There isn’t much else worse than getting really excited about something and then finding it pretty freakin’ disappointing.

Some cronies from the Arts Desk got juiced to write a good review about Core because it seemed like it couldn’t do wrong, but we were sadly mistaken.

Where do I begin?

The second you step into the place, you are met with this incredulously long and unorganized list of 85 different veggies, fruits, seeds, cheeses and crunchy things to go on your salad. Variety is great, but not when it is presented in such an unorganized fashion that your brain malfunctions and melts down before you can even get through the line and order. Pressured to choose, I started rattling off what I wanted in my salad, hoping not to regret my selection. Before I could ask any questions, my bowl of “”core”” items was slid from staff person to staff person in an assembly line, not one of whom smiled at me or was even remotely nice.

After I told the next staff person which type of lettuce I wanted, my salad was placed in a bowl, and without paying attention, an entirely new staff member put someone else’s dressing on my salad. After swearing that they put the wrong dressing on my salad, I got a pissed-off look from the person who misplaced the dressing.

Without even saying sorry, they hurried me all the way back to the starting point and put all of my “”core”” items together again. My salad then was immediately boxed with an accompanying glare from the staff member who boxed it.

What if I had wanted croutons? Well, guess what, I did. But I guess the staff bases the requests of the customer off of inaccurate mind-reading. That’s funny, because arts editor Jamie Ross wasn’t asked if she wanted any croutons, either.

Trying to put this annoying experience behind me, the whole interaction was topped off by the also unfriendly and monotone cashier. Talk about customer service.

Aside from the salad-making process, Jamie, arts writer Allison Warren and I thought our salads were kind of good.

I ate a combination consisting of cucumbers, edamame beans, yellow peppers, hard-boiled egg, smoked turkey, feta cheese, romaine lettuce and honey mustard dressing. Jamie’s salad had hard-boiled egg, black beans, peas, romaine lettuce and ranch dressing, and Allison’s salad was comprised of cucumbers, red, yellow and green peppers, black olives, parmesan cheese, salami, romaine lettuce and balsamic vinaigrette.

The only thing really lacking was that there wasn’t very much dressing, and any of us could have put these salads together ourselves.

I feel like if I would have skipped the salad process and purchased a fruit parfait, a salad or sandwich, or the soup that Core offers, I still would’ve walked out of that place needing a hug. Seriously, who doesn’t smile?