Mendocino Farms -

Mendocino Farms was born at the Ice Blocks in Sacramento, CA, in December of 2018. Its mothership started in downtown Los Angeles in 2005 and they’ve now expanded to serve their fresh eats at 23 locations throughout California, with six more opening soon: Palo Alto, Carlsbad, Studio City, San Ramon and two in Houston, TX! Their focus is farm fresh with carefully sourced ingredients, so while they may seem like your typical hipster sandwich and salad shop, they really do serve up some delicious, healthy concoctions. And I don’t use those two words in the same sentence often.

Just so you know what to expect if you stop in for a visit, this is pretty much how it went down:

Walk in. Greeted by employees at order kiosks (ipads) who asked whether we’d ever been to a Mendocino Farms before. After expressing we hadn’t, he proceeded to tell us what their two best selling items were, what made them different than a normal sandwich shop, and then he pointed out their specialty item (pork belly banh mi) that people often stop in to try. He plugs in our order, takes a name and hands us the buzzer. We stand in line to pay and are told we may sample any of the deli sides or soups we would like. Sample. Pick a drink and pay. Snap a bunch of pics because the décor is perfection. Sit. Feast.

What we had:

I sampled the vegan potato salad. And well, it was…vegan. Not terrible to be honest, but not nearly as flavorful as a potato salad you’d get at a southern restaurant. So while I think people who are in fact vegan might find it pretty good, I wouldn’t order it myself. Thankfully, I didn’t feel the same about my sandwich.

The chicken was decent but what intrigued me was how the krispies really made it feel like a fried chicken sandwich without it actually having to be fried! Made me feel less guilty about devouring the ciabatta. And the slaw mixed with the chipotle BBQ….!

My sister had the turkey pesto tartine and she liked it too, but I think we were both weirded out about the open face sandwich concept. Just seems weird to have to eat a sandwich with a fork and knife, ya know?

She’s since gone in and had the kale caesar salad though and said THAT was absolutely delicious.

Aside from the food, which will make me a repeat customer, the service was great and that always makes my heart happy. Also, we’ll be back with our family and friends in the summer time because they have a cute kiddie corner inside to entertain my littles, and foosball table outside that would be fun to enjoy with a glass of wine.

Oh wait, did I say wine?! YUP. I didn’t know this before scheduling our brunch date or I would’ve made it dinner but they’ve got a $25 for two entrees and a bottle of wine deal that I fully intend to take advantage of soon!