Market District is Giant Eagle's upscale grocery store chain. For my in-laws' 50th wedding…read moreanniversary party, I ordered catered food from this Market District. I will write a positive 4-star review for this particular location of Market District because the catered food tasted very good, but I do want to point out that the employees committed some large mistakes. Read on:
Over two weeks before the party, I called the store to ask about their cut-off time for ordering catered food and their recommended pickup hour. The manager said that he needed only 3+ days of advance notice, and he recommended that I select a pickup time that was close to the time of the party so the hot food would remain hot.
On that same day, I ordered the food through Giant Eagle's website. The website sent me an automated email that listed the specific foods, quantities, prices, and pickup time. Minutes later, a team leader emailed me to confirm my catering order.
My in-laws' anniversary party would begin at 4 PM, so our pickup time was 3-3:30 PM. On the day of the party, I and three family members arrived at the catering area at 2:50 PM (yes, a bit early) to pick up the foods. The catering area was located near the aisle that has beers and wines. A catering employee kindly greeted us, and he began to carefully place our foods into our shopping carts. My order was large, and the employee tried his best to keep track of the foods as he removed them from refrigerators and warmers and placed the containers in our shopping carts.
Unfortunately, the sushi department had misread our order of 6 trays as only 1 tray, so we had to wait a long time for the employees to make 5 additional trays of sushi. Then the catering employee accidentally dropped 1 tray of sushi on the floor, so we had to wait again for the sushi employees to make additional sushi. In total, we waited for about one hour!
Because of the mistakes with the sushi, my husband and I ended up arriving late to the anniversary party. Before we departed the grocery store, the catering employee and the sushi employees sincerely apologized to us multiple times. The manager or team leader also apologized, and he handed us a gift card for $10. We had paid a total of $1,379.44 for the food, so the $10 gift card seemed very small.
Here are my reviews for the catered foods:
Hand-breaded chicken tenders - 5 stars - These chicken tenders were a large size, contained juicy white meat, and had a slightly salty breading. I had chosen sauces in flavors of buffalo, BBQ, garlic parmesan, and honey mustard. My family members said that they really liked these chicken tenders.
Fruit platters - 5 stars - These fruit platters consisted of strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, honeydew, pineapple, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. These fruits were fresh and tasted very good.
Mini-sandwich platters - 4 stars - I had ordered one platter with roast beef, ham, and turkey sandwiches and one platter with egg salad, tuna salad, and chicken salad. The sandwiches were a convenient size, and they tasted OK.
Crudite platters - 4.5 stars - The vegetables included fresh tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, carrots, and celery sticks. In the middle was a container of ranch dip.
Caesar salad - 3 stars - This salad contained romaine lettuce, parmesan cheese, and croutons. The lettuce and cheese were fresh, but the croutons were soggy. The employees forgot to give us caesar dressing!
Meatballs - 4 stars - These meatballs were Italian-style and were served hot with marinara sauce. I ate one meatball and thought that it tasted fine.
Macaroni salad - 4.5 stars - The ingredients of pasta, celery, onions, egg, and mayonnaise-dijon dressing tasted very good.
Cheese and pepperoni trays - 4.5 stars - These trays contained colby jack, swiss, pepperjack, and cheddar cheeses as well as pepperoni and beef sticks. On the side were pimento cheese and jalapeño cheese for dipping.
Potato salad - 4.5 stars - The ingredients of potatoes, celery, onion, egg, mayonnaise-dijon dressing, and relish tasted very good.
Sushi trays - 5 stars - Several flavors of sushi were available, and I chose the trays of California roll, crunchy shrimp roll, avocado roll, salmon roll, and tuna roll. My family members commented that the sushi was good.
Deviled eggs - 3 stars - My husband and I thought that these deviled eggs tasted bland and needed more tang.
Garden salad - 3 stars - This salad contained fresh mixed greens, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, and broccoli, but the croutons were soggy. The employees forgot to give us balsamic vinaigrette!
Shrimp platters - 4.5 stars - The shrimp were extra-large and fresh, and on the side was a flavorful cocktail sauce.
I was in such a hurry to get to the anniversary party that I did not have time to take photos of the foods. Attached to this review are photos of part of the catering area and the nearby deli and vegetables department.
