Not to be confused with The Market on St Simons, The Market on Newcastle or The Coastal Market (same owner but different concept) - lol - this is The Market. It's a small seafood market combined with takeout restaurant located in Darien.
Exterior
They are next door to the Darien Post office (formerly local Ga Power office). Very limited parking but since there's no dine-in, most people are in & out, so parking shouldn't truly ever be a problem.
Interior
No public bathrooms & very tiny interior. Hot food, fresh seafood & several freezer-to-table options. They also have seafood breader, a few spices & seasonings & individually packaged of delicious looking blondies (ordered from a company that I forgot the name of).
Food
I used to love the fried flounder & would order this every time I was in town, but the last few time / visits - my fish had the consistency of fish that's been pulled from the fryer a bit too early & they're not draining it long enough either, so that crispy delicious batter just splits, splinters & cracks & falls off when you're trying to eat the fillets.
The pork chop sandwich is amazing & the chicken nuggets & tenders are delicious. The salad with the chopped chicken strips is pretty doggone tasty.
My friends & family rave about the shrimp.
The only meals I've had that I didn't enjoy were 1) the roast beef sandwich - there's no flat top grill, so its microwaved roast beef & 2) the loaded nuggets. In fact, the 'loaded nuggets' & the way they handled the situation is the reason I gave them 3 stars instead of 4 or even 5 stars.
One day my nephew & his gf dropped by the house just as I was preparing to head to Brunswick for errands & my millionth trip to Goodwill. Thrilled to have a set of good knees & strong arms (& a strong back), I asked my nephew to go through some of his things & bag up some stuff for Goodwill. While he was doing that, I decided to run down to The Market to grab myself some grub & I decided to get something for both of them. I'd never had the loaded nuggets so I decided to give them a try.
Ok - so for clarification - most restaurants call this dish - or dishes like this 'loaded fries' or 'loaded potatoes.' Because it's a potato base, loaded with cheese, sour cream, bacon & topped with protein (chicken, shrimp, steak, etc - with a specific price for each protein, of course). But The Market made the decision to create two distinct dishes & call them loaded shrimp & loaded nuggets. There's a reason why I' m giving this detail, so bear with me. I ordered two loaded nuggets & one order of loaded shrimp. I called the order in, picked up all 3 orders, then dropped two dinners off with my nephew & his gf, locked the house up behind them, wished them well on their journey back to Atlanta, then headed off to Brunswick with my food.
I snagged 2 bites of chicken but had my first potato while sitting in the queue in front of Goodwill & it was crunchy. No biggie. Accidents happen. Attempted to fork & it resisted - too hard. I poked & prodded more until I found one that seemed fine - but nope - it was crunchy too. Tested a few more & they were all like this.
I called my nephew - asked if they enjoyed their food. Initially they said Yes. I said, 'Oh, ok - I just asked because my potatoes were crunchy - nearly raw.' They started laughing & gf told me to check my phone. I did. She'd sent a pic of their uneaten potatoes. Turns out they said Yes initially because they didn't want to sound rude / ungrateful. I called the restaurant & explained that I wanted to return & replace my meal & that aside from two small bites of chicken & few half bites of potato, the meal was intact.
Bobbi asked me 'what about the other meals?' I explained that they were also undercooked but the kids were nearly an hour away on their way back to Atlanta. She then told me that she was shocked to hear this because they'd had no other complaints that day. So she asks me what I'd like her to do. I repeat myself & explain that I'd just like it re-done - with cooked potatoes. She said ok, but she sounded distinctly annoyed.
When I went back, the granddaughter scowled during entire conversation then asked if I was returning the chicken or the shrimp - even though I was using 'their' verbiage of 'nuggets' the entire time & even though she was holding the tray of returned food. Then Bobbi came over expressing her disbelief again, like I get a secret kick out of not eating & coming back 3 hrs later.
Price / Value
Prices are consistent with what you'd expect to pay for this type of fare.
Customer Service
The owner (Joann, I think) is super friendly since it's family owned & operated - all the employees are relatives of the owners. The younger folks can be a little blah & snappy but I've come to expect that with this generation.
Overall
Overall, I love this place. Just wish they didn't get so defensive & hostile when an error is made & wish they had a few semi-healthy options to choose from. read more