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It's not your imagination. That salad at the restaurant is way better than the one you made at home.
Restaurants use really good ingredients.
Restaurants toss salads in their biggest bowls. This way you can ensure that all of the ingredients were well-combined before transferring the salad to the serving plate and garnishing it.
Restaurants salt their salads.
Restaurants make salad dressing from scratch.
Restaurants understand balance. If you need help, consider a checklist that includes something crisp like cucumber, something soft like goat cheese, something fatty like avocado, and so on. And be sure to incorporate different kinds of flavors—sweet, sour, savory, and bitter—for wow factor.