upon its release, "salad days" was met with critical acclaim. at metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 82 out of 100 based on 27 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". marc hogan of "pitchfork" stated that "salad days" "isn't a departure from its predecessor so much as a richer, increasingly assured refinement". fred thomas of allmusic wrote that demarco showcases "a streamlined picture of his musical development", and that "with more memorable tracks and a slightly more accessible feel, the album is less distracted and more tuneful than before without losing any of the freewheeling spirit that made his songs and persona so attractive in the first place." alex denney of "nme" concluded that demarco had "simply dialled down the quirk and written his best record yet."