Souplantation

Staff was exceptionally kind and the food was fresh and great as always a special recognition to the young man by the name of jerimiah. Shocked to know it was his first day! Excellent service by him.

Great deals now for seniors if you loved it when you weren’t because these prices are awesome (and don’t you think we deserve it?)
Get in early, the food is always fresh and plentiful and before all the families get there and the lines become longer with those that can’t make up their young minds.

Came here last night, second time in a year. I use to come here for a salad with lettuce, cheese, crunchy noodles and bacon bits.
Last night my salad had lettuce and cheese and whatever that stuff was that you called thousand island. It was so sad and depressing.
The blueberry muffin was still good but would have tasted better with honey whipped butter.
It was over 40 $ for 3 people and the worst 40 dollars I’ve spent in a long time. Hope your price cuts are working out for you. They are not working out for me.

Been going here for 15 years on and off. Recently there are some fairly nice «upscale» changes: «glass» glasses (not plastic, in 2 colors…) a shabby-​chic vibe with the signage, info about local sourcing of veggies on the tables, napkins on the tables, soft lighting, long tables at bar stool height by the doors. But it’s REALLY NOISY NOW, with all the carpet pulled up. Granted the carpet gets disgusting but pulling it up only made the place noisy. The music is too loud for dining (I’m not old… seriously it’s just too loud. My teenager thought so. Need some insulation. Maybe ‘attached’ carpeting on the steps or other areas, to absorb sound). They have added beer and wine but at fairly high per-​glass prices I don’t know if that will sell. I appreciate new twists and marketing and keeping updated, but I looked at the menu and thought «I have a bottle at home. I’ll have wine later».
food-​wise, last night there was maybe some ‘thai’ influence. It was odd. In the area where there’s bacon bits /​cheese /​sourcream (for potatoes or whatever). there were no chopped green onions. There was cilantro. I like cilantro but not on baked potatoes. There was spinach. But no green onions. There was also some odd topping on the foccacia /​pizza. Fortunately there was regular ‘pizza’ and that was good. The ice cream station is always good. The ‘other side’ of the dessert area — with the fruit — used to have «more». Like… several fresh fruits.
The broccoli/​potato chowder was really good. At the mac/​cheese area, there was «Indulgent» mac/​cheese: but no signage to tell me what was in it.
I wonder if I’m alone here: the mac /​cheese at soup plantation is never good. It’s really bland and kind of soupy. (this is the only area that Home Town Buffet is better… the mac/​cheese). Every time I try it and hope that it will be better. Not sure why I do that. Some nice baked mac/​cheese with bread crumbs would be great (they could use low fat cheese, fat free bread crumbs, fat free milk and advertise it as a ‘light’ version). It would still be better than the skillet-​version.
I’m not sure the «no more paper coupons» idea will fly. Older folks like to come here during the day, and I don’t think they’re going to sign up for the emails. This will alienate a customer base who doesn’t use computers. But… is that the goal?

I used to love the Souplantation growing up. Now its OVERCROWDED, UNDERBUSSED, DIRTY TABLES EVERWHERE. Weird soup flavors — carrot/​sriracha? Ew. Even the caesar salad had no flavor. I ACTUALLY PREFER any other BUFFET now! Welcome to the land of bland.

Pooplantation.
Sorry for the graphic shocker intro language, but I was appalled when I came here. When Souplantation as a company remodeled their restaurants (yes I know they are franchised) menu’s and facilities I was impressed. For the past 2.5 years I’ve been going to Souplations all over and thoroughly enjoyed the updates, but it’s almost as if this place didn’t really get them or they degraded so bad it’s as if they were never even implemented. I mean I can tell they were with the local farmers ties, fresher soup varieties and emphasis on variety and freshness, but to sacrifice basically everything else for that, it’s like why even try.
I recently learned that the ownership changed and a vast majority of staff had turnover. Most of the new staff I have to say are incompetent. Saturday night 8pm, every single ladle was dirty, entire stations of utensils were empty, whole sections of tables were un-​cleared (people actually just themselves moved their used trays/​dishes to smaller unused tables) that sat for their entire meals. Staff is checking out early and leaving management to do their jobs for them (HS kids I’m talking to you). Front house staff when ordering is great still, friendly, smiling, courteous. Bakery chef is on his game, stocking, but everyone else is apathetic. The water they used to clean the dishes is hard and leaves obvious marks on everything. Sanitary does not mean it’s clean. Please don’t double stack the dressings, it makes a mess of everything.
There is no way the pozole with pork is in their 100 calorie menu. Don’t be fooled. What happened to my baby corn, chestnuts, other key salad items are gone and replaced with «undercooked» verde pasta? Come on guys, this dish isn’t even good when done right. Much of the new menu is about as though out as the parking lot here. You’ll know what I mean when you get here.
Aside from the coupons they e-​mail you and fact that it’s a pseudo buffet it’s got disappointment riddled throughout. I’m still a fan of the chicken soup (add lemon, chili flake, green onions), clam chowder. Blueberry muffins (when they have a decent amount of blueberries). Coconut muffins, brownie when not completely obliterated.
Fair warning to keep your expectations low of you’ll be calling this place Pooplantation like I do.

This place is ok to me. I’m from Phoenix and the selection there is way better. This place has no chicken on the salad bar and no eggs. So I give this place a 3 star only, maybe if there is another location in San Diego I’ll check it out…

Phewwww! This place has REALLY gone downhill! The music has a heavy beat that feels like an assault from the moment you walk in. Some of the staff is nice, but some really cop an attitude. To their credit, they turned down the music, but I was relegated to the «banquet room» because it was simply intolerable. Kind of a creepy feeling with the employees in there and everything.
And woops! –the solution has even more of its own problems. It’s a longer walk to make use of the buffet, of course. You walk by the bathrooms back and forth, and they REALLY smell like bathrooms as you pass by! I’m not kidding. All of the dirty dishes go into this room/​bussing station, and the constant crash! bang! is really a bit much, and can easily be heard from the so-​called banquet room. The manager claimed that she wanted to help me, but you could cut the tension coming from her with a knife.
It’s just very difficult to relax and enjoy my meal with all the stress, crashing and banging, and fast, heavy bass resounding from every corner. The soups sit around too long and become way too salty. The Pesto Pumpkin Bisque tastes even worse than it sounds — even though I didn’t even add the «pesto crumbles.»
Not sure it’s worth it anymore. The manager, Jennifer, was abrupt and defensive– not exactly my idea of good customer service!

I’m not sure what has changed, but this location has gone way down hill in recent years. We were there tonight and it wasn’t particularly busy. The counters were dirty, food stations had empty containers and were poorly stocked, and messes everywhere, many tables weren’t bussed and not a single person cleared our dishes until the end. I used to work here long ago, and the standards appear to have been much higher then.

Having gone to the Soup Plantation frequently over the years I was very surprised last week to pull into the parking lot at lunchtime and have several parking spaces available. In the 15 + years I have eaten there it is always full and crowded. Upon entry things seemed off, like there were not as many selections and all the employees were different.
On the go and really hungry today, I stop in to grab a salad to go. Once again, the restaurant was not very busy and there was ample parking. Upon entering I noticed a new set up with the to go orders and when I went to pay, I was told I would need to come back for the lids and the bag to carry it out. My response to this was to chuckle and to ask if the restaurant had changed hands. The employee confirmed that it had. My response to being treated like a food thief was to actually take more than I would normally.
Being a franchise it is hard to explain what has changed, but it is a different restaurant today than it has been in the past and I am not the only person to notice this gauged by the lack of customers there these days. I noticed the changes mostly with the staff; it is a completely different group of employees and many don’t seem happy or quick to help. There doesn’t seem to be as many choices with the food although many things seem to the same. The cost has gone up and I know that in the future I won’t be spending that amount to be treated like a criminal stealing lettuce and soup on a to go order!

We came here on Sunday, just before lunch. I hadn’t been here in years and they revamped souplantations since then. The interior was nice and modern, recently renovated, clean with nice exposed wood.
Plentiful salad selection to include spinach, and spring mixes, which is nice to see. Only a hand full of soups though, and pizza for some reason. No sandwiches or even toast or bread for the soups though.
Chili soup was flavorful but lacking in hardiness, not a lot of meat or beans.
Clam chowder was good, creamy but, again lacking some fullness with potatoes. There were just slivers of potatoes in the soup, kind of disappointing.
The chicken noodle soup was bullet proof though, you can’t hide anything there good thick noodles and tender chicken.
The egg and ham scramble was pretty bland and even wrapped in a tortilla left much to be desired.
I don’t think this place is what I am looking for. I would like to see a larger and more filling selection of soups and some nice complimentary sandwiches.

Low quality food, no flavor in their food… Long story short, NOT WORTH IT… Plus their fruit/​sweet section was semi empty!

Went here for breakfast yesterday with my hubby and 3-​year-​old daughter. I had gotten an email from Souplantation touting the restaurant’s «Unlimited, made-​from-​scratch Sunday breakfast» featuring a photo of an array of mouth-​watering breakfast items. When we arrived at the restaurant we were first greeted by the salad bar. Who eats salad for breakfast? We couldn’t see the breakfast selection before we paid, since it was hidden away in the corner, so we had to just take a risk and hope it was worth it. Not so much. It appeared breakfast was an afterthought, overshadowed by the huge salad bar with every topping imaginable, and 3 – 4 soups. What breakfast items were actually available were mediocre at best.
The good:
— The scrambled eggs were actually halfway decent
— The sausage gravy
— The hashbrown potatoes
The bad:
— The oatmeal was extremely runny/​watery
— The waffles were cut into quarters and each piece looked somehow both burnt and limp at the same time
— The biscuits I tried with the gravy were nearly burnt, at the very least they were way too crispy
— Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see meat of ANY kind. No bacon, no sausage, nothing. This is inexcusable, in my opinion.
— No fruit bar that I could see — or perhaps I missed it in the tiny corner of limited breakfast items
— No ketchup on the tables and only one bottle of ketchup on the bar by the eggs and potatoes
— The cinnamon chip biscuits or whatever they were would have been good if they, too, were not overcooked like the biscuits
It would have been nice to have pancakes, or an omelet station, and/​or a couple waffle stations where you could make your own waffle and maybe even add things like blueberries or chocolate chips.
The bottom line: bland, unimaginative breakfast. Don’t waste your time or your money on breakfast here.

I visited on a Sunday afternoon– probably the busiest time of the week. So the staff was put to the test and successfully moved people through the line.
But of all the Souplantation locations, this is pretty poor. It’s located in a fairly run-​down strip mall and the interior– while it appears to have gone through the recent corporate remodel, it still looks run down and need of upgrade.
Also, the set up of the hot dishes is pretty confusing– I think it may be missing some dishes, probably due to lack of space. It was hard to find things– condiments were not located near the items they would be used for– example I had to search high and low (literally!) for the whipped maple butter that usually accompanies the sweet potatoes. I eventually found a tray perched on top of a serving station– across from– the sweet potatoes.
I love Souplantation, but this one is not very well organized and the busyness is a bit overwhelming.

Maybe I don’t get the concept of this place. Tried it for the first time and unfortunately it will be the last. Between out of the can soup, dirty area behind the pizza/​bread counter and rather pushy clientele that couldn’t wait to stuff their face and wait in line like the rest of us I was rather turned off.
The first impression was the three employees that we encountered at the entry looked so miserable that the would rather be cleaning out a septic tank with bare hands. The cashier had quite a few piercings on her face which tells me management doesn’t really think about first impressions.
The food was in my opinion was equal to a elementary school cafeteria if not below. Cleanliness needs a little TLC also.
I can’t bust their chops on the clientele because you can’t control the ones that charge the line because they need their fix.
For the cost of the meals I would expect at least a couple of employees to smile and a decent tasting meal.

Man all the locations never seem to let me down. Good quality and super fresh breads. Yummerz.
I have been to all locations, and they are pretty consistent all around. Super quick cash transactions and off you go.
Some soups are fail /​pass. Never got the potato before or dessert.

Quick, easy and healthy buffet. Love the salad bar, MUST TRY: tuna pasta and Thai salad. All of their soups are tasty especially the bacon clam chowder. Everything is made fresh, especially their cheese bread and muffins. You can create your own concautions with everything in there.
Very kid friendly… I actually think they enjoy more than adults do. Oh and don’t forget their fresh pink lemonade. :)

I have to hand it to their marketing department. I opened one of their Club Veg emails today and it had a pic of tomato soup and I was instantly craving some! So I grabbed my son and off we went to Souplantation for lunch.
I was pleasantly rewarded with not one, but two kinds of tomato soups to choose from. Naturally, being the eater that I am, I had them both. Of course this was after I had hit the salad bar. While I think it’s nice that they offer cold pasta salads and three hot pasta dishes, being half Italian, I can tell you pasta at Souplantation is not the way to go. I always just eat the salads and soup here, this is what they are good at, in my opinion.
It was pretty busy when we got there but the service in the front was great. I did notice that they were very slow to clear tables today. I’m guessing they might have been short handed. When we were leaving there were at least 15 empty, dirty tables. I only saw one girl seating and clearing tables the whole time we were there.
As often I’ve been here I’ve never tried the dessert, too busy eating all the soup I guess, but my son always makes sundaes and they look so good. One of these days.

We came at 8:30pm (they close at 9pm) and everything was still fully stocked at the salad bar and the soup bar. This impressed me because often times, places put away stuff because the staff want to leave on-​time. I love Souplantation and will always love Souplantation. This location, in particular, was clean but not the cleanest Souplantation I have ever been to. The staff was friendly and they took away my plates pretty quickly.
I really love the clam chowder that Souplantation makes. I highly recommend you try a bow! My secret is to add some green onions and bacon to the soups to give it an extra flair in flavor. Come on! Everything is better with bacon, right?
I’m really sad that their Chinese Chicken Salad is just a Chinese Salad. Bring back the chicken!
TIP: Sign up for their online coupon club and receive coupons in your email. often times you get coupons for $ 6.99-$ 7.99 for lunch and $ 7.99-$ 8.99 for dinner! What a good deal if you’re on a budget!

Ah, my old stomping grounds, out in beautiful La Mesa. Been here many a time. Recent visits have been quite good. Like the layout here better than some other SP’s. Typical SP fare, this, location also seems to be kept very clean. Parking is plentiful… must be careful not to overeat!