Tracy Parker, dietitian at the British Heart Foundation, said: "We're all eating too much salt and with one in six meals being eaten out of the home, it's important to keep an eye on our salt intake all the time.
"It's vital restaurants provide clear menu labelling showing us how much salt is our dinner, but chefs should ideally be cutting back on the salt they use and giving the diner the choice.
"Until then, using information on restaurants' websites before you go out can help you eat more healthily when eating out."
Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at The Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University and chairman of Cash, said that too much salt is harmful.
"Salt puts up our blood pressure, and as a result, thousands of people die unnecessarily each year from strokes, heart attacks and heart failure.
"Whilst efforts have been made by foods in supermarkets to use less salt, chefs' preference for saltier foods is preventing further progress. It's clear from our survey that some chefs are not listening to their customers."
Salt reductions
Eddie Gershon, spokesman for restaurant JD Wetherspoon, said they were open and honest with their customers about the salt content of their meals.
"Most of our dishes on Cash's list contain bacon, gammon or pork which are all meats which are high in salt.
"We give customers what they want and tell them which meals are high in salt on our website and the company's nutritional leaflet.
"We do reduce salt where possible in line with government guidelines."
A Pizza Hut spokesperson said they had reduced salt in their meals.
"We have invested heavily in salt reduction, cutting salt by 15% across our menu since 2006 and we'll continue to make reductions in line with consumers' attitudes and palates."
A spokeswoman for Jamie's Italian said the group's own testing showed salt levels were lower than Cash's figures, suggesting the dishes they tested must have been anomalies.
She also pointed out that extra nutritional training was being provided for chefs to help make the food served healthier.
