Zoup!

I tried the cheddar and broccoli soup and it made me want to throw up. It’s like a crappy more expensive panera

This place is a bland Panera that’s $ 3 more.

Such a cool idea. They let you taste as many of the soups that you want and rotate them day to day. Everyone who works here is really nice. I had heard that their lobster bisque was good, which it was, but the fire roasted tomato bisque is what drew me in because it had so many different spices.

Uhg, I hate the one star, but it really messed up my day.
I used my trusty Unilocal app to try and find something that I can’t find at home. (As far as I know, these things aren’t in the southeast). It lead me here, well close to here. I used the app and it took me to Chipolte. I looked around and didn’t see any other signs. So, then I called. I let it ring and ring with no answer. I called again, and hit the button for directions. They said they were at the corner of MLK and Stetson, they aren’t, Chipolte is. I finally just asked someone walking by and they showed me it was tucked away a few doors down from Chipolte.
I get there and the door is locked. There was a sign up saying that they were closed due to technical difficulties. I’m not sure why you need a computer to make soup, but if you do, thats kind of scary. Also, why not change your answering machine to say that your closed? Kind of rude.
I tried hard to eat hear, with no end results. And by then the other person I was with had made it through the line at chipolte and the line was out the door. No time for me to walk anywhere else and get back in time before we left for a meeting. Really screwed my whole day up.

For a while, zoup hadnt crossed my mind. I actually dont like chipotle, but for some reason I groaned and still followed my boyfriend to at least get chips and guac at Stetson.
No longer! Zoup actually has some pretty good soups. I really like their lobster bisque, but their pumpkin pie is freaking delicious. Apparently you can get pie crust crumbling on top… what?! My third favorite has got to be the shrimp and asparagus;it still has that seafood-​y taste but it feels lighter than the bisque.
The sourdough bread bowl here can rival panera. If you just get the soup, it comes with a roll.
Dont be shy – ask for samples! No one judges and everyones super friendly.
Tl;dr Great place for hot soup on a cold day. Yummy lobster bisque!

After spending the better part of an afternoon at the Cincinnati Zoo for their HallZOOween event my wife and I wanted to get something to eat nearby. Some friends of ours mentioned they like going to Zoup! before or after the zoo, so we decided to give it a try. Zoup! operates 60 locations in 15 U.S. states and Canada. The Cincinnati location can be found just off Martin Luther King Dr near the University of Cincinnati at Stetson Square.
The inside of Zoup is pretty large with a ton of seating areas, which makes sense considering the close proximity to the University of Cincinnati, especially the Medical Center. Free Wi-​Fi is also offered. Orders are placed at the counter and are prepared just behind the counter in open view.
Soup is obviously the specialty item here, and they have a dozen unique creations available daily, but they also have a variety of sandwiches and salads. I tried the southwest turkey sandwich with pepper jack, tomato, and chipotle mayo on toasted country fresh bread ($ 6.50 for whole). The sandwich was prepared fresh and toasted beautifully. The ingredients were fairly standard, though the chipotle mayo was a nice touch.
My wife and I split a side of the chicken potpie soup ($ 4.25) and this was excellent, though a bit expensive for the serving size. I think on a return visit I would order a combo half sandwich and a side of soup for myself, which start at $ 7.50, which I find to be an acceptable price for a solid lunch.

I love Zoup. Especially on a cold, yucky day, you just want soup for a meal. I love that you can sample as many soups as you want before ordering. The staff is always friendly and helpful. Some of my favorite soups are the macaroni and cheese (listen, I’m going for comfort food here, not healthy) and the chicken pot pie, but honestly everything I’ve ever had has been delicious. Soup always comes with a choice of bread. I’m a huge fan of the tuna salad and Loco Burritio salad as well. I have seen some reviewers comment on the price, but honestly, it’s comparable to Panera or McAllister’s, so I don’t think it’s anything out of the ordinary.

Really great variety and quality of soups, I’ve tried the Italian Wedding (my absolute favorite) and the «pizza» soup (also really good). Sandwiches are typical, but good, nothing too great. You get a piece of bread with every meal — I need to ask for two!
Unique spot that’s never crowded but needs better service. The place is clean and the food is delish!

+ The service is really great here! They encourage you to take as many samples as you’d like.
+ The soup is flavorful! Great comfort food.
+ Wi-​fi
— A little expensive in my opinion for what it is.
Tip: If you go often, get a stamp card!

Fast and friendly service with many choices for soup. I appreciated that you can easily sample any of the soups before ordering just like an ice cream shop. I had the lobster bisque which was creamy, full of flavor, and loaded with substantial chunks of lobster. Soups are served with a choice of breads — I opted for French which came warmed and was a great pairing with the bisque. Lots of comfortable table/​booth seating, free wifi, and clean restrooms. Park on the side street for free parking as the free lot is for 15 – 30 minutes only. Definitely will be back.

Got food quickly! Fast and friendly seating. And food tasted great! A bug issue would be parking plus Zoup isn’t super easy to see when driving by.

Kind of pricey and the soup is not homemade. Lots of windows in the place so it feels warm and happy. Staff is always nice. Parking is a bear but this is a good lunch spot. Half sandwhich, small soup and a small drink is about $ 11

I wandered in here the other day looking for a change from the other local eating spots. I think that it certainly provides contrast.
They have a HUGE selection of soup and you can try them all before you buy. I really enjoyed my grilled cheese and tomato/​vegetable soup. However, I think that cost was too high for the portion size and for a «fast food» type establishment.
I wouldn’t avoid going again, but I’m also not exactly eager to make it back right away.

The people who work here are very nice. The customer service is off the chain. Great experience!

Grand soup selection (taste ‘em all for free!) and nice assortment of salads and sandwiches. Combo gets you two out of three of these for $ 8: small soup, half sandwich, half salad. I’ve tried a few things in a couple visits. Chicken Pot Pie soup is comforting. Asian salad was great. Greek wrap was passable but I wouldn’t get it again.
Location is just across the street from University Hospital, right beside Chipotle. Kind of a goofy name for a restaurant, but it’s nice to get out of the hospital, take a short walk and get some fresh food.

I went to Zoup! for the first time yesterday for lunch. I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either. The sandwich I had was very fresh but I wasn’t impressed. It was too simple for the price. The salad was a good size and fresh. The atmosphere was perfect for catching up with old friends. We were able to grab a parking spot in the parking lot behind the building which was a bonus.
My biggest problems were with ordering my food. I had a hard time seeing the menu on the wall and when I asked for a paper menu to look at they sent me back to the front door to grab one. It would have been nice to have it right there. My other problem was trying to figure out who wanted to take my order as none of the staff were really engaging with us and indicating who we were supposed to be talking to. Awkward.
I will likely try Zoup! again and order something different. Here’s hoping the ordering process isn’t as confusing.

This place is still average in quality but two things keep me coming back: convenience (I work in the building, and it sucks to walk outside when it’s humid) and the punch card that gives you your 9^th meal free. Still, I cringe inwardly every time I see that I paid almost $ 6 for a 12 oz soup and a bread roll. You could get the same for half the price at Univ Hospital or CCHMC. But until I stop being lazy I’ll deal with the slight emotional discomfort!

Update
Zoup has bettered their customer service and now is one of my favorite Saturday lunch options. Nutrition information is available for all soups and the rotating options are available to taste. Customer service is excellent– they even warm your bread! This place has gone from mediocre to great!

So, this place is a chain. This is the only one in Cincinnati, but it’s definitely a post-​Panera chain that is indeed, like everyone else said, a version of that same idea. It’s a chain fat-​food-​café — so you order at a counter and sit down. The soups were decent — we kept coming back for the potato soup which was a lot better than Panera’s and great to grab while on our way home from DAAP.
The bread bowl they have is actually amazingly good. My side french bread wasn’t anywhere near as good as the bread bowl, so we kept paying the upcharge for the bread bowl.
They have their daily soups on the web and you can get them sent to you in an e-​mail.
It’s a good idea, and it’s great for quick food. I really enjoyed it during my last quarter at UC, but then again, I was just really hungry that last quarter.

I’m a man who loves soup. LOVE soup. If I had to pick one thing to eat for the rest of my life, it would be soup. Soup, soup, soup.
Which is why you think I’ve be overwhelmed with a restaurant with over 100 soups … unfortunately, I was not.
First of all, they do have over 100 soups, but not all at once. Every day there is about 12 different soups and they rotate daily. Still really neat, but dammit, I wanted the option of 100 soups! Is that too much to ask? Ah well.
Now, the soups that they do have are solid! We walked into Zoup and was greeted by a friendly soup handler behind the counter. He went through all the daily options (the lobster bisque and chicken pot pie soup, we learned, are always there. The other ones rotate.) We also got to try free samples of as many of the soups that we wanted in order to make our choice. Nice.
I got the chicken pot pie and it was tasty — it tasted like pot pie filling and even had bits of crust on top. My friend got the lemon Thai soup, a daily special, and it was tasty. Very very lemony, so if that’s not your thing, you wouldn’t like the soup.
Here’s where I’m underwhelmed though. First of all — atmosphere. Zoup feels just like any other chain out there, specifically Panera Bread. It felt like the same color scheme, the same plastic chairs and tables, the same type of mindless artwork (they had pictures of spoons up on the walls, which I guess worked with the soup theme but was kind of strange all the same.) There is nothing remarkable about the way this place looks and that made me sad.
The other is price. It was almost $ 10 for a bowl of soup, soda and a tiny loaf of bread. Wow. Way too expensive for what I got for lunch. I was expecting $ 6 to $ 8 and it’s much higher.
Still, the rotating soup idea is a neat one and the food was tasty, so it’s really not that bad. 3 stars, A-​Ok indeed.