I Tried Goop Kitchen, the Health-Focused Food Company Coming to New York
Gwyneth Paltrow’s brand is expanding — but is the food any good?
Image Courtesy of Goop Kitchen
I’ll admit I eat a lot of slop bowls at the office. Yes, I work at Food Network and am very aware I could be doing better. Yes, I go through phases of meal prep. But working in Manhattan, surrounded by chains like Sweetgreen and Cava, I regularly give into the temptation of a $15 salad or grain bowl. It feels convenient and vaguely healthy, and most days that’s good enough for me.
But now, a new contender is entering the crowded New York City fast-casual market: goop kitchen. Naturally, I had to test it out for myself, and I got an early taste.
What is goop kitchen?
Founded by Gwyneth Paltrow in 2021, goop kitchen is “an upscale fast-casual concept” focused on “flavorful, high-quality meals made with thoughtful ingredients, all designed specifically for delivery so eating well feels easy and realistic,” according to the brand.
The company already has 11 locations in Los Angeles and three in the Bay Area, and it aims to serve “most of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn by the end of the year.” (It has not announced a target number of New York locations.)
Image Courtesy of Goop Kitchen
What’s on goop kitchen’s menu?
A lot of things. Instead of focusing on a particular cuisine, the menu takes inspiration from around the world. It includes a whole section for pizza and pasta, plus salads, rice bowls, wraps and soups. You’ll find a falafel wrap, a taco bowl and summer rolls all coexisting on the same page. You can also order a roasted chicken or cauliflower main (whole or half) with your choice of sides, scaled for one to five people.
Here’s what I tasted, with descriptions from the menu:
- Spring Crunch Salad: Seasonal salad blend, asparagus, goat cheese, snap peas, cucumbers, pickled red onions, mint, supersede crunchies (sesame seeds, poppy seeds, almond flour, and everything seasoning), and a side dressing of your choice (remove cheese to make it vegan).
- Brentwood Chinese Chicken Salad: Hand-pulled organic chicken with bok choy, cabbage, avocado, snowpeas, watermelon radish, and herbs. Served with grain-free “wontons,” toasted quinoa, almonds, and carrot-ginger vinaigrette (choose no chicken to make it plant based).
- Pepperoni Potts Pizza: The nostalgic pepperoni pizza, grown up. Cupping pepperoni, basil, pomodoro, mozzarella, and fontina.
- The goop Teriyaki Bowl: Grilled organic chicken with umami rice, sesame kale, avocado, garlic broccoli, pickled ginger, and house-made furikake, served with a side of teriyaki.
- Dark Chocolate & Sea Salt Brownie: Dark chocolate, cacao, almond flour, and sea salt.
- Coco Chocolate Chip Cookies: Almond flour chocolate chip cookies with toasted coconut flakes.
Image Courtesy of Goop Kitchen
Is goop kitchen healthy?
The brand positions itself as a healthy option, but it’s hard to evaluate its claims without more details.
“Claiming a menu or its ingredients are ‘clean’ (an undefined term) and "seed-oil free" doesn't necessarily mean the options are healthy,” Toby Amidor, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., says. “It also depends on the nutrition information — calories, saturated fat, added sugar and sodium per serving — which isn't provided on the menu. This information would help consumers make more informed choices.”
That said, at a glance, the brand is offering a good range of options.
“I love the variety on the menu and the plant-forward offerings; fiber-rich fruit, veggies, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds are well-represented,” Dana White, M.S., R.D., A.T.C., says. “There are also several high-protein options to choose from, featuring salmon, turkey, eggs, chicken and tofu. Sauces and crunchies are a simple way to add flavor and boost nutrients."
Is goop kitchen expensive?
Honestly, by New York standards, not really. The pizzas are priced from $15.95 to $24.95 for an 11-inch pie. The salads cost about $15 each, which is pretty typical here. Of course, you may have to factor in delivery fees.
Sabrina Choudhary
My honest review of goop kitchen:
I’ll start by saying it's got some kinks to work out. My name was misspelled on the order, and my food arrived almost an hour and a half late (which everyone involved did apologize for). The kitchen also ran out of the dessert I was supposed to taste but substituted the other two on the menu, which I thought was nice.
Once I finally got my hands on the food, though, I was pleasantly surprised.
The teriyaki bowl was flavorful. The chicken wasn’t dry, the greens were well-dressed and the brown rice made the whole thing pretty filling — several common pitfalls avoided.
The pepperoni pizza was solid, too, and that’s saying something because New Yorkers will be a tough audience. The thin crust had a nice crunch, the cheese was sharp and there was plenty of sauce. The brand touts that the culinary team tasted over 200 varieties of pepperoni before landing on this one, and not for nothing, they picked a winner. It was salty and crisped up nicely. It definitely didn’t taste like sad health food.
I would’ve ordered the Spring Crunch Salad without goat cheese, but I liked the variety of crisp vegetables, and the mint made it taste fresh and light. The Chinese Chicken Salad was fine. I liked the crunchy bits, and I’m always a fan of a carrot-ginger dressing, but I didn’t love the cabbage base.
The brownie was good if you’re a dark chocolate person. It’s not very sweet, on the fudgy side — not cakey, but also not dense — and fairly large. I enjoyed the cookies, but they were probably my least favorite menu item. They're heavy on coconut, light on chocolate and sweet but missing that signature buttery flavor. They'll satisfy a cookie craving, but don't order them expecting a typical chocolate chip cookie.
Final thoughts:
Overall, I thought everything tasted good but not remarkable. Since the menu doesn’t lean too far into any specific cuisine, nothing really makes it stand out to me. However, everything tasted higher quality and more flavorful than some other self-proclaimed healthy restaurants I regularly order from. And the leftover pizza fed me for a few days. I would eat any of it again. (Perhaps goop bowls will be the new slop bowls? Food for thought.)
How can you order from goop kitchen in New York?
You can order online, directly from the company’s website or app, or from “major third-party platforms,” though delivery may not yet be available in your area.
“We plan to open several locations across New York City throughout the year, beginning with a Midtown West dark kitchen,” the brand says.
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