Laura S.
Yelp
We wanted a late and fast lunch after having taken a Grey Line tour of the Twin Cities. Our pick up and drop off location was Mall of America, so we headed to one of their food courts.
FOOD. (rating: 4.25/5). As usual, my husband and I split our entrees. I ordered a regular Basil Pesto Pasta ($10.19). It comes with pasta (your choice of penne or spaghetti), Parmesan Alfredo sauce, basil pesto, bruschetta tomatoes, and shaved Parmesan cheese. I also added grilled chicken (+$2.69) and roasted red peppers (+$0.00). Rating: 4.5/5. We enjoyed this entree. Shaved off a half-point from the rating only because the quantity of chicken was quite small and got lost when mixed with the other ingredients. In the future, I might also add some additional free toppings (spinach, roasted broccoli) to increase the amount of vegetables/fiber. My husband ordered the regular Farmers Market Salad ($10.79), which featured chopped greens, a cabbage and kale blend, strawberries, feta, sweet corn and tomato, fresh avocado, and glazed pecans. The salad comes with a lemon basil dressing, but he substituted a creamy basil Parmesan dressing. Our rating for his salad is 4/5. WhiLe tasty, neither of us recall there having been any feta, avocado, or glazed pecans. Also, we asked for the dressing on the side and the quantity was insufficient for a large salad. Quantities overall were good. We have some salad leftover which we will eat with our own salad dressing.
SERVICE. (2/5). Customers order at a counter using a menu that is posted on the wall. All of the ingredients are in a counter, and are mixed fresh upon ordering. There were about four customers in front of us when we entered the line, and it moved quite slowly, seemingly because of some inefficiencies of the workers putting together the orders. They seemed quite disorganized. When it was our turn, my husband went first and they started working on his order. However, the first worker on the line then decided to move all of the food containers to scrub down the counter before taking my order -- in spite of the fact that the line behind me was getting longer and my husband needed to wait for my order to pay for us together. Luckily, he was the one to have ordered the salad; if I had gone first, my pasta would've been cold by the time the second order was finished.
We would eat here again. Four stars overall, based more on food taste than on ordering experience.