Sweet Tomatoes Restaurant
 

I finally discovered Sweet Tomatoes. :icon_wink: I read a list of restaurants recommended for vegans one day. Then, while walking with a friend, I saw the restaurant in the distance. I said, "let's go over and get a sample menu." I thought it was a sit-down restaurant where you order from a menu. And, for some reason, I had the impression it was expensive.

We already had lunch so we just went in to look around. This was on Saturday and it was very crowded. First of all we went in the wrong door and didn't know which door was the right door. But we walked around and did some looking and no one questioned it. It seems nice.

I finally found the cash register and a woman did some explaining about the foods they offer. But now I'm wondering why the cash register is at the end of a line about 30 feet long. What's the purpose of that first line? Is it just for getting a tray, dishes, utensils etc.?

Also, I assume it's an all you can eat buffet for $11.50. Is that correct?

I'm planning on going there sometime before the end of the month and wonder what's the best day to avoid a large crowd.

We love sweet tomatoes. Go during week before and you get a great deal

I had a coupon for 7.99 lunch. Went on Saturday right when they opened. Wondeful food. Great price. Would go back for sure.

Earlybird special?

I have a coupon for a 7.99 lunch so I'll be using it when I go. But I noticed they don't always have coupons in the paper.

I get coupons via email about every two weeks? I think I just signed up online ?

If you had entered the door on the right next to Leather Gallery, you would pick up your tray, utensils and then go down a 30' cool aisle filled with vegetables, slaws, fruits, etc for a salad. Also your drink glass and pay at the end.

We signed up four years ago when we moved here and every week they email us coupons. Normally a variety of $6.99 or $7.99 lunch coupons and dinner coupons, sometimes two for lunch with drinks for $20, an assortment of different ones. We normally go for lunch and with drinks it's about $25 but with coupons about $20, it use to be $20 without coupons when we first moved here.

Normally you eat your salad first, or you can go up sooner to the hot tables which have pizza, soups, cheese macronic, baked potatoes, breads, and drink dispensers. When you finish you can make yourself a soft ice cream sundae. At lunch time it can sometimes be hard to find a table.

VPL: You've been here for several years and they've been here for a few years too. Glad you finally found them. Wonderful food to please even a vegan.

Best wishes.

VPL: Have you ever visited a buffet before? You know the restaurants with the long displays of food? You seem like from your post that maybe you don't get out much... restaurants usually have cash registers to help the workers collect the right amount of money. Would love to meet you at Sweet Tomatoes to show you the ropes if you are confused on how buffets work...

What I used to love about the South were all the cafeterias (long lines of food with cashiers at the end). In Houston, you were never too far from one that had delicious hot dishes and yummy desserts.

Coming from New Jersey, I don't recall ever seeing a Sweet Tomatoes before TV. For us, it was a welcome and pleasant surprise. Good food, lots of choices, reasonable prices ... This would be another good addition somewhere in the southern portions of TV.

I've been to buffet restaurants before but never saw a cash register located the way this one is located. So you start getting food before you arrive at the register. Suppose you later decide to go back to get more food? Can you do that? And will they know that you already paid when you arrive at the register again? I know, once I learn, it will be a minor point. :)

Actually, I did see their sign in the past but never paid it much attention. Now I feel like I just discovered it because I actually took the time to check it out. It likely never would have happened if we weren't going for a walk. Usually, whenever I went to the shopping center in the past I had something definite in mind that I needed to buy and I never seemed to have the extra time to consider anything else. Lately, my friend has been getting tired of the Golden Corral so that helped in my decision to try something new.

Thanks, Carla, and everyone for all the information.

I love the "meat and threes". Select your meat and the 3 veggies to have with it. Not many left.

I finally ate at Sweet Tomatoes Restaurant. So now I understand that it's a vegetarian buffet. I wonder why no one ever said that - I mean no one ever said it was vegetarian. It's almost vegan except for ice cream and some other small items like bacon bits etc..

That doesn't mean it's totally healthy-eating; there are loads of unhealthy processed foods. It's like any other buffet: If you want to eat healthy, you have to carefully pick and choose the healthiest unprocessed items.

Personally, I think Golden Corral has a slight edge over them.

Is "vegetarian buffet" the new term for "salad bar"? I don't think it approaches vegan. They have pepperoni pizza, butter, sour cream, chili, meat based soups, cheeses, hard boiled eggs, tuna and chicken salads, etc.

We're you confused on which end to start? Did they make you pay when you went back for seconds? How did they know you already paid? Did you use a coupon?

They seem to offer a lot of vegetarian choices, but also turkey taco salad!

Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes : Locations & Menus

I believe the early bird special and The Villages resident discount are about the same. At any rate, the salad is good and the soups are even better. Price includes desert. They also have pizza, breads, baked potatoes, etc. Good meal for the money.

No subsequent trips are free. They know by the way you enter the line. I bring my receipt just in case they are super busy.

I didn't see any of the above items except one soup had something in it that was supposed to be meat, according to my friend. I tried some and it didn't taste like real meat; it might have been soy. There were no hard boiled eggs, no tuna and chicken salads, etc. No pepperoni pizza. The chili didn't appear to have any meat in it. Where were the cheeses? Oh, I think there was a salad dressing that included tiny little slivers of something that resembled cheese - could have been imitation cheese.

The tuna salad is on the line...................

Yeah, I made all that stuff up.

Sign up on-line for their loyalty program and you will have all of the coupons you want!

...

I would love to be able to track how much time you spend shopping, selecting, reading about and preparing food. It must be a full time job.

And God Bless you if that's what you enjoy doing and feel that it's keeping you in the best of health.

We love most all vegetables; but I would imagine the two hardest things about being a vegan is the labor involved in preparing a meal and then still feeling hungry afterward.

As it is, it's not unusual for me and/or my husband to spend two to three hours a day in the kitchen just fixing three normal meals, nothing fancy.

I didn't see any turkey taco salad. I didn't see any meat dishes at all.

Here, I'll make it easy for you:

Shopping for food twice per week: Total time spent about 45 minutes.
Reading about health, food and nutrition etc. about 1 to 2 hour per week.
Preparing meals: About 1 & 1/2 hours per day.

Here's why people are often so wrong: Once a routine is established it doesn't require a lot of thought, same as for those who eat a poor diet routinely.

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend it just seems like a lot to make sure that everything is totally vegan and no processed foods and correct salt content and whatever else.

I wasn't trying to put you down or insult you, it just really seems to me to be a lot of work.

But, like I said, if that's what makes you happy, God Bless you.

No offense meant.

Yeah, I made all that stuff up too.

If you look at the link I posted (to the menu), you will see meat dishes on the menu.
You wondered why no-one told you it was strictly vegetarian --- that's probably why.
Also, didn't you mention bacon bits?

I love bacon - bits or whole.

Mmmmmm bacon. Everything is better wrapped in bacon we love bacon wrapped grilled asparagus.

The third item on the menu is Zesty Turkey Taco Salad.

Under Prepared Deli Salads you can see Tuna Tarragon and Joan's Broccoli Madness with Bacon & Cashews.

Under soups I see, Big Chunk Chicken Noodle and Yankee Clipper Clam Chowder with Bacon.

Under hot pastas there is Macaroni & Cheese.

And under desserts I see Quattro Formaggio Focaccia.

So it's obviously not a vegan restaurant and depending on whether you consider tuna, chicken and clams as "meat" you couldn't really call it vegetarian either.

Here's the menu:

Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes : Locations & Menus

Yes, I read your link. You believe the link more than you believe someone who just ate there?

Bacon bits and ice cream yes. That's why I didn't say it was strictly one type restaurant or the other. It leans more toward vegetarian. No one is going to sit down and eat a whole dish full of bacon bits.

Perhaps there were very small bits of tuna etc in some of the salads. With all the mayonnaise you couldn't really tell by looking at it.

I remember many years ago people complaining that they couldn't find the chicken in "Chicken Noodle Soup". I looked at the Big Chunk Chicken Noodle soup. What it had was big chunks of noodles. I didn't see any chicken in it. I think chicken means chicken flavored.

I saw that one. Not sure if the cheese is real cheese or imitation cheese.

I have no idea what that is. Is that a pudding? I saw a pudding. I tasted a little of it and it was so sweet it was sickening.

And I wouldn't call it a restaurant for meat eaters either. If you like meat, bring your magnifying glass so you can see it.

The menu is misleading.

How can the menu mislead? The menu is the menu. I'm sorry but I don't understand.