The Market Place Restaurant & Catering — Restaurant in Taylortown

First time eating here, I ordered online to go/pickup. I walked in and owner was at the front running expo and register. The order was ready 20 minutes ahead of time and the place was clean and the cold case looked excellent. I picked up a bacon & brie and a southern turkey “reuben” (it could be hotly debated amongst reuben aficionados that a reuben without corned beef or sauerkraut etc... isn’t a reuben but a rachel, but that’s for a different day.) At any rate getting into the order: Bacon & Brie was delivered as pictured here with an excellent croissant, with good butter flavor, moisture and lamination. The homemade blackberry sauce was appropriate and seasoned well with a slight jalapeño backend and didn’t seem to sweet for the sandwich. The bacon wasn’t hot, but it was cooked and rendered correctly and crispy (fyi at the majority of lunch deli shops they prep bacon ahead of time.) Chips are from a bag but they may not have a fryer based on the sides menu, regardless the sandwich was great. Turkey Reuben - Southern Style (not pictured) Served on top of another excellent croissant and even though I’d ordered it on wheat, it was not an issue because the croissant turned out to be a great decision as a foundation for the smoked turkey and Swiss cheese. They have no rye bread on-site, (which could be a problem for some traditional deli lovers as mentioned earlier) but the sandwich stands on its own as a great spin off of the traditional. The cheese was sweat onto the turkey which was smoked, and perfectly moist. It also had some melted cheddar, but I can’t confirm if it was house made. It was not over cooked on the flattop, or tasted like the flat top grease (which is a great indicator that they scrape the top clean before they drop the proteins and especially buns on.) The sauce was house made, placed over the ingredients with an appropriate ratio of sauce:protein. I’d like to try it alone or on other sandwiches too. Drinks: Our large latte was lighter than I’d like, especially for ordering an extra shot of expresso, and could use an extra punch of heavy cream to round it out. The unsweetened clove tea was strong, fresh, and reminds me of ordering at a traditional Indian restaurant which based on the chutney quality, seems like the owner has experience or enjoys the atmosphere that comes with experimenting with non-traditional southern flavors. In summary, The political leanings of the restaurant (albeit 180° of my own) have no bearing on the quality of service or food that I enjoyed – which was excellent, and although I thought seriously about canceling my order and not supporting them based on the signs out front when I arrived, realize that humans are messy and can be a whole spectrum and not a singular ideal to be judged on. Yes It’s a private establishment and you can choose not to eat there or support them, but if you do decide to eat here, know that your food...

First time going to the market place and I’ll say right off the bat they do a lot of things right here —

The restaurant itself is very nice and “homey” if you will… Good ambience, very spacious inside. There’s a lot of nice decorations, and paintings for sale from (I assume) local artists. In the lady’s bathroom there’s a lot of religious art work and scripture related things, which I really liked. The outdoor seating is great as well. Over all “The Market Place” has a lot of personality

My husband and I ordered 2 smoothies, the bacon and brei sandwhich, the roast beef sandwhich, the chicken salad croissant, and lastly a piece of cheesecake and chocolate cake (we were hungry in our defense haha) Upon checking in on yelp, we were also awarded with a free chocolate chip cookie!

The sandwiches here are a definite 5 stars, and personally I highly recommend the bacon and brei. My husband and I were definitely more than satisfied. The wait staff here is also 5 stars. We were attended by nearly all the servers, as they do a shared tip/order system. Quick story - My husband ordered the monkeys breakfast smoothie, to which they informed us they didn’t have anymore bananas so he would just be getting peanut butter, milk, and oats. He decided to order it anyway and the staff went out of their way to make sure he knew what he was ordering. They even made it, and let him sample it so he could decided if he liked it or not free or charge.

In the spirit of full transparency IF I had to say ONE thing that wasn’t 5 star about this restaurant, it would be how long it took to get our sandwiches…. There weren’t too many people when we arrived, and we noticed that a table that sat down about 10 minutes after us, got their meal before we did. Since this was our first time and I like to air towards the positive, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume there was good reason for this, but because everything else was so great I’m going to give them the 5 stars. Overall good experience and...

Over the years I have dined at The Market Place a few times. Each time, I hoped my experience would improve, but always leave disappointed. The food is mediocre at best, rude service, and given we are in the middle of a pandemic, employees are not required (per owner) to wear face masks or face coverings. Let's start with the food. The portions are skimpy for the price you pay. I've eaten at better locally owned farm to table restaurants around the area. Next, is the service. If you would like to sit and chat over coffee or tea after your meal, forget it. The staff will try their best to hurry you along to make way for more customers. The irony is, it's usually not that crowded with plenty of empty tables available, not to mention their beautiful patio area for outdoor seating. In general, it's just not an overly friendly staff. Any question you may have about menu items or special requests seem like an inconvenience to the servers or owner. Lastly, the issue of PPE, you won't find it at The Market Place. I felt walking in to this restaurant wearing a mask, I was being judged to the point it made me self conscious. Regardless of how you may feel about NC guidelines, no PPE is violating this mandate. For me, it shows a lack of concern for staff and diners. Believe me, I don't like the idea of wearing a mask, but I do it to protect myself and others. Especially since the Sandhills area has a lot of older "high risk"...