Guest Post! SSS Sounds Alarm on New Spezia Menu and A Bad Salad Experience

Check this out!  The SSS has provided a special guest blog.  After previous good salad experiences at Spezia, a not so good one.  

I went to lunch with a friend at Spezia.  I chose Spezia specifically because I like their Mediterranean salad with chicken, artichokes, tomatoes, onions, pepperoncinis and kalamata olives.  It is delicious.

After a noticeably slow seating, we were given the menu.  It not only looked different, Spezia re-did their menu.   On the new menu, the Mediterranean chicken salad is gone.   I was alarmed.  The new menu now consists of four salads:   a beet and goat cheese salad, a pear and fennel salad, a pear and cranberry salad and a salad with bacon and tomatoes.   I personally do not like fruit with my salad.  So, my salad choices were down to the beet salad or the bacon and tomato salad.  Since I do not like beets, I really only had one choice.   Pay $7.50 for a salad that has tomatoes and bacon.   Or, if I wanted an “entrée” size salad, I would have to add an additional $2.00.   If I wanted to add chicken, add on another $3.00.   If I wanted to add salmon or shrimp to the uncreative bacon and tomato salad, that is an additional $7.50.    I refuse to pay $9.50 for a salad that just has bacon and tomatoes, let alone $17.00 for a salad that would have bacon, tomatoes and shrimp!

I surely am not alone in not liking beets or fruit with my salad.   When designing a menu, for people like me who want to have a salad for lunch that doesn’t include fruit or beets, the best they could do is some romaine with bacon and tomatoes?  Even the house salad at Olive Garden has more ingredients – and it is all you can eat for just $6.99 – which is less than the non-entrée size of the boring tomato and bacon salad at Spezia. 

The missing Mediterranean chicken salad was noticed by customers at the table next to us.   It also did not appear to be the first time that our waitress was asked about that salad.  She suggested ordering the Mediterranean chicken without the pasta and then mixing it with the house side salad.  I followed her suggestion because I really did want a salad.  They just didn’t have a salad that I would pay to eat.   That suggestion sort-of worked – but there wasn’t nearly enough lettuce.

At one time, Spezia used to have the most ingenious salad section.  They listed ingredients and customers could order a customized salad.   I was disappointed when they removed that option.   But, I still had the Mediterranean chicken salad.  Now that salad is gone and there literally is not a single salad that I would pay to eat at Spezia.   To say that I am disappointed is an understatement.