(Move this if necessary; I don't know where this is supposed to go)

I went to O'Charley's with my mom, and ordered the half-size Calypso Spinach Chicken Salad (and OMG was it DIVINE!). I noticed when it came out that it was a rather large salad, and thought, "Gosh, if this is the half-size, I wonder how big the whole thing is!" and that was that and I went on to eat my salad, and when I say it was divine, it really was divine -- so divine that I ate the entire thing.

And then I got curious, so I asked the waiter how big the whole salad was. He then says to me that he doesn't really know, and that he thinks there isn't much difference between the two, and that he may have even brought me a whole order by accident. Um -- WHAT? You see here, that whole salad is at 1148 calories. So, if he brought me the whole salad, then I ATE the whole salad thinking it was the half size. Have any of you ever had this salad? Please tell me that the whole thing is much bigger than what I got -- mine was in a large, square dinner plate. Otherwise, I definitely have learned my lesson to definitely always ask before I eat something if I'm suspicious.

So yeah, careful when you order something new guys! The staff may be as clueless as you are.

seriously? that many calories for a salad? is it even a salad anymore then? I have never had a salad over 400 calories before...yikes!! What do they put in the salad?

A lot of it is the dressing. I usually switch out for oil and vinegar, but they can pack a lot of calories into a dressing.

It was actually a lot of high-calorie stuff that I probably could've done without (nuts, cheese, bacon, dried cranberries, chicken, dressing), lol, but it sounded good and I had 600-some odd calories left so I didn't think too much about it. The half-salad is supposed to be 574 calories.

Restaurant salads can really be deceiving sometimes... I'm sorry I'm not familiar with that restaurant so I can't be of much help there... but I know once I got more comfortable with calorie counting and portion control I became pretty accurate in estimating the calories of the ingredients in a dish that I had ordered... I always estimate on the high side... and than adjust for it accordingly the rest of the day... maybe eating a little less the next couple of meals and increasing the intensity and duration of the next few workouts as well... I eat out a lot... sometimes literally every single meal in a week... so I have to be really careful... for me counting calories at breakfast and lunch is snap... dinner can be a little more complicated but completely doable... and since I eat out a lot at the same places, I know the waitstaff and they know me and my preferences... I also like to be friendly with the chef if at all possible, so than the kitchen staff is receptive to making something for me that isn't on the menu to meet my needs within reason... Since eating out is a necessary part of my work and my travel schedule... I have to do what I need, to make it work for me...

Restaurant salads can be crazy! I find that going sans dressing is usually enough to knock out half the calories (unless wherever you are uses low cal dressings).

In fact I find that salads don't need dressings at all anymore! I've always been putting dressing on because that's what I thought I was supposed to do. So while I get weird looks when I either order or make a salad without dressing, it's what's best for me.

Annnddd that also lets me put nuts, cheese and meat on my salad without getting too concerned with a crapload of calories