Ladles Homemade Soups: Downtown

I ate here like 4 times in a row, it was great, food was great, staff was awesome. My favorite was the buttermilk dressing. Soup and salad daily #WINNING!

It was so yummy I had the split pea and ham soup it was so delicious!!!
Visited with kids. Many choices of soup, salad, and sandwiches. Only 3 tables inside. Really friendly helpful & patient owners. You can sample soup if you like.
She crab soup was white — cream based.
Lemon Greek chicken soup also good.
Soup is served as pint.

Really great place for a quick Saturday lunch… Salads are very fresh and service is great.

The owner snapped at my girlfriend asking «WELL WHAT DO YOU WANT?» with a soup cup in her hand. Over a size decision. Very rushed and snappy, though her order took less than one minute. Yikes.

I’m start writing this review while i’m in line to wait for soup. I don’t even get how you can create a line for such easy dishes. The pots are ready to serve but the workers are just a mess.
The lady behind the counter is pouring and preparing orders while another guy has to bag, add bread to it and return it to the register. Why isn’t that guy just putting the soup in the bowl as well? Is he not capable?
If this isn’t the worst operations I’ve ever seen in the hospitality industry, I don’t know. In the meantime, the small space that they have, is just getting more crowded and because the register is at the door, nobody really moved over to the sitting area because than you start bothering the eat-​in customers but than again you are blocking the door for incoming. They should redo the whole layout and place the register to the back of the counter, make their food options beside soup a lot smaller. The average wait should be around 2 minutes if the only order you do is soup.
Another thing I would suggest them to do, is create a self serve for the soup. Let people get their own soup, walk to the register, order additional food if necessary and boom, out in 5
When it comes to soup, they are doing a decent job, that’s basically where they deserved their two-​stars because based upon the rest of the experience, this location will not see me again anytime soon unless they get their s**t together
Even worse was when I came out, I almost got a ticket because I exceeded my meter because I didn’t anticipated the long wait
This place should be 4-​stars but I feel that they don’t feel the urge to fix anything because people keep on walking in thanks to the location. I assume that not a lot of people in offices and locals beside students are planning on coming here a lot.

My girlfriend and I walked in to the downtown location looking for love. Oh man did we find it! Carol was so nice and concerned about our dietary needs and directed my girlfriend to the chicken noodle and for myself the Carolina Stew. She somehow took one look at me and knew that I would love it. It is amazingly tender pulled pork and a hint of crushed red pepper and cabbage. Pairs well with a roll and I make soup at home and have been in Charleston for a month now with our baby at MUSC and what a relief to find a restaurant that cares about their patrons health and well being. Felt great after eating there!

Great spot for a great price. 12 homemade from scratch soups, salad, bread all you can eat plus a full menu as well. The soups, I had 3, are dome very well and the salad was basic but fresh with great dressings. The soups are light with complex flavors and are worth the visit. Interior is a sandwich lunch style place that is basic but nice. For 10 – 13 dollars you get a lot for that price.

I passed this place by everyday on the way to my biology class from the main campus, and was curious as to how a place can survive downtown by selling only soups and sandwiches, and now I know.
This little shop has the best soups I’ve ever had, accompanied by a staff more friendly than Chick Fil A.
The prices are really low for the high quality of what is served!

Awesome little spot with good tea, fresh soups and sandwiches and delish vegan Friday options. Affordable and big portions. Don’t miss out!

Great food, very friendly!
I’ve never had a bad experience. I love that they have daily specials and lots of variety.

What a fantastic, little, hidden gem! I stumbled on this place while in town for business. The staff was extremely friendly. After testing a couple of their daily options I settled on the Italian wedding soup w/​a half of an egg salad sandwich. Delicious!

Surprisingly better than expected. It is super small inside– plan on taking it to go. I did like that you get a sample of soup with any sandwich order. I thought it was a bit pricey for what you got, but it tasted good and relatively freshly made. 8 of us walked in and ordered at once and it took a pretty long time to get all of our food, but to me that’s a sign that it’s being relatively freshly made, or at least not pre made. The rolls weren’t anything impressive though– I saw her grabbing them out of a plastic bag of them.

Great soup/​sandwiches for the price. Relatively healthy and hearty. I had the chicken noodle soup and chicken salad sandwich. The half-​half combo was $ 8 and came with a drink/​dinner roll. Large variety for soups, salads, sandwiches and vegan options. Quick, friendly lunch place. Limited seating, good for on the go.

Great people, great location, great food. Absolutely love this place. Buffalo chicken and/​or turkey ruben Id the way to go!

Really fabulous soups, sandwiches and salads. My group had a different variety of each and every one was good. Owner Carol herself was behind the counter– pleasant and gracious and very friendly. Thanks for the BEST lunch on a 40 degree day ;)

We stopped here for lunch after taking the Fort Sumter tour so warm liquids were in order. By local standards, it was cold on the water in February.
The owner, who was really nice, offered samples. The wife ordered asparagus blue cheese soup with half a grilled cheese sandwich. I ordered she crab soup, also with half a grilled cheese sandwich. Both soups were delicious. In addition to great soup, this place has a good selection of grilled cheese sandwiches. The wife says that her grilled cheese sandwich was the second best she has ever had. Her standards are high.

Ladles has a delicious healthy inexpensive menu of fresh made soups and gourmet sandwiches and salads. On Saturday I always get the shrimp and grits. The best I’ve ever had. Great place with a friendly and attentive staff. They also offer gluten free and vegan and vegetarian options.

I came in for lunch and we were the only ones there. The two workers were great and we had a normal delicious ladles experience. A friend of ours who was with us placed a to-​go order, paid, and left asking us to take it when we were done as she had a few errands to run.
While we were eating I would say maybe 2 parties of four and a party of 2 came in and placed orders. The way they were scrambling was like they had never seen this many people come in before. It was lunch time and I would expect it can get much busier. We ate quick and were in a bit of a rush so we cleaned up our table incase anyone else wanted to sit as there was no way the 2 staff members would have been able to add anything to their task list. One was taking orders while the other made sandwiches in the back. Eventually after waiting for quite a while I asked where our to-​go order was. Turns out they forgot to make it and we had to wait all over again.
They shouldn’t be overwhelmed by 10 people coming in for lunch. Maybe they needed more staff… not sure. It did make for a rough experience though. Best thing is that they have the best deal on frozen soups of all the Ladles in town offering 4 quarts for $ 10. Can’t beat that!

I’m not a fan. I’m sorry. I really tried to be. I did like the greek chicken soup, but the loaded potato soup was really more like mashed potatoes. I love soup, but for some reason Ladles just doesn’t do it for me.
But I have lots of friends who are obsessed, so maybe I’m just weird. That’s probably it.

Stopped in for a quick lunch bite. Tried the lemon greek chicken soup… absolutely DELICIOUS!!! Great flavor. It came with a roll, which was dry, but ok. Very tiny inside, only three tables or so, with some outdoor seating as well.
Staff were pleasant and helpful.
The two others I dined with seemed to really enjoy their soup and sandwiches. The cookie wasn’t too bad either!