I went to Modmarket for the first time yesterday, after overdosing on Chipotle, Smashburger and larkburger it was time for something new and fresh. Since I live near campus and I am always in the parking lot I decided to stroll on over (because Nordstroms Rack was filling the parking lot) to modmarket. I had read some reviews and I like to see the fresh ingredients etc etc etc.
I went there with my girl, she got a salad (the Flatiron) and I got a ciabatta sandwich (chipotle Chicken). the guy making the salad was slow as molasses, there were 3 people ahead of us in the salad line, 2 eventually decided not to get a salad because of the wait. When we finally got to the front, my girl showed me the small sign that said "sandwich orders please go to register". I guess if the lady in front of us hadn't blocked it, and I was a regular I would have known that. It does seem weird that if it were two people and one was getting a salad and the other getting something else that you would pay for both, while the one person would have their salad the the person with the sandwich would be waiting. Anyway...... So she got the small salad, and boy they were not lying about that, it was about 1 cup of mixed greens, 3 oz or so of some old rubbery looking steak and some cheese. Despite that she said it was amazing and had great flavor, my remark to that was, for $8 and that small it had better be the best salad ever!
As for my sandwich, ($7.50), it was just ok, the chicken was some diced flavorless chicken (good as a base I guess), then there was a really good chipotle aioli (flavored garlic mayo to the novice) and a slice of what appeared to be Monterrey jack cheese, the menu said Parmesan, but that would have been some of the smoothest melty-ist Parmesan I have ever seen, then some field greens and 2 slices of "tomato". I know they were using an oven to toast it, but it took about 8-9 minutes from the time I ordered it to the time my buzzer went off. The good parts, the bread is amazing, I have always been a fan of Ciabatta, it was moist in the center and crunchy on the outside (although you could tell the top and bottom were not from the same piece of bread). The aioli was good, and it needed to be good to give that poor chicken some life. the bad, the chicken as I said earlier was small diced dry chicken, maybe it was "roasted" in their oven, but I think grilling it with some salt and pepper on the grill would give it better depth of flavor and add some smoky-ness to compliment the smoked pepper of the aioli. My poor pickle, I guess it had a bad night, it was almost snapped in half and looked like it had been scrapped or cut with a knife, as a fan of a good pickle this was disappointing, if you are going to put a pickle on the plate, make it look nice, not like an after thought and broken.
My overall impression..... After looking at some other reviews I can see that Modmarket has improved leaps and bounds. For me to give it the 5 stars and for me to be an every other day customer (a la chipotle) they would need to speed up the service, make it flow smoother, (don't have one person order their salad and wait by the salad station and the other order a sandwich and have to pay for both and find a seat, only to have to wait again while the sandwich is made and the person is eating their salad.), look at the pricing structure, I know fresh veggies are not cheap, but if other places can offer fresh seasonal veggies on a salad bar for a reasonable price, Modmarket can too. the one cup of lettuce and grilled steak for $8 was just too much for me to not say anything. I think if they are looking at the same price as their competitors a nice salad should cost about a buck less, maybe even mix the spring mix with some romaine to help offset the cost of spring mix. The sandwich would be about $5.50 or maybe $6, it wasn't anything exotic or high prices, it was 3-4 of chicken, a roll, some mayo, spring mix (10 leaves?) and 2 slices of tomato. The place itself was very Mod, reminds me of being in an Ikea, but the name is confusing to me. I thought for the longest time Modmarket was a furniture store or something not food related. It was for sure bright, fresh and airy. Maybe can I get a real glass for my water though?
I am taking the time to write such a long review because I want to go here a lot, so take it as a compliment. read more