system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do restaurant salads taste so much better than any salad I try to make at home, even if I use the restaurant's dressing?
gpt
Frankly a lot of times salt is the answer. Use it liberally if you want your food to taste good. Also, just because you're using their bottled dressing doesn't mean it's actually the same thing they use in house. They might, for instance, be making essentially the same dressing fresh everyday or every week. There are also often preparation techniques that can take a dish to the next level. Like with a salad, we used to mix the croutons in the dressing to get them drenched before mixing the rest of the salad, which would give the croutons a muuuch better texture.