When I got a taco salad to eat in at Wendy’s they assembled it expertly and appetizingly, it was only when I asked for to go that I got the do it yourself version. My version wasn’t as pretty but tasted ok.
I am far from an expert but all the recipes I have seen for Cobb salad arrange all the extras (anything other than lettuce) in stripes or wedges on the lettuce base. I thought that was a feature, not a bug.