Ivy’s Bridge to Better Health

I first came here with a co-​worker who recommended it since I have to eat healthy now. She told me it’s a health food store that doesn’t look like a restaurant, but there’s a restaurant inside; it was exactly that! Although, I do think the restaurant portion took up a big chunk of the space.
It was lunch hour, so it was busy, but lucky for us, we came early. Check in on Unilocal for a free iced tea :)
I got the combo, which is a salad and half a sandwich. I forget exactly what the price was, but I know it was under $ 10 with a good size portion. I got the chicken walnut salad sandwich, and it was delicious! You have your choice of bread, I forget exactly the choices, but there is a variety.
The salad was actually very good, and not those skimpy salad at other places. The whole meal was filling.
The chicken walnut salad sandwich kept coming to back to mind here and there. I made another visit the following week. This time, I ended up getting the chicken walnut salad salad which is basically the salad and a scoop of that delicious chicken salad. I also got a smoothie, I think a berry (?) which was also pretty good!
I don’t know if I’ll try the other options, since that chicken walnut salad is my favorite here.
A great place to come if you want to eat healthy :)

I came here a few weeks ago when I was trying to shrug off a cold. Maybe I came at a good time but the speed of service and food prep was very fast! The even gave me a whole jug of water for myself :)
I had the Nature’s mix sandwich and «skinny soup» along with a side of chips which were insanely cheap!
Thank you Ivy for having a fun, affordable, healthy restaurant. You rock!

The best sandwich & salad place I’ve ever been to. The tuna sandwich had so much flavor and they weren’t stingy with the amount they put in. I got a half sandwich Half salad& added a cup of chicken. all together it was about 8.50. The salad is HUGE and the chicken taste clean. I will most defiantly be back.

I absolutely love Ivy’s. Their food is so delicious and healthful. My favorite things are the Avocado Express sandwich, Ivy’s Salad with avocado and the Chicken Walnut salad. I love how they put sunflower seeds on everything and I am now addicted to cayenne pepper, which they keep on the tables along with salt & pepper. Everything tastes better with cayenne!!! The girls who work here have worked here forever and they are all very nice. Their food is fresh and I love their Italian dressing. The only reason I’m not giving it 5 stars is because it is in need of a remodel !!! If the place were spruced up, it would be perfect.

Simple healthy food with friendly service. Love coming here for a chicken salad sandwich that’s fresh and delicious with a side of veggies and maybe a cookie for dessert.

I like this place, it’s peaceful and the food is good. I pass there often when in the area. Today I went for lunch and had my usual, turkey on squaw bread with carrot sticks. Very fresh. The server was friendly and the ice tea was good, also. I liked how quickly she came to the table to take my order although I was not in a hurry at all. I asked her to give me a minute. She brought me extra water for my ice tea. Reasonable prices, too.
Issa on the retail side also came over quickly when I was looking at the alkaline water pitcher and answered all of my questions. She is very nice and friendly, also. It wasn’t in my budget to buy the pitcher but i bought an alkaline stick, which was reasonable, 10% because it was Friday. She also offered me alkaline water from the water cooler.
This is what makes a business prosper, when customer service is good, people will spend more, I wasn’t planning on buying anything today, but did because of the customer service. I will be back, of course!

I love going to Ivy’s. Because it is so close to where I work we tend to go there a lot. When we go in the staff is always so nice and sweet. Their chicken walnut salad is my favorite but I have heard from several people that the tuna salad is super yummy! If you get a chance to go here try it out.

This is a combination homeopathic medicine /​remedy health store and healthy soup & sandwich shop. I’ve been here most times than I can count over the past 12 years. When my office was down the street we would eat here at least 2 times a week. My offices moved years ago and I don’t make it up here much these days but today I was lucky enough to be in the area and stopped in for lunch.
Here’s my breakdown…
GOOD 1: The food is super healthy and delicious. They have homemade soups made daily and the Chicken walnut sandwich on squaw bread is amazing.
GOOD 2: The staff are all super friendly. Always smiling and generally happy to be there. You get greeted when you come in and wished well when you leave. It’s just a good healthy vibe. To be honest it feels a lot like your grandma’s breakfast nook.
GOOD 3: The prices are very reasonable. I picked up a sandwich & chips & drink for $ 8.
Overall…
I really enjoy this place and try and stop in whenever I’m in the area. The food is consistent and the friendly warm atmosphere is always the same. I would recommend this place to anyone who wants that home kitchen healthy lunch.

Finally came here for lunch today after having it bookmarked for what feels like years.
The place is interesting, neither a health food store, nor a restaurant, but an odd mix of both. Not particularly enticing to sit there and eat (not too much atmosphere), but I was planning to take it to-​go anyways. The menu has soups, sandwiches and salads and I was pretty surprised to find that they don’t offer gluten-​free bread for any of their sandwiches. Kind of outdated for a health food joint, but I think they’ve been around awhile so maybe they just haven’t gotten around to picking up a couple loaves of gluten-​free bread to have on hand (it freezes well FYI).
Anyway I ordered the walnut chicken salad and it was around $ 8.50…it was big and the scoop of chicken salad on top was delicious and fresh, but I can’t say the salad was worth $ 8.50.
I thought this place was cute and I enjoyed my salad and the girls were nice, but I don’t know that I would return unless they had some more options for gluten-​free eaters. Salad gets painfully old.

One of my favorite places to have lunch! I have been eating here for years, and not once been disappointed. Fresh food, friendly employees, and great service. I like coming to Ivy’s for a couple reasons, one main reason is the quality, and freshness of the food. Second reason being that I’m in love with their weekly Friday clam chowder. All their soups are made in house, and it tastes like grandma made it. Another reason why I really love and appreciate Ivy’s is that my lunch breaks are short and sweet, their awesome customer service always gets my lunch to me fast and efficiently. I mean like minutes fast!!! There really isn’t one option on the menu that I haven’t loved, and it’s super healthy, no guilt lunch. Thank goodness for this community staple, family owned and 5 stars all around!

Ivy’s is funky and awesome. It reminds me of somewhere my grandma would have taken me when I was a kid. They serve, soups, salads and sandwiches for lunch. Everything is very fresh and a good value. I got a green salad and added chicken and avocado. Now that I am working close to Ivy’s I will definitely keep this place on the lunch rotation.

Ivy’s is great!

What is there to say that hasn’t been already, this place is amazing! I have been going here for about 10 years. Now even my son, who is recently out of college loves this spot. It really makes you feel like you are in a mom & pop shop; and I enjoy that feeling as orange county is loosing that hometown feel.

I don’t typically write reviews, but I consider this a Public Service Announcement:
I don’t have much to say about the health shop, but if they are using LBA and Iridology, I don’t see how they could be ethical, or at least knowledgeable about how the body works, beyond anecdotal information.
I did the Live Blood Analysis and Iridology with Gary. I should have read more about it before going, but they had availability so I did it.
I started out wondering what was going on when they asked me to sign a form saying I wasn’t an investigator, or gathering evidence for fraud. I found out that in some states, they are shutting down these operations since there is no scientific basis. I was diagnosed with ileocecal valve syndrome (which Gary misspells in his literature, he misspells many things, like caffine). He writes that ¹⁄₃ of his patients have this. However, I can’t find any articles on webmd or mayo clinic about this, only alternative medicine sites. The last paper on a surgery on this was from the 1960s. Anywhoo, he noted things in my blood and recommended supplements. I researched, and it seems that if I had what was claimed, I wouldn’t be walking around!
This article is written by a professor in the Clinical Laboratory Science
Some artifacts are mistakenly identified by the practitioner as yeast cells, one of the most common «findings» by alternative practitioners. Yeast cells cannot be seen in the blood of a healthy person for the simple reason that they are not there. An actual fungus (yeast) in the blood is seen in patients who are critically ill with some type of severe immune system deficiency. These individuals also will not be well enough to be wandering about at a health fair.
Blood type diet was pushed: What do the experts say?
Medical experts universally agree that the theory is nonsense, and say there is absolutely no link between our blood group and the diet we eat. Consequently you won’t find qualified nutritionists or dietitians recommending this diet.
There are also several concerns, namely that the diets recommended for blood groups O and A are considerably limited and cut out major groups of foods.
Iridology: Also, a study with famous iridologist showed in a study that they could not make accurate diagnosis.
Also I said zinc upsets my stomach, he was surprised, said it upsets my friend’s stomach as well. He was surprised. This is a well documented side effect of zInc! how does a naturopath not know this???
So they got some money from me, I figured, well, I guess it made me research, and I have decided that I should chew my food better and that will likely help my digestion. However, I hate seeing people get their money taken, especially if they think they are doing something good for their health and they are not. So I wanted to share my experience.

It’s been years since I’ve been back, and I see that the prices have been jacked up even more while putting even less ingredients into their sandwiches! Oh man.
A chicken walnut sandwich with carrot sticks is $ 8.63 after tax. I looked online before I left and their menu said that it was $ 6.99. When I got to the café, the to-​go menu on the wall didn’t even have the prices listed. Just blank green blobs of paint next to the items. Geez, no correct information readily available!
The sandwich was decent, but not as full and flavorful as it used to be. Really sad to see the price and quality change for the worse.

If your looking for a homemade sandwich this is the place to go. They may not use all healthy ingredients but it sure does taste yummy. The avocado express and egg sandwich are my favorite, the hubby likes the chicken walnut and I used to love it too when I wasn’t vegetarian. The kids like the bacon, even though I believe it’s they bacon. Their soups are good, so far I’ve had the vegetarian lentil and bean, they aren’t the best soups ever but are yummy. I do feel the prices are a little high, since after all it is a homemade type sandwich, but that’s what you pay for a sandwich anywhere. We will definitely be back for more!

I keep returning here. I drive 15 min via I5 freeway to get there when I have 20 other options within 5 min. I try to bring a friend each time to share this place. Chicken Walnut sandwich and fresh juices are my constant favorites. Check it out.

Went there 1−30−14 — Ivey read my friend and I’s eyes. $ 45ea. She tells you what is going on with your body while giving you solutions to any problems she sees. Both my friend and I bought Iveys cleanse (5 things around $ 120 for all) we have been on it for almost 2 weeks, worh every penny!

It’s really too bad this place isn’t better. Tustin could use a place like this if it was executed properly.
The food here is okay. Some of it was actually pretty good, but it wasn’t anything that I couldn’t have made better at home. They’re just sandwiches with things on them like mayonnaise and olives. Stuff you’d pack for a lunch. They come with sliced carrots or with Lay’s chips. It’s like being in grade school all over again.
That brings me to my next point: how is any of this healthy?!? I checked the ingredients on the bread and I assure you, corn syrup is definitely in there. Lay’s potato chips are not healthy by any means. And the carrots are offered with their homemade ranch which is loaded with sour cream and buttermilk! Again, not exactly healthy. On top of that, canned olives on a sandwich of corn syrup-​filled bread with a heap of mayonnaise isn’t healthy either. Perhaps I was too excited when I came here to be exposed to some good, healthy food. I won’t be back again.

Nice little sandwich shop. Healthy selections. I had a bacon turkey sandwich that was very good. Wish I lived closer because I would visit again.
Enjoy,
Don