Fare Market — Restaurant in Whidbey Island

Let’s start with the fact that we’ve been her before and that we chose this place intentionally. We will chalk it up to our latest visit happening on a rainy, slow Sunday. But, when you’re the only ones in the restaurant, and you have a friendly, amply-staffed restaurant (nice young crew!!), you’d assume that a lot of care could go into the food. We both ordered different preps of Pho. It took a while for the soup to arrive…that’s fine, thinking the slow day means nothing is going to be set up and batched, but cooked to order. When it did come out everything just looked flat and overdone, no “freshness” to either bowl. This theme carried over into the taste which was thin, flavorless and way underseasoned…and one broth was not hot, just tepid (my guess is that they poured “warm” broth over really cold vegetables, sapping all the heat). Once we got to the noodles, they were just mushy. Not great, but disappointing.

Anyway, we just pushed it aside, left; then went to the taco place down the street. ...

I loved everything about this place except what I ordered. The layout is clean and inviting, the service was incredibly fast, and the staff were attentive without being overbearing. Bonus points for those fancy small round ice cubes—love that detail.

Unfortunately, the food missed the mark for me. I ordered the furikake fries and beef pho. Both dishes arrived quickly and were served with all the right garnishes—hoisin, sriracha, fresh herbs, mint, and bean sprouts. But I judge a pho by its broth, and this one lacked depth and was seriously under-salted. The fries had a great concept but were soft and under-seasoned, missing the crisp I expected.

That said, my wife loves this spot and regularly orders their sandwiches. She swears by the fresh bread and quality ingredients. Maybe I just made a couple of poor choices. I’m not ruling out a return visit—but next time, I’ll ask for recommendations and choose...

This is my third time to this restaurant. The last two times the food has taken over 20 minutes, today it was 40. At about 30 minutes they offered to refund my money (I declined, the restaurant business is hard enough and I want good options on the island). They only had one cook and two trainees working. But there just was not that much food coming out of the kitchen regardless so something isn't working.

Aside from the time it took, I thought the food was very good. However, Bibimbap should have a sunny side up egg with a runny yolk (the yolk was cooked through) and the rice was cold. But the dish itself was well composed and the flavors were good.

I fear they are not that effecient in the kitchen and maybe are trying to do too much for the staffing levels they are able to secure (a common problem on the island). Hopefully they can pull through this and make some improvements.

Still worth a...