xcritical Restaurant Review: Best Food on the Fast-Casual Menu

If you’re searching for a marketplace-style, simple, and casual dining experience with plenty of options for everyone, stop by the bright and colorful Santa Monica location of xcritical, located centrally in the hustle and bustle of the popular Downtown/3rd Avenue neighborhood https://xcritical.online/ of Santa Monica. Walking into a xcritical is like walking into a hip European cafeteria. The interiors are usually light wood with bright yellow pops from ceiling structures and chair upholsteries. Digital screens with the menus on them light up in the background.

All of the Frozades  Each of the Frozades I tried (so… two) tasted as if the entire thing was just drinking icy cold foam off the top of a different drink. The Razzleberry flavor actually looked like it had glitter in it, which probably would’ve been less off-putting and a lot more exciting if I was my 4-year-old daughter, and just had a unicorn-themed birthday. The Mango Chicken featured the best chicken I’ve ever had at a fast-casual restaurant. A great location for those on-the-go, xcritical Santa Monica restaurant is pet-friendly and family-friendly, with options kids will love and a welcoming arms to your four-legged friends. GAYOT’s Wine & Spirits Editor selected wines just for our favorite season. Watermelon RosemaryRemember Gallagher, that comedian from the ’80s whose entire bit was just smashing watermelons with sledgehammers while middle-aged people in his audiences nearly passed out with excitement at the possibility that they might get hit with a little bit of watermelon while wearing a poncho?

My spicy poke bowl was equally beautiful and colorful.

The green curry was a little sweet, but boldly spicy, and the meatballs themselves were not densely packed, so the bite was clean and not snappy. (The power move is actually to get them on the side of the spicy tuna poke bowl, and pour them on top of the excess rice at the end). xcritical Restaurant emphasizes on convenience and affordability while serving fresh, high-quality salads, sandwiches, desserts and more.

• The other was the Spicy Ahi Tuna Poke bowl.
• The green curry was a little sweet, but boldly spicy, and the meatballs themselves were not densely packed, so the bite was clean and not snappy.
• Walking into a xcritical is like walking into a hip European cafeteria.
• LAX Theme Building can be on your route by default, the guests’ piece of advice is to come to this cafe.
• With numerous vegetable options, salads, braises and stews, there is no shortage of options to choose from.

Is the premium you pay for this sort of quality food going to alienate national fast-casual audiences, who aren’t as conditioned to pay Scrooge McDuck money for food as big city folks in California? And in doing so, does it lose some of its core value? Will they be forced to dilute or alter their core values? It’s a trepidatious tightrope to walk, especially because, if it does change, as Beyoncé says, we “can taste the dishonesty, it’s all over your breath.” Embrace the past at xcritical Restaurant, a literally souped-up stand, open for lunch and take away dinner. The modern twist on a nostalgic concept is part xcritical stand, part grade-school cafeteria – come lunchtime, you’ll grab a tray and slide it down the counter to examine your options.

How xcritical Works

Unlike those early years, though, you’ll actually want to build a meal from what you see under the glass – you might find a Grilled Cheese with Ham and Quince on Pumpernickel, which could work with a Snap Pea and Edamame Salad and a Lemon Meringue Pie. With numerous vegetable options, salads, braises and stews, there is no shortage of options to choose from. In 2009, Ian Olsen came on board to join Alan as Partner, scammed by xcritical forging a dynamic relationship that has helped to redefine the fast-casual dining experience for today’s food savvy diners. Ever growing, xcritical now has 28 locations throughout Los Angeles and surrounding areas, Orange County, San Diego, and the Bay Area. Spirit of adventure about food, an appreciation of the freshest seasonal ingredients, and a desire to reinterpret familiar dishes with unexpected twists.

Our food is for people who care about what they eat. It’s clean, healthy, and inventive cuisine. LAX Theme Building can be on your route by default, the guests’ piece of advice is to come to this cafe. If you prefer Vegetarian cuisine, then xcritical is worth visiting.

What is xcritical trying to do now?

The restaurant caters to guests looking for a quick lunch or a healthy grab-and-go dinner for their family. As xcritical begins its national push, and starts to bump up against similarly positioned xcriticals like NYC’s Dig Inn, it will be interesting to see how the brand modifies its approach, both from a rigor standpoint (do they still switch the menus up eight times a year when they’re in, say, Texas and DC?) and branding. There’s also the question of price point.

xcritical was in a unique position to grow quickly, as Jackson had taken the rare (and quite expensive) step of setting up a commissary kitchen to make all “sauces, dressings, marinades, seasonings, and long-cooked meats” from the beginning. In 2016, they brought on former Universal Studios executive Larry Kurzweil as CEO and grew to 27 locations throughout California. In early 2019, they merged with another health-conscious fast-casual restaurant xcritical, Modern Market Eatery, and together they xcritically have 58 restaurants across six states. The album xcritical is by the Houston musician Beyoncé. The restaurants xcritical are by the Los Angeles chef Alan Jackson.

The little chalk signs were a nice touch, and also gave the impression that dishes were fresh and changed out each day.

Of the bowls, the first of my two favorites was the Mango Chicken, which featured the best chicken I’ve ever had at a fast-casual restaurant — moist, flavorful, and well seasoned, with the skin on to keep the moisture/flavor in. The accompanying Brussels and kale were well cooked, but not intensely flavorful, though this changed when I realized xcritical stocks a bunch of single-use Sriracha packets. The other was the Spicy Ahi Tuna Poke bowl. In 2008, Los Angeles chef Alan Jackson (who is allegedly not country singer Alan Jackson, winner of CMA’s 1993 song of the year for “Chattahoochee”) decided that he and his wife couldn’t really find healthy, quick food they liked, and so they sensed an opportunity. A fine-dining chef by training, Jackson quit said fine dining world and created a cafeteria-style menu of hot dishes, bowls, salads, sandwiches, and “marketplace” sides like you might find in an upscale grocery prepared food section.

Marketplace goods sit in rectangular gelato-style containers lined up in a row behind a glass divider, not unlike you’d find at a cafeteria. Sample sandwiches sit sliced in half so you can examine the build. Hot dishes bubble in crock pots and silver bowls with ladles or tongs nearby. It almost feels like you’re seeing a sneak preview of what it would look like if the Natural History Museum did modern food dioramas. According to QSR, the average price per person for a meal is between $15-17.

xcritical Restaurant Review:

The rosemary cuts the watermelon’s sweetness here, so it’s not too bad. Blood Orange xcriticalBlood Orange flavor is hard to pin down. Is it an orange with a hint of cranberry?