TASTE — Restaurant in Chesapeake

Since I last worked out in the Greenbrier area Taste Unlimited has moved from their old space that was behind Cracker Barrel over into a new larger space in the Greenbrier Townplace shops.

We walked in and the first thing you notice is that the new location is easily 3-4 times the size of the old one and contains a larger deli, dining area & store. It's actually a bit 'over the top'. I ordered a Northender and I believe my co-worker William ordered a Beach Club. We were given little flashing light disc's and told they would let us know when our sandwiches were ready. After a short wait the device went off and we grabbed our food.

I have to say for the almost $10 I dropped for this artsy sandwich there wasn't much to it. My co-worker agreed. The meal was kinda flavorless actually... mundane to say the least. I finished my entree however my co-worker only ate about half of his and tossed the rest in the trash. We decided to grab some Gelato. Mine was a sorta peanut butter creme with chunks of chocolate in it while my co-worker went for plain chocolate. Again, off the mark, even more so than the tasteless sandwich. This Gelato, if you want to call it that, was like eating raw sugar. I can't put my finger on it but there was something not right about it. Neither of us finished our Gelato's. I was really disappointed with this visit.

Something has happened, Taste Unlimited has changed. Their locations used to be cool little sandwich shops that was a bit over priced but always had great food with decent portions. Now the theme they seem to be going for is a upscale corporate hipster executive soccer mom kinda place with bags of designer cookies and coffees. It reminds me of that scene from the Steve Martin movie LA Story when they're all ordering coffee bit.ly/1mZ3Q4C.

There's certainly plenty more bang for your buck around Greenbrier and for now I'll stick to downtown Norfolk...

I should start off by saying that everyone who worked there was fantastic and helpful. Customer service was great and nothing was made incorrectly, so my review has nothing really to do with that. Its more to do with just being unsatisfied with the vegan and vegetarian options. The vegan sandwich, which is the only vegan sandwich and only available in the winter, was oddly heavy pairing very large chunks of veggies with a relatively soft sandwich bread. It didn't create the greatest texture for me. The carrots being partially cooked and the onions pickled also made the texture a little bizarre as well. Would have been nice if they had gone either fully fresh, raw and crunchy, or a fully warmed, panini-like sandwich. The vegetarian options just went a little too hard with the cheese. The red pepper/gouda soup focused a little too heavy on the gouda and lost the pepper flavor almost entirely. I got the Inlet to sort of makeup for the Winter Veggie. I found it was much of the same. The dressing was nice, but the cheese was a little heavy and the texture needed work..maybe toast the bread, add avocado, or use sundried tomatoes like the Starbucks sandwich that I am much more a fan of. Anyways, I was really happy to see a vegan option on the menu, but I feel they didn't consult actual vegans or vegetarians on what to start adding to the menu. In the future, I would like to see more vegan options and fresher vegetarian options on Taste's menu. It would be nice to see them try different things because I frequented the restaurant quite a bit before transitioning to...

I typically visit the Suffolk location but was in the area and decided to this location. Big Mistake. It wasn't crowded and my order was taken quickly. While waiting I obtained my drinks and chips and looked at some of their other products. I started noticing that people who ordered after me were getting their to go orders or dine orders. I finally asked the cashier who took my order where was my food. She goes to the back and starts talking to some of the folks in the back and she points to the screen. She returns and says I'm sorry they are making it now and you can have a cookie for your wait. I told her that I didn't want a cookie I wanted my food. I ordered two chicken salad sandwhiches one with no bacon add onion. Of course the sandwhiches were not marked and both contained bacon. Both of the sandwhiches were sloppily made as I know they were made in a rush.

The second reason for my 1 star was my observance of food safety. The cashier who helped me had extremely long hair. Someone ordered soup. Prior to the cashier scooping the soup out of the pot she put her hair in a scrunchie and proceeded to scoop the soup without washing her hands. I am not a safety inspector but I am sure that there is some protocol in place when an employee touches their hair prior to handing of unpackaged food.

The Chesapeake location has to step up their game to be in the league of the Suffolk location. I...