This popular New Smyrna Beach restaurant just got even better with a new salad bar

This beloved New Smyrna Beach eatery is taking things up a notch with a brand-new lunch time addition.

Ruthy’s Kozy Kitchen, known for its array of sweet and savory breakfast and lunch offerings, is giving the people what they want with the opening of its new salad bar. The restaurant began teasing the new addition on social media in August, before announcing its grand opening last week in a Facebook post.

With requests constantly flooding my social media feeds for a real-deal, fresh salad bar selection, this new favorite came at just the right time, to just the right crowd.

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With an extensive brunch menu, ranging from layered pancakes, decorated waffles and French toast, to soup, sandwiches, omelets and more, this local gem is elevating its already-popular offerings with this customizable new salad selection — one that many local residents seem to have been on the hunt for.

"That looks amazing! I absolutely love salad bars and that one looks incredible!! I can’t wait to try it!!!" one Facebook user said, with another noting, "Oh how I miss a good salad bar. This looks so good."

According to owner Ruthann Fike, the salad bar was a highly anticipated, no-brainer addition to Ruthy’s Kozy Kitchen.

“Well, I’m a salad lover, really,” Fike said in a phone interview, “and there’s no place to get a good salad like that in this town — none in New Smyrna Beach.”

The salad bar at Ruthy's Kozy Kitchen

The salad bar is priced at $12.95, $7.95 if you add it to a meal, and includes a wide variety of topping options to satisfy all your specialty salad cravings — 41, to be exact. Among the tasty topping selections is an array of fresh fruit, olives, cucumbers, shredded cheeses, croutons, bacon, fried onions, chickpeas, sesame seeds and much more.

Alongside the savory salad options, the bar will offer a range of homemade sides — like the potato, broccoli and chicken salads — as well as an ever-changing rotation of desserts to satisfy that post-salad sweet tooth. The eatery will announce new dessert offerings each week on its Facebook page, where it noted this week’s selection of banana pudding and peanut butter mousse.

Ruthy’s Kozy Kitchen is located at 618 Canal St. in New Smyrna Beach and is open 7 a.m. – 2 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For information, call 386-423-9656 or visit Facebook.com/ruthyskozykitchen.

Helena Perray is the restaurant and dining writer for The Daytona Beach News-Journal. A New Jersey native and passionate storyteller, she can be contacted at hperray@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook. Support local journalism by subscribing

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Ruthy's Kozy Kitchen in NSB adds fresh salad bar to lunch menu