Question about salads

I have a question about salads. It seems to me that with a few exceptions most restaurants always seemed to include a dinner salad with most every meal. It might not have been a large or elaborate salad but it was a nice little dinner salad....something to get your started. Many places still do this. The thing I'm noticing, however, more and more, is that less and less restaurants are offering the 'complimentary' dinner salad but now the salad is ala carte and you choose from several different types---some actually quite pricey. To me, it's rather maddening when this happens in Italian restaurants which are serving many pasta dishes. To not offer salad with pasta, heavens!

Perhaps this is foolish on my part but this current trend doesn't thrill me.

always seemed to include a dinner salad with most every meal

seemed is the keyword here, I think you are recalling dining experiences from twenty years ago.

btw, you can get all the salad, bread and soup that you want at Olive Garden for $5.95

[Robin Garr]

I have a question about salads. It seems to me that with a few exceptions most restaurants always seemed to include a dinner salad with most every meal. ... Perhaps this is foolish on my part but this current trend doesn't thrill me.

I kind of agree with Brian, John ... if this is a trend, it's been around for quite a while. I don't think the house-salad-with-the-meal has gone away completely, but I do think of it more as a family restaurant or steakhouse kind of thing (the new Frank's on Hurstbourne has them, I believe). At a modern, upscale restaurant, you have the option of choosing among several "interesting" salads that may represent the kitchen's creativity, rather than just getting a bowl of lettuce with a cherry tomato and a little tub of dressing. To me, it's more like an expanded choice than an afterthought, although in fairness I've had some pretty darn good house salads.