Amanda's

Is the road to hell paved with good intentions...or is it that the road of good intentions is paved in hell? Hmmm, to-mato, to-moto. You certainly can't fault Amanda's for its good intentions where all their "dairy, beef, chicken, and ham-is 100% natural, hormone- and antibiotic-free". There's no transfats or cornsyrup, and every menu item is less than five hundred calories. I say that deserves a standing ovation. But wait...do you hear just one hand clapping?

That may be because the taste is on the meh side, at least with Amanda's Original Burger. While it looks like it could have come from In-n-Out with its tight paper wrapping, the taste of the meat was unsurprisingly on the bland side. What helped offset that were the fresh tomato slice, lettuce, pickle chips, onions and whatever the hell Amanda's Sauce is. The fries were also a bit tasteless. I went for the baked sweet potato fries, which sounded promising but failed to deliver. They reminded me how much better the same concept on fries is executed at Ike's Place in the city.

Oh, and they make their own soft drinks. Oh dear, you mean I can't have a Diet Coke? Well, I did try their "Freshly Made" Ginger Ale for $1.75, and it was puckery sweet. However, the service is friendly enough if a bit scripted. The decor is certainly sunny enough, and the community table seems to encourage dining with strangers. Bonding is so important in this cold world, isn't it?...but don't touch my tasteless fries, bud, or I'll be salting your finger.

FOOD - 3 stars...healthy and bland, so what's new?
AMBIANCE - 4 stars...certainly sunny and communal like a big Benetton commercial
SERVICE - 3 stars...friendly but perfunctory
TOTAL - 3 stars...Amanda has a fine idea here...it needs tweaking

I really like the concept of Amanda's in offering menu options that are low in calories, fat and saturated fat. If the goal is to offer patrons a healthy option for burgers and fries then I think it works somewhat, but if you've read Luis C's review or taken a look at the nutritional information offered by the restaurant you'll notice that their burgers are indeed very high on sodium.

What really doesn't work, in my opinion, is the portion size. Of course items will be lower in calories and fat if the portion size is that much smaller. Having eaten here a couple of times now I've noticed patrons tend to over-order by getting two burgers instead of one. The burgers (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/YsIGusVckXRbP9vgtMLWZA?select=M2E1QbzyNgIMQRA3KiA60A) are considerably small. In fact, the burgers are just slightly bigger than your average slider.

Taste has to account for something too, and while I don't doubt that they use quality ingredients the overall taste of Amanda's burgers is very average. Combined with the other ingredients, the tomato slice, the pickle chip, the shredded lettuce and onion (which reminds me way too much of McDonald's) and Amanda's sauce (low calorie thousand island dressing?) the taste of the 3 ounce burger patty really gets lost. In fact, on its own the burger patty is quite beefy and very flavorful but within the entire sandwich the only things I've tasted are vegetables and tart sauce on the organic wheat bun. It's rather messy to eat with too much sauce and shredded lettuce falling everywhere.

The baked fries are nice. In fact, they're quite good and they managed to cook these up crispy on the outside too. I've only tried the regular potato ones. Again, the portion size is quite small. Their freshly made sodas are unique; my cola had the distinct flavor of a root vegetable and even tasted healthy. The raspberry soda is preferred.

I appreciate Amanda's honesty in suggesting that organic ingredients are used "when possible". Offering small tables or a large communal table the entire dining space is very well lit. All of the products used in the serving of your food is environmentally sustainable. The prices appear to be reasonable, but are fairly high when you consider how little food you're actually getting.

"Oh oh, looks who was back in the East Bay city where he has no such luck finding any good place to eat?"

I'm not knocking on the city of Berkeley because of the lack of good eats. I'm sure there are plenty of good food places in the city where Nobel Prize winners were established. Or I'm just too lazy to do the research.

Amanda's, which is crawling distance away from the Downtown BART Station, serve food made freshest from organic ingredients. Should I dare say the restaurant is one step above the other fast food chains. But will the food's taste be better and healthier? Let's find out.

I ordered the Amanda's Combo. My $6.75 combo has a grilled raised beef patty with lettuce, sliced tomatoes and vegan cheese ($.75 extra) in a grilled wheat bun, and I also got side of Baked Sweet Potato fries for another $.75 extra, and their signatured-made refreshing Diet Cola. The taste was a bit different from any other burger joints, but the size could've been bigger instead of a size of a "Slider" burger. The Sweet Potato fries was a bit too overcooked and too crispy. If you thought those two were bad, the Diet Cola had a unusual taste too. "Blah!"

I've been wanted to come here for some times, but my anticipation of coming here was a somewhat failure.

Healthy - Green - Speed - Price

Things I liked about Amanda's in that order.

Healthy -- When I walked into Amanda's Restaurant it felt open and warm. The menu was displayed above the register and offered a limited but very mouth watering array of food, especially for a "fast food" restaurant: burgers, chicken sandwich, their own home made veggie burger, add avocados, grilled onions, four varieties of salads, baked fries, baked sweet potato fries, cookies, roasted almonds, and home made sodas. Most menu combo options were under about 700 calories which is great for a burger and fries! How do they do it? Well, the portions are actual portions and not double or triple sizes. The sizes are those which a health specialist would tell you is a serving size, not which McDonald's would tell you is a serving size.

Speed - My order took about 5-10 minutes to complete. While I waited I listened to Pavement from the speaker system and did not mind the wait. (Extra star for Pavement). Also able to look around. I sat at the communal table in the middle. It is made out of wood from an old barge. The boards are almost a foot thick and makes for a great table. I loved it! Around the edges were tables for parties of two. There is also a large garage door to let in lots more light. Lots and lots of light in this place.

I ordered a chicken sandwich, sweet potato fries and the raspberry lite drink. They make the raspberry puree themselves every day and you can taste it. If they bottle this stuff, I'll buy it by the case. It was SOOO good. Also, no weird artificial sweeteners used in this place for diet drinks, stevia and agave nectar used for the Raspberry, GingerAle and Lemon-Lime drinks and splenda used for the diet Cola. Some people don't like the aftertaste but I couldn't tell the difference in the raspberry drink and only a bit in the diet cola. The chicken sandwich was juicy and good. The sweet potato fries were really good -- baked, not fried so really good for you too. The only problem with them, if you let them sit and get cold they are not that good. So eat them while they are hot.

Green - I don't know how a restaurant can be more green than Amanda's Restaurant. Floors and other wood stuff are made from bamboo, the communal table was recycled from an old barge. The bathroom has low-flow toilets and motion sensor lights. They use a green printer for all of their paper products. The best thing, NO trash can. I saw there is one outside but NOT one inside. It's funny to see people goto put their tray away and not figure out what to do with everything. Everything that Amanda's give you, EVERYTHING is bio-degradable. The paper napkins, the burger paper, the straws and the cups are bio-degradable. They have a compost can, not a trash can. I have never seen this anywhere before and I LOVE it. I really do.

Price - It's more pricey than McDonald's, but it is an unfair comparison. I am not sure what you can compare Amanda's to. It's fast food, but it's healthy for you, it's prepared fast by a earth friendly restaurant and it tastes good. Amanda's is in a class by itself. My meal, was around $8-9. I don't think that is much for a healthy, tasty, green meal.

Location - You can fall out of Downtown Berkeley BART and find it. Perfect for me.

Staff - The staff was friendly and courteous. I had lots and lots of questions about the sustainability of the restaurant and the compost and such. They were more than excited to talk about their restaurant and their ideas and what they hope to accomplish. Also, open kitchen shows you have nothing to hide!!

I think Amanda has done a great job getting this restaurant up and running. It is clear she has a vision on how she wants her place to be run. There is one thing I think they need to work on. It would be great if the fries did not get soggy when they cool down. I wanted to take some home to my hubby but they wouldn't travel well. This stops people from wanted to take things to go (the veggie burger went 4 hours in my purse and hubby still loved it!!). I would also like to see a weekly special or rotating items on the menu. I think I may get bored if I went a few times in quick succession.

Gayle and I met in Downtown Berkeley yesterday prior to enjoying the intense performance of Compulsion at Berkeley Rep. She was a little hungry and Amanda's was right at the place that I first saw her after she came off BART. So why not?

She very much enjoyed her picnic fresh Napa Salad, while I nibbled on some very tasty sweet potato fries. The made-to-order sodas (lemon-lime for me and cola for her) were also very good. Seating was comfortable, the woody decor was pretty, and the prices were reasonable. We both agreed that this was a better version of healthy than Smart Alec's on Telegraph and that the green emphasis was a nice extra touch.

This is literally my favorite restaurant! I'm a chiropractor and I work with my fiance, who is as into health and fitness as I am. Since food is literally the stuff our bodies are made of, I think the most important criteria about food is how healthy it is. Of course I want it to taste good, but I'm not willing to eat a yummy meal that is going to take years off my life.

When it comes to eating organic foods, eating organic meats is even more important than organic produce because the toxins accumulate each level up the food chain. If you're eating non-organic meat sometimes, you might as well just buy farming chemicals and pour them into your mouth.

When it comes to how beef is fed, 99% of the beef in this country is fed corn, which is NOT part of a cow's diet. This would be the equivalent of trapping you in a box, and only feeding you Snickers bars. You'd become obese and sick to your stomach. And then the sick bastards who would eat you would become obese and sick to their stomachs.

My point? Amanda's is one of the ONLY restaurants I've ever been to that serve GRASS-FED beef. Sure, their burgers aren't as cheap as McDonald's, but you get what you pay for. If you're eating at McDonald's, you're paying for a heart attack.

To me, Amanda's burgers taste great. I get a little meat, some cheese, some bread, and lots of produce. I like the tomato, lettuce, pickle, onion and sauce, and think that it's very flavorful.

Since sweet potatoes are MUCH lower glycemic index than plain potatoes (meaning that they don't cause your blood sugar levels to spike as high) I have always gotten them instead of the regular fries. They will put on a special seasoning if you ask. It's a mixture of salt, pepper and onion powder, and to me, the baked fries are perfect.

As everyone else has already said, their sodas are shockingly good. I've given up drinking sodas because of the refined sugar, but thanks to Amandas, I can get amazingly fantastic sodas that are sweetened with agave or stevia (natural, plant-derived sweeteners). They have got to be tried to be believed.

Finally, I want to comment on their cookies. People have complained about their size, but complimented their taste. In case you hadn't noticed, most people in America are overweight. We've stopping thinking of cookies as bite sized morsals, and started thinking of them as another serving in our meal. Sure, you can get a cookie bigger than your hand in any gas station, but that's your lunch's equivalent of calories right there. I absolutely LOVE that Amanda's cookies are so small. That way, I can get a chocolate chip cookie, and a vanilla sugar cookie. And even though they are expensive, the price keeps me from eating too many.

Regarding portion size, I have to say that I mainly eat here after working out my gym (24-Hour Fitness around the corner) when my appetite is at it's biggest. A combo meal (burger, fries and soda) always fills me up. If I get a cookie, it's just an extra treat.

To all those people who've said that they need to eat "two meals" at Amanda's to get full, I pity what you're doing to your digestive tracts. You should begin to manage your portion size before that early onset diabetes sets in.

Oh, one more thing: everything in this restaurant is compostable! The food is wrapped in paper and the "plastic" cups the sodas come in are made of corn. I love finishing my meal, and then putting everything on my tray right into the compost bins they provide. There is nothing going to the landfill, so I always leave feeling healthy, and with a clear conscience.

Really good fresh and healthy food.

I had the Original Combo, which comes with the original burger, sweet potatoes fries (which are baked, not fried) and a house made soda. It was excellent!. The burger seems small at first but when paired with the sweet potatoes, it's just the right size meal.

I really liked that the sweet potatoes were baked and not fried. It really gave the meal a fresh and clean flavor.

With global warming, obesity, and unsustainable food being some of this generation's greatest challenges, it's logical to start seeing many attempts at solving these problems. Some are merely trying to cash in on the movement while others are really looking to turn a defunct system into a win-win situation. So how does Amanda's stack up?

I visited Amanda's for their first year anniversary. Raffles and free food were to be had. I was surprised to hear pretty good prizes being given away such as day sailing trips and acupuncture. Unfortunately I didn't win anything.

Another thing that surprised me was the interior design and branding. It feels really polished and well done. There are bright green and orange colors amongst metal and wood textures. It somewhat reminds me of contemporary frozen yogurt shops that are popping up in every city. They even have a projector playing a slideshow of why the food is good for you.

The menu is the main item that worries me. Amanda's menu concept is organic, healthy, and tasty. These usually do not rack up. The most notable worry is "healthy". I've often had tasty organic food, but healthy? Shouldn't that be a given? Taste and health typically do not mix well. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it usually isn't (just like Asian fusion). This burger joint also sells salads on the same menu. The cookies are the size of half dollars.

I put Amanda's up to the test and ordered a burger combo that includes soda, hamburger, and a choice of fries. The lady recommended the apple fries for free, so I obliged. But what's apple fries? It came out to $6.04. I guess I didn't get the apple fries for free.

They called out my name and I picked up my order. I brought it back to my table and just stared at it. Hrmph. The portions are small. So small that I immediately pulled out my camera to take a photo. Check out the photos. Mine is the one with the fist right next to the similar-sized hamburger.

The hamburger is luke warm. It didn't even seem like they cooked it. I wasn't able to see them cook it and it felt like it came out of the microwave. My brain told me otherwise because of the grill. The meat is cooked to a brown medium. Oh well, let's give it a shot. It's alright. The ingredients go well together but it doesn't have the same satisfying flair as an In-N-Out double burger. The major complaint would be the portions. Hamburger-vitamins? No thank you. If it were bigger I would be fine.

The apple fries are a joke. If it's not fried then don't call it "fries". It's merely half an apple sliced into fry-like sticks. The apple fries come with a honey yogurt dip that actually tastes very good. The fries are incredibly sloppy to hold. Not at all appetizing. I would have preferred a whole apple to use with the great yogurt.

The raspberry soda is okay. If you're looking for the same sugar kick from any store brand ice tea, lower your expectations. It's decent but I wouldn't order it again. Imagine Crystal Geyser fruit drinks. They also don't strain out the raspberry seeds; hence, a lot of unneeded tiny bites. I would've rather gone with the iced tea.

After my meal I was still very hungry. I was craving some actual potato fries too. I bought a regular order of "fries". It turns out that these are baked. Ahhh man. Change the wording! These aren't fries but more like baked potato wedges in the form of McDonald fries. These fries aren't crisp. It's more like a potato with a crunchy outside that ends with a stale bite. The taste is okay, but there's not salt at all! No salt shakers either.

The eco-friendly intentions don't boil over well either. They give you trays but everything else is wrapping in specially branded paper or biodegradable corn plastics. Why not use washable dishes? I know that they're trying to brand themselves as a healthy burger alternative but if you do so, go all the way. Don't just change aesthetics. It feels like the concept is half-boiled.

I'm also getting tired of places trying to be something that they're not. If you cannot pull off satisfying food, let alone enviro-healthy food, don't try. I'd rather eat something that knew what it was rather than a false imitation. McDonald's knows what it is. Fast unhealthy but tasty food, produced in ungodly ways intended for mass consumption. Amanda's is healthy food imitating unhealthy constructs? Amanda's sells burgers. Is that healthy or environmentally friendly? No. Is it tasty? No. Lose-lose situation.

I looked over at a neighboring couple eating the salads. I expected to see a reversal of wow-factor. But the quality and quantity stayed the same. Small tiny salad trays lay before them. I'd say eliminate the burger and focus on a kickass salad. But at least get the portions and taste right.

Service felt like it was everyone's first day on the job.

____

I'm ready for a place like Amanda's to work. Their menu, wording, and food packaging need a major redesign before they start tackling the bigger issues.

I've heard awesome things about this place, especially their sodas. Amazing! Well, more like really refreshing. I love the cola. I haven't had their other sodas but they're all fresh made goodness.

Their burgers...well, I can't really say much about the beef one...and actually come to think of it, I THINK it's beef on the menu. I don't eat beef so I usually look for the alternatives. The reason I like this place is that they have alternatives unlike In and Out. They have a veggie burger that's really more like a mushroom burger with walnuts. It's definitely not the greatest veggie burger. The grilled chicken is a piece of grilled chicken breast on a pattie with the condiments on it.

So, why am I giving it 4 stars? Well, I trust that they serve natural/organic but primarily I love it for the freshness. You can taste it in the ingredients.

For the last star, I deducted because the sweet potato fries and all its glory, are cold. Cold fries just aren't that great. They become slightly soggy and chewy. I'm also a small eater..these days so the size of the burger isn't a big concern for me but for guys who do or can eat a lot, it is a very small burger and you're probably gonna need 2.

And lastly, despite the smaller portions, the price is not bad. It's affordable on a poor college student budget for a fresh-fast-food type of meal.

So the portions may be small and the veggie burger isn't the greatest but at least get the soda. The sodas are really good. Totally worth it!

So I'm in Berkeley for work, working at the ole HQ, and I'm looking to pick up a quick, healthy lunch for the man-friend, who is stuck on a conference call. It's not like it's difficult to find healthy food in the bay area...you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an organic or vegan establishment.

I've eaten at Amanda's before so I know they make a mean burger, and I call over right in the middle of the lunch rush. They answer and our conversation goes like this:

Guy: "Amanda's! How can I help you?"
Me: "Yea, I'm walking that way right now and need man-friendly burger meal to go... I can't remember what's on the menu, but can you just do like...the normal burger, but make it extra delicious...he's not picky."
Guy: "Cheese, onions, ba--"
Me (cutting him off,): "Just make it tasty.
Guy: "See you in a minute."

I picked up the burger and fries moments later and he even threw in a free cookie!

Guy: "Here you are, man-friendly meal."
Me: "I'm going to Yelp your face off!"

I have no idea what was on that burger, but the man-friend approved.

I'd give it five stars, but the sweet potatoes fries are on the seriously greasy side... Meh - they only promised organic, not low-fat, I suppose.