MILKWEED table + market — Restaurant in Pitman

I had been reading so many great reviews about Milkweed, so I decided to give it a try.

We didn't need any reservations, and we were seated fairly quick. My first impression was disappointment. From the pictures on the website, and on Yelp and Google I thought the place would be more spacious. The place is really cramped. I didn't want to take any pictures of the inside, because it was so crowded, and I didn't want to annoy people taking pictures of the inside of the place. Needless to say, it is very cramped. Especially at lunch time, which is when I went, you're right on top of people. Also, there's no AC.

They could really use a fly exterminator, because there seemed to be an abundance of them. So right off the bat, I must say I was a little disappointed.

It's very noisy in there as well, because you're so cramped. Don't expect to have a quiet brunch. We went on a weekday afternoon at 11:00, thinking that would be a good time to have brunch, but the place was packed. I figured that the food would make up for the disappointment I felt at the ambience of the place. The aesthetics were just okay, but it didn't look like the pictures on the website. The biggest problem was the amount of flies that you had the bat away from your food. It made any expectation of an enjoyable meal moot. I was expecting dynamite food because the place was so full.

We started off with coffee, and two appetizers. I got the peaches and ricotta ($12), and my guest ordered the cream filled donuts ($7). The ricotta wasn't sweetened, but the peaches were sort of there to add some sort of sweetness. I ended up having to put sugar on it to make it taste like a confection for the toast (4 half slices)😑. The cream filled donuts were very good, and they paired well with the weak coffee. They had lemon shavings on them with cream inside. I would get the donuts again, but not the peaches.

For our entrees, I ordered the short rib omelette ($16), and my guest ordered the steak and egg ranchero ($18). Neither were that great. No seasoning, very bland. Cooked well, but no seasoning is the general takeaway from both entrees. With the short rib, I just expected a little bit more flavor and maybe a hint of barbecue. I tasted neither. As far as the steak, no seasoning on the steak and it was a little tough. Both entrees were disappointing.

Despite what I read about the service not being up to par, I did not have that experience. Our server was very attentive and was very pleasant. Even topped off our coffee. That was probably the best part of the meal, that we got seated so fast, and our server was nice definite 5.0.

I don't know if I would return. I noticed the Eggs Benedict looked good, and I thought about going back to try that. Honestly though, the flies, the loudness, with the cramped seating arrangements, and the blandness of the food makes me really think twice about coming back. I'm surprised at what good reviews this place received, because that was not my experience there. I believe in being transparent and honest when it comes to reviews of restaurants and places. I hate giving a bad review. I really love what they're doing with the downtown in Pitman, and I love the fact that we have little places like this to enjoy. That being said, I just think they need to step their game up a little bit as far as getting the place together, and the taste of the food. This place gets about a two out of five. Maybe even less, depending on your views on sharing your meal with insects. I know that's a deal breaker for many people, so I thought I'd...

Took my partner here for a late breakfast/early lunch, we arrived around 10:30 AM and weren’t even greeted by a waitress or hostess for at least 15 minutes, despite making eye contact with several while standing by the door. Upon sitting down in our cramped, middle of the room table, we were told there were no menus- fine, saving paper. However, it was another 20-25 minutes before our waitress was brought back to us (had to speak to another waitress to find her) after being on her phone to take our order. Our waitress seemed overall uninterested in helping us at all and was visibly frustrated when either my partner or myself asked questions or changed our minds about things after asking said questions.

Food came out quickly, I got an egg sandwich, the Milkweed Truffle Egg, and my partner got grits. My sandwich was drowning in truffle oil- to the point where the english muffin it was on was soggy, there was pools of truffle oil on my plate, and my egg was over cooked despite asking for over easy. My partner’s grits were relatively okay, but they could only taste the excessive amounts of heavy cream in it. My partner also had a cup of raspberry hibiscus tea, which tasted overwhelmingly of hibiscus. The water they gave you is lukewarm tap water in glass pitchers. All totaling at around $35, which can only be paid in cash, as they don’t accept card. Overall, not a great experience on the food side of things.

The online menu is a great idea- though I don’t think it was executed well. There were no pictures to even give people ideas of what they were ordering, and sometimes people don’t have their phones with them, so they would have no way to view a menu. Along with the lack of pictures, there was no separation between carbonated and non carbonated beverages aside from sodas. And anything else that didn’t fall under the “soda” category was thrown in with everything else and not labeled as carbonated, making it difficult for someone who can’t drink carbonated beverages (like myself) to order a drink.

The staff as well were not very welcoming, many seemed like they wished they could be anywhere else but in that building. I understand not enjoying a breakfast rush, but that doesn’t mean you can abandon tables for 20-30 minutes and act annoyed when they ask another server to find you when your establishment already puts a time limit on your stay (90 minutes by the way).

Overall? A very disappointing experience. And in comparison to other places in Pitman that there are to eat? Milkweed stands out like a sore thumb with its lackluster customer service, food quality, and overall experience. I would not recommend wasting your time...

I really wanted to show love and support to this place but I won’t be back. I understand the restaurant business. My family had a full service Italian restaurant complete with a liquor license for 32 years. So I understand the difficulties that restaurant owners face and the importance of supporting these small family establishments. I followed milkweed table and market for months before they opened. I am a brunch lover and was very excited that they were coming to pitman. First experience: I took my daughter for brunch within the first couple of weeks of their grand opening. The decor and ambiance is everything. It’s obvious that most of the thought and money went into creating an aesthetically pleasing experience for guests. The service was just ok. Not horrible but not great, friendly enough though. Coffee was decent. I was so excited for the biscuits but they came out dry and at room temperature and the strawberry rhubarb butter was good but without a warm biscuit it was all just lacking. I went with the egg frittata. It is NOT a frittata. Just call it an omelette. It was just ok. Lacking flavor and potatoes were cold and bland. My daughter had the chicken and waffles. The chicken was dry and waffle just ok. Overall, the meal was super disappointing. I decided to give it a second chance after they had worked out some of the kinks. It just got worse. I emailed the establishment about making a reservation for 5. I received a reply stating that they don’t do reservations for less than 6 and that if we wanted a table for 5 for 12:00 then we should be there by 10. A 2 hour wait for brunch I thought? The emails went back and forth and the owner/manager seemed almost annoyed and very short. Not accommodating at all. The morning of the brunch I went at 10:00 am and put our names in and proceeded to walk around pitman waiting for the rest of the girls to meet me there. The hostess said we could not be seated until everyone was there. One of the girls was coming from bucks county and was running late. At 11:45 I got the call the table was ready but they gave the table to another party bc we had one missing. So I never got to experience the mediocre food a second time. The place has potential but just bc you can own a restaurant doesn’t mean you should. It’s a tough business and it requires you to work with the public and be pleasant. Perfect the menu and change the way you operate and maybe...