Alice B.
Yelp
This place gets a 5/5 for decor and first impressions. Seriously, its creative, inviting, interactive, and concept-wise, works for singles, families, or couples (and perfect for the gram).
However, that's where the 5 stars end. We tried multiple places on our first visit, hoping to get a little taste from everything...but we were not impressed. Unfortunately the food did not deliver, and as a FOOD HALL this was a huge let down for us.
We ordered a kids burger and fries from STACKS. Unfortunately it came with cheese - no worries, we took it back and they said they would fix it. By 'fix it' they meant, peel the cheese off and give us back the same burger. This was an allergy issue, not a personal preference, so this was not acceptable. We didn't say anything and instead switched our menu items for the family to compensate - again trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. The burger patty itself was frozen, thin, and the flavor was very off-putting. To be honest, I would rather order fast food then pay another $12 for a kids combo meal. Steak fries were fine- so at least the little ones had something to snack on.
We also tried MR. BIG'S SEAFOOD which offers a self serve computer so YOU can put in your order to the kitchen. I liked this concept because it allowed me to think through my selection instead of feeling rushed that someone was waiting on me. We ordered the fried calamari and a bowl from Mr. Big's. The calamari was probably the best thing we ordered that day. The bowl was decent, but they fell short on execution on several things. I ordered a grilled chicken bowl with rice, corn, red onions, spicy mayo, topped with crispy onions and cilantro. The chicken barely had any "grill" marks on it, and looked more like reheated frozen chicken strips that were diced. I would have rather had larger slices of chicken so I could see the quality of the chicken versus dicing it into tiny pieces. The corn was cold, it hadn't been cooked at all - a quick heat on the flattop would have been plenty. The cilantro came in whole stems, which really threw me off. Am I supposed to eat entire stems of cilantro in every other bite or mince it up myself? I'm still puzzled by this one. It was just a lot of small things that made me question the concept completely. I know several of these owners are new restaurant owners and I really hope they are able to work out the kinks in the future.
The last shop we tried for redemption was the THE SWEET BAKEHOUSE. We tried 6 macarons, for $11. We tried the vanilla, chocolate, lemon, and raspberry. The macarons had decent feet and chew, but the fillings ranged from good to off-putting. The vanilla and raspberry were probably the best two we tried. The chocolate was good, but the coco flavor was very artificial and the lemon had a bad aftertaste to it. I'm not sure if they were just having an off day, or if these were old. I just was not impressed with the quality and the taste definitely did not wow me.
I'm glad I gave this place a try, but I'm not sure I'll be back for the food. There was a cool pizza oven in the parking lot and the owner seemed to be making a movie for the business....so maybe we'll come back for that, haha.