Aarti B.
Yelp
The mall has undergone a total transformation with the new Ballston Market food court on the ground floor and new shops popping up. As fellow Yelper Elite Gretchen noted, the Ballston Market deserves its own listing and the old reviews don't reflect the mall make-over!
With over a dozen vendors, the food hall offers diverse culinary cuisines - Rogi pierogis (formerly's Zofia's Kitchen), Rice Crook's rice bowls, Maizal arepa and South American veggie bowls, Go Poke bowls, Roll'd dumplings, Superette hearty sandwiches, Sloppy Mama's BBQ, Hot Lola's fried chicken and curly fries, seafood from The Local Oyster, Bollywood Bistro Indian food, Turu's New York style-pizza from Timber, Ice Cream Jubilee, and Service Station serving beer and cider on draft. There's also sit-down restaurants - True Foods, Bar Taco and Copa Kitchen. There's even Chick-Fil-A, something for everyone!
Most of vendors stay open until 9pm on the weekends e.g. Turu's, Ice Cream Jubilee, Rogi, Superette, Bollywood Express, Mezeh - but some of them e.g. Maizal, Roll'd, Rice Crook, Go Poke, close early. Just check the individual restaurant site.
After making the rounds to the different vendors - here's the scoop:
Rogi - formerly Zofia's Kitchen (4/5) - While the bite-size pierogies are pricey (5 for $9), I enjoyed the pan-fried spinach and feta and the mushroom pierogies with the lemon dill sour cream dipping sauce. The Latake donut is fun to try and a giant hashbrown. The diversity and culinary experience is worth the hefty price.
Service Station (5/5) - Impressive selection of beers and ciders on tap. The True Berry Hard Seltzer and Downeast Guava are my picks!
Hot Lola's (5/5) - The seasoned curly fries were delish!
Superette (4/5) - The red sangria is made to order and quite refreshing, packs a punch! The fried Oreos were a bit of a miss.
Ice Cream Jubilee (3/5) - The ice cream looks amazing and a bit deceiving - just not as good as it looks. The crunchy waffle cone really elevates the flavor.
Maizal (3/5) - While I was really rooting for the arepas and loaded bowls filled to the brim with a galore of toppings, the sour service really falls short of the food. I arrived a minute before 8pm on Sat and the mean male server shooed me away. The arepas were so overstuffed that all the toppings feel out and turned into a sloppy mess. Maizal has potential, but the poor staff and execution really ruin the experience.
Turu's by Timber Pizza (2/5) - The pizza has really gone downhill and heavily coated in grease. Turu's was soo good in the 1st year it opened and just threw in the towel after the 1st slice after my last visit.
Bar Taco (1/5) - Hands-down the WORST cocktails. At $10 a pop for a cocktail, the Margarita was a sugar overload and the sangria tastes like jungle juice. If you're looking for a great glass of sangria - head over to Superette. I did a side-by-side sangria taste test and hand-down Superette won!
I wasn't a fan of the AMC 12 movie theater. It's quite outdated with lax security, no one checked our tickets and the popcorn and snacks tasted terrible. As someone who loves popcorn and made popcorn in movie theater in high school, the popcorn here is by far the WORST. While the theater rooms are small, the seats are quite comfy with a pull-out tray for snacks.
Excited to come back for more culinary experiences and try new vendors.