Souper Salad - Austin Texas Restaurant

Many moons ago, I worked as a service manager (i.e. in charge of the wait staff) at Souper Salad restaurant on Anderson Lane in north central Austin.  I hired a waiter and waitress who became good friends of mine and when they began to privately express interest in each other while speaking to me, I played matchmaker and I was later the best man at their wedding.  They have been happily married for ten years now, and they have two very active little boys.

Today, I ate lunch at Souper Salad for the first time in awhile.  I guess I sort of got tired of the food when I worked there (and it was free), but I was struck today by how fresh the salad and soup ingredients were when compared with other places I have tried recently.

Souper Salad offers a huge salad bar, four soups each day, gingerbread, blueberry bread, and cornbread, potatoes, and an extensive dessert bar, all for a very reasonable price.  Vegetable beef is offered every day, there is a soup of the day assigned each day, and the other two are up to the manager and/or soup cook.  I was pleased to see that Tuesday is still Mama Mia Chicken day, since it is one of my all-time favorite soups.  The total today for my food with a drink was $9.40.  Tough to beat healthy AND inexpensive in today's market.

Back when I worked as a GM, I was approached by some people who wanted me to help them open a competing, yet similar, restaurant in Round Rock near Dell Computer's headquarters.  I discussed this with them a few times, then it turned out that they wanted me to STEAL the recipes for the prepared salads and soups from my employer.  Needless to say, we parted ways soon thereafter.  Later, Souper Salad opened a restaurant in the exact same strip center, which is still open today.  Good for them!  They have dramatically expanded since I worked there in the 1993-95 timeframe, and they now have locations in 12 states. 

As a father of three, I also appreciate the fact that kids under 4 eat FREE all the time at Souper Salad.  Additionally, the Sunday kids' prices are extremely low. 

Locally, there are five locations.  Three of these are in Austin proper:

One in Cedar Park:

And the aforementioned location in Round Rock:

They will also be opening a new location in Georgetown soon:

Copyright 2008   Jason Crouch   Austin Homes