This is really more of a 2 1/2 star rating, and I'm only rating the salads. I feel like I should give Hello Bistro more credit for being the only make-your-own salad place around, but that doesn't automatically mean that it's got quality, delicious food. Maybe I'm spoiled from four years of living in DC, where fresh, fast salad places like Sweetgreen and Chop't (not to mention other types of amazing, delicious fast-casual cuisine places like Shophouse, BGR, Good Stuff Eatery, etc) abound. I'm used to fresh, organic, local ingredients and house-made salad dressings for a reasonable price.\n\nHello Bistro's produce, unfortunately, is all pretty sad-looking and tasteless. The tomatoes were pale pink and mealy, rather than red and juicy, and all the other veggies appear to come straight from a can and are floating in water. Sure, they've got a decent variety of ingredients, but they're all pretty poor in quality. Plus, what's up with the salad greens selection? I want some arugula or some baby spinach! I'm not a huge meat-eater so I didn't add any meat to my salad, but all of the meat options looked pretty lifeless. I do appreciate the unlimited number of veggie toppings and that cheese and a few meat selections are without an additional charge, though. This makes the pricing reasonable, but I expect higher quality ingredients from a $7 salad.\n\nI want someone to open a higher quality salad place in Oakland! I would go there all the time. Sweetgreen or Chop't would probably put Hello Bistro out of business, since there are other places to get burgers. It's times like these that I wish I spent all my time in Shadyside or something, but such is the life of a med student.