Souper Salad

I always liked this place, but it is near a place I frequent several times a week.
Especially enjoyed their soups, but also the salad makings. I never found anything negative about this place. The last couple of months they had few staff on hand. I guess that should have been my clue.
Sadly, this week, I found the spot closed permanently with a sign directing patrons to either their Tech Ridge or South Lamar restaurants.

I don’t know why this is listed as not good for kids. It is exactly a great place to bring kids– a buffet, inexpensive, with stuff kids like.
It is as good a salad bar as Austin has, is inexpensive, clean and the staff is pleasant. There’s a good variety of basic salad veggies, fruits, pasta salads the like, baked potato bar, choice of 4 or 5 soups, pizza, crispy tacos, desserts. Just a basic, good family place.

Nasty we found a glove in our food … a glove!!!
never again!!!

They had straws and green olives this time.

Bless their hearts. They try.
Remember being a kid and really enjoying buffets? I do. Now, not so much. Everything tastes geriatric. Even the blue cheese dressing.
It was clean which is more than I can say for some buffets I have had and for $ 6 bucks (Tuesdays is $ 5.99 buffet day) its plenty of food. Its just flavorless.
I won’t be back but I highly doubt this review will sway many others. Some people enjoy hospital food.

I miss the Souper Salad on Anderson. :(I went there just about once a week.
This one smells funny out front. Every time. Like the sewer.
It’s missing the cool colored plates, and the salad bar layout is a lot more awkward.
It’s also just a little too far to go to lunch for work, so it’s only a weekend thing now. Souper Salad, I preferred you to Fresh Choice, but you’re not exactly making this relationship easy. For now, you will continue to be a weekend fling.

Despite every food rule I’ve ever made for myself, I love Souper Salad. Okay? I love it and I shouldn’t.
I tend to stay away from buffets. But this one is salad, so it’s sort of healthy, right? No. You can fool yourself, but it’s not. Oh, and buffets aren’t renowned for their cleanliness. I’m sure this one is no different, but if you went to a buffet expecting it to be clean, you went to the wrong place. That’s like people who go to farmer’s markets who are surprised when their food has dirt in it. It was just in the ground, dummies!
I also tend to stay away from chains. But this is a chain from my childhood! Souper Salad took over what used to be Lettuce Souprise You (and how could you NOT go to a restaurant with such a ridiculous pun for a name?) in Meyerland Plaza in Houston in the dawn of my youth, and I will always, always love it. My grandma explained what a prostitute is to me here (because we saw a real live one!!). I skipped Sunday School with my bestie and we always walked to Souper Salad. I had a tearful fight with my mom about where I’d go to college here. So many memories.
Anyway, let me tell you about the corn fettucine dish. This is the main reason I go there. It’s neither soup nor salad… it could pass for a pasta salad, maybe… it’s extremely overcooked fettucine, with creamed corn, scallions, and more mayo than anyone would care to know about. And it is JUST DELICIOUS. I’m not saying I’m proud, but some days this is all I want.
Honestly, the salad bar ain’t half bad. They have just about every salad topping you could want. Perhaps not the best quality, but still. The soups can be hit or miss… sometimes they scare me off because they form skins from sitting out for a while. The cornbread is pretty good, as is the gingerbread. So are the potatoes if you want to carb-​bomb. I’ve stayed away from the taco/​pizza area, as well as the desserts, but that’s just me. I have a one track mind, and it takes me STRAIGHT to the fettucine.
Anyway, it’s pretty cheap. They’ve started having waiters come around and get you drinks, so you have to tip, but I guess it’s not so bad. Often, I get the buffet. It costs about $ 8.50 with tax and they just give you a bunch of takeout containers so you can stuff them full and have food for days. Not a bad deal at all.
Shake them haterz off, Souper Salad. I luv you forever and ever!

I don’t eat here often, but sometimes I find my work lunch group wanting soup & salad, ladies love their soup & salad.
But what i did want to say about this place is that last time I visited they offered a gluten free menu at the register– stating which salad bar items were gluten free along with dressings and i think one soup.
Although it’s not heaven for a gluten free individual– it works for those moments you must go with the group.
As for management and cleanliness of tables — that’s another forum all together– the waitstaff is pleasant but management has a tactless way of approaching their hourly staff. I saw a manager tell a waitress a table had been dirty for 1 hour– when she obviously could have helped her bus it since the waitress was clearly working her butt off.
take it or leave it, it’s there.

This place has a salad bar with some premixed Italian and Caesar salads and some pasta salads in addition to the usual toppings and nothing else really out of the ordinary. It’s not bad. The veggies seem fresh.
There is a soup bar with 3 selections. The broccoli-​cheese soup looked scary neon orange. Tomato-​basil not bad.
There is a random mish-​mash mush section with a thin pizza, tacos, baked potatoes.
There is a tiny dessert section with cubed cake, some fruit and cottage cake.
You will shell out about $ 8.50 for all of this (not including your drink) and get as much of it as your guilty heart desires. It’s only Soup and Salad and you will still walk out feeling a little unhealthy. Watch out for that dressing, after all!
Similar to Catfish Parlour, there is a roaming drink filler who really tries to be your best bud and craves to give you that «something extra» but he can’t give you what you want, which is simply peace, or maybe a steak.
It’s not bad. And I can see the appeal and I didn’t walk out feeling as dirty as many reviewers did. But at the end of the day, it is only half a restaurant. It’s an inexpensive appetizer bar. For those who accept that model, it’s 3 stars. For everyone else, it’s 2.

My husband and I went once and will never go back. The place is so disgusting it was pretty much impossible for me to enjoy my food. No thanks, no way, never again.

The truth is that I love Souper Salads and this one is close to us. My husband puts up with it once in a while because he knows how much I like it.
But if I really really think about it, I love the nice Souper Salads. This one isn’t the best. First, when you come in, there usually isn’t anyone waiting at the cash register. You have to awkwardly stand there and try to catch the eye of a waitress, who will then go to the back and tell the manager that there are customers waiting at the cash register.
After that happens, you get your salad (yes, my husband is right– sometimes the spinach and other greens are a little wilted) and go sit down. You get a server who brings you a drink (the sodas are like $ 2 so don’t bother, or you can get a no-​refill lemonade for even more) and maybe maybe maybe will bring you another if you run out.
I get a monster salad, baked potato and a piece of either blueberry bread or gingerbread at the end. These two breads are seriously divine. I wish I could make them at home but it’s probably better that I don’t. They also have a soft serve machine with toppings that is sometimes a mess because parents that don’t care let their kids go make a wreck of it. I feel bad for whoever has to clean that up!
After eating, it’s awkward. I leave a reluctant tip… why don’t they just switch to a soda fountain? It would be so much easier.

This place was filthy.
When my friend’s daughter found hair in her food and we told the manager, his reply was
«What do you want me to do? It’s a buffet.»
We’ll never go back.
It’s just gross.

Yes, it’s a chain. And yes, it’s just a salad bar. But it’s pretty tasty, and they have a fairly wide selection of veggies for your salad, and dressings, and you can get a to-​go box. They do well at what they’re there for, though I would appreciate some hard-​boiled eggs available (they have them crumbled, but I like larger egg pieces).