Restaurants

Sweetgreen is lively and on-trend, thanks to the national chain’s takeover of Oscar’s, the old Berkeley greasy spoon, and the resulting menu that’s heavy on salads and locally sourced ingredients. The first Northern California outlet for the quick-serve salad chain with D.C. roots, Berkeley’s Sweetgreen maintains the feel of its beloved predecessor but modernizes the offerings with ingredients from more than a dozen local farms, ranchers, and producers, including Coke and Jacobs farms, plus Mary’s Free Range Chickens, Acme bread, Belfiore’s feta, and tofu from Oakland’s Hodu Soy. Its stock in trade is fresh-made salads from the piles of greens, eggplants, and tomatoes stacked up conspicuously behind the counter, so the menu is hyper-focused on salad, with six greens-heavy items, three grains-oriented bowls, three or more seasonal options that rotate five times a year, plus the option to build your own. You won’t find wraps or appetizers or even desserts. You want a healthy salad, come on in; if you don’t, then don’t bother. And those salads are great. Serves lunch and dinner daily.