"Cafe Zupas: Soup, Salad & Sandwich KITCHEN" (The District location)

   Cafe Zupas kind of creeped into the Salt Lake area. One day there was no sign of it, the next: BAM! Everywhere. At Cafe Zupas there are a few different combinations you can get for food here--the most common in our group was the "Pick 2 Combo," where you pick out a full sandwich and a half salad, or soup.
    I feel that Zupas (in SLC at any rate) is a place that is seen in random locations all over the Salt Lake Valley, but just like the mountains here, most people treat it as the scenery--good for looking, but don't really go there. Well for you people out there who have never been to a Zupas (you'll have to do the mountain thing on your own time), we have done some investigating for you and tried the food of the Zupas people and here is what we thought:

Curtis

Allan: Alright, I am with Curtis here today--Curtis, what'd you get?
Curtis: I got a "2 Combo," I got a whole sandwich and a half a soup.
Allan: What combination of foods did you get with that combo?
Curtis: I got a Honey Bacon Club, which was really good, and I got New England Clam Chowder--that is my favorite soup.
Allan: Alright, so how were they? What stood out?
Curtis: The soup is really good, I love clam chowder. And I like when people make it really well--it's one of my favorite things, so they did a really good job. The sandwich was... okay. The tomato on it was too soggy (I like my tomatoes crisp) and so that kind of ruined it. But the spread that they had on the Honey Bacon Club was really good. So, yeah.
Allan: Alright. So how many tacos would you rate this?
Curtis: I'd give it 4 tacos.

Allan

Danielle: Allan! What'd you get?
Allan: I got the Honey Bacon Club sandwich along with the salad which was [the] Shanghai Chicken, but I got it with poppy seed dressing, and then for dessert I got Chocolate Hazelnut Creme Brulee. And the sandwich was de-licious--it was [done] panini-style, there was tomato, turkey, bacon, and munster cheese, and then there was a honey-mustard layer in there--all of it just melted together and went together to make it super delicious. 
   The salad: also really good. I'm glad I went with the poppy seed dressing choice, it helped kind of make it [a] little bit sweet, but at the same time it went really well with the nuts that were in there and the [mandarin] oranges--it's just a shanghai-style salad. 
   The creme brulee--it was alright. I would say that it kind of just tasted like a slightly-fancy chocolate pudding. And I'm okay with pudding, [but] I'm not a super fan of it.   
Danielle: You're not a super fan of pudding? Okay, so what do you give your meal rating?
Allan: I give my meal rating a 5.  
Danielle: And what do you give [for] your dessert rating?
Allan: probably a 3.

The Panini/Salad Meal

Chocolate Hazelnut Creme Broule

"Ghoulia" (Julia)

Kevin: Julia, what'd you have?
Julia: Soup.
Kevin: What kind of soup?
Julia: I actually don't know what kind of soup--Tomato Soup!
Kevin: Didn't you recently say that "it was the best tomato basil soup [you've] ever had except for Nordstrom's?"
Julia: Oh, that too, apparently--with oriental pasta.
Kevin: And how was it?
Julia: It was good.
Kevin: And what rating would you give it out of 5 tacos?
Julia: Hmmmm, that's kind of hard to say, because this is kind of just like a lunch place for me, so for dinner it's okay--it's not filling. For dinner I'd give it 2 tacos. For lunch it's like a 4. 
Kevin: So maybe you should have gotten something else with it, since it's just soup?
Julia: Strawberry, I got a strawberry, so that works.
Kevin: So, in-between lunch and dinner, what rating would you give it? Since we kind of need a solid rating.
Julia: Whatever the average between 2 and 4 is.
Kevin: 3!!!

Danielle

Allan: Danielle is here with me right now. Danielle, what'd you get today?
Danielle: So I did the "Try 2 combo" and I got the Turkey Bacon Avocado panini, except I got pesto sauce instead of the honey mustard, because I don't do honey, or mustard, or honey mustard. And then [for] the salad I got Nuts About Berries, but instead of having it with the poppy seed dressing, I had it with blue cheese on the side, because I don't like poppy seed, and they always put too much dressing on it when they mix it in. And then we got the dessert called (something) 7--the Sinful 7. 
Allan: Okay, what was the Sinful 7?
Danielle: It was a cake, but not completely, because the top third was like chocolate cake. In the middle they had like this kind of--I don't know if it was a really thick cream, or if it was just a cream cheese-type thing. And then the bottom third was a chocolate cheesecake. And it had, like, frosting on the top and then going down the bottom it slowly formed into this oreo crust, but it wasn't really a crust--it was like this really nice, soft crust.
Allan: Alright, how was your food too?
Danielle: Okay, so on the Turkey Bacon Avocado I could not taste the avocado in the slightest, so it tasted like a turkey and bacon sandwich--so I didn't like that, but I still really liked the sandwich. The sandwich was still really good, I was just really, really disappointed that you couldn't even taste the avocado at all.
Allan: Okay, how was the salad? 
Danielle: The salad was really good--I loved it. It came with with cinnamon almonds--that's what it was. And those were delicious--I was all over that... left and right. 
Allan: Alright, then would you like to rate your food altogether? Or...
Danielle: Wait, but I have more comments. So it came with this bread on the side--I think [it's supposed to come] with a soup, but I was very disappointed because they didn't give us any butter, and they didn't have it just sitting out, and I didn't want to disturb them while it was super-busy, so I didn't like that, because it was just hard, plain white bread. And then chocolate-covered strawberries come with everything and I love that. Okay, now I will rate.
Allan: Okay, your food. Rate your food and then rate your dessert. 
Danielle: Despite my disappointment with the no avocado [taste] in the Turkey Bacon Avocado, I would still give it--with the salad a 5.
Allan: Alright, how would you rate the Sinful 7 cake?
Danielle: I think I would probably give it a 3--I feel like it would be pretty average for a cheese-cake combination. 

TBA Panini with a Nuts About Berries salad

Sinful 7 Cake

Marc

Kevin: Marc, what'd you have?
Marc: I had sandwich. I had salad.
Kevin: What kind salad did you have?
Marc: I made it up my own.
Kevin: Was it good?
Marc: Yup, it tasted like hot pears.
Kevin: Awesome, what kind of sandwich did you have?
Marc: I only ate half of it, because you ate the other half.
Kevin: No, you ate three-quarters of it and I had one quarter of it.
Marc: It was artichoke, spinach, turkey. 
Kevin: And was it pretty good?
Marc: Yeah, it was 2.
Kevin: It was good. What rating would you give it out of 5 tacos?
Marc: I just said it was 2.
Kevin: So 2 tacos?
Marc: 2 tacos.
Kevin: Alright, why?
Marc: Because I don't like Zupas.
Kevin: Alright.

Kevin

Allan: Kevin, what'd you get today?
Kevin: I got the Ultimate Grilled Cheese with Ham, and the Wisconsin Cauliflower soup.  
Allan: Awesome, what'd you think of your meal? 
Kevin: I thought it was very delicious, but I'm really hungry, so it wasn't very filling. So that's sad. I'm gonna give it 4 [tacos].

Ashlee

Danielle: Ashlee, tell us about your food and your rating and stuff.
Ashlee: Okay and stuff. I got the Chicken Caesar salad with no croutons and no peppers--because peppers are gross--so therefor I made it gluten-free. And I got a Creme Brulee. 
Danielle: What kind of creme brulee did you get? Because I know they had several different options.
Ashlee: They did, and I got the best kind which was Salted Caramel, because salted caramel-anything is amazing. And it comes with a little chocolate-vanilla chip on top, and a little bit of whipped cream, and lots of caramel--which is great. And it's awesome.
Danielle: Okay, so how would you rate your salad, and was there anything really unique about it? Or was it kind of just a normal salad? 
Ashlee: No, I love Zupas caesar salad. They do it better than anyone else. I don't know why, they just taste the best, and it was really good, and same with the creme brulee. So I give it 5 tacos.

   Overall a fairly good meal for everyone involved. Although it should be noted that if you inherently hate Cafe Zupas to begin with, there is a good chance that you'll hate anything you get like Marc did. Most of us enjoyed the food that we got even if the desserts weren't as good as were hoped (although Allan tried some of Danielle's Sinful 7 Cake and enjoyed it more than she did). 
   This place is more along the lines of fast-food joint, so if you're hoping for a nice sit-down with a server to attend you, than disappointment will probably follow. The only complaint that was given overall (mostly by the men) was the feeling that there wasn't enough food. Which would lead me to believe that it's a great place to eat if you want a semi-light meal that comes with a piece of french bread and a chocolate covered strawberry. And this time our overall rating for Cafe Zupas will be 4 tacos:

The website for Cafe Zupas is all in a flash animation style, so there is no direct link to their menu. But here is the link to their website at least Cafe Zupas.