Sweet Tomatoes - Phoenix, Arizona

Shopping Mall attractions are not generally on my 'must do' list when on vacation (sorry that I sound like a bit of a snob sometimes) but the kids wanted to take Juelle to Legoland and the Sea Life Aquarium, both of which happen to be in Arizona Mills Shopping Centre. Marie and I gave Legoland a hard pass but agreed to go see the fishies.

And you know, it is not a bad little exhibit (not so little really).  They are not holding any Orcas or Belugas captive which is a good thing, and we enjoyed looking at a everything from Jellyfish and Pipefish all the way up to some Rays and Sharks. Not bad!

I started to feel hungry at the lobster tank....In a serious attempt to get the kids to eat their veges, we decided to try Sweet Tomatoes in Ahwatukee. I kind of miss the days when salad bars were  a little more of a common phenomena. I wonder though why they disappeared? I would gladly eat at one occasionally. Sweet Tomatoes starts with a long salad bar with lots of choices.

You can build something healthy if you want and then you can make it considerably less healthy with a good layer of Blue Cheese dressing and Blue Cheese crumbles, croutons, black olives and whatever else!

Healthy so far but I have not arrived at the dressings yet!

There is also a soup bar with...well...soup but also a couple of types of chili (Black Bean and Quinoa for one) a pasta bar, and an assortment of baked items including pizza.

Soup

Pasta

Baked Goods

And finally there are a few desserts including soft ice cream. I put Granola on my twist ice cream so it would qualify as healthy!

Twist Soft Ice Cream with Granola

This place is clean and well maintained. We sort of showed up after lunch and before dinner so it was not terribly busy but they seem to be very much on top of things. At  $10 per adult for lunch and not much more for dinner, it is a pretty good deal. Booths and tables are comfortable and can accommodate up to 8 people easily. Let your inner healthy eater out once in a while.