Stone Soup Bistro

Hands down, THE best clubhouse sandwich I have ever experienced. If you like a huge clubhouse, made properly, with all the fixins, that is hard to finish in one sitting; you have got to try this one. An amazingly good sandwich. And the ladies working there were very kind.

4* Stone Soup
Salem
Great little soup kitchen eatery on the bottom floor of the Salem Library
Good food for very reasonable prices
Large bowls of soups with bread; ask for the corn bread
Nice sandwiches also available
Friendly service by Rachel
The owner Roxie is a kick; her picture is on the wall

Previous occupants of this space gave me some real bad experiences, but since as an avid lifelong reader I’m often in the library, I decided to give the current operator a chance. I had the house soup of the day, based on the East Coast «Clams Casino», with cornbread. The soup was outstanding, spiced very uniquely, generous with clam bits and garnishes I could not identify, and in a translucent broth thickened with something like arrowroot. Their cornbread is the yellow, sweet and moist style.
Price was $ 4 for a cup of soup and cornbread. I was OK with that. This is NOT a venue where big families come to dine lavishly for short money, this is a concession in a very constricted space in a public building, and a refuge — offered as a service — where genteel people can come after checking out their materials and have a special treat.
Only one person was on duty close to noontime. Thank God I got there a little earlier, but I still had to wait a while to pay my bill. I thought the waitress, who superficially looked like a toughie, was pretty darn professional. She handled everyone in turn and did not become frantic or snippy. I would advise parties with time constraints or impatient children to first determine how many employees are on duty and/​or to avoid the noon hour — or any time slots where repeated visits give evidence of heavy patronage.

The best place in Salem!!! The food is unreal. I had a white chocolate mocha and it was the best I’ve ever had not kidding forget Starbucks seriously, I’m the person that wants to go to Starbucks everyday but this place makes it 100 times better. The vegetable chili is unreal, so many layers of flavor and amazing veggies it’s the best I ever had. I ordered a blt that had perfectly cooked bacon, tomato, basil and added avocado and subbed out cheddar for provolone and it it was the best I ever had again not kidding. And then there was the cranberry cheesecake. Now this is how cheesecake should be made, its magical.
Honestly go eat there just do it because you leave so happy and order things to even take home!
Amazinnnnng!!!

Wow, fellow Unilocalers, you led me astray. Salad was $ 10, which was high for the quality. The food was fine, not bad, but underwhelming. Would like to have paid less for this quality.

This could definitely be the most epic club sandwich I have ever had in my entire life. This sandwich is totally hooked up big time. Great deal with a combo Caesar and drink for $ 12.50. Amazing fresh bread and meats take this place to the next level. This is a must stop if you’re downtown!

Best lunches ever! Homemade soups, great sandwiches and now wonderful take home entrees for fast dinners. I get the dinners and soups to take home a couple times a week. Can’t go wrong.

An enjoyable saunter through the library might add a star to this rating, but based on food and service alone, I’ll stick to two stars. The sandwich and soup were enjoyable but, coupled with the slow service, won’t entice me back.

The food is home made and perfect every time. Order anything on the menu and you will be pleased. But, my faves are the club sandwiches, the French dip, any salad, and every soup. Oh yeah… the breads, bars, and coffee are all delicious as well! The staff is superb.

We stopped here on our way from Portland to Eugene, on the recommendation of fellow Unilocalers. For those of you doing the same, yes, your Google maps is correct… it’s in the Salem library.
After a quick meander through the stacks, we found our way to the café, which has lots of natural light (no dungeon feel) and a bit of an old school vibe. I had the strawberry spinach salad with chicken, which was delicious and nutritious. The Asian chicken salad was also good, apparently.
For a good salad in a weird place, come here!

Best darn Caesar salad I’ve tasted! I’m not a salad fan, but I decided to be healthy and unhealthy at the same time and eat a salad. What a treat for my tastebuds! I’ve never tasted a dressing with such a sweet, creamy tangy, taste along with a little zing! So good! I think it’s a mix of the freshly shaved Parmesan and red onions. That must be the trick! I ordered the hot Italian toasted sandwich, too. Oh my goodness… Delicious. My bank account will hate me soon, because I plan to come back, a lot.

On the way out from our meal, I saw a table of two 10-​year-​olds, sitting across from each other, biting into their grilled cheese (served with a watermelon wedge on the side).
This is how adorable this café is.
Food-​wise, the slice of bread that accompanied my salad was phenomenal (moist, grainy, AND filling). And speaking of the salad, go with the full-​size.
My colleague, who ordered a sandwich and soup combo, also enjoyed the flavors but we both noted that our meals were a WEE pricey for what it was (basic, no frills lunch items).

Went there today for a late lunch. I got the daily special soup, bean and ham, «pebble» — sized. This is their lingo for a «cup» — sized portion, and it was filling in spite of the small size. Cornbread that accompanied the soup on the plate was good, but it was served cold — I am not sure if that’s the usual protocol for homemade reputation restaurants.
If cornbread were heated, that would have made it perfect, absolutely perfect.
Also, when you do walk in — make sure you pay attention to the size of the soup portions — the sample bowls/​cups are displayed on the shelves to your left as you enter and I wish the smallest cup wasn’t priced only 50 cents below the medium one. I have done pricing strategy setting in the food industry before as part of my consulting work, and I know that the prices are so close so people would opt for the larger heaping bowl portion. But if it is literally less than one measured cup (I am estimating here), should it really be almost 4 dollars?

Unfortunately, some of the things which attracted me from fellow Unilocalers’ reviews, are no longer true. None of the baked goods come from outside vendors anymore. The biscuit we had with our soup was so bland, despite masquerading as a possible cheddar jalapeño cornbread type item, that I (an avowed bread over-​eater!) left it on my plate so I could «spend» my calories on something else. Very disappointing.
The Tuscan vegetable pasta soup was decent.
The chocolate covered macaroon was delicious but very sticky… make sure you’re comfortable licking your fingers several times with each bite! That alone could make up for everything else, esp for $ 1.50!
However, the service left a lot to be desired in several ways… the waitress was pleasant, don’t get me wrong, but after walking by several times while we were standing by the counter looking very puzzled for several minutes, she finally said we should seat ourselves and not order at the counter. Then, it took another 10 minutes before she came to take our orders or get water, etc. This was with only a couple of other people in the place.
The WW points which were touted by other reviewers and highlighted by the menu itself, turns out to also be a passing fancy. The waitress couldn’t believe anyone would want to know points for desserts but then, after some discussion, thought that was a good idea after all. But the owner herself got very offended when it was suggested and said it would take too much time! ?? Enter a recipe one time and you’ve got it forever1 :(
I will try this place again and hope for better next time.

It is not exactly soup weather right now. But since I happened to be at the library today, I knew I needed to take some to go. I got a large to go container of Chicken Tortilla Soup. The owner put the chips on the side so they wouldn’t get soggy and a large slice of cornbread for $ 5.50.
After a few hours of cooling in the fridge, the taste test came. Delicious. Even with the temperatures rivaling 90 degrees, I hammered the flavorful soup in no time. It was chocked full of veggies and a fair amount of chicken. And oh my– the cornbread. Incredible. I have no words as I am usually luke warm on most cornbread. Not so on this case. I’d go back jug for another few slices.
They also had roasted cauliflower soup rotating through today that I regretted not buying as well. Once the weather cools off, I imagine I would frequent this place more often.
Of note, there are also desserts and other food stuff besides soup, so don’t let that deter you.
My meal was a 5 star today.

Some of the good things here I was expecting, thanks to my Unilocal friend Chuck B.‘s reviews. Some of the good things were discoveries from reading information provided by owner Roxie Perrone. As in learning the charming and hard working owner is from New Jersey originally, a state where my hubby and I lived for several happy years, and like my hubby has Italian heritage. In fact, as four of us departed Stone Soup Bistro after enjoying both a delicious lunch and warm hospitality, Roxie hugged my hubby and said «I have a new gumbah». Which my Sicilian heritage husband received as a great compliment and made us all laugh in appreciation.
BOTTOM LINE:
Lunch at Stone Soup Bistro nourishes your tummy and your spirit and is easy on your wallet too! We’ll be back and recommend it to others. This is a delightful place where pride of ownership and passion by all people working there to get things right shines.
FOOD NOTES:
Delicious soup varieties change daily. On the day of our visit, our soup choices were displayed on the board as Salmon Bisque or Pasta Fazul. My hubby pointed out the latter should be spelled Pasta e Fagioli. Roxie laughed and said she knew that, of course, but found folks often can’t pronounce it unless she spells it on the board as it sounds in English. :-)
Sandwiches, generously filled and well prepared, come in half or whole. In what must be the best bargain in Salem, a half a sandwich and a cup of soup or salad or fruit is only $ 6.75.
I’m pretty picky about egg salad and Stone Soup’s egg salad sandwich was yummy. The chopped eggs were not over dressed with mayo and were seasoned just so. The egg salad mixture was nice and cold, served with lettuce, delicious tomatoes and onions and the kitchen even toasted the rye bread I ordered although I forgot to ask Roxie to do that when she took the order. (She’s a mind reader too it seems!) My husband had equally good things to say about the BLT he ordered.
Daily specials are creative. Asian chicken wraps on the day we visited and I note Roxie’s blog says she’s going to add a special every week that is Lebanese.
Most menu items carry Weight Watcher point assignments, so if you’re part of that largest of all weight loss groups, that could come in handy for you to know. If I could wave a magic wand about one thing, it would be to add more vegan and vegetarian options to the menu.
This is also a good place for someone who is gluten intolerant, as are several members of my family so I notice this. Not only are sandwiches offered on gluten free bread, but many of the home baked dessert and goodie options are also gluten free.
Choosing from the with gluten options for our table, I’ll say the Almond Joy type coconut chocolate brownie bar was a huge hit for dessert.
SERVICE NOTE:
It does not get better than this for service in casual bistro dining. Roxie and all of the staff were gracious and efficient. Keep in mind this is a scratch kitchen, that means you’re getting fresh food, so if they’re busy you may need to wait a bit for food to table. But it is worth the short wait and the vibe is so pleasant you’ll enjoy being there.
LOCATION & AMBIANCE NOTE:
This was described as located in the basement of the Salem Public Library. Which had me thinking it was going to be below grade «dungeon dining». But it might be described as the plaza level of the library and is a bright space with windows that look out across Peace Plaza to Salem City Hall. (see photo) Great soft jazz mix on the sound system added to the «aaahhhmbiance».
ACCESSIBILITY NOTE:
Fully accessible entry either from parking outside the library by taking the elevators at the «teen scene» end of the building down to the plaza level or following the accessible route signs from parking along the outside path towards city hall. Either way, you’ll arrive at the level in entry to Stone Soup Bistro.
OTHER NOTE:
Loos are in the library, both on plaza level and first floor.

first off i would like to thank Chuck for pointing me this way. i had a cup of tomato and cheese with tortellini was excellent and the bread was wonderful. i had a 20 minute wait in line… i overheard most of them raving about the food, now i can rave to others myself.

In mid-​April, I saw Roxie (or rather, she saw me) at the Salem Saturday Market. I was happily surprised to discover she followed my blog and wanted me to check out Stone Soup Bistro when it opened. While I couldn’t make it on opening day (surprisingly a slow one for Roxie), I decided to swing by on day #2.
I popped in around 11:30. When I got there, perhaps just a couple of customers. By the time I left, a hoard of patrons were sitting or arriving. I’m quite sure Roxie had a much better second day.
I think it’s great that Stone Soup Bistro carries vegetarian and gluten-​free options for both savory and sweet items. With gluten-​free options becoming more prevalent (and no longer being some stereotypical dry, unpalatable «food»), there should be something here for everyone.
Each day, there should be a vegetarian soup and a soup for the carnivore. Three sizes (a cup, a small bowl, or a large bowl). I went with a cup of their gluten-​free Tomato Basil Parmesan ($ 3.75). Soothing, flavorful, and wonderfully prepared. Chunks of tomato lay suspended in a bisque-​like consistency, then the fresh basil on top rounded out this panda-​dancing symphony.
The soup came with a jalapeño, cheddar, and chive biscuit. I probably should have dunked that biscuit in the soup. Good, but perhaps a bit dry on its own.
Pandas cannot stop after soup and a biscuit. The coffee’s next! It’s a house-​blend, medium-​roast coffee. My caffeinated product arrived at a good serving temperature (warm, not scalding hot). Ideally, it can be served a bit hotter. But I’m sure we don’t want another one of those McDonald’s coffee spilling lawsuits, right?
I think the fruit tart ($ 3.75) is still a fairly healthy dessert, right? It’s a chilled cooked puff pastry, topped with some type of vanilla cream and colorful fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, and kiwi) on top. The dainty panda wanted to use a fork. The carnivorous panda got impatient and ate it with his hands. Chilling that puff pastry ensured the tart wouldn’t collapse with all the fruit on top. Still relatively light and delicious.
The chocolate mint brownie ($ 3) and the peanut butter crunch brownie ($ 3.25) angrily stared back at me for not picking them. Roxie also sells cupcakes from Sugar Sugar in the display case.
Roxie’s very open to new ideas, so I quickly emailed her a list of suggestions. Obviously, more spicy options made that list. I think it’s a pretty big menu, and it seemed like Roxie’s helpers were still (predictably) learning the ropes this time around.
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I popped in again the following Thursday and tried the cheesesteak panini with a cup of Roxie’s French Onion soup. Full-​flavored, thinly sliced roast beef, likely marinated for a substantial amount of time (or at least felt like such). The provolone had hardened a bit by the time it reached me, and I probably would like my bread a bit more toasted, but still very nice. Having softer bread still worked well with the soup.
Speaking of that soup, another delicious success. Perfectly caramelized onions, gooey cheese, and a piece of bread. I could eat that all day.
I’ll be back in the future for more food. There’s so much to tackle here! A very promising eatery for downtown Salem!