Jackson Market and Deli — Restaurant in Culver City

I was a regular and I really enjoy the staff, the service, the range of food and products as well as the ambiance.

Service: The staff are very capable, very well coordinated and composed. I have been in restaurants where it’s clear that the staff absolutely despise the management, but here the staff clearly has respect and camaraderie towards the management, each other, and to customers. In other restaurants it’s not uncommon for the staff to display clear contempt towards their management (probably for good reason too), and the residual affect would spill into customer interactions

Bakery/Cafe: I used to buy the coffee all the time, and they do have great handcrafted drinks. Which is impressive considering the range of food options for order thats prepared after you order. The coffee is well worth the price compared to surrounding coffee shops, and I like Jackson Market’s coffee much more. Moreover, the drip coffee is a similar price to a lot gas stations in the area, but much higher quality. Their baked goods are absolutely delicious, they clearly practice very high standards when selecting vendors. The baked goods are local, and I need to emphasize they are absolutely delicious. I do think that I bake better than most baked goods sold at a lot restaurants and cafes, but not in this case.

Food: The custom deli and salads are very good. I love the Rueben and chicken salad with a salad base, and go crazy with the toppings etc. I used to travel a lot for work, where I grew to be cynical and underwhelmed with most local restaurants. I often rely on chipotle or an adjacent franchise to avoid the disappointment.

Ambiance: Jackson Market is a good example of how important style is. The cafe and deli premise is somewhat basic, it seems like something everyone wants to do. However Jackson Markets transcends this platitude because of the level of creativity and attention towards detail exercised in every dimension of the market. Including (but not limited to) the range of products from all over the world huddled together facing the deli, the pop up pizza place that is strung behind the deli, how the trees overlay the pop up pizza place, how the market lights dance around the trees and flutters through the leaves. It’s like a reinterpretation of the stars we wish we could see in LA but can’t (I absolutely love this). What's really beautiful is how the back is situated with the mural, like we are in a cool theatre.

This is a type of beauty that is a great illustration of independent character all while seamlessly flowing into the surrounding neighborhood. This is so refreshing. Commercial layouts (coffee shops/restaurants/hangout spots etc) that have co-opted and propagated all over LA are so predictably manufactured and ornamented. I end up regretting spending that amount of money in...

I heard so much about this place and decided that I wanted to try it. Last weekend was the weekend that I gave it a shot because my favorite deli was closed for the memorial Day holiday. I went there and it was pretty crowded. Nothing crazy and I looked around and was a very aesthetically pleasing atmosphere, everyone was really happy. As far as the customers go. There seem to only be one person working behind the register, a nice looking young man. I placed my order and 10 to 15 minutes later they told me that they were out of the bread that I chose which happened to be ciabatta. I then chose another bread which was sourdough. I waited for another 15 minutes or so and a woman who ordered well after I had got her order before me and she looked at me and said hey. Did you tell them that you're still waiting? And I said yes. They're only supposed to be changing the bread. At that point the young man behind the cash register heard me and looked over at the guy making the sandwiches and they kind of shrugged their shoulders. About 10 minutes after that I heard my name called and received my sandwich. I said thank you and got in the car and went home.

Once I got home I opened the sandwich, which seemed pretty light compared to the price, especially when I'm comparing it to my regular deli. Once I unwrapped the sandwich it was drenched in mayonnaise or whatever dressing I had selected, however, it was soaking on both sides of the bread. The meat and the cheese were just laying there as if it had been made by a 5-year-old and there was one tiny little piece of lettuce and a couple of thin pieces of tomato on it. It was nothing extraordinary. I think most people really like this place because of the rear yard atmosphere where you can go outside with your wine and drink and have your sandwich and whatever other accoutrement that you happen to purchase at the time. As far as my overall experience, unfortunately I will not be returning to Jackson marking and deli. I will continue to go to Mike's deli which is always, always delicious and always made to perfection. They never skimp. If they're out of the bread, they let you know within moments not 15 minutes. So to anyone who's interested, give it a try, maybe your experience will be different than mine. Maybe they will have the ciabatta when you get there, and maybe your sandwich won't be...

Jackson Market was recommended to me as a Culver City hidden gem so I was really excited to try it, but it fell flat.

At first, it was neat. Nestled between houses, Jackson Market opens to a deli and cozy back patio. There are ample snacks and drinks to choose from and one can either order a sandwich, salad, or wrap from the menu or build-your-own.

The process was very confusing. The register- or should I say registers (one for coffee/tea orders and one for everything else) are located by the entrance so the crowd of those paying blocks the exit. It’s also unclear what the intended flow of traffic is and to a newcomer, it’s not immediately clear how to order a sandwich or how to know when your sandwich is done being made.

The process is as follows: Pick up a rectangular piece of paper at the deli and a pen and select what you want (my partner and I ordered chipotle chicken on a sourdough baguette toasted with pepper jack & some toppings). Put your name at the top of the paper and then place the completed paper on a little wooden stand on the deli counter. If there are only a few sandwiches being made, they’ll call out your name to retrieve your sandwich once done. If the market gets too busy, they’ll just pile all the completed sandwiches on the counter by the cashier and you’ll have to look for your name. It seems like you can pay for any/all items at either cashier, which makes it even more confusing and kind of non-sensical to have 2 registers right next to each other where the 2 queues end up blocking the way and combining (NOTE FOR JACKSON MARKET IF YOU’RE READING THIS: SINGLE QUEUE IS THE FASTEST QUEUEING SYSTEM SO PLEASE SWITCH TO THE SINGLE QUEUE).

All the seats were taken outside so we took our sandwich and chips- sweet Maui onion (yum!) and mango habanero (gross!) to go with an iced lavender oat milk matcha latte and an iced oat milk coffee. The sandwich lacked flavor and the coffee tasted horrible. The matcha latte wasn’t the worst, but I had to dump it once near the bottom because the ice had melted and tasted like dirty cardboard.

I came, I saw, but Jackson market conquered me. Needless to say, I...