Sweet Tomatoes, Schaumburg

Not a bad salad place - best to go early - but you usually have to wait around on the weekends for the staff to open - they open at 11 a.m. on the dot and people are already waiting in line. The salads aren't bad (I usually go for the specialty salads but you can build your own) but it's the soups that are so amazing. There's a plain chicken soup that's low on fat for those who are watching their weight, always some variety of chili, and in the winter, the most delicious chicken pot pie or turkey pot pie soup to die for. Some soups are vegan and notify you of it. The pasta is bland and completely uninteresting but the bread and muffins are baked fresh and are fantastic. I wish they'd stop making the bran flavors - sometimes you're treated to an orange muffin or cranberry muffin without the bran, and that's an amazing experience but if it's baked into the bran, yeck! The dark chocolate muffins are amazing and in the summer can be paired with cool honeydew melon for an exquisite taste sensation. Frozen yogurt in vanilla and chocolate are always on hand, and the toppings are a blessing or a curse, depending on your view of M & Ms and fruit syrups. Some of the folks who clear the tables are incredibly charming and polite and others just do their jobs.

Finding a vegan-friendly restaurant is sometimes daunting. Thankfully, Sweet Tomatoes is a huge salad bar where you get to pick what you want and make yourself a feast of a salad. It also has a soup bar that lists ingredients so that you can make sure you eat in tune with your dietary restrictions. The salad bar is massive. I started coming here when I was pregnant, I craved buffet-style food and had a huge appetite. The selection of vegetables is impressive. Everything is fresh and appetizing. There is only one non-vegetarian option in the salad bar (that is a little tray of chicken that you can purchase for an additional charge if you feel you need meat). The selection of dressings is small and a bit disappointing, but the toppings and selection far outweigh that. The soup and bread selections are really good and smell great, so if you go there with omnivores they will appreciate that they offer meat selections in this part of the restaurant. They have a fresh desert area as well that serves mousse, cakes, soft-serve ice cream and fresh fruit (which was always my favorite choice there). The fact that they include fresh cut fruit is enough to win me over. This restaurant was fantastic, not only was the staff really friendly and helpful when I had questions, but the location cannot be better (it is right next to Woodfield Mall, which is perfect if you have some shopping to do or want to exhaust the kids a bit before getting a bite to eat).

This place is Awesome!! It has a 1 time salad bar but you can get like two plates full. Then its all you can eat soup and some pasta. MMMM.... it was soooo good.