Monday, April 6, 2009

Review: SOUPerBOWL

The Souper Bowl of 96 North Pleasant St. Amherst, Mass is not one of the town's most sophisticated establishments. A clever concept and name, however, attracts both soup and sports fans alike. Inside there are a few tables, booths and some raised, bench-like seating that runs the length of the main wall with tall tables to match. Of course, several big-screen TVs are there to project any and all of the games that might be on during the hours of operation. They offer several board games to play after you've ordered your food at the walk-up counter located in the back (my guest tried to teach me the basics of chess while we waited for our food), but you can only hope that playing one of them will put you in a great mood, because the food certainly will not.

After a long day and very little food, we were pretty hungry. So, we both ordered a bread bowl of soup and a panini. The broccoli and cheddar soup was overly salted and had an almost burnt taste to it as though it had been sitting in a warmer for far too long. There were no big chunks of broccoli, which I had hoped for in order to give the soup some heartiness and texture, the "cheddar" aspect of the soup was barely detectable and the bread bowl was cold, like it had just come out of the refrigerator, and stale.

Then there was the panini issue. Now I understand that the place is heavily geared towards soup, but it's pretty hard to mess up a panini. The panini that I ordered was simple: tomato, basil and mozzarella. The main problem was the bread...burnt to a crisp. They had literally blackened one side of the bread, so, instead of simply making it over with two more pieces of bread, they decided to hide the problem by turning the bread upside down, covering the burnt parts with the tomatoes, basil and cheese and topping the sandwich with the other burnt piece of bread, which was also turned upside down. Because the bread was so burnt, it wouldn't absorb any of the juices from the tomatoes or the mozzarella, making the panini an utter mess to eat. There was liquid pouring out from every end and it was impossible to even bite into it because the bread was too thick and, as I mentioned before, burnt to a rock-hard texture. The meal, to say the least, was not enjoyable.

Overall, they offer average food that could be executed with much more care and sold at much lower prices. But don't let the name fool you, because if you're looking for a "touchdown" meal, Souper Bowl is not the place to go.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Alex and welcome to blogging! Enjoy yourself, I hope to see you cooking and don't hesitate to email me for any assistance, endaxi??

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  2. Great blog. I've never been to Amherst but now I'll know where to eat if I ever do.

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  3. Hello in Mass.! I am here in RI so it is nice to find a 'local'

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  4. Well yes! You did tell it like it is...most times when you are writing about food in a journalistic way, the story is overall positive and exciting. Some very notable food critics are able to do scathing reviews. Looks like you are on the pathway to your goal. We will watch for your upcoming posts. best, s

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