Mustard Seed Market - Cafe — Restaurant in Akron

My partner and I visited my family from out of town and requested that we dine at Mustard Seed as it’s one of the only restaurants with several vegan and vegetarian options in Akron.

We ordered two dishes—a vegan BLT and a veggie burger.

My dish, the BLT, was beyond disappointing. The bread was slathered and toasted in what appeared to be canola oil. I understand that a dish like this is supposed to be greasy, but I’d have expected Earth Balance or another butter substitute rather than pure oil that soaked half way through the bread. The “coconut bacon” was the worst bacon substitute I have ever tasted. It was burnt coconut flakes that tasted like—Coconut. There wasn’t a hint of smokiness or saltiness. Bacon substitutes are really easy to do with tempeh or mushrooms—coconut is an overpowering flavor reserved for curries and desserts, not bacon imitation.

My partner ordered the impossible burger. He ate several bites before asking me to taste. I took a bite, and it was real beef. We checked with the kitchen to confirm—and they said they had an unaccounted impossible burger sitting in the window. In other words, they somehow had an extra impossible burger just sitting there and did not double check their tickets to see where it should have gone. Insulting. It had been 4 years since either of us ate meat, which is an ethical and health-conscious decision, one that led to requesting to dine at Mustard Seed in the first place. The manager refunded the money for the sandwich and offered a digestive enzyme.

I worked in food service for 10 years. Nothing so grave ever happened to me or my customers in that time. Still, for less, I comped entire meals and offered $100+ gift cards to ensure guests returned to my restaurant. If this manager chose not to comp the meal, then this manager needs to be trained in providing customer service commensurate with the restaurant’s reputation and clientele expectations. If the manager is not empowered to make such decisions, then the restaurant must reconsider its policies for caring for the guests who choose to patron the establishment.

This was a grave, but non-life threatening mistake. This restaurant needs to consider how to avoid cross contamination and food confusion both for dietary preferences and allergies. I choose not to eat meat, but accidental ingestion will not hurt me. If it’s so simple to switch a burger, how easy would it be to accidentally serve an allergen to someone with a nut, egg, or dairy allergy? This is something that can be addressed by simple tools, like toothpicks.

The dietary mistake lowered my rating to two stars to start. Rather than helping to recover the experience, the way the manager addressed the concern lowered the rating to 1 star and will prevent me or my family from dining here ever again. I hope this is a learning experience for Mustard Seed Market, and moreover that they apply higher standards of food quality and assurance and customer service so that this never happens to another person at their...

Went to Mustard Seed for lunch and it was a rough experience. Our food took an excessively long time to arrive, but our server was apologetic about it and gave us coupons for a future visit. That kind of admission/self awareness goes a long way and we were more than willing to let go of our mild irritation once the food the arrived. Except...

People at Mustard Seed, please change your fryer oil. Yikes. I got the Honey Mustard Fried Chicken and the moment it was set in front of me it was clear it was not right. The "crispy" breading ranged between mostly sickly gray and charred to a black crisp. Sorry to be gross but I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that when I took a bite it kind of tasted like vomit. (I know, why did I take a bite if it looked bad, right? I was starving by then and hoping my eyes deceived me). Again, I was starving, so I peeled all the fried bits off which didn't take much time as it wasn't a uniform coating and what was there barely adhered to the chicken. The chicken itself was cooked through but tough.

My wife got a grilled cheese that wasn't hot, and was unpleasantly/overly crunchy to bite into (almost a stale effect) and the cheese wasn't fully melted, and it tasted cheap, almost like Velveeta. The sweet potato fries were very limp with no crunch whatsoever - again, maybe a fryer oil issue? Not sure.

Again the server was kind and tried to make it right, which is the only reason this is a two star instead of one star review. Maybe they were just having a rough day back in the kitchen, but to be honest the last few times I've gone to Mustard Seed I've had similar issues with wait times and the food not measuring up to the price tag.

I hope the owners up their game, otherwise I'm not sure the cafe is much longer for this world...

I hadn’t been here in years but used to love the place when they had bands (reggae) performing. I definitely had some good times here. I recently went while doing business in Akron and had lunch at the cafe. My party ordered several things and the food was all a bit over the top and not cooked with knowledge of the culinary arts. It was merely just prepared food. I know, I know, how can one tell the difference? Somehow I can always tell when things are prepared with expertise, but don’t take my word for it. The Buffalo cauliflower bites were too large and the cauliflower wasn’t cooked long enough. The sauce could use some work as well, meaning it could be a bit more savory. The pesto ceasar salad was too wet. It was drenched in a dressing and included pesto. I was overwhelmed. The lettuce wilted before I could get into the meal. The flavors didn’t mesh up quite right- pesto and ceasar dressing? 🤔 The Parmesan pomme frites had way too much cheese on them and it seemed to be a cheese sauce as opposed to freshly grated Parmesan which would be nice. They were also over salted and had a ridiculous amount of chives on them. The quinoa burger had cooked chard or spinach or something on it which threw off the whole thing. Cooked greens on a burger is not great. Fresh greens would be better. They didn’t have the wine we ordered, but gave us what they had without actually noting the difference in brands. However, I like Mustard Seed, but the cafe food needs some thought and innovation. I’m writing this because I know they can get it right. Throw some Love in the food. ...