The Core Kitchen at Atomic Dog Cidery — Restaurant in Mount Joy Township

Had high hopes for Jack's as my wife and I loved Hauser. We've been looking forward to trying the new cider house and Mela kitchen.

The night started off well. I tried the new cherry cider and my wife had a cocktail with our bread board appetizer. This was the highlight of the evening. I recommend the cherry cider. Unfortunately it was downhill from here.

My special came out solo. It looked good. It was spaghetti and meatballs. My wife's meal did not come out. Ok, we figured it would be out in a moment. I of course waited for my wife's food to come out before eating. 10 minutes pass and still no food for her as mine is cooling off.

Finally someone (not our waitress) checks on us. We tell her the problem and what my wife ordered. She apologized and says that she will go take care of it. About 5 minutes later our waitress comes by to check on us. We tell her the problem and that someone else was getting it corrected. She said she would check as well.

Another 5 to 10 minutes pass and a guy approaches the table and notices we were still waiting on the missing meal. He apologizes and says he is getting a manager. A few minutes later another lady comes by (maybe the manager, she never introduces herself). She apologized and said she was going to get it taken care of. My wife responds not to bother making the dish at this point, that we needed they heading home to relieve the sitter and asked for a box for my now cold food. She says ok and leaves.

Another 5 minutes pass and our waitress comes to the table (with no box) and says, I'd like to go over the ticket with you. I'm figuring she is going to show us that the manager comped us our drinks or appetizer or my now cold meal, but no! She wanted to show her the ticket to make an excuse for the problem!! She pointed out to my wife that her meal didn't appear on the ticket so that was the problem. Like we cared about the origin of the problem at this point. Mistakes happen but they had opportunities to fix it but instead solved the case of the origin of the problem!! She then offers to go have the meal made now!!!

My wife declines again and asks again for a box for my meal. The waitress finally brings the box and the full price check! I could not believe the poor experience with no attempt to do something to make up for it.

We headed home where I ate my cold spaghetti and meatballs and my wife made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She wanted nothing to do with the spaghetti even though I offered because she was so irritated.

Hard to tell how the spaghetti would have been warm and freshly served with another glass of cherry cider. Cold at home, it was fine but nothing special. Very disappointed after...

UPDATE#2: WOW. Visited for a sit down lunch today and it was phenomenal. 2 people shared half portion mela salad, artichoke app and a margherita pizza. We order at the end of the bar, receive a number and take any table we like. This restaurant is spacious with lots of natural light. It felt a bit chilly, if you tend to get cold, dress warmer. Self service water bar includes seltzer/still/cold options - super appreciated. The iced tea is fresh brewed with a clean, crisp flavor. Let's get to it. There were no burned layers of dough on the bottom of our pizza and it was honestly fantastic. The dough is a bit chewy and the sauce, cheese, crisp basil and olive oil are delightful toppings. I cannot wait to try all the pizzas at Mela. But let me say, the salad and appetizer were both executed with excellence. The salad and dressing are 100% perfect. The ratio of ingredients was perfect. Delicious and huge croutons, thin sliced apple, shaved parm, pickled onion and simple but wonderful dressing made the salad stand out - super fresh lettuce mix too. It feels like Mela doesn't cut on quality in any area and this is a significant plus for them. The fried artichoke hearts, oh the glory. Never have I ever... EXCELLENT EXECUTION! WONDERFUL FLAVOUR! This meal brought us to heaven and we cannot wait to return. Thank you for the prompted second chance.

OC:We grabbed a margarita pizza to go and it smelled so delicious when we picked it up, we had to stop and eat it. Neopolitan is our fav pizza type. The dough was lovely, the sauce fresh and the basil topping a thoughtful touch. We wish it had more cheese, but that would not stop us from re-ordering. However the cook brought such a charcoal flavor that it overwhelmed the pizza. I am okay with some char, but it was ott. These pizzas cook so fast, not sure why they are blackening the bottoms, perhaps some people like it. Sent them a message to ask if it was intentional or not, but no response as of yet. UPDATE#1: Heard backfrom the GM who offered us to try again with a giftcard. They mentioned that the pizza should have some char. But not an overwhelming flavor. Will update after we are able to...

I am very disappointed at my last visit to melas. We are regular customers here and have been coming since they opened, not only for the food but also for the cider. We spend over $150 each time we visit as this is not hard to do here. We have encouraged many others to come as well. When we have had our children with us, we have always brought them outside food and sat in a corner table as to not draw attention to them. For the longest time they have not offered a kids menu and now that they do, apparently they now do not allow outside food or drink. Their kids menu consists of pasta and fire oven pizza. My kids do not like either so it's easier for me to bring them something so we can enjoy our meal without their complaints of the food.

This evening we came for dinner and had food for our children with us. Upon sitting down the boy making the door came over and said we weren't allowed to have outside food. I asked if they could finish as by that time they were almost done and he said no. He said we needed to take it to the car or he would throw it away. I asked if he would rather us just leave as taking the food to the car was not an option as they were almost done. My husband came back to the table as he stepped away to take a phone call at this time and I told him the scenario when he asked where the kids food went ( I had cleaned it up as requested by the staff). He said we would just leave.

It is frustrating as we were regular customers. I do not understand why they changed this policy. I could see if the kids were being unruly or drawing attention but this was not the case. Also this staff members lack of regard for the kid just finishing up real quick was very disheartening. I will let our friends know who also bring their children with outside food and sure they will stop coming too. If you want adults, please provide food for the kids that they will eat. Get some kraft mac and cheese or chicken nuggets or something...