Mista is a somewhat new restaurant on LaSalle Street, not too far from my office, where Berry Chill used to be. There are locations in Andersonville and Lakeview and this is their first restaurant in The Loop. On the menu is cracker crust pizza, gourmet salads, pasta and wraps. Mista is proud to use organic and all-natural ingredients, when possible. Sounds like a winner right?

I thought I’d stop in for lunch one day. I ordered the Mista Salad – organic field greens, organic granny smith apples, organic dried cherries, toasted macadamia nuts, lowfat feta and the signature dressing. I placed my order at the counter and sat down to wait for my number to be called. I waited. And waited. The guy who took my order kept looking right at me, so I just tried to be patient. He knew I was there. He could see I’d been waiting a while. He hadn’t forgotten about me. .. I thought. Before long I realized I’d been waiting 25 minutes. For a salad! I went up to the counter to see what was what and the guy who took my order, who I thought had his eye on me, apologized and checked on the order. Within minutes I had my salad and he threw in a bag of homemade chips to make up for it.

I was running late for a meeting at this point, so I just went right to a conference room and ate while we talked. I remember really liking the salad, but honestly, it’s kind of a blur. .. I was working, and by then so hungry, I just ate it.

I was at a crossroads after my first visit. Liked the salad, had to wait almost a half hour to get it. I decided to give them one more try a few weeks after my first visit. I ordered the same salad and this time I got my order within a few minutes. When I got back to my office and opened the salad I noticed it was like 95% greens and hardly any toppings. I like it when you get a bit of the extras in every bite and that for sure was not happening with this salad. I felt like I could go to the store and buy a bag of mixed greens and have the same lunch. Bah! I don’t know if this is how the first salad was, honestly, because I was working through that one.. but I don’t think I’ll be giving Mista a third chance.

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