Souplantation is one of the only buffets that I find acceptable to dine at. Everything tastes much fresher and there’s a good variety of items to get here. I was recently invited to dine here to check out a few of their newer menu items.
Jake, S and I went to the Souplantation in Mira Mesa one recent weekend after going to see the Lego Movie (which was super cute and you super have to go see it). It was in the afternoon on a Sunday and it was kind of slow and empty in here, allowing me to actually take this photo.
Here’s a peek at just a couple of their prepared salads.
After I made my own salad, I grabbed little scoops of the prepared salads. On the top, from the left:
Whole Grain Confetti Couscous with Feta – This salad had a nice, light flavor with a mixture of herbs and veggies for the “confetti” part. I didn’t taste any feta when I tried it though.
Shrimp & Seafood Shells – Of the prepared salads, this was one of my favorites. It had a mayo-based tasting dressing on it with bits of little shrimp mixed in and a nice addition of some dill to give it a bright, fresh flavor.
Joan’s Broccoli Madness (gluten-free) – You can’t see this one really well on my plate but this was another of my favorites. The broccoli is partly cooked and cooled down and has raisins (which I didn’t detect, weird), cashews, bacon and a sweet dressing on it. I liked the crunch of the veggies and the cashews and the bit of bacon makes it a little smoky and really tasty.
Fresh Herb Thai Slaw (vegan, gluten-free) – I’m not a big fan of slaws in general and this one was just okay. A little bland with a mix of cabbage and a bit of a hint of cilantro/mint.
The muffin station is really one of my favorites, the blueberry muffins are always the shining star to me. They now carry Gluten-Free Coconut muffins from time to time. These were the special muffins for the first half of February. The second half of February will have Lemon (!!) and Chocolate Chip Muffins. Blueberry muffins are thankfully always offered year round.
I got my standby blueberry but I also tried the gluten-free coconut. There were bits of shredded coconut through the muffin and it had a nice, mildly sweet flavor and the texture was pretty good as well. It tasted very similar to a “regular” muffin – though maybe a little bit more chewy? The flavor was very good overall and I wouldn’t mind eating them on a regular basis.
The blueberry muffins always win my heart though. Look at how many blueberries are packed into that thing! Eating muffins here is also pretty much the only time I put butter on my muffins – specifically honey whipped butter – because it is super freaking delicious.
I noticed that in addition to the honey whipped butter and regular butter, they now also offer Smart Balance spread.
I’m honestly always a little wary of the pasta station. It looks good but doesn’t always live up to it in my mind.
For some reason I always get a little macaroni and cheese that I don’t finish. It is creamy but the overall flavor is a bit bland. It caters to a wide variety of tastes so I can see why… but it just always tastes a little watered down and too bland.
They had a quite a few soups, a few I had not seen before as well. One was Asian Ginger Broth with a sign of suggestions on what to add to the broth (there was nothing in it and is considered vegetarian).
One that I tried is the Irish Potato Leek soup (vegetarian). I didn’t quite care for the base flavors here – or rather, the general lack of flavor. It was creamy but seemed a bit underseasoned to me.
Jake tried the Albondigas Locas (meatball) soup which had a quite a bit more flavor than my potato leek soup! These meatballs are TINY little things but the broth had a nice base flavor from the herbs/veggies in it.
I usually can’t resist a bowl of the Big Chunk Chicken Noodle soup – but really it’s just all about the strips of noodles for me. The broth is kind of weak and the chicken always tastes dry but I love, love, love the noodles! They are thick and chewy and I love the texture of them so I always get a bowl just to eat the noodles.
Their dessert station is also where all of the fruit is and you can also get chocolate or tapioca pudding. I like to get a little bit of soft serve myself and they also have sprinkles, nuts, granola and chocolate or caramel sauce.
I got an idea to fill one of their itty bitty baby cones with nuts and caramel so I could break into it while eating my soft serve since I always seem to eat all of the nuts/caramel first and am left with just boring old soft serve again. This way I could treat myself by breaking the cone and getting more caramel/nuts! Viola!
Souplantation is doing a good job of catering to more lifestyles with their mix of vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free items now on their menu. It remains a fresh and healthy alternative to other buffets and restaurants!
If you’d like to check out Souplantation then I’ve got a special giveaway for you! I have a $20 e-gift-card to giveaway to one lucky reader to visit the Souplantation or Sweet Tomatoes restaurant near you! Here’s how you can enter:
1) Using the PromoSimple entry form, leave a comment and tell me what your favorite item is at Souplantation!
There are additional ways to enter via PromoSimple – with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
Disclaimer: I was given a gift card to Souplantation and the meal featured in this post was complimentary. This giveaway is sponsored by Souplantation and is open only to US residents. You can enter until February 26th, 2014 at midnight PST. Gift card will be delivered electronically via email to the winner.
I think they should change the name of the Shrimp & Seafood Shells. I literally thought it was the shells you peel off shrimp and then the shells made into a salad.
Hey, did you mean to type ‘with shits of little shrimp mixed in’. I think that’s a Freudian slip right there. Maybe you secretly hate shrimp 🙂
I used to frequent Souplantation alot but stop going when they removed they chicken from their Chinese Chicken Salad. Don’t know why that was such a big deal to me. I think it’s b/c it was hard to find any proteins at SP so the little bits of chicken i found in that salad was like gold.
Great giveaway though !!
Hi Faye – Haha.. um… no I didn’t mean to write that. I fixed it. What a terrible typo! I wrote it on Monday when I was in pain. I blame the pain. I lubs the shrimp! I don’t usually eat the prepared salads but I do remember the Chinese Chicken Salad, too bad about that change. I don’t remember seeing it on my last visit, they had a BLT salad instead.
My friends and I used to eat at Soup Plantation and a Soup Exchange (a Soup Plantation wanna-be) back in college. We would bring our huge purses and take home muffins and bread, haha. I like their seafood pasta and foccacia. I probably spelled that wrong, but wth.
I like the sheer variety at Soup Exchange and that it’s healthy. I’m not a big meat eater so the lack of meat is not an issue for me. The bacon bits make up for it though (mmmm, baked potato or clam chowder!).
Hi CC – I totally took some muffins home in my purse. Don’t tell. Don’t anyone else read this. 🙂
I LOVE SOUPLANTATION. People hate on souplantation because its a buffet and its not crafty local gourmet food but its great food for a good price. Me and my friends loved going there at 4 pm when its mostly empty or all seniors having dinner and then just hanging out and eating for 2 hours haha. The chicken noodle soup and the muffins (especially if you add frozen yogurt on top) are the best.
Hi J.S. – Haha, sometimes all you want to do is eat a lot of muffins and soup. 🙂
I wanted to say that the broccoli in the salad is not cooked. It goes in raw.
Hi Maryiln – Thanks for the note! Maybe it just seemed like cooked to me because it was in the sauce.