Souplantation

As we walked in the door, we got our salads and then went up to the cash register to pay. The girl at the register was very young and appeared to not be very well trained on the cashier position. We told her we wanted half with card, half with cash and she ignored our request and put the entire check on the card. A manager had to come and refund it and it took a good 5 minutes holding up a very long line of people. Not to mention it was a very busy Saturday night and there was only one person on register. They don't have many gluten free options, so sat there eating a baked potato while I was stuffing my face with pizza. Since it is a buffet and it was a very busy Saturday the food was running out quickly. They took forever to replace the clam chowder once it ran out so I stood there and waited for almost TEN MINUTES. In addition, the place was not very clean. The place is ran by teenagers. Although, the boy who came and took my dirty plates away was very friendly.

Upon entering, one noticeable difference from other Souplantations is the food bar. Instead of two sides separated by a work aisle for employees to restock the food, it's thinner. As a result, the food is more difficult to reach when you get to the non-leafy items, since they are laid out three deep between both sides. Additionally, when the staff add more to replenish, they have to squeeze in and hold their containers over your food. Price: As we got to the end of the food bar, they had additional items like Edemame, etc, that they were charging another $2.49 for!! Seriously? I'm already spending $27 for two people and two drinks for a buffet!! Food: It was ok. Having been a Souplantation customer since about 1990, it used to be excellent. Just doesn't seem that care and taste is put into preparing the food. Poor service: Between the two of us, we accumulated 4 finished dinner plates, five side plates, 2 soup bowls and two trays before I HAD TO ASK to have them removed. They were even conveniently at the edge of the booth all stacked up. We were even just outside the door the staff goes thru to return used plates/trays!!! The only tables that were bussed were the ones from which people just got up and left the restaurant. The restaurant was about 60% full the night we went. So, it can't be said that it was because they were busy. Additionally, the person I had to ask was a manager, and he wasn't sympathetic to my concern. No apology; didn't even more to remove them; he directed someone else and he was four feet from the booth. Environment: It appears they tried to make due with a small space. Whether it's the smaller food bar, odd layout of the food and need to clear off recently vacated tables instead of occupied ones, this location is the most sterile and uninviting of all of them. Staff: Appears they've been directed to interact more with the customer because their 'Thanks for coming to Souplantation' seemed to come off as scripted/forced. Well, I'll did my best to express my experience with this Souplantation without ranting. I did feel the need to rant because I'm so disappointed in how much this restaurant chain has degraded over the past few years. However, I laid out specifics to help others decide for themselves. Oh, and on a previous breakfast visit, the eggs weren't real but a powdered substitute; maybe they consider them fresh because the mixed the powder into the water that morning, but they were FAR from natural!