Mercato Ristorante — Restaurant in Olympia

tl;dr: Food was alright, service was fantastic. Would not come back.

Went here for brunch with my partner and after checking out the menu online, we were both excited to try the food.

When we arrived we were promptly greeted and shown to our seats with no wait. We had a reservation, as I thought they may be busy, especially being across from the Farmer's Market. However, during our meal I didn't see anyone else join them.

We ordered the "shrimp and grits", italian sausage omelet and croissant french toast. My partner had the Medici Mimosa and I had coffee.

The "shrimp and grits" were not shrimp and grits. It seemed like a deconstructed version with logs of fried polenta, covered in what appeared to be tomato soup, with spinach and sausage. Now maybe I missed the part of the "fried polenta" on the menu, but grits and polenta are not the same. I was expecting a bowl of comforting, cheesy and buttery grits, not whatever this abomination was. It tasted good, but I was completely let down by it. To top it off, a couple of the shrimp were not properly cleaned.

My partner ordered the italian sausage omelet and they were not impressed by it. I tried some and was also not impressed. They had a choice of polenta or potatoes and went with the potatoes. We were expecting home fries, or something similar. What they received were thin slices of quartered potatoes that were fried. While decent, not what they had expected. They were full, but disappointed.

We shared the croissant french toast. While it tasted great, it had an unusual texture to it. Some bites were chewy, while others were so hard they needed a knife to cut through.

The Medici Mimosa was good, but the grapefruit completely overpowered the rest of the ingredients. The coffee was actually quite good.

Our server was prompt and attentive without being overbearing. And when it came time to settle up, I had noticed an additional fee that had not been previously mentioned by either the server or fine print on the menu. The fee was to use a card. It was a small fee, but I am already paying you for a meal. Why am I paying extra just to pay you? Thankfully the server was able to have the fee removed.

Ultimately, the kitchen seems more focused on clever twists than delivering on comfort or expectations. While the food was passable, it lacked the warmth and coherence we look for in brunch. We won’t...

Called and made a reservation via phone on June 2nd. Hostess confirmed reservation for June 3rd at 6pm. Did not use open table to reserve. Arrived with our party of 4 amongst them was my childhood friend who is visually impaired. He does not see. There was nobody in the resteraunt when we arrived except 3 tables outside. The hostess there were 2 asked our names and they let us know they did not have our resevation. We showed them.the phone and call log it was made with on June 2nd. Didnt matter as the hostess returned from speaking with her manager. They had us stand in doorway instead of asking us to step to an area to resolve. Remember we have someone with a disability. After 5 minutes with no success or manager intervention I took our party outside and went back in to speak with someone in charge. I asked for a manager. A manger came over and asked if I had a reservation and was it done in open table. Again I had to fill her in as she must not have remembered the conversation with her hostess 5 min earlier in an empty restaraunt. In any case she went to hostess station was checking her book of reservations saying that not everyone will want to sit inside and perhaps there was an opening but we would have to maybe wait. As she took more time to figure it out people started coming in and hostess was now engaging them. Keep in mind we could have been seated and starting on our dining experience. I suggested I step outside and they could call me in when they figured out what the right thing to do in this customer service situation. I went outside waited 5 min neither a call or anyone stepped out to resolve or follow up. Normally I would not bother if not for my friend with the disability and how he must have felt. I have been in customer service in some form or fashion for 40 years and started as a busboy on the east coast in greek diners. I sell homes for the past 24 years successfully. Im fully aware of the first impressions/steps of service, communication and follow through.

This establishment, manager and staff failed and lacked the experience and understanding of...

So we went there for Easter Sunday, 2024. Was my second time there, food was good as my first time. But the waitress, was so incredibly rude. Wish I remembered her name a brunette. We were seated on the side of the restaurant near the door our reservation was for 6 o’clock. It was my birthday, and we brought a cake in from Wagner‘s bakery to eat. Shocked to hear her Tell us immediately it will be $40 extra if we wish to eat a birthday cake there, although we were a party of six all ordering dinner and drinks. I understand it’s not her policy, my wife did ask if they do anything for a birthday. Quickly replied with just no. We had grandparents with us that were planning on continuing to Centralia home after dinner, so even a tiny piece of nothing dessert and a candle we could’ve sing happy birthday, and they could’ve been on their way. At this point we were planning on just taking the cake into the parking lot and cutting small pieces, just for the happy birthday. We asked the waitress if we could please have plastic to go silverware as we also had leftover food. she told us they do not have plastic silverware there, interesting, so good luck getting a to go order for eating in a hotel. It literally was everything she could do to make sure we could not enjoy this moment. Don’t mean to go on too long. But when the bill came, she declined to inform us that 18% gratuity was already added to our bill. As none of us have any problem tipping great for great service, but this was the opposite of. When she returned, and my wife asked if there was gratuity already added, she said yeah I think it’s like 15% but I’m not sure, which is interesting for somebody who’s income depends on that number and had 100% knowledge of this cake policy. It was bad enough that even though the food is very delicious, our grandparents said just because of this service that they will absolutely never come back. Pretty sure we...