Soup or Salad

So, you are dining out and the server says to you, "That comes with either our homemade soup or house salad". Which do you usually pick and why?

Almost always Salad. I like soup a lot, but I love salad. And salad is usually less filling for me. I am always in the mood for a cool crisp salad, but only like hot soup once in a while. You should make this a poll Dave .

It depends on the soup or salad. If it's something I like for example clam chowder or potato & sausage soup (I forget the name right off) from an Italian place, I'll get that. I'm not much of a salad person, but I like Caesar salads so that's usually my salad choice if available.

Salad. Restaurant soups are toxic to me.

To be honest, I don't remember the last time I was in a restaurant that asked that question.

...To be honest, I don't remember the last time I was in a restaurant that asked that question.

I was in one Sunday. I chose the salad, but it usually depends on the soup.

[Jenise]

Always salad. Soup for me is a main course item, as in soup AND salad. But like Stuart, I don't frequent the kind of restaurant that offers you that choice. The only one in this town that I've been to in the five years that I've lived here, and that's because other people have taken us there, offers an even worse choice: soup or salad bar. Don't get me started on salad bars.

[Robin Garr]

So, you are dining out and the server says to you, "That comes with either our homemade soup or house salad". Which do you usually pick and why?

It's surprising, considering that I review restaurants at pretty much all levels of price and class, but like some others, I rarely hear this question. When I do, though, I don't have a knee-jerk response either way. It depends on my mood, what else I'm having, what kind of soup and what kind of salad ...

[Jenise]

When I do, though, I don't have a knee-jerk response either way. It depends on my mood, what else I'm having, what kind of soup and what kind of salad ...

This always suprises me to hear. Soup seems so filling, as Maria said, but even more, it's too satiating on the sensory level. It doesn't enhance my appetite for what's coming next the way the tart and tangy flavors of a fresh salad do.

Maybe it's a girl/guy thing. When we're out with other couples and this option presents itself, invariably the guys get soups while the girls get salads.

Always salad. Soup is a main meal for me and fills me up. If I order soup for lunch, I also order a small salad to go with it.

Usually salad. Like the others here, I find soup to be too filling to start off with and would rather have it as a main course.

...It doesn't enhance my appetite for what's coming next the way the tart and tangy flavors of a fresh salad do...

Nothing sets me up for boiled Maine lobster like a small bowl of New England Clam chowder.

Not often asked this either.

I adore soup in all weather and seasons, but only really good homemade soups. Far too often the "homemade" in a restaurant is not, and even if it is, will 100% of the time have way more sodium than I am allowed to have. So I get salads (which have their own sodium perils in dressings).

At work, where we have the lovely Della (The Soup Goddess), I have soup for lunch nearly every day.

[Robin Garr]

Soup seems so filling, as Maria said, but even more, it's too satiating on the sensory level. It doesn't enhance my appetite for what's coming next the way the tart and tangy flavors of a fresh salad do.

Interesting. It just doesn't seem that clear-cut to me. First, I'm assuming that the soup-or-salad first course will be only a cup, not a big bowl. And then, again, a lot depends on the soup. Something rich and hearty, I'd probably pass on. But a light chicken soup, or miso? Not so heavy. And as I said, I'm not an all-soup guy. There's a 50-50 chance that I'll go the salad route.

I'm in the "usually salad but on rare occasions soup" crowd, primarily because the typical soup in places I frequent is overloaded with sodium and/or fat. Of course, I've gotta learn to resist the blue cheese dressing for the salad...

I doubt that option will be proffered in a really good restaurant.

But, should it be, trust the chef to know all the things you have been saying and have a soup which will not overwhelm the main course. My students understood that after two weeks in class.

If the soup appeals, I'll take it. But the default option is salad.

So, you are dining out and the server says to you, "That comes with either our homemade soup or house salad". Which do you usually pick and why?

It's surprising, considering that I review restaurants at pretty much all levels of price and class, but like some others, I rarely hear this question.

Hello Robin,

Yep, in most restaurants these days food is offered a la carte. It is a more profitable business model. Fortunately, my favorite local restaurant is run by a rather old school family that offers a basket of grains, a choice of soup or salad, a choice of vegetable and a choice of potato all included in the flat price of a grade Prime steak that is actually priced lower than the inferior steaks alone at the "upscale" chain steakhouses.

So, you are dining out and the server says to you, "That comes with either our homemade soup or house salad". Which do you usually pick and why?

It's surprising, considering that I review restaurants at pretty much all levels of price and class, but like some others, I rarely hear this question.

Hello Robin,

Yep, in most restaurants these days food is offered a la carte. It is a more profitable business model. Fortunately, my favorite local restaurant is run by a rather old school family that offers a basket of grains, a choice of soup or salad, a choice of vegetable and a choice of potato all included in the flat price of a grade Prime steak that is actually priced lower than the inferior steaks alone at the "upscale" chain steakhouses.

Can you make the reservations?

[Jenise]

Soup seems so filling, as Maria said, but even more, it's too satiating on the sensory level. It doesn't enhance my appetite for what's coming next the way the tart and tangy flavors of a fresh salad do.

Interesting. It just doesn't seem that clear-cut to me. First, I'm assuming that the soup-or-salad first course will be only a cup, not a big bowl. And then, again, a lot depends on the soup. Something rich and hearty, I'd probably pass on. But a light chicken soup, or miso? Not so heavy. And as I said, I'm not an all-soup guy. There's a 50-50 chance that I'll go the salad route.

Light chicken or miso are not the usual options in this circumstance. Lessee: last two times I had the soup or salad option, because the salad was a white and creamy caesar IIRC, I did choose the soup, which was a beef goulash. Heavy thick tomato base with lumps of beef in it. Light? Not! And at the other restaurant (same one where the salad bar is the alternative), it was a creamy Whiskey Crab soup. Again, not light but meal-like, where even a cup is too satiating, and both are typical of the soup options I run across. Options, I suspect, designed for men who think that salad is sissy food.

And here's the perfect beverage for that light salad.

diet-water.jpg

Salad here also…though Dina invariably has some kind of soup. Like others, I find soup too filling for that purpose.

If I’m having soup though, I’d rather have it with a hunk of crusty bread and glass of wine as the main meal.

Richard

...It doesn't enhance my appetite for what's coming next the way the tart and tangy flavors of a fresh salad do...

Nothing sets me up for boiled Maine lobster like a small bowl of New England Clam chowder.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Always salad unless I'm in New England. The only other time is in the winter, one of our favorite restaurants offers a wild mushroom bisque that I can't resist.

I'm usually pretty skeptical of soups in restaurants, because they seem like a perfect vehicle to dump all the unused items, puree, and then cover with some sort of cream/spice/assertive flavoring agent.

I also don't like the idea of something that is sitting around in big vats/pots waiting to be dished out.

These fears are not absolutes of course, I've ordered soups many times in restaurants. But, just a general tendency..

I'm usually pretty skeptical of soups in restaurants, because they seem like a perfect vehicle to dump all the unused items, puree, and then cover with some sort of cream/spice/assertive flavoring agent.

I also don't like the idea of something that is sitting around in big vats/pots waiting to be dished out.

These fears are not absolutes of course, I've ordered soups many times in restaurants. But, just a general tendency..

My major complaint about soup in restaurants is that it's often too salted for my tastes. As we cook at home most nights and use salt judiciously in our cooking (i.e., not heavy-handed), it's pretty evident when a restaurant overdoes it with salt, and nowhere is it more evident than in soups. I also find that, because portion sizes have crept steadily upward in restaurants over the last 20 years, I try to order light courses like salads to complement the main course.

Mark Lipton