, with shredded red cabbage and carrots, vine-ripened grape tomato, bite-sized broccoli florets and a subtle blend of Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses.  Served with butter garlic crouton, honey roasted sunflower kernels and customer’s choice of dressing. Made fresh daily.” This is a pretty accurate description of this salad.

The presentation of the salad was very appetizing. There were 3 warm Chick-n-Strips on top that were moist and had a great flavor, however, since I got them to go and by the time I ate them, they were no longer warm.  The salad was set up with broccoli, cabbage, a shredded cheese blend and carrots being set in the four corners.  The lettuce was fresh and crisp, as were the cabbage and carrots.  The broccoli was a little larger than bite size, but was your typical broccoli floret.  The cheese was a mixture of Monterey Jack and Cheddar and added a nice sharp and mild flavor to the salad.  Four cherry tomatoes on each side provide the refreshing juiciness I come to expect from a good grape tomato.  The salad also comes with a pack of  Honey Roasted  Sunflower Kernels, a pack of Croutons and of course, your choice of salad dressing. I chose the Fat Free Honey Mustard.  As simple as sunflower  kernels are, they really added to the flavor of the salad.  In fact, just about everything works together pretty well.

With 450 calories and 22 grams of fat, this salad isn’t as healthy or tasty as the Chargrilled and Fruit Salad but it comes close.  If you are  looking for a lighter menu item, this is not the #1 choice, although that will always depend on how you dress it up.  The Honey Roasted Sunflower Kernels alone add on 90 calories and 7 grams of fat.  This is a higher quality fast food salad, however, considering the other Chick-fil-A options, I’m not sure how often I will be ordering it.  Lots of tough tasty choices.

• Pros: Fresh ingredients.  Sunflower Kernels add nice crunch and flavor.  Filling salad.
• Cons: Not as healthy as the other salad options.

Taste:   7.75/10

Value:  7.50/10

Grubbing on the Go:  4.5o/10

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GrubGrade:   7.75/10  (Good)

(Overall GrubGrade is not an average)

Price:  $5.55

ChickfilA.com

Nutrition Info: (Salad Only with no toppings)

Calories – 450

Total Fat – 22 grams

Saturated Fat – 6 grams

Carbs – 26 grams

Cholesterol – 105 milligrams

Sodium – 1160 milligrams

Sugars – 7 grams

Dietary Fiber – 6 grams

Protein – 39 grams

*Note:  With all the toppers shown in the picture above, the salad clocks in at 660 calories and 31 grams of fat.

A lot of us have become really good at coming up with excuses to why we don’t always make the healthiest food choices.  At a fast food restaurant like McDonald’s, it’s getting harder and harder to be stuck with making the choice for a McDouble or 4-piece McNuggets.  The truth is, no matter how hard you try to avoid it, you can really eat some nutritious items when out and about.  One good example of this is the $1.49 Fruit and Walnut Salad from McDonald’s .

While it’s true that value menu items usually don’t offer the healthiest choices, you’ve got to admit $1.49 isn’t a whole lot of scratch to drop for a healthy snack.  The Fruit and Walnut Salad is a prepackaged small tray of seedless red grapes, apple slices, sweet candied walnuts and low-fat yogurt.  The fruits, walnuts and yogurt are all contained in their separate sections of the plastic package.  I have found myself drowning all the walnuts into the yogurt and then dipping each fruit into the sweet concoction as if it were chips and nacho cheese.  It really is a refreshing treat and a nice substitute for french fries.  While it’s true, I’d like to see an expansion to the fruit portion of this salad, the red grapes and sliced apples are always clean and fresh.  The candied walnuts are sweet, crunchy and really make the package complete.  The low-fat yogurt is light and creamy and compliments the fruit and walnuts very well.

So those who are looking for healthier choices, stop at your local McDonalds and pick up the Fruit and Walnut Salad.  The small combination of  fruits, walnuts and yogurt may not satisfy a big appetite, but it will definitely work as a nice side item or snack.  At the price of $1.49, why not give it a try?  More fast food places need to get on the bandwagon and add healthier items to their value menus.  This is a very good supplemental item for your order when you consider the price and the fact that it’s way more nutritious than fries.

• Pros- A healthier alternative to fries.  Inexpensive at $1.49.  Sealed and fresh.  Sweet and tasty.
• Cons- Not a great variety of fruits, just apple/grapes.  

Taste:  7.75/10

Value:  8.75/10

Grubbing on the Go:  7.25/10

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GrubGrade:  7.50/10  (Good)

(Overall GrubGrade is not an average)

Price:  $1.49

McDonalds.com

Nutrition Facts – Fruit and Walnut Salad

Calories – 210

Total Fat – 8 grams 

Saturated Fat – 1.5 grams

Carbs – 31 grams

Cholesterol – 5 milligrams

Sodium – 60 milligrams

Dietary Fiber – 2 grams

Sugars – 25 grams

Protein – 4 grams

I’ll have to begin this review by telling you I really didn’t have high expectations for Taco Bell’s latest creation going into it.  Not that I didn’t think it wouldn’t be good, it’s just that the idea of a taco salad didn’t really jump out at me like maybe a crazy, new taco would.  I am extremely glad I gave it a shot because Taco Bell’s New! Fully Loaded Taco Salads really impressed me.

Top: Fully Loaded Taco Salads before the addition of dressing/tortilla strips. Bottom: Dress it up!

As is standard with most new Taco Bell creations, the Fully Loaded Taco Salads gives you the option of chicken or steak.  Each salad comes in a crispy tortilla shell that I found to be quite tasty as I left virtually no evidence when I was done.  The shell/bowl isn’t as hard as a tortilla chip as it breaks off pretty easily yet still supports the salad if you were to lift it up out of it’s packaging.  I found myself breaking off pieces of the shell and scooping up the salad as if I were eating nachos.

Chicken Ranch Fully Loaded Taco Salad

The chicken version is called the Chicken Ranch Fully Loaded Taco Salad and includes grilled chicken, lettuce, diced tomato, sour cream and loaded with chunky beans, cheese and seasoned rice.  A packet of a zesty ranch dressing and a small cup of red tortilla strips are also included if you’d like to top your salad with some extra flavor.  The grilled chicken is nothing new to what you’re used to at Taco Bell.  Nice, meaty chunks of marinated chicken that go great with the ranch dressing. It’s tough to go wrong with a chicken/ranch dressing combination.  This one was a no-brainer.  Such a tasty combo of ingredients that start getting the wheels in motion in my head of Chicken Ranch Tacos and Chicken Ranch Burritos…Come to think of it, these Fully Loaded Taco Salads are packed with such tasty ingredients, they would go great in any form of fast food mexican menu items.

Chipotle Steak Fully Loaded Taco Salad

The steak version is called the Chipotle Steak Fully Loaded Taco Salad and includes carne asada steak, lettuce, diced tomato, sour cream and loaded with chunky beans, cheese and seasoned rice.  A packet of creamy chipotle dressing is included with this salad and provides a little extra kick of heat.  Also, just like the chicken version, a small cup of red tortilla strips are included.  This was surprisingly my favorite of the two. I’m usually a bigger chicken fan than steak fan when it comes to Taco Bell’s menu items because I always seem to find the steak a bit too chewy.  I think it has to do with the size of the morsels of steak.  With the Chipotle Steak taco salad, the pieces of carne asada steak were cut very small.  It was more like little nuggets of steak rather than strips of steak. My jaw didn’t have to go through a workout chewing it.  I was very impressed and I just have to say, whatever they did to the steak…KEEP IT UP!  It was really a lot better than I expected.  The lettuce and diced tomato were fresh and not overwhelming.  Yeah it’s called a “salad” but I found that all the ingredients were distributed pretty evenly.  No overload of lettuce at all (but not quite like the commercial).  There’s nothing that really stands out as being “too much”. I might say the rice and beans were too little but I’m afraid the overall taste of the salad would change into something different if more was added.  Other than the steak, the only big difference in taste between this and the Chicken Ranch version is the sauce.  As I mentioned before, the creamy chipotle sauce provides a little extra smokey kick that really complimented the meal.  It’s pretty mild actually but very tasty.  The red tortilla strips have a hint of lime in them that provided another flavor to enjoy and a nice crunch. Very nice touch on the lime tortilla strips Taco Bell.

Cup of red tortilla strips. What a great touch. These crunchy red beauties have a hint of lime and are quite tasty.

I think the biggest challenge for Taco Bell was finding the right balance of ingredients because there is just a lot going on with these salads.  To their benefit though, a lot of good was going on.  My only major gripe would have to be the price seemed to be a little steep at $5.69.  Considering that Taco Bell has hands down the BEST value menu around, it was quite a change from what I’m used to. I don’t think the size of the meal and the price meshed well.  When I saw the price, I was expecting something slightly bigger.  Seeing as though I was so impressed with the meal after I was finished, I quickly forgot about what I paid and I would happily get one of these salads again.  With the new Volcano Menu coming out soon, the Fully Loaded Taco Salads might disappear for a while so do yourself a favor and get one of these fast.

• Pros- Impressive taste.  Nice, crispy shell bowl.  So many great ingredients, sauce packets and lime tortilla strips an awesome plus.  Very good chicken version but I loved the steak version.  Two choices.
• Cons- Size too small for price tag.  Yikes calories/fat!  Don’t let the commercial fool you, there is a decent amount of lettuce.

Taste:  9.25/10

Value:  5.00/10

Grubbing on the Go:  6.75/10

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GrubGrade:  8.75/10 Chicken Ranch (Very Good),  9.25/10 Chipotle Steak (Exceptional)

(Overall GrubGrade is not an average)

Price:  $5.69

TacoBell.com

Nutrition Facts – Chicken and Steak Fully Loaded Taco Salads

Chicken Ranch version
Calories – 960

Total Fat – 75 grams

Saturated Fat – 10 grams

Carbs – 78 grams

Cholesterol – 70 milligrams

Sodium – 1710 milligrams

Dietary Fiber – 8 grams

Sugars – 8 grams

Protein – 36 grams

Steak version
Calories – 950

Total – 59 grams

Saturated Fat – 11 grams

Carbs – 76 grams

Cholesterol – 65 milligrams

Sodium – 1760 milligrams

Dietary Fiber – 8 grams

Sugars – 9 grams

Protein – 29 grams