This was the second time in the recent past that we ate at Souper Salad. Last winter we ate in one in Florida. This is a chain restaurant. There are about 135 in 16 states. I am reviewing the Souper Salad in which we ate most recently. If you have never been to one but either live in Atlanta or have a Lettuce Surprise you around, then you'll know exactly what Souper Salad is like. They are almost carbon copies of one another.

Basics:

Souper Salad is located at 2428 Cerillos Boulevard, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Their phone number is 505-473-1211. The hours are Mondays-Thursdays 10:30AM – 9:30 PM; Fridays 10:30AM to 10:00PM; Saturdays 10:30AM – 10:00PM; and Sundays 11:00AM to 9:00PM. We ate on a Thursday in June. It was about 8:00PM and fairly empty but people came in even as we were leaving although it was for salad take out.

We were greeted by an exceptionally nice man who took our $5.49 all you can eat money and asked if we had been here before and explained how to go about eating here. This price doesn’t include a drink. For $1.50 we each got iced tea.

Although this is a buffet we had a server who immediately came over to us. He was quite friendly and very good. He constantly filled our drinks and took away our plates as soon as we were done. Granted, we were one of only a handful of customers! We sat at a comfortable but plain booth. The restaurant could look like a cafeteria. It is one large room with a divider in one area which softens the starkness of the restaurant. There are also many large colorful prints on each wall which brighten up Souper Salad.

The food:

I really like eating here. You can’t beat the quality and quantity of food for this price. I also like the way the food is covered. Large panes of plexiglass prevent all but a hand and a utensil getting into the food.

There seems to be a special or two at various times. This night one special was a chicken Caesar salad and a vegetarian lentil soup. I heard a young woman next to me saying that it was the first time she had eaten here that she found a vegetarian soup.

I doubt there is much not included in the salad bar. In fact there are about 60 different items in it. You’ll find at least 3 types of lettuce as well as baby spinach which is a treat. The usual assortment of tomatoes, cucumbers and mushrooms will be found as well as chick peas, beets and peas. There is a nice variety of pasta dishes and potato salad. Sunflower seeds, raisins and croutons are at the end of the salad bar. I’m estimating about 8 salad dressings including low fat and fat free as well as oil and vinegar. The food was good. Everything was fresh and tasty. The salad items were not wilted nor did anything taste as if it had been sitting there all day developing a mold problem.

At the end of the salad bar we found various melons and a very unusual and expensive fruit to find in salad bars: kiwi slices.

We aren’t done, though. Next comes 4 varieties of soups made daily. The lentil soup was excellent. I rarely get soup in a restaurant and found this to be quite tasty with just the right amount of seasoning. It wasn't too spicy yet it wasn't bland. Next came bread and muffins. We found corn bread, bran and chocolate chip muffins and a cheese bread. I ate very little of this- I just tasted some of my husband’s and it was all very good and fresh.

There is a wonderful potato bar. I had a potato and it was cooked really nicely. I have had plenty of potatoes in fancy restaurants that are on the hard side but this one was cooked just right.

Desserts consisted of puddings, cookies and ice cream. The ice cream my husband said was just a tad above ice milk but he ate it anyway. The puddings and cookies were nothing to write home about but for the price if you are looking for something sweet at the end of the meal, you'll find it here. It won't be the best cookie or pudding you've had - fairly plain sugar cookies for example, but decent enough to satisfy a sweet tooth.

Jo’s final thoughts:

If you are in the mood for a salad with all the fixings and as much as you can eat for an amazing price, find yourself a Souper Salad. It is a clean somewhat utilitarian restaurant that is great in a pinch.

This review is part of our 3 month cross country summer journey. It is one of the many restaurants we visited.

If you would like to visit some of the places I've written about thus far, I'll leave the links.

Applebee's in Ohio

Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky

Bella Notte This is a restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky

Buckstaff Bathhouse in Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas

Bicentennial Mall State Park in Nashville, TN

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, TN

Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN

National Civil Right Museum in Memphis, TN

Graceland in Memphis, TN

Souper Salad in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Taste of Thai a San Diego restaurant

Handlery Hotel in San Diego, CA













Recommended: Yes