Where to Get a Big Salad in Portland

Over the years, I’ve heard people ask, “So where can I get a big salad in Portland?” If they are a New York transplant, they are probably thinking of those chopped salad and panini spots that were (are?) ubiquitous in Midtown Manhattan. Or the kind of “Big Salad” referred to by Elaine in Seinfeld. But really—sometimes you just want a big salad, no matter where you come from. 

Here are some places where you can get the classic “Big Salad”—but instead of a bowl of “big lettuce, carrots, tomatoes like volleyballs,” a la Seinfeld, you can get a mix of diverse ingredients that will be delicious and satisfying—enough for a whole meal (sometimes two, if you play your lettuce cards right—romaine stands up better overnight compared to mesclun greens).

Note: We’ve updated this roundup of where to find a big salad in Portland for 2026’s Portland Salad Week.

Cibo

I think of Cibo as primarily a pizzeria but I have to say—their salads are enticing. Their Caesar salad is great but Judith points out the Insalata di Polpo. This salad at Cibo includes grilled octopus, lemon, Tuscan fries, arugula, and extra virgin olive oil.

As I update this roundup I see on their menu a glorious Burrata Caprese salad with everything that is wonderful about summer: Burrata over arugula with cherry tomatoes, basil, and Arbequina olive oil.

3539 SE Division Street, Portland. Cibo website

Crisp Salads

Crisp, a small, local chain of restaurants serving soup, salad, and wraps, offers eight big salad options, including the Cobbtastic, a Caesar salad, and a design your own salad option (that would actually be the ninth option). They will sometimes offer special salads, too, like The Sláinte Salad, which is often available around St. Paddy’s Day.

They want you to feel good when you’re eating their salads and other food, and their values include “​​sourcing from local partners and farmers” and “minimizing our carbon footprint, and empowering our team members to create a fun environment.” You can get any salad in a wrap for two bucks more than the base price of a salad.

3901 N Williams Avenue and 2045 SE Division Street, Portland. Crisp Salads website

Elephants Deli

When I first came to Portland to visit family years ago, my aunt Farzaneh took me to Elephan’s Deli (the NW 22nd Avenue location that was set on fire last March). She’s a big Elephants booster. And why not? They have so many delicious things to eat there—prepared and packaged, both. I love stopping in any of the locations and being able to get a “grab and go” prepared salad that I know is going to sate me and feel like a treat at the same time.

Specifically, they offer eight full salads and and 12 side salads. While that quinoa and black bean salad I liked so much seems to be gone, they have so many other options that are tasty, as well—a classic Cobb salad, a Caprese, and a chicken curry salad, just to name a few.

Multiple locations. Elephants Deli website

Evergreens

You might know Evergreens originally as Portland’s “Garden Bar,” home to “bougie salads.” The Merc informs us that, “Washington State salad company Evergreens purchased Garden Bar in August of 2019.” 

Today Evergreens offers salads, wraps, and grain bowls. On their menu are six regular salads and one seasonal, with fun names like Game of Ketones, Cobb Your Enthusiasm, and Steak IOt Off. You can also “build your own” salad with ingredients you prefer. For the set salads, you can get chicken added for $3 or avocado for $2. And you can put it in a wrap.

7000 NE Airport Way, Portland; 1237 NE 48th Avenue, Hillsboro; 2725 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Suite 120 Beaverton. Evergreens website

Garden Monsters

Garden Monsters is a welcome supporter of Portland Salad Week here on Bridgetown Bites, and we are glad for it. I remember a while back when they opened a location in the Hollywood District (where Doe Donuts is now) and it was so great to have them there. They are now back to slinging salads in their trucks, and operate in Portland and Camas, WA. 

They really offer something for everyone—omnivores, vegetarians, vegans, paleo, keto. I love that about them. They offer seven salads, from the Macho Taco, to a great Cobb salad, to The Hercules, which is like a Greek salad starting with a Romaine & spinach blend base. Add proteins (grilled chicken, grass-fed beef, bacon; vegan chicken and organic tofu) and some other treats like avocado and marinated artichoke hearts.

5029 SE Division Street and 2231 NE Alberta Street, Portland. Garden Monsters website

Harlow

This vegetarian restaurant offers “clean & healthy food made with love.” The Harlow Chopped Salad and Harlow Wrap are pretty popular, but there are some other salads to consider here, like the Urban Bowl that features, among other things, sea vegetables. There’s also their Chilled Rice Noodle, Tofu, and Peanut Salad that starts with rice noodles, and adds scallions, cilantro, mint, fennel, marinated tofu, and peanut sauce, with kimchi/cucumber salad and all topped with crispy quinoa.

3632 SE Hawthorne Blvd and 505 NW 23rd Avenue, Portland. Harlow website

Hearth & Vine

You bet you can get a big salad here! And they’ve gone with the classics—a Chopped Salad, Caesar, and Cobb, and they’re pretty loyal to the standard. The Mediterranean Chopped Salad has tomato, cucumber, chickpeas, egg, feta, and olives, with a herb vinaigrette; The Caesar is romaine with Parmigiano Reggiano and herb croutons; and the Cobb starts with Rogue Creamery blue cheese, then tomato, cucumber, bacon, egg, and pickled onion, in an herb-buttermilk dressing.

These are solid choices. Plus the surroundings, especially at the bar, are really nice, with helpful, friendly staff eager to assist in your having a good time at this recently renovated space in the Brewery Blocks.

10 NW 12th Avenue, Portland. Hearth & Vine website

Laughing Planet

When I moved to Portland’s Hollywood District back in 2016, I was overjoyed to find a place that offered so many things that my entire household could enjoy. I’ve eaten many a Harvest Bowl, Moroccan Bowl, and Lebanese Bowl over the years, but I’ve also really gotten into the Zappatista Salad, and it remains one of my go-tos there. They offer a total of five salads—four standard and one special, usually. Both kale salads can be ordered in small and large formats. 

Add grilled chicken or tempeh to the Sumac Salad for a little bit more—the tempeh is some of the tastiest I’ve even encountered (they marinate it and bake it). Don’t forget to check to see what kind of kombucha they have on tap, too.

Multiple locations. Laughing Planet website

Laurelhurst Market

For lunch, Laurelhurst Market has a couple of options—the Butcher Chop Salad and a Steak Caesar. I am a huge fan of the Butcher Chop Salad—one of the best big salads in Portland, IMO—which has so many interesting things in there: arugula, Iceberg, deli-sliced smoked turkey, salami, red onions, giardiniera, Provolone, toasted sunflower seeds, with housemade creamy vinaigrette.

The Steak Caesar has chopped romaine hearts, herbed mustard croutons, and Parmesan topped with grilled and marinated steak (served chilled), with a creamy Caesar dressing on the side.

Get the pickled eggs, too.

3155 E Burnside Street, Portland. Laurelhurst Market website

Papa Haydn

Known moreso for its epic dessert menu, Papa Haydn has some lovely big salads in Portland—four on the menu right now (two with seafood, two without). The Salmon Niçoise Salad, which Jen Lewis of Cooking Fresh recommends, sounds particularly good: it’s made with a pan-seared salmon filet, butter lettuce, fingerling potatoes, green beans, cherry tomatoes, Niçoise olives, hard boiled egg, and a sherry vinaigrette. You can find it at their Sellwood location.

At the NW Portland location, salmon is part of a Blackened King Salmon Caesar, with
romaine hearts, cherry tomatoes, croutons, preserved lemon, and Parmesan in a Caesar dressing.

Balance either of those salmon salads with a slice of cake (the Mt. Adams Cake is my favorite) and you have a truly special meal.

5829 SE Milwaukie Avenue and 701 NW 23rd Avenue, Portland. Papa Haydn website

Peter’s Bar & Grill

I eat here often and love getting a salad—even when the giant taquito makes an appearance. The Chicken Cobb Salad is my favorite, but they have others worth your time for a meal: The Fremont Green (Greens, gorgonzola, and candied hazelnuts tossed in a sweet basil vinaigrette and topped with pickled onions) and Taco Salad (Greens, black beans, corn, jalapeños, cheese blend, tomato, red onion, pepitas, avocado, tortilla strips, and cilantro pepita dressing).

They also have a Wedge salad but it’s not huge (and I’m biased toward the Wedge at Clyde’s, ngl).

5701 NE Fremont Street, Portland. Peter’s Bar & Grill website

Poa Cafe 

In 2022, Judith highlighted Poa Cafe in her post about fruit salad and kids, but their bowls straddle that line between veggie bowl and salad. I’d put four of their seven bowls in this category, as they are nourishing and fresh.

The Paleo Bowl calls out to me: A “healthy and light salad with organic chicken breast, mashed avocado, spring greens, feta cheese, cucumber, tomato, carrots, super seed mix, honey mustard vinaigrette, and vegan beet tahini sauce.” The Yogurt Granola Bowl also pushed the envelope, with a Greek yogurt-style base topped with seeds and fresh fruit. 

4025 N Williams Avenue, Portland. Poa Cafe website 

Rabbits Cafe

I first got to know Rabbits Cafe as a healthy option for office workers in Big Pink, and while they offer bowls and salads, their bowls could be considered somewhat like esoteric salads, since they each involve salad elements in them. Case in point, the Chickpea Bowl: along with chickpeas and brown basmati rice, there’s also a lemon-curry cauliflower, kale in tahini dressing, and pickled veg (they top it with a cilantro-mint chutney and garam masala spiced almonds). It’s like everything all at once. 

They’ve decreased their true salad offerings down to one, the Peter Salad, which contains kale in tahini dressing, chickpeas, tempeh, quinoa, Kalamata olives.

555 SW Oak Street and 1640 NE Killingsworth Street, Portland. Rabbits Cafe website

Spitz

Judith recommends this colorful spot that offers a variety of “healthy Mediterranean” salads and bowls that are both fun and hearty. They offer four salad/bowl mashups: the Donner Salad, Remix Bowl, Medi Bowl, Berliner Bowl. They also offer a Greek Salad and Quinoa Salad as sides.

2103 N Killingsworth Street, Portland and 3611 SE Cornelius Pass Road, Hillsboro. Spitz Restaurant website

The Celery

The Celery opened in January 2022 and is still going strong. Healthy food—smoothies, juices, grain bowls, salads, and smoothie bowls—are the name of the game here, in a light and airy atmosphere. From what I can tell, the owners hope that this is not the only The Celery that will be out there (one day). As for big salads in Portland, they offer three: 

• Little Salmon Salad: 100% organic salad made with *salmon, greens mix, slivered almonds, golden beets, crispy chickpeas, quinoa, and lemon thyme vinaigrette (*USDA does not certify organic for any fish including salmon).
• West Coast Beets: Arugula, red & golden beets, feta, pecans, and golden berries, with balsamic vinaigrette.
• Zig Zag Salad: 100% organic salad made with radicchio, frizzled onion, candied pecans, and farro, with vegan Caesar dressing.

The Açai and smoothie bowls could be considered fruit salads, too, as the smoothie/Açai base is covered with fresh fruit. Delicious and refreshing!

4008 N Williams Avenue, Portland. The Celery website

The Observatory

The Observatory will forever be the place I first encountered Dahlia tubers in a salad, but they are also a great place for any salad lover—they have both Starter and Entrée salads. The latter is appropriate to our purposes here. They are lovely:

Apple and Beet Salad: Rogue blue cheese, roasted beets, Washington apples, and walnuts over field greens, with a sherry vinaigrette.

Chicken Salad with Crispy Bacon: Chopped green leaf lettuce, pulled chicken, shaved radish, roasted corn, crispy bacon, snap peas, cherry tomatoes and garlic croutons tossed with blue cheese or ranch dressing.

Sesame Chili Chicken Salad: Crispy rice noodles, Napa cabbage, bell pepper, green leaf lettuce, fresh citrus, onions, cilantro, and sesame seeds in a creamy sweet chili dressing.

Smoked Trout Salad: House smoked trout, peppery greens, green beans, egg, potatoes, olives, fennel, and bell pepper in a creamy Kalamata olive dressing.

8115 SE Stark Street, Portland. The Observatory website

The Big Salad in Portland: Vegan Edition

For 2026 Portland Salad Weed we put together a roundup of vegan salads, including a big salad. You can find them here.

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Here’s a map version when it comes to finding a big salad in Portland:

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Is there a big salad in Portland that we’ve missed? Leave us a comment!

Updated July 21, 2026 to add the vegan big salad link.