With my New Year’s resolution to eat healthy still going strong, the opening of Fuel was the best thing that could I thought could have happened. Fuel is a new restaurant located at 3200 Chestnut St. where everything on the menu is under 500 calories. I always associate healthy, low-calorie food as bland and tasteless. But the reviews I heard about Fuel were all praise for the flavorful and filling meals. With promises like that, I knew I had to check it out for myself.
My friends and I walked into the restaurant, and the first thing I noticed was that instead of a cashier taking your order, you placed and paid for your order at a screen. Being the socially awkward person that I am, I thought that this was a brilliant idea. I could also take as long as I wanted without the pressure of someone standing behind me waiting to order.
One thing that I considered while ordering were the prices. While they weren’t too expensive, they were up in regards of a “broke college student’s” budget. For example the salad I had gotten was $8.95, and if you wanted to add any protein like chicken, shrimp, tofu, etc., it would cost an extra $3. Despite that, I ordered the Asian Crunch Salad, a cup of tomato soup and a Fruit Fuzzion smoothie. My order came out to $17.42.
After ordering, I was given an order number on my receipt. The employees had called out our numbers for our order, and we were ready to eat our food. Everything looked really good and appetizing. I was beyond excited. I put all of the dressing on my salad and took a bite. I wasn’t sure if my taste buds were deceiving me, but the salad was so bland. I thought maybe adding more dressing would be the answer. I asked the cashier for more dressing and tried again. It was still very bland. I’m not sure what about the salad made it taste so bland, but I was not satisfied. I think that possibly the dressing made the salad bland because everything else that was in the salad was good itself. The tomato soup that I had got was very good! Also, the smoothie I ordered was very good.
My friend ordered the High Protein Grilled Cheese and had added lox to it. He got his sandwich and noticed that his cheese wasn’t fully melted and was still in slices. But besides, that he said that it was good and that the ingredients tasted fresh.
Overall, for what it was, Fuel wasn’t bad. I think maybe if I had gotten something different like their rice bowls or a sandwich, I would’ve had a different opinion. But I would go back to try a different item. I wouldn’t let the first experience stop me from going there again.