🍴 Healthy Food & Drinks

🥗 Santa Monica’s Healthy Food Spot That Tricks You Into Craving Salad

🔥 Wellness…But Make It Delicious

Last night we hit Rabano Handcrafted Food & Drinks on Main Street in Santa Monica with Murphy the Doodle, who immediately claimed the heated patio like he personally paid the rent.

And honestly?
Nobody challenged him.

📍 Quick Info

Location: Main Street, Santa Monica
Price Range: $15–30
Best For: Healthy food lovers, patio dining, people pretending they’ll “just get a salad”
Parking: Street parking nearby
Popular Items: Kabobs Mediterraneo Super Bowl, Showtime Burger, Meiling’s Chinese Salad, Strawberry Glitz Lemonade

🍽️ My Experience at Rabano

Rabano feels like what would happen if LA wellness culture finally relaxed and decided food should actually taste good.

Everything is built around fresh local ingredients, sustainability, eco-conscious farms, and compostable packaging — but without the usual feeling that you’re being punished for eating carbs.

The menu has a little bit of everything:
👉 bowls
👉 salads
👉 burgers
👉 tacos
👉 burritos
👉 sandwiches
👉 even a kids’ menu for tiny humans with surprisingly aggressive food opinions

And somehow all of it feels both healthy and indulgent.

Which honestly feels suspicious.

⭐ The Food

First up: the Kabobs Mediterraneo Super Bowl.

👉 Free-range chicken skewers, house hummus, toum, greens, cucumber, olives, tomato, and red onion.

This bowl had us acting like we suddenly meal prep and own matching yoga mats.

And the toum?

🚨 ELITE. 🚨

Garlic lovers, this is your Super Bowl.

Then came the Showtime Burger.

👉 Grass-fed beef, caramelized onions, applewood bacon, cremini mushrooms, Swiss cheese, and arugula on a vegan brioche.

Served with fries or salad depending on:
🥗 your health goals
🍟 or your emotional needs

We chose fries because healing is not linear.

But the real surprise?

🥗 Meiling’s Chinese Salad absolutely stole the show.

👉 Free-range chicken, organic baby lettuce, almonds, sesame seeds, Mandarin oranges, pickled vegetables, wonton crispies, and sesame-ginger dressing.

Fresh. Crunchy. Addictive.

This salad had the kind of personality usually reserved for main characters in romantic comedies.

And then there was the Strawberry Glitz Lemonade.

👉 Served in a reusable cup and somehow tasting like summer vacation, serotonin, and good decisions.

🙌 Service

Friendly, relaxed, and very Santa Monica in the best possible way.

The whole place gives:
✨ “healthy lifestyle”
✨ “cool patio energy”
✨ “yes we definitely compost”

🍴 What to Order

If it’s your first time:

Kabobs Mediterraneo Super Bowl
Showtime Burger
Meiling’s Chinese Salad
Strawberry Glitz Lemonade

👍 Pros & 👎 Cons

Pros:

Fresh ingredients that actually taste fresh
Healthy food that doesn’t feel depressing
Great heated patio
Excellent variety on the menu
Toum worthy of emotional attachment

Cons:

You’ll suddenly consider becoming a salad person
Parking on Main Street can test your patience
Murphy now expects patio dining every weekend

💡 Tips Before You Go

Grab a patio seat if the weather’s nice
Come hungry because portions are generous
Do not underestimate the lemonade
Prepare to leave feeling healthier than you arrived

⭐ Final Verdict

Rabano somehow pulls off the impossible: food that makes you feel healthy without sacrificing flavor.

LA Eats Worth It? Absolutely.

Come for the wellness vibes, stay for the toum, and don’t be surprised if you leave researching farmers markets on the drive home.