Souper Salad, Durham, North Carolina, American Restaurant Details

Food:

Ugh!

To be honest, this establishment has sucked for many years. Yet, I continue to give it another chance, hoping it will improve. It hasn't. In fact. It's gotten worse. Much worse.

There was a time, maybe around 2005, when it wasn't fine dining, but it was passable for a quick, cheap meal.

Nowadays, it's no longer cheap. Somehow, even with a 5.95 coupon, my order came to 6.75, and if they had refunded four bucks, I'd still feel ripped off.

While they did have more than iceberg lettuce, they had precious little of anything other than standard raw vegetables, and some over-cooked pasta salad "dishes." Cucumbers and onions were carelessly chopped. Serving tongs were missing from several items, almost to encourage you not to partake. Gone were the chopped eggs. Gone was the real-ish bacon from the potato bar. Gone was the "pizza", though they did bring out a few slices while I was there.

The chips on the nachos bar tasted like they had been sitting out for three days. The taco "meat" was tasteless. The chili tasted mostly of bad chili powder. I couldn't bear the thought of tasting the other soups or the bread. I didn't even venture a taste of the desserts.

What was bad the last time I visited has fallen to new lows. It's simply miserable. And I bet the one of the person "dining" there when I did would attest. The only thing that tasted reasonable was the ranch dressing, and that is some small accomplishment.

I should have known, when I drove up and the place was empty on a Sunday night, that it is horrid. Even the large families that used to stuff the place after evening services were missing. If they don't like it, you know it must be bad.

And the hours seem to be at the whim of the greedy franchise holder. The door said it closed at 8:30, but when I asked, he said it closed at 8. When I left about 7:53, he locked the door.

I noticed, before I left, that they had an award from the Herald-Sun. I made sure I checked the date; it was from 2008. They have certainly won no awards in the past five years.

I think I've learned my lesson. Unless there is a sign that says "under new management," or better yet, a new name, I'm through with giving this hole second chances.

Food:

Awful. The worst soup and salad buffet I had in a long time. Some of the spaghetti was hard plastic. The Blueberry muffins has maybe two blueberries in each of them. The ice cream was served melted. The pizza was something that was similar to the crappy pizza served when I was in middle school. The soups were of poor quality. The servers were serving the food in the buckets without gloves. Poor selection too. The place needed to be updated.

Food:

Soups were really good. Salad bar was great. I don't know why so many people are upset. It's not dirty in here or whatever. The service was fine for me.

Food:

Great idea but place isn't well maintained. The service is slow. Can't tell how long the food was sitting out. A cockroach was at the front counter when i first walk in. And the tables were sticky. Needless to say, I didn't have much of an appetite when i sat sown with my food.

Food:

Went on a Saturday evening- very few people were there, which is never a great sign for a buffet. Perhaps it's more popular at lunchtime? Food tasted mediocre and was not very fresh. Salad bar area was not well lit. I was afraid to try some of the items like pasta salads because I couldn't tell how long they had been sitting out. My husband tried some and didn't like it. Baked potatoes were overdone. Soft serve frozen yogurt came out melted. Service was friendly, but that doesn't make up for bad food IMO. Compared to Sweet Tomatoes, this place has half of the selection, half of the taste, and half of the freshness and costs over $7 a plate. We will not be returning, even if we had a 20% coupon that another reviewer mentioned.