Souper Salad

Wow yuckk! that’s all I have to say I walked here took me 30 minutes because I remember this place to be very delicious however when I got there I got the salad bar it was lunch time around 130 and there was no air conditioning on a 85 degree day the employee told me they hadn’t had air conditioning in 3 years ! that day the salad bar was baren and they had run out of sweet potatoes — mushrooms chick peas and 3 different dressings. The manager was a lazy and rude woman who wasn’t at the register when I tried pay 3 times I felt very uncomfortable and wanted to take my food to go that I didn’t even want. it was the worst of Boston and I am not that picky NEVER come here warning.

One star for this place being open during a blizzard. Second star for the super sweet woman behind the counter.
I applaud Souper Salad for being open today. It’s a crap shoot with who is and isn’t open in the city when the MBTA isn’t running. I swung by Souper Salad after a class on Newbury St on my walk home. I hadn’t been and figured it could be a great option to grab a salad on the go.
The salad bar wasn’t open — ok, we’ll blame the weather. I ordered a sandwich and they were out of the roasted vegetables that are normally on it. We’ll blame the weather again. The woman behind the counter was older and really was quite sweet trying to improvise with other vegetables. We substituted roasted vegetables with cucumbers and red onions.
On my walk home I really wasn’t feeling confident in this sandwich so I stopped at Vega. Not open. Stuck with Souper Salad’s sandwich. I was starving and dug into the sandwich but it was ALL mustard. An insane amount of mustard, a cold and salty chicken breast, some lettuce, tomato, cucumbers and onions and bread. Womp. Now I know — go with your gut instinct and swing by Panera instead.

Just ate here for first time had the Asiago roast beef it was a really good samdwich. Atmosphere was ok kinda old employees not very friendly but all in all it was ok

I like this place even though it’s looked on with disdain from all my co workers. I would give them 5 stars for their Bangkok Curry Bowl, but the last few times I’ve come here, they haven’t had it. Super weird because it was delicious. This is still a solid choice for lunch. Basic burritos, sandwiches, and soup with a pretty good salad bar too.

Always great when looking to grab a quick lunch during work. I usually fill my take out salad container until it is about to burst. The salad is usually pretty fresh and you cant go wrong for all that salad for under $ 10. Have yet to try the soup but if its anything like the salad then that would be a big plus on a cold day.

I work directly across from this Souper Salad and while it isn’t my favorite place, we stop in every once in a while to mix it up. It has always been pretty decent, but there are some issues.
My first issue is price. It is too expensive for what it is. Adding 2 half-​strips of bacon to my sandwich costs $ 1.50. Overall you get a pretty small sandwich and a soda for about $ 10. Plenty of other places in the area which higher quality and bigger portions for the same price.
My next issue just happened today which inspired the immediate writing of this review. I went to order a sandwich and the guy looked in the basket and there was no bread. A manager comes over and asks what i’m waiting for. I respond i’m waiting for bread for my sandwich and she matter-​of-​factly answers «oh we have no sliced bread in the restaurant». Ummmm ok, you’re a sandwich shop, how can you possibly not have bread?!?
The restaurant generally appears to be poorly run from everything i can see. After this last experience i will never be returning.

To be fair, I only had one meal at Souper Salad. However, my experience was so bad I vowed I will never come back.
I was rushed for lunch, and if you have limited time, your lunch options around Back Bay are limited. Souper Salad is close to my office and it wasn’t busy so the choice was clear. I wanted to get something healthy but I didn’t feel like a salad, so I decided to get the chicken burrito bowl. My bowl contained a scoop of rice, beans, a few pieces of chicken, and an extremely small scoop of salsa for close to $ 7. Man what a rip off. I was still hungry after finishing the bowl and headed over to Au Bön Pan to grab a quick pre-​made sandwich. Yea so it so wasn’t worth it.

I was souper hungry and in a rush so this fit the bill. But my wrap was made by someone who clearly did not give a rat’s ass about his job.
My chicken cobb wrap was okay. It was a pile of stuff just thrown together and of course, it busted due to the careless employee.
The barley vegetable soup at $ 4 for a small was pretty atrocious. It tasted like porridge. I like porridge but not when it’s billed as a barley vegetable soup.
As another Unilocaler said, Souper Salad is «mediocrity at its best.»

i frequently find myself at the sald bar at souper salad, since i have to admit i love buffets. the price point is great, where the salad is priced by the size of the bowl rather than the weight. which means that a bowl of tortellini is the same exact cost as a bowl of spinach, and you are rewarded for how much food you can physically stuff into the container.
that being said, the options are alright. the vegetables are okay, but not the freshest or brighest that i’ve had. they have the standard carrots, tomatoes, lettuces, cucumbers, and peppers, and then supplemented with beans, radish, beets, edamame, and other options. some of the cold salads are alright, but i have a feeling that they are really bad for me. i do enjoy the options to add tofu, tuna, chicken, ham, or turkey, but the turkey pieces are a little slimey and the chicken is a bit dry.
dessert is awesome, all of the cookies and brownies are really good. there is also the option for sandwiches and soups at the counter, which are all pretty decent.

Ok wow. I screwed up. Office friend needed soup, so I go. How bad can it be? Well not Subway bad but between the cluster***** of a salad bar made up of lettuce, lettuce, and some blah looking add-​ins and lettuce (various shades of green). I wanted nothing to do with the salad bar. So I went with one of the sandwiches, the chicken Tuscany. Regrets mounted with each bite. Bland. Dry-​ish chicken. surprisingly mediocre veggies for a salad bar place. I was not the only one — my friend said her soup was as if the previous customer got all the good stuff.
Really? Two stars for the food. So why the lowest rating? The staff. I had this feeling we were intruding. There was a manager sitting in the corner reading something, workers quietly wandering around cleaning things and putting things away and a cashier who never actually looked at us, just took our money and when I said «Thanks — have a good day» she literally turned her back to us and yelled to one of the other employees something about the cleaner she wanted «like 10 ago.»
You’re welcome.

Mediocre. I think (but can’t confirm) that this location is under new ownership/​management. About a month or two ago there were noticeable changes as follows:
1) air conditioning system is not being used so the place is always very hot and uncomfortable.
2) the staff is mostly all new and seems less friendly and not as well trained.
3) soup menu does not rotate as often as before.
4) overall food quality has gone downhill
5) it is half full at best and used to always been very busy during lunch time.
I have been frequenting this place for a long time and usually it had good soups as well as friendly and consistent staff. Not any more sadly.

Mediocrity at its best you could say? The lack of aircon was already not welcomed on my part considering it was a pretty hot day when I visited and so was the slightly not-​nice smell of food all over the place (not the right kind of food smell, you know?) Don’t go there if you want a nice décor, cosy place to stop at for lunch because you won’t be getting any of it.
I had a hacienda burrito which was pretty decent with good guacamole and not too overpriced. The person I was with had a salad from the salad bar and everything seemed pretty fresh and there was plenty of choice.
The women’s toilets were in a disgusting state and that alone convinced me to never come back again. If they can have bathrooms in this state during lunch hour, god knows what can happen in the kitchen…

I JOINED Unilocal to pan this place. UGH! Every place in Back Bay is hopping at lunch except here. (should have been my first clue) Its a mild cloudy day in the 60’s and it was at least 95 degrees in this place. I got the $ 7.49 pick 2 combo, choosing a half sandwich and small soup. The chicken poblano sandwich while ok-​to-​tasty, had a razor thin piece of meat. I saw him take one portion of grilled chicken, shave off a thin piece and then put the lion’s share back in the bin. The turkey chili is tasty but so hearty it had hardly any liquid. I bit my tongue when he handed me my food but chose to speak up at the register about the way he divided the portion of chicken. Completely dismissed without a word. EEK! Methinks not.

Holy S@?T does this place need a makeover… I walked in there for the first time about 3 weeks ago… I was so in the mood for a good salad bar and I knew this was where to go… the salad wasn’t bad at all really… seemed fresh… tasted good… but the place was dingy and old looking… like bad… it didn’t particularly look clean… the managers office was at the end of the counter with a curtain draped over it… strange…just a really off atmosphere… didn’t really seem particularly busy either… which makes sense… with panera around the corner who needs this old show… wrecking ball maybe???

This place was just OK. I came here with a colleague after discovering our first Back Bay dining choice would leave us waiting in-​line.
The place has a fairly good selection of stuff to eat — It’s almost like a mini food court. But honestly (and you’ll read this in the other reviews as well) first timers will either need to watch the traffic pattern or you’ll end up like me, asking more than one person «how things work» in the hodgepodge of activity they have going on there.

I work right in the heart of the Back Bay, right on Dartmouth Street. Have for a couple of years now, but for some reason I very rarely cross over the barrier that is Clarendon Street. Sure, I will walk all the way down to Gloucester Street for some delicious middle eastern food, but to go a whole block and a half in the other direction is like putting your shoes on the wrong feet. You just don’t do it. Today was different; my bff was doing some free-​lance work in my building and we decided to go for a late lunch. Our first stop was the little café in the library, but they were closing early for some weird reason. So we meandered through the farmers market and finally landed ourselves in this place.
It is interesting. First walking in, I had the feeling that I was walking into an old school diner-​ish place. Then I went around the pay counter and saw the salad bar. No old school diner in their right mind would have a fancy salad bar, let alone one with at least four choices of croutons. That, however, is all that I really know about the salad bar. It certainly looked fancy, but, then again, the lettuce could be sub-​par. I don’t know. Maybe next time.
There were a lot of those temporary queue dividers all over the place and my bff and I had to take a few moments to figure out what line to get in. This process would most likely have been aided if there were people in the lines, but late lunches leave empty seats and empty seats mean less of a crowd to show the newbies what to do. No one from behind the counter spoke up to ask if they could help us, either, and it didn’t look like they were all that busy, so that is a star knocked off right there.
When I finally pulled it together enough to walk up to the counter and order my food, I could barely hear the person taking my order. It isn’t as if there was much of anything besides a chest-​high counter and air between us, but I still had to have him repeat the choices of bread about three times before I just said, «WHEAT WILL BE FINE». The bff had the same issue with her soup order; how many soups sound like «chili»? One, that I know of. Also, the pay counter was a farce; I was called over to what looked like the coffee counter to ring out. Strange.
Finally, with our food acquired, we went to sit in the seats that face the window. This place has seating all around their windows, the kind of seating that is like bar stools at a bar, but the bar is the window. You know the type. Anyway, we tried swiveling the chairs toward us to sit down. These things turn about 20º maximum, so slipping your butt into the seats can be challenging. Once we had sat down and arranged ourselves, my bff turned to me and simply said, «You MUST Unilocal this place.» So here you are. I think I will go back at some point, because the vegetarian black bean soup was that good. I just don’t know when. The Clarendon Street Barrier is a strong one.

The soup there is basic, nothing special about it.
They give you pop chips with a sandwich, but don’t ask which kind you would like. (Who like potato cheddar, honestly.)
The salad bar is nice since you pay by the container, not the weight. Good for fruit salad. But regular salad gets gritty wilted lettuce. Not so super, eh?

Just gross.
I’m not a food snob, I love all types and all cost-​levels of dining, but I was really grossed out by this place. It looks like it hasn’t received a good scrubbing since it openened, everything has a grimy aura. I ordered the burrito bowl which was nothing more than some black beans, greasy grilled veggies, canned salsa, cheapO cheese, and some chunky sour cream slapped into a bowl. This mess cost $ 7.50 which is outrageous if you ask me.
Overall: unappealing food, dirty-​looking environment. Made me feel ick, cannot recommend.

My boss had a craving for their Tuscany Walkabout (greens, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, fresh mozz and balsamic) and asked me if I wouldn’t mind making the trek from our office to their location on St. James and Berkeley. She was paying… so I said ok.
First, the layout here is incredibly ill-​conceived. You walk in and wind your way around tables, to then find yourself winding around cash registers plopped smack-​dab in the middle of the place. The salad bar is not even an arms width from the back wall and the line for the salad/​soup/​sandwich stations form directly against the opposite side. It was not easy to navigate and I was being pushed and shoved standing in line as people tried to make their way to other stations (our line was longer than the amount of space allotted… nothing we could do). All that aside…
I decided on the Buffalo Chicken Walkabout. It was delicious. The buffalo sauce has a decided kick to it, but the bleu cheese dressing was a nice distraction from the heat. It’s mild, not too strong of a bleu so I’m glad I didn’t substitute ranch as is my normal practice. They also sell a line of delicious potato chips… can’t remember the brand name, but the sweet onion flavor was awesome.
Wish it wasn’t such a hike from our office, but on a nice day, I’d make the trip again.

Sometimes rules can come back and bite you in the ass.
I have one rule I always try to follow when traveling, never eat somewhere that you could at home. While logic told me to just hit the ABP by my hotel, I sought out something they don’t have in Chicago (thank goodness) — Souper Salad.
This was hands down one of the 5 worst burritos I’ve ever eaten. I should have known when the guy handed me my burrito and it was folded like a Tootsie Roll. I ate about ²⁄₃ of it before throwing in the towel and that was only because I needed to stop my stomach from growling. The burrito had zero — nada, zip, bupkis — flavor, even the «hot sauce» tasted like nothing. The fact that they put a little flame next to the menu description is a joke. If it were only also devoid of any fat and calories, that at least would be fair.
Thank goodness for per diems, it takes the sting out of wasting $ 6 on a glorified rice cake.