**INITIAL REVIEW **…read more
The Soup Shop located in central Melbourne, which I will say is the area between Eau Gallie and Suntree, is one of my all-time favorite restaurants in the mid-Melbourne area, the area between Eau Gallie and Suntree. I mean, it is a restaurant that sells soup, and I mean more than one soup or even more than the common numbers of two to five soups. Think twenty soups or more.
Ergo, when I found out that another Soup Shop location would open in West Melbourne, FL, I was excited. Not only would one of my favorite restaurants have another location available, but this one so happens to be closer to me. The question is if this new location would be as good as the OG. Despite not being a 1-to-1 of excellence to the OG, this new location is still excellent.
Though an address is provided, the new Soup Shop location is located in the Palm Crossing Shopping Center a.k.a. Publix Shopping Plaza West Melbourne on Palm Bay Rd. (because to be fair, all the best shopping plazas in Florida happen to be Publix shopping plazas). If it helps, the new Apocalypse Coffee Roasters location is also in the same plaza.
Upon entering the locale, it is like walking into a cozy nook you'd like to sit in and enjoy a book. Multiple two-person seating is available up front with one on the eastside. I usually sit on the eastside table as it is closest to the fountain dispenser, as all fountan drinks have free refills.
As for service, the ladies working there are great, especially the team lead/manager who works on weekdays. I definitely like how she initiates conversation by asking about the t-shirt you are wearing. I was wearing my "EXPLORE" shirt and she asked me what it is I am exploring. Usually, it would be geocaches and/or letterboxes, but at the time, soup flavors!
Which brings me to the six flavors of soup I had via the flight. Yes. The Soup Shop serves flights (and that is all the locations from what I know, too). I had the Dragon Stew, chili, chicken gumbo, tomato soup, creamy garlic tomato soup, and she crab bisque. Details of the soups are in the pics, but definitely loved the tomato soups especially with their fantastic grilled cheese sandwich they have on their menu.
And on a sidenote: the restroom was unisex and clean. Definitely no drips on the floor or anything like that.
Ultimately, I am going to give this Soup Shop - West Melbourne, four out of five stars. All and all, they are excellent, but we'll have to see if they are consistent. If they are consistently excellent, not perfect, just excellent, they'll get their fifth star for consistency.