Souplantation

This was not what I was expecting. In an outdoor mall surrounded by health-​oriented stores and services, I expected souplantation to provide a quick, satisfying, and healthy meal. What I got, though, was some soup bloatation– a buffet of gelatenous, fatty soups and an array of other highly refined carbs. The one saving grace was the nicely presented salad bar– I had the ceasar (real dressing from scratch, not a bottle).

Oh how I wish I had been a Unilocaler when I lived in Southern California, but I guess I can live by the credo «better late than never». This was by and far the restaurant we frequented the most during our 7 year stay in Los Angeles, and I’m guessing we ate no less than 200 – 250 times.
I am sad to say that the Marina Del Rey location is now closed, and to tell you the truth, I’m really not sure why it closed after 20 years at this location. I can say without a doubt that the place was always packed on Saturdays and Sundays, and sometimes you’d have to wait for an open table just to sit down with your food. The location was perfect, as it was upstairs from Gelson’s Market and directly across the street from the Marina; and If you were luck enough to get a table by the window, you could check out the boats coming and going from the harbor.
For all my NOLA friends that never heard of Soup Plantation (also called Sweet Tomatoes in some regions), here’s an excerpt from their bio:
«The restaurants include an extensive salad bar, baked potato bar, several varieties of soup, pasta, bread, pizza, and muffins. There are also various fountain drinks, a fruit and dessert counter and ice cream machine. All restaurants operate on an all-​you-​can-​eat basis.» (They had me at ALL YOU CAN EAT)
«The salad bar includes a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts, croutons and other salad condiments, as well as a few prepared featured salads, which change monthly. Other sections include up to eight soup selections, a small bakery offering muffins and pizza focaccia, a pasta section with a few different pasta and sauces and a dessert section offering fruit, puddings, and soft-​serve ice cream. Featured menu items are rotated monthly often along a theme, while the standard offering remain unchanged.»
There were actually 2 salad bars in this location and they were mirror images of one another, as just one salad bar could not handle the crowds that frequented this location. The offerings here were to numerous to list and there’s no reason for me to list what was on the salad bar itself, but I will say that it was stocked with every imaginable item.
There were always 6 – 8 soups on any given day and some of my favorites items included:
Bakery offerings:
Apple bran muffins, cornbread (butter & honey), blueberry muffins, focaccias
Soups:
Neighbor big chunk chicken noodle — (loaded with huge chunks of chicken)
Deep kettle house chili — my all time favorite — very lean and tasted great with a dollop of sour cream on top
Neighbor Joe’s gumbo — this won’t be confused with a true NOLA gumbo, but it hit the spot & satisfied my gumbo cravings
U S Senate bean with smoked ham — perfect on a cool day
Clam chowder — Very rick & hearty
Desserts:
Chocolate lava cake — when they came out of the oven, they were incredible
sugar free mousses — for those watching their weight, these Splenda sweetened desserts were very tasty; especially the lemon
Vanilla soft serve with chocolate syrup — need I say more
Other than the food, this location was known for its excellent customer service and cleanliness. Assistant Manager Noe Duarte worked the weekends and always personally greeted my wife and I like we were old friends. In fact, after he got to know us, he’d often hook us up with valuable coupons or the occasional «Manger meal comp»; and what’s better than a free meal… NOTHING. There was always someone replenishing the salad supplies and cleaning up the spilled produce. Even on a super busy day, the salad bar never looked unkempt, as it was always being tended to.
This casual restaurant is/​was very kid friendly and very noisy, but not in a bad way. I have nothing but praises about this place. Now if we can only get one here in New Orleans.

Three (3) Stars for Souplantation!
The regular priced salad/​soup combination is $ 8.59. Find a coupon from AAA or their weekly mailing and you get your meal for $ 7.99. You save $ 0.60!!!
I love this Souplantation in Marina Del Rey! The salad bar is ALWAYS kept clean and replentished! There are tons of goodies to choose from — Oriental Chicken Salad, Fresh Cesar Salad, Salad of the Month (eg., Strawberries), Beets, spaghetti squash, mushrooms, etc etc etc.
There are always about 6+ types of soups available — potato/​tomato soup, mushroom soup, clam chowder soup, chili, chicken noodle soup, etc. The pasta bar is a create-​your-​own and they make it right in front of you!
They have a fresh bakery that has oven fresh breads, pizzas, potatoes & condiments, honey butter, corn bread, etc.
The staff is super friendly and helpful. They are always pushing out new food and cleaning up the mess of their customers.
FIVE STARS = Food quality, clean environment, friendly staff.
ZERO STARS = tacky clientele who eat here!
I only have two minor complaints of this place /​location: One, is that it is located right next to the LA Fitness gym. Good, that people are eating healthy after working out at the gym. Bad, that these people from the gym come into the restaurant immediately after working out, and are sweaty and smelly. Not a nice environment to eat around.
My second minor complaint is that I *always* see people who come in groups of 3+ and there is oftentimes one person who doesn’t pay for their meals. They pick & eat off of other guests’ plates. I consider this shoplifting and it is often overlooked at Souplantation. Come’on people — we’re in a recession and I know money is tight for many of us. BUT, selfish acts like this make food more expensive for the rest of us who pay for our meals with our hard earned money.
It’s hard to enjoy a meal with these two complaints mentioned above.

CLOSING June 15^th :(
I loved this Souplantation. been going here once every few months for years. This location was so easy for my family to meet up with other family friends. Now, the nearest location is at the Howard Hughes Center. where parking is $ 2.
Only 1Star because it’s closing. didn’t want to accidentally send people here with a good review. Normally, I would give this place Five Stars!
Anyway, look for coupons! I always get several in the mail.

Always go with a coupon. The food is great for those of us with pedestrian tastes.
You make your salad how you want it, choose your soup (my favorites are chicken chunk or chili) and then load on the extras like pizza bread (they don’t call it that but that’s what it is), blueberry muffins, baked potatoes, and top it off with lava cake or soft-​serve ice cream.
Free parking is available underneath. Unfortunately, this location is closing soon.

Pretty great for what it is. Beleive it or not, I wish they had more choices for people doing low-​carb diets, or those who can’t have wheat. Also limited in true vegan choices beyond the salad bar.
Maybe steamed veggies for those that can’t eat all the bread, or soups with meat?
I just moved to the Bay Area — wish there was a Souplantation nearby!

Tips for taking Souplantation for ALL they’re worth:
DON’T forget to bring one of the coupons they are always putting in the Sunday paper.
DO go with an empty tummy and big appetite.
Don’t fill up too much on the bread stuff.
Do use the cute little kids’ trays– they have such handy divisions!
Don’t buy more than one drink if you’re with someone you can share with.
Do linger and munch for extended periods of time. Read any good books lately?
Two words: Ziploc Bags. Practice your stealth skills and you can still be munching on that cornbread muffin or focaccia bread tomorrow!
And if you can make it there in the next couple days, they have a very tasty Creamy Tomato soup right now until March 31^st. I have to say that it was one of the best soups I have had there and I only wish they could make it one of the regular choices.

I have only been to two Souplantations but this one is my favorite. My boss and I both like salads and soup so we come here about once a month.
They have a pretty extensive and good salad bar with the exception of a few things.
1. No meat (they used to let you buy it but they don’t sell it anymore.)
2. No cheese in the salad bar. You have to go over to the soup or pizza area to find cheese. This is a very helpful hint!!!
I love the small little pizzas they have. (That way I don’t eat too much!) I also love their assortment of soups. Most of the soups are quite delicious. I don’t go near the Italian section because of the carbs but it looks decent.
This location has free parking under it and shopping all around it. ;) WINNING
The staff has always been very nice and they pick up after other people leave quite quickly.
The biggest and BEST thing that sets this location apart from the others is… Drum roll… Hardly any children! Don’t get me wrong… I like kids but in a buffet setting they can be very annoying and disgusting. I blame parents on the West Side for letting their nanny’s baby these brats. If children’s lack of hygiene bothers you too, AVOID the Brentwood location, it’s bratty rich kid central.

the soup was no good. there were about six different kinds, and i kid you not, i tried each kind, i was starved, but none of them were good: P
but i totally enjoyed the salad bar. the pasta salad and potato/​dill salad, which was the special of the day (but mostly every day as well) was yummy. the baby spinach, beets, corn, mushrooms, and crumbled eggs combo that i made, drissled with olive oil and red wine vinegar was so satisfying and i went twice to refill.
the baked goods section was good too, but very carby, like everyone claims. the pizza-​looking bread had hardly any cheese or sauce on it: S
it would be great if there were more protein. i only found it in the eggs at the salad bar, and chicken in one of the soups.

This place will make you fat. Don’t be fooled by the «salad bar» and all the low-​fat selections. Who are you kidding? It’s a buffet and 90% of the menu are consists of purely simple carbs. Unless you are running a marathon the next day, or have a membership to the gym next door, I would limit the visits.
I find most the soups and pastas extremely bland and the prepared desserts to be unfathomably bad.
When I do feel like binging I stick with the blueberry muffins, pizza, the lady who walks around handing out cookies, and the soft serve ice cream.

Good soup. I like the focaccia. It’s like pizza. Oh and the mac and cheese is pretty good.
No complaints about the service, as it’s self-​serve. No complaints in general. If you’re tired of meat and in the MDR area, go here.

How have I not reviewed this place?
We come here frequently. Well, if once every 2months is frequent. We usually wait to get our 2 for 1 coupon to get into my email. The coupons are better now because they no longer require 2 drink purchases. I usually only drink water so it’s a ripoff. But, dont’ have to worry about that now.
I like that this place is down the street. I like that it’s a buffett. I like that it’s a buffett down the street. I know it’s got 2% protein related items, but, bacon bits are great on EVERYTHING!!! The chowdah, the caesar, the ciabata pizza breads, etc etc.
My favorite item here is the Tuna Tarragon. I don’t know what the hell is in that thing besides crack, but, it’s deelish-​shoes. I can eat that all day. I like the chilli too. Once of course, I add the ubiquitous bacon.
They offer different «flavor of the month» every so often. When Mexico comes around, get the albondigas. It’s awesome.

I like souplantation. The prices are not that bad especially if you come with a coupon. ($ 6.99 for lunch /​7.99 for dinner).
On Sundays, they also have breakfast! And, there’s a coupon for that too! (Buy one, get on free with purchase of two drinks).
The Sunday breakfast is pretty good. There are eggs, pasta with eggs, foccacia bread with mushroom and eggs in it. Biscuits with gravy… oatmeal. Yogurt… granola. waffles. and also their usual stuff like the soups and salads. And the place is packed. I wouldn’t have guessed this place would be packed for Sunday brunch.
I’ve only been here a few times. but i’ve never had a problem with this place. I like it.

It’s Souplantation, so, no need to dwell on the fact that it is all-​you-​can-​eat salad, soup, breads, yogurt, and muffins. The question isn’t even why did I choose to go… even though it is the question I’m asking myself… the question is how does this Souplantation compare to similar restaurants.
The verdict? Pretty average.
Nothing at all was fantastic or mind-​blowingly worth writing about. The salad and veggies were fresh and I made two different salad combinations: one green salad with lots of eggs and jalapeño and the other with a healthy dose of mushrooms, spinach, butternut squash, and onions. The quality and freshness was fine.
The soups this time didn’t seem nearly as flavorful or warm as my last visit to a Souplantation. The Big Chunk Chicken Noodle was nearly gone when I came through the line so not much «chunk» was left, however, the chili was ok when some onions and cheese were added to it. A Chipotle Tomato Basil Soup was not ok. It tasted sour. We quickly hid it under a small hill of napkins and headed back for something else.
The bread items were the least appetizing of all the main categories. Maybe Souplantation bread has always been this way, but I guess I just forgot that it is all pretty generic. Best suggestion: Place a Blueberry Muffin top in a bowl and add Non-​fat Vanilla Yogurt.
The restaurant was extremely dark in the section we were sitting as if there was a lighting problem. Also, the place was packed on a Sunday night. I have no idea why… I guess for the opportunity to stuff your whole family on what you think is healthy food. And I joined right in with every other pig in the room … I ate so much I didn’t feel good afterwards. Why did God have to create All You Can Eat madness when I’m trying to not gain anymore weight?

I don’t often come here but once in a while, it’s nice to grab lunch here with the family as I did so this afternoon.
Like many of the other Unilocalers say, you gotta bring the coupons in or seriously, it’s not worth the buck. My positives and negatives about this location as follows…
Pros
— friendly service from the beginning to end
— fairly spacious eatery space
— delicious soups and salads
Cons
— location… not easily accessible from street level
— sometimes, plates aren’t oh-​so-​very clean
— drinks can notch up the tab
I enjoy this location overall. The 2^nd floor view over Lincoln Blvd is nice. Definitely coming back again!

What can I say about Souplantation? I love it! My co-​worker and I go at least once a week during our lunch break and I make a point of going there alone or with friends at least a few more times weekly for lunch or dinner. Not only is the food healthy (for the most part) but it’s all made daily and is super fresh.
The soups are changed weekly, with the exception of 3 or 4 key soups/​chilis that are there daily, and there is a nice assortment of muffins and breads, baked potatoes, pizza, and of course salads. The Dreyers frozen yogurt bar is a nice way to end the meal.
If you join their e-​mail club (Club Veg) you get buy one get one and $ 5.99 weekday lunch coupons weekly which are awesome. The staff is also awesome and the manager is always super friendly with me which definitely keeps me coming back. A++!!

Souplantations all offer the same salads, soups, muffins, and fixins.
How do I distinguish this one from others? With the following criteria:
1. Cleanliness
2. Service and Staff
3. Customer Base
4. Parking
Cleanliness — this is a well maintained location, and all the dishes, serving areas are very acceptable.
Service and Staff — guys clean off your table and used dishes promptly as they want to get you outta there asap. Throughput at this location is high
Customer Base — not a rowdy crowd, but a little bit rough around the edges.
Parking — here’s where they excel. Underground parking at this mall is awesome. No need for parking stubs or attendants. Here’s where they got bumped from 2 stars to 3 stars.
I’m not an all you can eat sort of guy so my 3 star review is slightly biased. Take it with a grain of salt (plenty in the soups).

I’m a fan, except I found a green worm in my pasta. With legs. Maybe that’s not a worm. I don’t care. YOU eat it.
I like Souplantation and I’m actively pissed that I can’t go back because every time I consider it I start to feel like throwing up.

Tonight, I became impregnated with a food baby. Thank you, Souplantation, for this out of wedlock bundle of vegetable joy.
While the extra 8 lbs I gained (and will lose at some point) tonight might say otherwise, I think that this Souplantation has its ups and downs compared to the other location on the Westside near the Beverly Center.
The Good:
— The bakery area is really, really good here. The muffins, the focach, the cornbread, all dericioussssss.
— The ice cream is more solid than the smooshiness of the Beverly Center ice cream machine.
— Lots of fun juices to mix with your soda to make it feel like you are making classy cocktail spritzers.
— Well stocked, people are nice and work to clean up your messes on the buffet line and the dining area
— Sound doesn’t bounce off the walls like crazy in here like it does at Beverly Connection, where you feel like you are inside a crazy person’s brain.
The Bad:
— Fewer «salad» like dishes, meaning there’s less potato salad and macaroni salad type of things than Bev Center and probably less than most any Souplantation. I think they only had three of these concoctions.
— Where is the baby corn? Some of us look forward to coming to Souplantation for the sole reason of nomnoming on some baby corn and its mystery food goodness.
— The hot food area is a little wack (mac and cheese, fettucini, some kind of sausage pasta).
— The baked potatoes are in the bakery area, which you think makes sense, but for some reason, it’s really illogical while you’re in there.
— Some of the soups are so thick! My minestrone soup was like pureed vegetables and was more meal than soup.
— It’s less obvious what’s vegetarian and what’s not compared to other Souplantations. The signage is a little lacking.
All that being said, it’s still a Souplantation. If you never eat vegetables and believe that a couple plates of enormous salad can make up for the months that you have not had anything green and legal enter your body, then it’s still a good place to be.
The buffet is a lost art these days and while it’s mostly just salad and «ok» warm food, I’m happy the Plantation keeps it alive.

Souplantation is not bad, but it is nothing great either (2.5). The good thing is that you can eat relatively healthy here; though you have to restrain yourself because there are a lot of egg/​cheese/​sweets available. The salads, breads, baked goods, and soups are okay, but it is nothing memorable. You can get it all-​you-​can-​eat or to-​go.
Of the soups, I like their chili the best. On the salad bar, they have a good variety of vegetables (and they keep the bar relatively clean). There are no meat options available on the salad bar (diced chicken is available at an extra cost).
This Souplantation is very large, and while several food places have come and gone at this Marina Del Rey complex, Souplantation is still there and doing well. I do prefer Marina Del Rey’s Souplantation over the one in Torrance. Parking is a breeze in the adjacent complex.