Nestled amongst the motorcycle and tractor dealerships, industries, car repair and service shops, and the concrete plant located on the stretch of Broad Street between Thompson Lane and 840 is an eatery you won’t want to miss.

Maybe it’s a good thing for a restaurant to locate in an area where there are not dozens of other food options in sight. (It’s a high-traffic area, as a lot of people work along that stretch of Broad Street, but it has not been a magnet for a lot of restaurant openings as in other areas of Murfreesboro.) Salads On Demand opened in that area in 2020.

The restaurant’s entrance reveals an open, roomy and well-lit dining area. Proceeding to place an order, a customer realizes that Salads On Demand really only offers a single salad option to purchase . . . and it’s $16.99 . . . but it’s huge! And it comes customized, offering the customer the option of adding every topping available in the place.

Those options are extensive. Choices for the green base include iceberg lettuce, spring mix, spinach and kale; or leave those out and save room for other natural, colorful and nutritious ingredients.

There’s the usual cast of salad characters: tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions and broccoli. The list goes on to include corn, pickles, radishes, eggs, cauliflower, sweet peas, mushrooms, avocado, black beans, green or black olives, and more.

Nuts include almonds, pecans or walnut pieces; add some strawberries, pineapples, craisins or Mandarin oranges for some sweeter, fruitier flavors.

Meat choices are bacon bits or diced turkey, chicken and ham.

Of course, there’s cheese—feta, cheddar, pepper jack and colby.

Yes, it’s a $17 salad—one salad and a tea puts the bill well over $20—but considering you can get 20-plus items in this large salad, and the time it would take to grow, purchase, wash, cut, dice and/or prep all of the things that one really wants in a dream salad, many are willing to buy one at SOD.

It’s truly large enough for two people. But when asked if many customers order one salad to split between two people, a team member replied that that doesn’t really occur very often; most want to create their exact personal combination.

“The house blend dressing was sooo good. They give you a nice size container of it. I only used a little and shook the salad well so that everything was coated. Now I have plenty left over for dipping veggies and for another salad,” according to a review from a recent Salads on Demand customer named Amy. “I will be back!”

Salads On Demand makes all of its dressings fresh, in-house. In addition to that house blend dressing (an herby, creamy concoction) it makes blue cheese, honey mustard, balsamic and oil, Italian, ranch, curry pepper and pineapple bliss (a chunky, sweet dressing full of pineapple pieces).

While the toppings are unlimited, keep in mind, the final salad will still have to fit within the box. (These custom “salads on demand” come served in an 8-by-8-inch clamshell to-go plate, so any leftovers can easily be taken home by simply closing the lid.) So if you request 30 different things, you may just get a little spoonful of each, but the box will be full.

Energetic gospel music plays over the speakers, keeping the people happy and encouraged as they wait for their salads. When the huge box of salad arrives, accompanied by a huge container of dressing—on a silver platter, no less—a customer is pleased to find everything very neatly chopped into small pieces, arranged in sections, very orderly and artistic.

A salad eater may not want a huge piece of banana pepper or radish overtaking a particular bite. Salads On Demand dices everything so neatly and properly so the diner can get a lot of different chunks of things on every bite, without having to do any of the cutting work themselves.

A wedge salad can make an impressive presentation sometimes, but then the diner has to do a lot of the work sawing the lettuce.

“I don’t believe a knife should play a role in eating salad. This place chops all their ingredients into bite-sized pieces. This not only makes for a perfectly forkable salad, it approaches a work of art,” as one Salads on Demand customer, Hadden, said. “You will not need extra dressing!” he emphasized

To hydrate, how about some more natural fruit flavors?

Salads On Demand has different fruit tea options. One, citrus burst, has “about all of the citrus fruits, other than grapefruit,” according to a team member. The place also serves a strawberry-infused tea and a summer burst fruit tea.

“We don’t just add fruit juice. We let all of the fruits, whole pieces of the fruits, sit in the tea for a few days,” according to the manager, D (“just D”). “We want you to taste fruit.”

Indeed, the lemon and orange flavors definitely come through in the citrus burst tea.

Aside from the salads, they serve fries, also. And the place fries fish. The fish is only available Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but that gives some folks who may not be big salad fans a reason to come in, and it also gives the chance to come up with some creative selections like pepper curry loaded catfish.

And for a salad to go with the fish, Salads On Demand makes a very very good coleslaw—smoky, spicy and flavorful with a little onion and celery in there. It’s delicious and peppery. (And a side of coleslaw is only $2.75, for a fairly large container—a pint, maybe.) The business also offers various potato and chicken salads in its rotation.

“We pray and ask God to bless the food and use it to nourish, strengthen and heal everyone who walks through the door,” D goes on to say, as the chorus in the recorded music playing in the background shouts “Halleleujah!” “It doesn’t matter what they believe . . . we pray for everyone.”

While Salads On Demand definitely focuses on real, natural ingredients and the bounty of the field, it’s not all strict health food. The restaurant also bakes cinnamon rolls to order.

Pre-ordering is required, and these, like the salads, are highly customizable. Customers may opt to add nuts, raisins, blueberries and other ingredients to the rolls. They can even do cinnamon rolls filled with sweet potato pudding or banana pudding.

As far as drawbacks, some just can’t justify paying $17 for a salad. Though plenty of local diners find it fair.

“You absolutely get your money’s worth” with the massive salads, as one reviewer put it, complimenting the friendly team and enjoying the opportunity to “load on a ton of stuff onto your salad.”

One suggested that cutting back on the huge containers of dressing may allow the restaurant to cut the salad price $1.

Others suggest that there could be a more efficient ordering system; many report it may take over 20 minutes for the team to assemble a salad.

Call ahead or order online if time is a concern.

Also, some salad eaters don’t particularly like to smell the aroma of fried fish. But that’s only offered three days of the week. Those who want to avoid even the smell of fish grease can go on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday; those wanting fried fish should go Thursday through Saturday.

But the columns and columns of fresh salad ingredients on the menu and the virtually endless possible combinations keep the Salads On Demand customers filled with natural goodness.

One diner points out that creative customers can make all kinds of themed salads. Go southwest with beans, peppers, onions, corn and ranch. Make a strawberry/walnut/feta creation. Or just go wild and list a hodgepodge of 20 different flavors that you enjoy and see how it comes out.

If high-energy Jesus music and salads packed with a custom selection of your favorite, neatly chopped vegetables is your jam (perhaps with the occasional piece of fried fish or a fresh-baked cinnamon roll), Salads On Demand is the spot.

Salads On Demand
2137 NW Broad St., Murfreesboro
Mon.–Sat.: 10 a.m.–8 p.m.
615-784-3998
Custom salad with unlimited toppings: $16.99; Bottle of citrus or strawberry tea: $3; Catfish sandwich: $13; Order of fries: $3.50; Order of coleslaw: $2.75
saladsondemand.com