I had gotten in a habit of eating at the SunTrust Cafeteria at least once a week and was saddened to hear it would be closing for at least a bit. Turns out that it's back and under new management, has some new renovations, and is rebranded Meriwether Market. I'm still a fan!
--Food: I've eaten here three times in the last couple weeks and have tried a variety of items. I've gotten a bacon cheeseburger with fries, fried catfish with cornbread and collard greens, a roast beef and white cheddar panini, and black bean soup. The cheeseburger was great as it always had been, and the new stations that have things like the catfish meal seem quite exciting.
There are various stations that have a variety of options that rotate each day. There's always the grill that has burgers and hot sandwiches and a salad bar with various toppings. The exciting stations are the ones that rotate specials daily (found on their website). There is an "Action Station" which has a wide variety of hot and made to order specials. I've seen things like Shrimp Po' Boys, Pasta station, Salmon Cakes and Risotto, and Braised Beef Tacos there. It's one flat price, you just get a plate of food from the offerings at that station. Similar to that is the Comfort Station, which has sort of hearty / classic meals like Meatloaf, Potatoes, and Green Beans. I had ordered the Catfish, Collard Greens, and Cornbread from there and enjoyed it. There is also a Panini station that offers full or half paninis, at least two varieties a day. There are also two daily soups. The Black Bean soup I had today was great!
--Cost: Reasonable. The Action Station is a flat $9, as is the Comfort Station unless you get only part of it. Check the menu for prices, but in general you'll probably spend $6 - $12 depending on what you get.
--Atmosphere: One thing I've always loved about the space is that there is a huge amount of seating. Since the re-opening, it feels a bit brighter as well.
--Service: In the previous management, there were times where plenty of waiting would go on, sometimes without staff in sight. I haven't noticed any of these problems with Meriwether Market and the staff is informative and seems nice.
--Overall: I'm glad that SunTrust reopened their Cafeteria, and I'm a big fan of Meriwether Market. I'm not going to overhype it; it's still essentially a cafeteria, but the food tastes good and there's plenty of variety. One of my new (again) favorite places for lunch. read more