Mercato Italian Kitchen and Bar — Restaurant in Southbury

Choose this place to host an intimate gathering after my father's funeral. The funeral director said many of his clients used them to host small receptions after wakes and memorial services. There aren't many places to choose from in Southbur; we decided this restaurant was the best of a poor selection. My husband and i spent the week or two leading up to it corresponding via email with the restaurant's manager/event coordinator, communicating requests and planning the event.

Day of, we made sure to call ahead about half an hour to let them know the group would be showing up almost all at once. both my husband, who'd organized the entire thing, and the funeral director who recommended the place and has clearly done business with before.

We started arriving at 2:58, were told that they were still getting the area set up. Okay, a bit odd weird considering the heads up, but whatever.

8 minutes later, at 3:06, we were finally led over to the space. i wanted to get a drink. there were no drink menus in sight, so I asked for one. Was told they were still printing them out. What? We didn't have any special drink package, no special cocktails. it was basically an "open bar" of sorts- whatever people wanted to drink was to be added on to our bill. it's not like they had to create a special menu. They've had parties before, why not have drink menus on hand? At least like one or two per table, heck, even table tents would have sufficed!

At no point did anyone come and introduce themselves- no server nor manager. No staff member knew who the "host" was (aka the one paying the bill ) until well into service when my husband went and sought them out to introduce himself. How would they have known to whom the bill went had we not reached out first? How would they know where to go to with questions or issues or to check in and ask how things were going and make sure that we were happy? You know, like customer service.

I was so, so disappointed in the set up and space. First off, it was set for 48 guests despite the headcount of 50 i had provided during the planning stage.

More importantly, I had specified not once, not twice, but THREE separate times in our communications while planning this that it was to be more of a "mingling with snacks/apps/pizza and drinks," think cocktail hour rather than dinner. I wanted to be able to and encouraged to move freely around the space so they could talk with other family members and loved ones. It was not to be a sit down and eat your food at the table type meal. It was understood to be a "buffet style spread" (their words ). I didnt want feel stuck at a table, i knew people would be trying to mingle and chat and I VOICED that in our planning. These were people that some of us hadn't seen for years, and we were coming together to celebrate the life of my father together.

Instead, we got crammed into an awkwardly set up space with no room to move, not enough seats, and a buffet line that was positioned in such a way that it created a bottle neck between the tightly squeezed tables- only one person can get thru between the tables at a time. How are the people returning to their seats with plates of food going to squeeze through past those still standing in line? They couldn't!

My husband brough the space issue to their attention and was met with blank stares. He suggested opening up three 4-tops that flanked the buffet. Was told no because of a reservation at, get this, 6:30. It was just after 3:00. We were scheduled for about two hours. And even in the off chance that we were to stay past 5 and it got anywhere near 6:30 (we didn't, we all left before 5), the rest of the place was nearly empty. They could have moved the reservation table elsewhere, easily. They ended up opening up those tables for our use after people had gotten food and were sitting down, so of course no one get up and moved. I cannot stress the disappointment and frustration and anger I felt from that. Way to completely ignore/dismiss a hugely important request of mine that had been conveyed...

Recently landed at MIK for a quick lunch after our original destination was closed. Had been suss of this spot due to the reviews but figured wth why not.

This restaurant has a nice modern industrial upscale vibe w reclaimed wood & open seating..

We were shown to a table quickly with the booths being fairly comfortabl

Our waitress seemed distracted throughout our meal but regardless we placed our order all at once since we were in a hurry. 2 apps: Charred Cauliflower Crispy Eggplant Napoleon

a pie: Autumn Harvest

The apps were a mixed bag with the eggplant being the clear winner here. The cutlets were not too thick, breaded expertly and held up surprisingly well, the only knock here was the marinara was cold (maybe serve it on a hot plate?)

Ther charred cauilflower was so so, a big fan of the wood charred cauli itself w the roasted tomatoes and even the mint but the greek yogurt base for the sauce just didnt work for me especially w the tomatoes

As for the pizza

Its a neapolitana style pie wa splash of ny style in there, overall I was a fan of the concept....a quality spicy gabagool, garlic sauce, shaved brussels caramelized onions and the fontina all worked as fantastic flavors and the crust uses quality 00 flour but where things fall is in ratio and bake off... the pie was to top heavy and either the crust too thin or under done. It was a fork&knife job. Fairly common for this style of pie. All n all still pretty decent but could be...

We had 2 drinks, a pizza, and 3 panini's. The pear drink was ok I think it was a little thick but my friend liked it, the first drink I had was a blood orange and I think it tasted more of a soda then an alcoholic drink, I had one sip I did not like it. I asked if I can send it back and they were very understanding and I was able to get something else and not get charged for the first drink since the glass was still full. My second drink I can't recall the name completely but it was blue something it was ok I think it was a little water down did not tasted the alcohol at all. It wasn't as oh you can't tastes the alcohol watch out it will sneak up on you I really mean I didn't taste it. We had mozzarella stick and wow those things are huge it came with four but we didn't know how big they were and ordered the family size. If you have 4 people the regular order is ok. They were also good. My kid had the classic pizza I had a slice really good. My friend and I had the chicken panini with fries it was ok. The chicken was over breaded every time I bit into it my roof of my mouth got a little cut, I just couldn't finish the other half. My other friend had the mozzarella panini she enjoyed it, it was just a little messy it came apart while she was eating it. Other then that she enjoyed it. Over all I think it was super expensive for what we ordered which was a little over $120.00 and that wasn't...