Fresh Mix
845 E. University Blvd.
622-0012 for take-out or delivery

Fresh Mix, the new sandwich, salad and pasta stop on University Boulevard, lives up to its name just a bit too much.

Certainly fresh is a good thing when it comes to food and ambience, and Fresh Mix has got that down. This "you call it" salad bar, that is, call out the ingredients and have it mixed for you, is the first of its kind to grace the university area.

Here's how it works: If you're in the mood for a salad, grab a bowl of greens ($3.75) - either mixed greens, romaine lettuce or spinach leaves as a base. Next, choose an optional main ingredient ($1.25) like barbecue chicken, flaked tuna or tofu. Then, doctor up your salad with some of the 40 mix-ins (30 cents each). The array makes Subway's sandwich toppings look pathetic. Fresh Mix's picks include jicama, raisins, carrots, grapes, corn, garbanzo beans, hard-boiled egg, capers, mozzarella cheese and walnuts to name a fraction of the choices available. Finally, decide on a dressing. Choose from 17 dressings, six of which are fat-free. Voil‡! A salad made to order.

I tried one with romaine lettuce, barbecue chicken, jicama, cherry tomatoes, roasted peppers, cheddar cheese and some hard-boiled egg all tossed in ranch dressing. The flavors of each mix-in really complemented each other, but the "mixer" added a bit too much dressing for my taste. Still, it beat the awkward mixing of a heaping plate at a salad bar that ends up leaving a vegetable disaster area on the table.

Fresh Mix can satisfy your hunger, even if you really feel like sinking your teeth into something substantial. It offers paninis, warm Italian-style sandwiches. All the sandwiches come with potato chips and cost $4.75. The sandwiches aren't as customized as the salads, but they range from roast beef, turkey, veggie and grilled chicken. I tried the Gobbler with sliced roast turkey, mozzarella cheese, roasted red peppers, lettuce and balsamic vinaigrette dressing as a sauce. The bread rocked, really making the sandwich tasty. Still, Fresh Mix seems to be more about the salad than the sandwich.

The menu also includes a three-step pasta creation ($4.95, $1 extra for meat). Choose a pasta shape, a sauce and meat if you'd like it. As far as prepared food goes, Fresh Mix sells fruit, granola bars, juices and Dannon yogurt.

Once you have your food, grab a set of funky silver-colored plastic utensils and enjoy the breath of spring that Fresh Mix seems to exude. Bright yellow walls and grass-patterned tabletops will surely lift your spirits during a lunch break from windowless lectures and dry erase board walls. If you're dining solo, flip through a trendy magazine like Wired or W.

When it comes to restaurant operation, however, being fresh doesn't stand a chance against being seasoned. Clueless employees seemed frazzled with only a few customers requiring attention at 2 p.m. After being open for a few weeks, one cashier still didn't know if the place took debit cards (they do). In addition, I found a number of discrepancies in both price and content between the printed menus placed on each table and the posted menu off of which most customers order.

Soon Fresh Mix will find its groove and figure out all its glitches, and will definitely be worth a try.