One of the greatest struggles of eating out for me as a college student is trying to find some place that is affordable, health conscious and also actually tastes good. Unfortunately, I often opt to sacrifice on the health conscious part when I am eating out.
Finally, I do not have to make that sacrifice. The Green Plate, located at 440 MLK Blvd, Suite 103, is a new restaurant offering build-your-own salads, sandwiches and wraps.
The Good:
Health Conscious
Ordering at The Green Plate means filling out a sheet of paper with a list of toppings, so you can create exactly what you want. That means you can be as healthy as you want.
They have all kinds of healthy ingredients such as kale, cucumbers, berries, whole wheat bread, turkey bacon, walnuts and more. And if you are looking to splurge, they also have ingredients like grilled steak or mozzarella cheese.
Affordable
Although they are only open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, they have a happy hour with discounted wraps on weekdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
For just $3 you can get a grilled chicken wrap, with as many toppings as you want. The wraps are not quite as big as a large burrito, but they are still a sizable and filling meal, especially with all the toppings.
Fresh Food
The salad that I had was far better than an average cafeteria salad. Every ingredient tasted fresh. Although a salad can only get so complex, each ingredient was of such high quality that I could eat a salad there every day and not get bored.
To-go and Delivery
As if great fresh and healthy food are not appealing enough to go sit down and eat, The Green Plate offers delivery or to-go. The salads to-go are packaged in mason jars, which is a nice touch.
The Questionable:
The Service
The Green Plate is not a full-service restaurant. You order at the counter and pick up your food, which is packaged in styrofoam boxes.
The Environment
When photographer Peter Garcia and I went to eat around 3:30 p.m. for the wrap happy hour, we were the only people there, which felt awkward.
Also, the decorations were sparse, and overall it felt as though they had not quite figured out what they are going to do with the interior.
The Bad:
Poor Sit-Down Experience
The Green Plate still needs to work on their restaurant identity. There are some things, like not having drink options other than bottled drinks, which makes it feel only geared toward to-go orders.
Still, they have a nice location downtown, and there is certainly potential to create a more enjoyable sit-down experience. As of now though, I would probably only order to-go.
Quite frankly, I was shocked by how good the food at Green Plate was. Regarding healthy eating on a budget in Macon, it might just be the very best.
Nonetheless, at the end of the day, the restaurant is limited in scope and still needs to figure out exactly what it wants to be before it becomes a legitimate downtown dining option.
Rating:
Will 4/5
Peter 4/5
