A salad bar is a buffet-style table or counter at a restaurant or food market on which salad components are provided for customers to assemble their own salad plates. Most salad bars provide lettuce, chopped tomatoes, assorted raw, sliced vegetables (such as cucumbers, carrots, celery and green or red bell peppers), dried bread croutons, bacon bits, shredded cheese, and various types of salad dressing. Some salad bars also have additional food items such as cooked cold meats (e.g., chicken, ham, or tunafish), cooked beans (e.g., chick peas or kidney beans), deviled eggs, cold pasta salads, corn chips, bread rolls, soup, and fresh cut fruit slices.

The concept has been extended to "hot food bars", which offer a selection of hot foods in a similar fashion. When sold by weight, the hot foods are often assessed at a higher charge than foods from the "cold foods bar".