The Bridgetown Bites crew loves venturing beyond Portland in search of great salads. Last year, we expanded into the Willamette Valley and had a great time, while this year we crossed the river for a Salad Week road trip to visit our neighbors in Vancouver, Washington. Meg and I explored four restaurants, most of them clustered around the Waterfront and the Downtown districts, an easy trip from Portland and well worth the visit.
Salad Week Road Trip: Amaro’s Table
We’d heard great things about Amaro’s Table, Vancouver’s “genuine, from scratch” comfort food restaurant with four locations across the city. The menu is approachable and nostalgic, featuring crowd-pleasers like fried chicken, hush puppies, and classic club sandwiches. While the salad selection is familiar, the execution exceeded our expectations. We’d happily return, especially to the Downtown location, where local businesses could use a little extra support during the ongoing Main Street improvement project.
Caesar Salad
We opted for the classic Caesar Salad, ordering the smaller Happy Hour portion. It was everything a Caesar should be, crisp, tangy, and nicely balanced, and topped with generously sized croutons that added plenty of crunch. The dressing was creamy and flavorful without being overpowering. At just $6 during Happy Hour, it’s an excellent value!
Meg: I love a simple Caesar salad. It’s hard to go wrong with a mix of sturdy romaine, Parmesan cheese, creamy Caesar dressing and croutons. These croutons were shaped unequally, giving some diversity of crunch and softness among them. This was a good deal as far as size, taste, and price.
Wild Salmon Niçoise Salad
This Pacific Northwest take on a Niçoise salad was both hearty and delicious. Built around a perfectly cooked piece of wild Alaskan salmon with beautiful grill marks and a flaky interior, it showcased simple, high-quality ingredients. Roasted potatoes, green beans, thinly shaved red onion, capers, hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, and field greens rounded out this satisfying meal. At $24, it’s priced more like an entrée than a salad, but it’s well worth it.
Meg: I first heard about Amaro’s Table when they opened a location on the east side of Vancouver. So many raves! So I was excited to give them a try. We chose the original location on the west side, as it worked out better logistically.
This is a serious salad, very substantial. Love the big piece of nicely cooked salmon, the Niçoise olives with their salty profile, quartered hard boiled eggs, shaved red onion, green beans, and the potatoes were not boiled but roasted, and had some nice crispy edges to them.
Eat this salad with an appetite; leftovers, as I learned, do not do well due to the delicate nature of the field greens. This salad also qualifies as a “big salad,” no cap.
1220 Main Street, Suite 100, Vancouver. Amaro’s Table
Salad Week Road Trip: Ondus on the Waterfront
Located inside the AC Hotel at the beginning of the Vancouver Waterfront, Ondus offers a modern, upscale atmosphere that’s equally inviting for small parties or larger groups. We especially loved the spacious patio overlooking the river. Thanks to the covered overhang, it’s comfortably shaded even on warm, sunny days. Leaning into the summer season, we ordered two fruit-forward salads.
Strawberry Orange Salad
This light, summery salad balanced sweet fruit with peppery arugula and tangy goat cheese for a refreshing contrast of flavors. A sprinkle of sliced almonds added a satisfying crunch to every bite. $9 (half portion), $15 (full portion).
Meg: This was my favorite salad of the day and worth the price of admission for our Salad Week road trip. I loved the mix of sweet and tangy fruit with arugula—the leafy salad green with an edge. The goat cheese added some creaminess as well as the tang Judith mentioned above. The white balsamic dressing adds a touch of sweetness. I feel like I could eat this every day.
We also had a nice visit at our table from Chef Tanner Genck, Food & Beverage Director at Ondus. He gave us some recommendations for salads elsewhere in Vancouver but, alas, the places were all closed by the time we could get to them. They include Elements Restaurant (907 Main Street), Bleu Door Bakery (2411 Main Street) and La Bottega (1905 Main Street).
Sandia Stonefruit Salad
Another example of summer on a plate, this vibrant fruit-forward salad was as beautiful as it was refreshing. Sweet, juicy watermelon took center stage, complemented by peaches, cool cucumber, and plump blackberries. Fresh mint and a bright sangria dressing tied everything together, making each bite taste scrumptious! $18.
Meg: This is one of the best fruit salads I’ve had. It was a mix of some of my favorite fruits, plus the cucumber—and watermelon and feta are such a great pair. The sangria dressing and balsamic reduction were perfect friends to it all. Sweet, tangy, salty, refreshing. Summer in a bowl.
333 West Columbia Way, Vancouver. Ondus on the Waterfront website
Salad Week Road Trip: Rigo’s Restaurant
Rigo’s was in Longview for a long time and they expanded to Vancouver this past June. You could describe them as a “modern Mexican” restaurant, serving platters of grilled meats, burgers, tacos—and a couple of salads.
Ahi Tuna Salad
Meg: The Ahi Tuna Salad sounded promising with the main character of sesame-crusted fresh ahi. It sat atop salad greens, tomatoes, cucumber, and avocado, with a balsamic dressing (more like a glaze). All very tasty, though the tuna was a little more cooked than I would have preferred.
Classic Wedge Salad
Simple yet satisfying, this wedge salad delivered on both texture and flavor. Crisp iceberg lettuce was topped with pico de gallo and creamy avocado for a fresh Mexican-inspired twist, while the ranch dressing was rich and creamy. It’s a dependable salad I’d happily order again.
Meg: There was a time when I thought a wedge salad was too old fashioned, but that view has changed and I embrace this steakhouse classic. Rigo’s mostly adheres to the original recipe, though it’s missing the hardboiled eggs. I found the wedge of iceberg lettuce a little less compact than others I’ve had, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing. This salad had great potential but it was less of a hit with me.
Chunky Guacamole
You can never go wrong with a great guacamole, and this one was a fun way to start our meal. Its chunky texture was the standout, while hints of sweet mango added a refreshing pop of flavor. Simple, bright, and beautiful. (Chef’s kiss!)
Meg: After we ordered our food, the first thing to come out was their guacamole, which we ordered as a chunky version. We mused that it could be considered a salad: chunks of avocado, pico de gallo, and chunks of mango on top of it all! This was a great bowl of guac. 10/10 would eat it again.
2420 Columbia House Blvd #105, Vancouver. Rigo’s Restaurant website
Salad Week Road Trip: Thai Orchid
Just a few blocks from Amaro’s Table, Thai Orchid was the final stop on our Vancouver salad tour. By then, we’d sampled our fair share of salads, but this meal gave us a second wind. Even at an in-between hour—neither lunch nor dinner—the restaurant was fairly busy, which is always a good sign.
Chicken Larb
This larb salad was a standout! Packed with protein, it was hearty without leaving you feeling weighed down. We opted for a spicier version, and the bold flavors were balanced beautifully by fresh mint, cilantro, and a bright lime dressing. The minced chicken was tasty and dotted with thin slices of red onion. Wrapping everything in crisp iceberg lettuce leaves made each bite such a delight!
Meg: Larb is one of my favorite things to get at a Thai restaurant and this one was super tasty. The meat—we chose chicken—was tender, the lime dressing added some acid, and addition of aromatics of red onion, scallion, and mint were welcome additions. It is served with iceberg lettuce, but at one point we just dove in and ate the meat straight up. It was kind of addicting, in the colloquial sense. Yum.
Po Pia Sod (Salad Rolls)
Oh my…this was my favorite bite of the entire salad journey! While not a traditional salad, these fresh tofu salad rolls were exceptional. The soft, delicate rice paper wrapped around the crisp, vibrant veggie and tofu filling, created a wonderfully refreshing bite. Paired with the rich, slightly chunky peanut sauce, these salad rolls were an easy 10/10!
Meg: Salad rolls are ubiquitous at Thai and Vietamese restaurants, and most of them are tasty but are fairly run of the mill. Not these salad rolls. For one, the wrapper is aahhhhhhmaaaazinggg! So fresh and soft! They make the wrappers in-house. The only other place I’ve had such good wrappers was a Thai restaurant in Manzanita, the name of which I forget.
The insides were fresh and crunchy, and there was some fried tofu in amongst the fresh veg. Loved the warm peanut sauce and sweet & sour sauce that came with it. I think about these salad rolls often. I want to go back for them, and for some sushi, which they also make here.
213 W 11th Street, Vancouver. Thai Orchid website
Do you have a Vancouver salad recommendation? Leave a comment below.
Judith Rich
Latest posts by Judith Rich (see all)
- Portland Content Creators, Readers, and Lessons From Salad Week - July 24, 2026
- Salad Week Road Trip: Bridgetown Bites Heads to Vancouver - July 22, 2026
- 2026 Portland Salad Week Restaurant Specials Are Here - July 20, 2026
