After reading all the stellar reviews of this place and always being on the lookout for a new sandwich place, I just had to try it. After a Saturday morning of running around doing errands, I dropped by as my last stop before heading home. Full disclosure, after reading the posted business hours I realized my visit was a half hour prior to their Saturday closing time of 2 p.m. which I think contributed to my not-so-stellar experience.
As a first time customer not realizing it shared a space with The Prep Table pick-up area and a little confused as to where you place an order, I was standing in their bright, clean and airy dining/retail space watching the young employees in the open kitchen. I didn't see the sign hanging in the corner for the order area; it was easy to miss given it's location and discrete look compared to the visual overload of the colorful veggies and goodies in the prep area. Finally, one of the employees said (kind of impatiently), "Did you want to order something? Over here" gesturing to the register. No "welcome, hi", nothing. OK, thanks, sorry, didn't realize you were all trying to get out of here, my bad. But there was a couple who had ordered ahead of me, so I figured the kitchen was still serving. A quick glance at the menu and I knew what I wanted and placed my order. A discussion ensued between the workers if they had the materials at hand, and when it was confirmed they did I could order what I wanted. Okaaay, I'll wait over here and look at all the prepackaged goodies on the shelves. When my food was ready, I overheard one the the girls ask another, "Do you want to take this out to her" and the "her" had a certain emphasis on it, not a pleasant one. I didn't recall being rude or short with them, so I was puzzled what I had done to deserve that treatment. There was a general irritated vibe going on; maybe I was reflecting it back at them. The girl who drew the short straw walked over and unsmilingly and without a word handed me the bag, no "Thanks, come again soon", nothing. Here's your food, now get out. Did NOT get the uhmaaaaazing service everyone else has been raving about. I've had warmer service in drive-thrus, to be honest. Shaking my head, I left, wondering what THAT was all about.
So, the food: since I was allowed by the staff to order the half/half combo with a turkey-cranberry sandwich and the Greek spinach salad (lot of great Yelp reviews for both) I figured despite the chilly reception I was in for a fresh, tasty lunch! Well, sort of. The salad was a generous helping of wonderful, crisp and flavorful ingredients. I think they must have dumped the last of the Kalamati olives in the prep tub into my salad, there were sooo many they covered the bottom of the container! Heaven for an olive lover like me, although it made the salad skew a little salty (loved it anyway). It was the sogginess factor that kept it from being awesome: there was a good 1/4 inch of liquid in the salad container. Not pure dressing, it looked like washed lettuce that hadn't been shaken/spun whatever method they use to dry it along with olive liquid and then dressing. I had to drain it out in the sink, it was so wet. Once I did that, it was delicious! Everything crisp and full of flavor like previous commenters had promised. Things were looking up! Then, I tried the sandwich and things went down again. The bottom slice of bread was so soggy it was mush. I scraped it off the sandwich and ate the remainder open faced style. Where does all this liquid come from, I thought? I know they were in a hurry to serve me and get me out the door (they made that plain as day) but how is this acceptable? There was arugula and sprouts (both fresh as they could be!) on the sandwich, how much water can they hold? Did they run them under the faucet and just slap them in?? The rest of the sandwich was very tasty, although I think I'll doctor it with a cranberry chutney or something to give it some oomph. I can see preparing it the way they do, though, you can really taste every individual element, the ingredients aren't drowning in some sludgey spread or oil to hide their poor quality. The meat was flavorful and portions were generous and the veggies just sing! I just like a little spice in my sammies, strictly individual preference.
I will definitely try it again, well within business hours, to see if I can capture some of the magic experienced by others. Everyone has an off day, and I could so see the potential for greatness in their food. read more