Soup or Salad

I agree about the salt in soup - and just about everything else, but it isn't a restaurant thing alone, take a look at the list of ingredients in a commercial soup some time.

My first choice will be soup, but only because I have no desire to consume another standard 'filler' salad made from the same old boring stuff and using the same old bottled dressings in many cases (although last time I asked for some separate oil and vinegar to do my own, I got rancid oil, so...).

If the soup is one that doesn't appeal to me, then I go on to the salad, and if it is a 'standard' one I pass on a first course completely.

I must say that I rarely dine in a restaurant where this question would be asked.

Here is how I think about this choice...

Restaurants that include soup / salad with the entree are typically not high-end, chef-based kitchens.

It therefore depends upon what I can expect from the kitchen.

Asian restaurants usually have stronger soup selections than salads, so I would go with soup.

I am suspicious of generic salad offerings because I do not like factory farm lettuce, especially iceberg. And tomatoes and other ingredients can be inferior. Caesar salad is the most benign under such circumstances, and is usually my choice at steakhouses and similar family-style places. At least romaine lettuce is usually of predictable quality from factory farms.

I do worry a bit about improper washing of lettuce in salads. From time to time I spot bits of dirt and grit at the stem end of romaine lettuce, and untrimmed outer leaves, which tells me the kitchen is too harried or unconcerned to properly trim and wash the lettuce. So if I suspect lackadaisical sanitary oversight in the kitchen, I opt for only cooked dishes.