Zoup! - Worth the Wait?

After walking by Center Plaza every morning, I was really excited to see that Zoup! was finally open.  Zoup! is located in the same spot of the former New York Soup Exchange, a place I adored when I worked at the State House many years ago.  Since then, the space has been mostly vacant and it was nice to see a new soup restaurant in its place.

Today, I finally got a chance to check Zoup! out.  My first impression was that the place was utter chaos.  With limited seating and standing space, the restaurant was an absolute zoo.  There were people waiting in lines everywhere and a lot of frustrated customers.  Normally, I tend to avoid these kinds of chaotic situations but since it was new and I wasn't in a rush, I decided to stick it out and give this place a try.

I first got in line and the folks at Zoup! are eager to offer you a tasting of any of their dozen or so soups.  By looking at the menu, I knew what I wanted to order so I declined.  But here is why it got chaotic.  There is no clear distinction between the line to order your meal or the line for a sample.  In fact, I'm not even sure if this is supposed to be one or two different lines!  So, as I learned first-hand, the line doesn't move very quickly when someone before you wants to try half a dozen of the soups on the menu.

If you survive this line, you'll finally make it to the ordering area where three helpful people will try to take your order.  However, you are doing this while constantly being bumped around because directly behind you is where most people choose to congregate since the pick-up counter is in between two of the registers.

My order took about fifteen minutes (and countless bumps and jostles).  I overheard some frustrated customers wondering aloud how could it take this long to ladle a cup or a bowl of soup?  I think it is a fair question and one that the management should certainly look into.

I picked up my order and headed back to my office to escape the chaos.  Since this was my first time at Zoup, I thought that the combo was a great way to go to try one of their sandwiches and one of their soups.  For the soup, I went with the Chicken Pot Pie, a creamy chicken soup filled with white chicken meat, carrots, onions and potatoes and topped with pie crust crumble.

The soup definitely tasted like chicken pot pie.  It was warm, hearty and creamy.  Normally I don't go for soups like this but on a cold winter day, it seemed like it would hit the spot.  However, there was a serious issue with salt and the soup was strongly over-seasoned with salt to the point that I was gulping down water after just a few bites.

For the half sandwich, I chose the Southwest turkey sandwich, which contained generous slices of roasted turkey breast, pepper jack cheese, tomato and chipotle mayo.  While the sandwich was fine, it disappointingly lacked the spicy kick you look for in a Southwest-themed sandwich.

Despite the saltiness of the Chicken Pot Pie soup, I'd definitely try Zoup! again.  I'm sure that the crowds will begin to die down once Zoup! has been open for a bit but I hope that the management will take a look into how get customers in and out of there as efficiently as possible.

Zoup! is located at 3 Center Plaza, Boston, MA 02108.