Souplantation
Categories: Vegetarian, American (Traditional) [Edit]
Neighborhood: Linda Vista3960 W Point Loma Blvd
(between Groton St & Midway Dr)
San Diego, CA 92110 (619) 222-7404
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 11:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
Fri-Sat 11:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m.
Sun 9:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. - Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: No
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: None
22 Reviews for Souplantation
I'm dropping a star for this particular Souplantation in Point Loma. I revisited it this week and it turns out they DO NOT have a fruit/dessert bar. What they did have consisited of two tiny containers of some nasty sugar-free chocolate cherry mousse and grapes tucked next to the ice cream toppings. Basically it looks like they ditched the coffee creamers and filled the bucket with grapes.
I'm still a big fan of the Souplantations in La Mesa and Clairemont, but this one is pretty lame by comparison.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Cool (1)
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
06/20/2008
My little sis and I went here for dinner last night and we were moderately pleased. Food was worth… Read more »
SOUPLANTATION...WHAT THE F HAPPENED TO U???
I used to really love this place. Visions of garlic Parmesan bread sticks dipped in ranch danced in my bed. Baked potatoes swaddled in sour cream, bacon bits and chives laid in my manger.
But oh dear, what a disappointment. To top it all off, they have raised the prices, the tomatoes looked semi rotten , the tuna tarragon was stinking up the salad bar, their dessert bar's most appealing option was some low-cal chocolate pudding crap and the vegetable medley soup was a flavorless bouquet of cauliflower dunked in tomato broth that couldn't even be spiced up despite my vain attempt at adding momentous amounts of Tabasco (red and green)!
Shame on you Souplantation! I expected so much more.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
I love Souplantation, but lately the prices have become a little high. I'm a bit reluctant to eat there without a coupon on my college wages, however if you have the money to blow this is the place to go. Everything is clean, and the strawberry lemonade is yummy.
When my birthday comes, I secretly wish friends would take me here, not the sushi, lobster, tango dancing, fondue, carnivore booze fests. I want to see, choose, and portion my food-in the daylight. I love how you start with a salad plate and think you're all petite but by the end your plate looks like the the mash potatoes Richard Dryfus was playing with in Close Encounters. It doesn't help that one of 2 things is going on at the salad bar, either you are always behind someone taking forever to pile up, or someone is breathing down your neck thinking you are taking forever to pile up. [There are TWO lines, for some reason, like entering a movie theater, most people will choose the right line/door over the left.] It is a grandma-visiting lottery moment when you finally heave pizza, soup, chili, muffins, AND yogurt. [WITH sprinkles and nuts and even more crap in your trap!] After you go home and take a disco-nap, then you can start the carnivore-booze fest! PS. I celebrate my bday every day.
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Funny (3)
Cool (3)
Coming to Souplantation for breakfast was entirely phenomenal but when I realized I piggy backed into lunch time it was like winning the lottery. You should try it too.
So, I beg my bf to eat here constantly. The one time he gave in I felt like it was my b-day. Honestly I think I scared him because he won't go back with me.
I love souplantation! I love eating salads but honestly I don't do it very often. Maybe because I want LOTS of variety. I wanna go all out with my toppings. That's why I love it here and it always perplexes me when I see people only with a pile of lettuce, beets, and cheese. But to each your own.
I always start out with two plates right when I walk in. One plate for my build it yourself salad and one for the pre-made salads. I load up on spinach, egg and all my other weird toppings, won ton happiness, tuna terragon, and broccoli madness (warning poot poot!).
Mac and cheese is good and I go for any creamy based soup here. Those are always good ones. Baked potato......foccacia pizza......blueberry muffin.....AUGHH SO FULL! (and that's my cue to carefully place that blueberry muffin in my purse).
Anyways, Souplantation is consistent, clean and good. You can get discounts by signing up on their website for coupons, they accept AAA discounts, and the Sunday paper always has coupons too. Enjoy!
People thought this was:
Useful (4)
Funny (3)
Cool (4)
I will keep this review simple.
All the good things you read about it here are true. Great salads, soup, dessert...and pretty healthy and well priced for a buffet. However this Souplantation is not very nice compared to some of the ones i've been to. To those who liked this Souplantation, Id recommend going to a different one when you get a chance.
As far as people watching goes, this is probably the best souplantation. I have seen some interesting things go down, and this is the most diverse restaurant in terms of class, race, age, and everything I have been to. Thats interesting in itself
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Cool (1)
I say it a lot and I'll say it again. I'm a simple girl. So this place makes me happy. I love their ranch dressing. They have a good selection of yummy muffins but I usually stick to the sourdough. sourdough and ranch? I would pay the $8.00 just to eat those two items.
I like the selection and I love all the choices you get for beverages. And after lunch I get to have an ice cream cone. Simple me.
People thought this was:
Useful (4)
Funny (3)
Cool (5)
This place is barfilicious. Blech.
So apparently I need to lower my cholesterol (See my review of Emergency Care Dynamics), and what better of a place to do that then a veggie-style soup and salad buffet right? To bad the clam chowder is really good, and also not very good for you. Oh well, I will just buy myself a defibrillator and enjoy.
Anyway, for a person who LOVES red meat, a place that specializes in soup and salad doesn't seem like a place I would have nice things to say about. However, I really do like eating here. The price is not bad, and the food is quite good. (Well as good as it can be without red meat) I like the oriental salad and the clam chowder. Also, some of the special items that have are really good, like the Italian-vinaigrette dressing. Most importantly, the ingredients taste fresh, not processed, which is important if you are filling up on what is basically leaves. I wouldn't take someone who was visiting me here, but for what it is it is really good. Now, what was the name of that steak place I wanted to go too????
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Funny (1)
Cool (2)
Out of all the simple buffets out there, Souplantation is definitely my favorite one (sorry HTB). This is a fixed staple on my lunch rotation with the employees from work. Helps that they give 10% discount to government workers, so my lunch always ends up around $7.60. Not too shabby.
There is enough of a food selection here to keep me happy. Fresh vegetables and salads (not all are healthy for you); 5-6 choices of soups; breads, pasta; and the yummy fro-yo. I tend to stock up on the pepperoncinis, which are pretty large here.
I gorge myself each time I come here since I have no self-discipline whatsoever. But I leave satisfied, and so do my co-workers.
It never gets too crazy at lunch that you don't move through the line quickly. It's also a decent place for people-watching, another reason it's popular with my group. My only gripe is that there isn't more meat products here. For that, you have to pay an extra $1-2 for chicken or beef from the salad bar.
Souplantation, you're alright with me.
People thought this was:
Useful (3)
Funny (1)
Cool (3)
I don't care what anybody else says: Souplantation always has been and always will be my idea of quasi 'fast' food heaven. The ice cream machine was near and dear to my 14 year old heart. The rest, especially the generic vanilla coffee and amazingly tasteless macaroni salad, is near and dear to my 24 year old I only go there when i'm hungover heart. It does the job. End of story.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Cool (1)
I love all of these "all you can stuff in your face and still pretend it's healthy" salad places (Fresh Choice, Sweet Tomatoes, Souplantation...).
As long as they are clean I consider them gourmet establishments!
The best advice for protein fiends is to head somewhere else. You can only fill up on vegetation and carbs for so long before you crave a steak or a chicken leg. This place is always packed so it must be good. I agree but the menu needs some spicing up. Maybe the prices will go up if they do that. But I only go here if my coworkers crave it. Those overweight, carb-craving, soda-drinking lugs....
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Funny (1)
Cool (1)
I have eaten at many souplantations, got sick at this one but I still went back years later, what the hell you only live once. the one in Mira Mesa has chocolate chip cookies but this one for some reason makes you pay 2 bucks at the till if you want any! Crazy. I'm addicted to their cookies though so I still bought them anyways.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Cool (1)
It's a sweet Tomatoes...I get it!
Love the broccoli yogurt salad, baked potato, pizza bread thing, and fro yo.
Mac and cheese is hit or miss. Some locations have Sunday brunch! Overall, great place to eat healthy with variety and good food. Unfortunately, it gets busy...so be warned! Outdoor seating is great, and stay away from the tuna thing...eeek.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Funny (1)
Cool (2)
I always go here to eat a nice healthy salad and end up wanting a little bit of bread, a little pasta and a lot of the desserts! It's a cheap place to load up on a nice salad. I love coming here, especially on those hot summer days. This place totally takes me back home during my younger years. My family and I used to go to those cafeteria joints where you spend less and let the picky eater get what they want (pudding, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes and a biscuit)! This place puts all of the Piccadilly, Morrison's and other cafeteria's to shame! Yay for healthier choices and cheap prices! I'm not a picky eater anymore either.
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Cool (2)
The 'Tation is a weekly ritual for me. This should prove how I truly have nothing better to do on my close-to-non-existent Spare Time. Oh, to find pleasure in the smallest things.
This is a great place to go to if you want to make yourself feel like you're eating healthy. The husband and I keep track of the 'Tation Menu changes like hawks. We're beside ourselves knowing that they're bringing back the Chicken Pot Pie stew (with biscuits!) in November. And you better believe we were there once a week when they were showcasing their "International Menus" which featured new Greek, Asian, Italian and Mexican dishes. If you're lucky, the friendly bussers will pass around the Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies while you're dining.
The Chicken Won-Ton premade Salad = Stuff dreams are made of.
New England Clam Chowda = drooool.
Joan's Broccoli Madness = the best damn way to eat broccoli
Either get there before 6pm or wait until after 7pm - especially at this particular location. There's nothing worse than being stuck on a buffet line with a soccer mom and her 11 kids behind you, or having to endure the pain of watching the folks next to you pick at their food and chew with their mouths open. I feel like the next cow in line at the slaughterhouse when there's a buffet line traffic jam. Everyone slowly dragging their green trays across the steel rails inch by inch. Maybe I'm just incredibly impatient.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
I would go again! There is a huge salad bar where you can create what you would like. On top of that... there is a variety of pastas, pizza, soups, etc. that you can also enjoy. My favorite part is the baked potato bar and the dessert bar! YUMMY! I wish they had a larger variety of soups... for goodness sake it is SOUPlantation! Fun beverages to drink & great outdoor seating! Be careful when if you go during dinner... YIKES super packed!
People thought this was:
Cool (1)
I LOVE this place. So much so that it's always where I take guests (I know, what the hell). But my friends like to eat, and they like to pretend to be healthy every now and then. And I enjoy meatless foods. They have an awesome salad bar, with I think a very extensive variety of toppings to choose from. Something like 6 fresh soups a day. Amazing muffin, pizza, pasta, bread, pie, frozen yogurt, and delicious green teas.
My guests always want to stop here before they hop back on the plane, true story.
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Cool (1)
Where to start with an already pretty well established place...Hmmm. It's in Point Loma and being a buffet, the geriatric set are attracted. Avoid the 4-6 pm time period and you'll steer clear of the potato salad and Sanka crew. That said, Souplantation is a much more fresh and inviting version than any buffet than I grew up with. Being a native Midwesterner, the lust for a great buffet is inherent to my breeding stock. Also, I am not ashamed to go to buffets. A lot of native (or transplanted wanna-be's) Californians seem to associate a buffet restaurant with "common folk" and less refined tastes. In San Diego, a hole-in-the-wall taco stand is ok, but a buffet? Isn't that where fat middle Americans go to gorge before returning home to the trailer court?? The answer is yes, but that shouldn't deter you from eating at Souplantation.
The negative connotations a buffet conjures are mostly due to the clientele and the quality (or lack thereof) of the fare. Think of a shitty salad bar and 500 different types of carbs (bread, potatoes, pasta) used to fill you up fast and with little cost to the establishment. Souplatation's ingredients aren't exactly gourmet, but they are fresh and tasty. There are all the typical salad toppings and vegetables to be had, a wickedly horrible for you but awesome ranch vat and several prepared salads (potato, a jazzed up macaroni, pesto, etc...) in addition to the many crispy salad toppers (croutons, sunflower nuts, crispy wanton bits). I only have two complaints;
1. Put the dressings at the end of the line, NOT in the middle. Only half of your salad is constructed by the time you encounter them. If the restaurant is busy it is not an option to circle back and hit the dressing area again.
2. Please, folks. If you are going to get nothing but a heaping mound of potato salad and egg from the salad part of the buffet, DO NOT BREATHE DOWN MY NECK AS I CONSTRUCT MY SALAD. I am not a pokey person and I am aware of other customers, but it seems the second I get to the dressing area there is some dude who takes a plate, slides down to the prepared salads, dumps the whole tub of macaroni surprise on his tray and then proceeds to give me the "WTF?" because I actually try an subsist on something other that mayonnaise. All offers I give for them to go around me "cause I'll be awhile" are met with blank stares and continued neck breathing. bah.
Next, we can check out the soups and pasta, baked potatoes, "focaccia" (it's pizza, dude) etc..
The soups here are good for omnivores as the chicken noodle and chili are extremely popular. As a veggie, the oft-offered mixed vegetable stew is a blend of tomato water and zucchini and squash. It tastes like salty veg. broth with boiled to shit bland-as-hell veggies. gross. Occasionally they will offer a cream of potato soup. It is fantastic w/ a piece of sourdough bread and some butter. As a whole the soups were much better at the old Soup and Salad Unlimited on Sports Arena. AND that place had these randomly placed nice and insanely hot Brazilian chicks working as counter girls and buffet tenders...
salad and tossing..OMGROFLLOLTFLAAFA JFJSAJDFKJS;JDV!!1!!1!
ANYWAY
There is the baked potato bar w/ sour creme, shredded cheese, chives, butter, bacon bits and the like. Pretty standard and the results are average.
The breads are pretty good. As mentioned before, the sourdough is great and the peasant wheat and several varieties of muffins are always tasty, albeit filler. Next, is the "focaccia" pizza which is incredible. I limit myself to a couple pieces a trip, but you have to be aggressive when you partake as there is always one group eating at the place that thinks that it is o.k. to get a couple of big salad plates and run over to the focaccia stone the second a new one is put out and take the entire pizza back to their table. tacky and rude.
The pasta station is reliable for the mac and cheese, Margherita pasta and sausage carbonata selections. The margherita is ok and the mac and cheese tastes like a slightly better grade school cafeteria version. ok for a small serving, but ultimately, filler as well.
The almighty ice cream machine along with fruit compote and pudding rules the dessert area. If you are there during the time of the month they offer cherry cobbler and muffins you can do the cobbler w/ ice cream topping or make a root beer float with the A & W and soft serve. Pure middle-America glory.
Please remember that even though this is technically a buffet, the term does not have to mean heat-lamps & stirrup pants. For me, Souplantation sells itself with the fresh salad ingredients and toppings, the focaccia, occasional cobbler, and price. Don't forget your AAA card for a discount.
...and I'm the one making fun of the elderly...geez.
People thought this was:
Funny (8)
Cool (2)
I am well versed in the ways of the buffet. After an extensive buffet career, I swore them off after I saw someone scratch their butt crack and then grab a roll both with their bare hand. So I was skeptical bordering on reluctant to indulge in the Souplantation. Luckily the one-handed-butt-scratch-roll-swap maneuver is the not they typical M.O. here in San Diego.
As far as low priced buffets done right are concerned this place does it. Realize when you go to an all you can stuff your face with buffet and only pay $8.99, there are some expectations. One the food is not going to wow you and two the lettuce in the salad is going to be rotting. Luckily Souplantation enjoys success and they keep enough people moving through so that the few times I've visited, the food never gets rotten and the quality is just a notch above what the price would suggest. Four stars. I'll go again.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Funny (1)
As a rule I am very skeptical of all-you-can-eat restaurants becauase they are usually a rip off. I leave satistfied pretty much anytime I go out to eat whether I have a bottomless plate or not, I don't need to pay extra for old heat-lamp leftovers.
That said, I like Souplantation. They have this one pre-made salad (Won Ton Chicken Salad) that I dream about sometimes, and it's always fun to have stuff like chicken noodle soup, mac n cheese and chocolate milk in a restaurant.
AV
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Funny (2)
Cool (2)
People Who Viewed This Also Viewed...
Related Lists
-
Frugal is a Euphemism…
Fill your stomach without emptying your wallet. My… -
Workday Lunch Joints…
After sitting in front of a computer for 4 hours…
Hot and New
- Suzuya Japanese BBQ
7 reviews
Neighborhood: Kearny Mesa
- Panchitas Bakery
46 reviews
Neighborhood: Golden Hill
- Manila Tokyo Restaurant
8 reviews
National City, CA
- The Cowboy Star
45 reviews
San Diego, CA
- Izakaya Sakura
49 reviews
Neighborhood: Kearny Mesa
