Let me just being here with 2 quick disclaimers, as this place seems to be known for both, but I won't be touching on either.

1. I don't really care about the whole "farm to table thing", honestly...if it tastes good, I'm going to stuff it into my face hole. That being said, apparently, they do that really well here.

2. I don't really care about the whole gluten-free thing. I love gluten, and again...if it's good, it's going in the face hole. That being said, they clearly cater to that demographic here, and the menu makes it simple to make a choice that fits your dietary needs.

Okay, now that we got that out of the way! The wife and I had heard plenty of good things about the Marketplace and had been meaning to get down there at some point. The 21st wedding anniversary seemed like the perfect excuse to treat ourselves. We secured another couple to tag along and went ahead and made the reservation, online...through Yelp! Which was awesome by the way.

We arrived for our 6pm reservation on a Saturday and I was pretty surprised that the parking lot was so empty. From what I've heard and read, the place jams on the weekends. More on that later. We were greeted at the door by a super friendly hostess who showed us to our table in the bar area. Some here have mentioned that the bar area was loud and not a really good place to enjoy dinner, but honestly, we thought the opposite. Even by the time we were done and the bar had filled up a bit, we were still okay with the sound level and actually it was kind of fun watching the bartenders making the fancy drinks. Speaking of fancy drinks....

We decided to start with a round of fancy drinks and some appetizers. Honestly, I have no idea what we ordered drink-wise, but they were freaking amazing and worth every penny. For apps the wife and I went with the oysters and our friends opted for the charcuderie platter. I've always been big on the theory that the appetizers will be a good indication of what's in store food-wise. If the apps are a slam dunk, the entrees are likely to be the same. In the case of both of these options, slam dunk. Amazing.

For entree's, I decided to low-ball it and go with a steak sandwich. The wife opted for a crab-encrusted halibut special, and our friends also opted to order off the special menu; one scallop dish and one risotto dish. I'm not going to go on and on about how good the food was...I mean, I could, but there's really no need. The food was a 10/10 across the board. Even my lowly steak sandwich was possibly the best I've ever had. We all were very generous with the sharing and tasting and there wasn't one negative comment about any of it. Seriously, amazing.

Service was also on point, no complaints at all. Waiter, bus people, food runners were all awesome and super attentive. About as good as it gets honesty.

Price-wise it's like this: If you go and order a sandwich and sodas, you'll be happy and get out of there pretty cheap, if you are like us and order a few fancy drinks and fancy entree's, it's going to be a little pricey. But at the Market Place (unlike some places), it's worth it, and you'll get what you pay for. Either way, get down there and give them your business, they're doing it right.

(Just as an aside: By the time we finished our meals and walked out at around 7:30, the place was PACKED, and there looked to be a decent back log of people waiting to sit. Make reservations, or get there early. Also, for you ladies out there, apparently they hire waiters straight out of an Abercrombie catalog. While this made my friend and I feel a bit inadequate, the wives were loving it!)