Souplantation

I am extremely disappointed in this Souplantation. As I walked in and grabbed a plate, I noticed some were still dirty. This set the tone. I went on to grab some salad and it looked old and soggy. I got the Cesar salad ’cause it looked like the safest option — it wasn’t. I also made my own salad combined with plain pasta, and the pasta had an awful aftertaste. All of the food seemed to taste dull, as if it were frozen and microwaved minutes before it was brought out. Hell, my fiancée even had better instant Mac and Cheese the other day than what was served here. The only thing that made me give 1 star (besides the fact that I can’t give zero stars) was the strawberry lemonade. The ice cream couldn’t even save this place! I’m am very sad that I wasted my money here, and I won’t be coming back. I wouldn’t recommend eating here.

If you have any sense for good food stay as far from here as possible. Let me elaborate. The Lemon Greek pasta is an awful over-​salted and lemon juiced disaster. The pizza is just a crappy over buttered bread with tasteless toppings. No decent protein at all. Only marginally redeeming items are the prepped salads and the French onion soup.

Souplantation is definitely perfect for those rare June gloom kind of days in SoCal. I came specifically because I wanted the claim chowder and it did not disappoint. It was really creamy and had plenty of potatoes and clams with a slight spice to them. My other favorite was the chicken noodle soup which had chunks of chicken and noodle in a heavily seasoned chicken broth.
They also had other foods such as a couple kinds of pastas, some focaccia, and a small desert bar. Their largest menu item was salads when you first come in. They have some premade and you can make your own. The salads I tried were pretty good and the veggies were are pretty fresh.
Overall, if you join their veg club and get a coupon, definitely worth the meal!

Pros:
+Fast
+Clean
+Organized (Has an attendant to seat you
+Good selection of Greens
+Student Discount Available if you are a student
+ AYCE (All you can eat) salad, soup, pizza, muffins, pasta, and dessert
Cons:
+Small Parking Lot
+I am a meat person so it’s hard for me to truly get full here, but still a good place if you are feeling like being healthy
Notes:
Trying to be healthy? Go here.

It’s cheap and buffet but even the soup is below average! There are other items like small pizza and dessert but they also aren’t too good.

We luv this place I actually came to visit one of my long buddy of mine that works here but today is his day off Vladimir and all of the staff here are very polite

I haven’t had souplantation for like a year so decided to go tonight because they had a beef and sausage Bolognese pasta thingie for the month of March. I love Italian food.
I realize that I just don’t like this place. There’s not much variety of food and the quality is mediocre. That’s expected though because it’s only like $ 10 a person (with coupon).
Even though this place is supposedly healthy, I make everything I eat unhealthy. Sadness.
— baked potatoes with tons of butter, sour cream, bunch of bacon, and some green onions
— I like spinach and mixed veggies with beets and croutons, drenched in ranch dressing
— I get some ranch in a separate container and use it as dipping sauce for the cheese bread/​pizza thing
— I also try a little bit of every soup, which was like 5 – 6 diff ones
— at the end I get vanilla ice cream in the tiny cone with caramel drizzle and some nuts
— I tried some of the Bolognese and did not like it much, kind of plain.
My sister is always yelling at me because I like to get more than I can eat and that embarrasses her but I don’t careeeee
Overall, I probably ate like 5,000 calories earlier. Greattttt. No self control
I did notice that this place was pretty packed for a Monday night! And the workers are more attentive and nicer than the one in Fountain Valley. This one is smaller than FV though.

My favorite Sunday night hang out. Fresh salad, soup, pasta and fruit. Wow! Yay! The only downside is the wait when it’s busy but on the plus side the turnover makes everything fresh! Kids love the sundae bar. I love the nice people that there, they always are so helpful.

Recently they’ve been skimping on the food here.
Food is constantly running out.
Soup tastes water down
Very little noodle or chicken in the chicken soup.
Soup line takes forever
Eggs are no longer offered at this location
Muffins are getting smaller and smaller
And to top it off, prices have gone up.
Parking is hard to find.
There’s usually long lines after 6pm.
As much as I enjoy the service here and the atmosphere, the time and price is too much.

I love Souplantation, If you eat healthy you can never regret going there.
All you have to do, go there grab a tray and a plate, start with the salads pay at the cashier, go to the soups station, then refill!
lunch ends at 4:00 pm
I like this location on weekdays! comfy and smells good.

My daughter (who’s 8) heard wonderful things about souplantation. It had been a few years for me and I hadn’t remembered it being that bad. So I opted to take her one night for dinner and boy was that a big mistake. This location was packed and the choices were very limited. My memory did serve me well. I loaded up a tasty salad but aside from that there was only two other dishes I could eat. I only tried one of them. She mostly ate a ton of carbs. I just think they need to step their game up here on choices and quickly cleaning tables. We sat outside, which was ok due to the heaters. And pretty pleasant because it was so loud inside. Definitely only come if you have coupons, spending $ 30 for two people to eat at a subpar establishment is not the way to go.

I freaking love Souplantation! I mean, how could anyone possibly complain about a healthy but delicious buffet?! I feel less bad about stuffing my face because the food is essentially healthy. I’m not a big fan of vegetables and I love to eat meat, but I surprisingly love Souplantation. They somehow are able to make veggies taste good!
There isn’t a lot of variety in the types of food. There is only salad, soup, pasta, baked goods, and dessert. However, there are a lot of options within those food groups.
— Salad: I love their pre-​made salads. My favorite is definitely the Wonton Happiness. It’s also nice that they have so many additional veggies and toppings so you can add to the pre-​made salads or make your own.
— Soup: There are so many options for soup! I always just get a little bit of each so I can try it all. My all-​time favorite is still the Big Chunk Chicken Noodle. That one always runs out so you have to be on the lookout for when they refill it.
— Pasta: Their pastas aren’t anything special. In my opinion, they’re a little bland. I usually like to throw a bit of salt & pepper and cheese on top for extra flavor.
— Bakery: Their Cheesy Garlic Focaccia is really yummy. Perfect on its own or dipped in soup. Their blueberry muffins are amazeballs. I always eat a couple and take a couple home with me too. They’re the best when they just come out of the oven.
— Dessert: The dessert selection is small. That’s not a big issue though since I’m usually so full after my meal to even have room for dessert. However, if they have their chocolate lava cake, I always make room for that! Add some vanilla soft-​serve on top and you have heaven in your mouth.
— Drinks: In addition to the typical soft drinks, they have some great juices and teas. My favorite is the strawberry lemonade.
The cool thing about Souplantation is that the menu changes pretty often. Most of the items are regular and always available. However, they switch out a few items in each food group every so often that are only available for a limited time. This is good because they always have something different when I go, but it’s also bad when I want something that was limited-​time only that isn’t available anymore. Sometimes they have themes like Greek food or Asian food. My favorite is definitely strawberry month in the summer.
TIP: Definitely sign up for their email newsletter! They let you know what special foods are coming that month and always send you coupons!
Overall, Souplantation is amazing! Great to come with family, friends, or even on a date. It’s perfect for everyone, except for people who want more meat and fat in their meals. Tough luck there.

Souplantation, what my suburban strip mall childhood is made of. Happy to say that it still lives on in my adulthood, again in strip mall suburbia! I can’t count how many times I’ve been to this location, but I still reminisce sitting at one with my dad, because my mom couldn’t make dinner :).
It’s great that my better half loves this place as much as me, so it’s always at the top of the list when its cold and rainy! We like to think that we’re eating healthy, and cutting back on carbs, but we indulge on all the bad stuff anyways. The salad bar is always great, fully stocked (rarely is anything empty), always changing (Greek/​Thai/​Lemon themes), and always CLEAN. There’s always someone wiping down the counters, and the person making the salads is always washing their hands and fully gloved. The selection is great, and there;s more than enough ingredients to build any salad, pasta salad, etc. My recommendations are always Joan’s Broccoli, Tuna Fish Pasta Salad, CITRUS CORN QUINOA! (can’t believe they have this in an AYCE setting, RIP), what used to the be Chicken Wonton Salad (now sans chicken), and the croutons!
As far as their hot foods go, you can’t mess with the Garlic Foccacia or the Foccacia pizza. Perfect stuff! Move on next to them and you have the tasty muffins, soft cornbread, and various breads (grab the sourdough for heavenly clam chowder dipping!). Now the soups are the real MVP (go figure), theres always 8 – 10 of them, and a few of them change pretty often. Amongst my memory French Onion, Clam Chowder, Chili, Chicken Noodle, and Asian Ginger are my top favorites.
For the pastas, usually they’re pretty plain (typically no meat), but the Mac-​and-​Cheese, always is a crowdpleaser. Just gooey enough, and the pasta is cooked perfectly soft!
Now desert, is where I love this place the most, and as a kid was given the perfect tip by a waitress back home when I was still a little one. Taking a soup bowl (they used to be bigger), and putting whatever dessert cake at the bottom (my favorite being the Chocolate Lava Cake!), and then walking over to the soft serve machine and smothering icey vanilla goodness all over. This is always the perfect finish to a gluttonous salad buffet.
Overall, this place merges quality, cleanliness, and good service (the plates are typically off your table in a jiffy when you go to get new good, the faces are smiling, and if you’re lucky you get a chocolate chip cookie!). It’s a chain, but it’s a consistent one, that always has a place in my heart and stomach! For those who haven’t been baptized by the Souplantation gods, head on down during the next downpour of El Nino!

You can’t go wrong here! It’s AYCE salad, soup, pizza, muffins, pasta, and dessert!
Food: vegetables/​salad are fresh. They’re busy enough to constantly refill the food often. Steer far from things that’s been sitting there for hours! I love their Joan’s broccoli and honey mustard dressing! Muffins (even gluten free), pizza, bread, cornbread, and various soup are delish!
Favorite bakery goodies: pizza, blueberries muffin, gluten free coconut muffin, cornbread.
Favorite soup: chicken noodle soup (not salty!), clam chowder
Dessert: soft serve, lava cake, tapioca pudding
Boy, that’s everything! Ok, so I love everything here!
Price: about $ 13/​person but sign up for their e-​newsletter, you’ll often get coupons/​discounts
Service: the servers are super friendly and nice! They’re so helpful! Even though they are only required to remove plates from your table and clean, they offer to refill your drinks and anything you need! Excellent!
Overall: still one of my favorite go-​tos! Healthy, delicious, clean and did I mention AYCE?!

First meal in 2016 and I think this is the perfect start into a new healthy and awesome year.
Haven’t been to any Souplantation since 2012 and I still love it.
It’s All You Can Eat and normally you go online and check for deals and have the QR code on your phone scanned inside the restaurant. NO PRINTS required.
Even with the coupons, they raised the price from $ 8 to $ 11.95 which is still very reasonable for a very healthy All you Can Eat meal. It’s not just soup or salad. You can get dessert, pasta, Mac and Cheese, Pizza, drinks, more soup etc.
It was a great choice to come here and I say it again. Best start into a new year.

I love Souplantation. I’ve been coming here, like many, since childhood.
This location is right across the street from my office, and like others have noted, it does get busy on weekdays at lunchtime. Parking in this center is a nightmare (there is a parking garage at the end of the complex, but if you’re in a bit of a hurry, it’s a tad of a nuisance to drive in, up, park, walk down, etc.)
There are usually 4 — 6 premade salads available, as well as the full salad bar to create your own. Pizzas (garlic foccacia and cheese), as well as muffins and breads, soups, three pastas, and desserts.
My personal favourites are the salad bar (I’m a picky eater so I enjoy being able to pick what I want), the pizzas, blueberry muffins and chicken noodle soup.
Even at peak time, the staff is pretty on top of things and it doesn’t take too long to get through the line. There has never been a time when I would need to wait for an item to be replenished.
Note: they are moving away from mailing coupons out to delivering them digitally.

I really love souplantation. This was the worst experience that I have had ever. The location was over crowded. The layout makes it extremely difficult to get a second plate of salad. There is no method to the lines for the soup and breads. You think you have figured out a line system but then you see so many people cutting. On top of that, there were tons of screaming kids running around.
I know that this doesn’t reflect on the restaurant, but rather it’s patrons. I just want to let Unilocalers know what kind of experience to expect here.
On a side note, the peppermint muffins and lobster bisque were not that great if you are looking at your what seasonal options to try.

It’s a Souplantation. It’s next to a Residence Inn. Where one can park here seems to be anyone’s guess. The decorations here are different than the ones in the Foothill Ranch branch. The soup bowls are tan instead of red and the plates are ceramic white plates.
Like other branches, they have salad and soup and other stuff like that. It tasted good.
Traffic tends to pile up here after everyone gets off church on Sunday from all of my previous experiences at this location, and people had to be seated by the staff. This time we came before that and avoided having to interact with the staff in that manner. The transaction was conducted properly since we used a coupon.

Their to go prices have went up! They now charge 7.50 for to go JUST FOR a salad. Two other ladies were complaining about it too. Their to go meal was the price of all you can eat and they do not have generous sizes…
I used to go here for to go salads because it was $ 5.50, a fair price for the portion. Will not return for to go here.
I can’t believe how modernized this souplantation is! SO CLEAN! Employees very friendly. Food was so fresh. I did get there at 11:05 and they open at 11 so that may be why it was so fresh.
LOOK ONLINE FOR COUPONS! You can always find a lunch or dinner coupon online for this place. $ 10 for a buffet in Irvine, pretty good value especially for starving college students.

Souplantation, you have many times fed this former broke college student’s soul. I was a frequent visitor because 1) a somewhat healthy option and alternative to the other foods I stuff my face with 2) it’s CHEAP and if you have COUPONS it’s CHEAPER! It’s a somewhat healthy alternative to other buffets or food options at a very competitive price
I’ve been a frequent visitor to Souplantation and I have to say, they have stepped their game up with the décor. It’s more clean-​cut and even the trays are different! When I first walked in, I was like whaaaat?! Where am I? (Okay not that much, but you catch my gist). You feel the difference and it’s noticeable! From the trays to the overall interior, there’s just a different feel and I’m digging it.
Soups. Salads. Pasta. Bread. Soft-​Serve. & if you so desire, drinks as well! I usually just make my way back and forth between my seat to the buffet line quite a few times because I always try to get the most value I can out of my meal! I really like the salad bar because there’s pre-​mixed salad options, but they also lay out different veggies and greens for you to create the salad of your creation. So that’s always a plus depending on your mood. Soup-​wise, there’s always plenty of options but the crowd pleasers amongst my friends are typically the Chicken Noodle Soup and the Clam Chowder. One thing that’s unfortunate is that the chicken noodle soup at times can lack noodles or really… chicken so it ends up being chicken broth because other fellow Chicken Noodle Soup lovers take all the fillings):
In case you’re wondering or wanted to know (not sure if it really makes a difference to your experience), the food here really isn’t all that special, especially the soups. They heat bags of pre-​made soups in the giant vats or whatever behind the food serving counters. I saw an employee do this when they ran out of one of their soups. To be honest, this isn’t that big of a deal to me because that’s not surprising when you’re trying to feed the masses and I still will visit when I can and when I have the soup cravings.
As many before me have mentioned, if you only crave meat or hearty meaty options this is not a good option for you. Like at all. But C’mon we all need our veggies :)