Healthy, fast-casual salad chains are everywhere and so far nobody’s complaining. In fact, the U.S. market for healthy fast-casual food has grown by 550% since 1999, according to Business Insider. With Cava and Sweetgreen both getting their start in the Maryland and D.C. area, the DMV is quickly becoming a hotbed for new, delicious and exciting salad chains.

While Chipotle first opened its doors in 1993, it wasn’t until the late 2000s that the fast-casual food market truly took off, with Sweetgreen first opening in 2007 and Cava opening in 2011.

Now with over 900 locations, Sweetgreen first started in a 500 square foot shop located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., by students Nicolas Jammet, Jonathan Neman and Nathaniel Ru. Just two months after graduating from Georgetown University, the students transitioned from making salads in their dorm room to creating Sweetgreen after noticing a gap in the market for food that was both healthy and appetizing while remaining affordable.

Similarly, Cava was started by three MCPS graduates: Ted Xenohristos, Ike Grigoropulos and Dimitri Moshovitis. While initially a sit-down restaurant, Cava Mezze Grill rebranded as Cava, the fast-casual restaurant, in 2011, offering customizable bowls and pitas with an emphasis on Mediterranean style food.

While both restaurants represent success stories by utilizing healthy ingredients and promoting a fast-casual delicious environment, one can only eat so many salads. When faced with the choice of nearby Cava or Sweetgreen, it’s nearly impossible to decide.

Keeping this in mind, my friends and I decided to compare Cava and Sweetgreen, ignoring nutritional values and price point to simply find the best tasting salad.

Our first stop was Sweetgreen, located in Downtown Crown. Focusing on the salad itself, Sweetgreen is more unique than Cava, offering more toppings, dressings and protein options. However, it is less customizable, as sophomore Meara Liebetrau advises against building or creating your own bowl at Sweetgreen. “I think in some ways because the flavor of Sweetgreen is so unique it’s best to choose the pre-created bowls, like Guacamole Greens,” Liebetrau said.

However, even with less variety, Cava is extremely popular and its approach is certainly not a bad one. While Sweetgreen offers more options in terms of ingredients, the intended approach is to order a “chef-curated” bowl, while Cava emphasizes customization. “For me, when I walk into Cava they expect you to walk down the line and choose your specific ingredients to customize. But at Sweetgreen they are just waiting for you to say which bowl you want,” senior Jenna Goldberg said.

Focusing on specific ingredients, Sweetgreens advertising avoids details regarding the ingredients origin, as it likely varies from location to location. Cava on the other hand, has been working with specific natural ingredients from the start, such as Greek sourced olive oil and Damascus Bakery pita, and doesn’t plan to change even as their locations increase.

As evidenced by my nearly 5,000 Cava rewards points, I believe Cava is the clear choice for Mediterranean inspired, customizable, delicious salads. Students seem to agree, “It’s the best, I could never get tired of Cava,” sophomore Jia Micalizzi said.