Marketplace Café

The Marketplace Café is a dear old reliable friend. Their menu in many ways hasn’t changed a great deal (standard array of sandwiches, salads, soups), but of course the flavors have. Service and presentation of the dishes are still done beautifully. For instance, I ordered the Chinese Chicken Salad, which I have always liked, and was surprised to taste how much they had pepped it up with ginger in comparison to years past. On such a hot day, I really didn’t want to stop and think about where to lunch, but like the old friend it is, The Marketplace Café was there and waiting for me to relax and enjoy in air-​conditioned comfort.

Pretty decent food and decent prices. The view of pioneer square makes it even better. A solid place for a meal.

I’ve always been a fan of Nordstrom Café but today I was served the most wilted salad in my life. It was like they strategically put all the wilted leaves tucked under the bottom. It was about 2 days past it’s prime. I was so disappointed. Sadly, I was starving so I ate what I could but the lettuce just tastes rotten. I’m posting a photo.

I have a soft spot in my heart for the Nordstrom Café, because I worked at Nordstrom when I was in high school and ate the majority of my meals there. The angel hair with salmon, asparagus, and lemon cream sauce is still my go-​to — it’s a perfect foil for an afternoon shopping trip. Unlike some other reviewers, I’ve always had a great experience with their servers (customer service is key there! Not just in the shoe department). Especially compared to the other mall options — barf — it stands out for many reasons.

On my Sunday morning to Pioneer Square to see the Christmas tree, I thought to myself, whats missing? Well, a latte of course! I stepped into the Starbucks and quickly noticed I was not the only one with this idea, so instead of deciding to wait for an unknown amount of time, I simply crossed to street to the Nordstrom Café.
The café is built into the outside of Nordstrom, so there is not an inside area. That is ok by me, I just wanted my coffee. I ordered a mocha latte, it was pretty good until half way down. Then it became like drinking dry, bitter, warm, chocolate. Not very good, so i tossed a half cup or, $ 2 worth of my latte. Blah.

Went for lunch today with my parents and husband. Service is always great and attentive. We ordered:
— Braised pot roast with egg noodles
— Angel hair pasta with asparagus and salmon
— Roast turkey BLTA with a side salad
Everything was super tasty and came out pretty fast. We also had coffee and a salted caramel brownie and a lemon cookie. Delish as well.

Nordstrom Café has been my favorite spot for fun iced coffees for years. No matter which location, the drink is always consistant in quality and flavor. Seams so simple, and yet so many coffee houses can not make a drink of consistant quality. I always order an iced americano with carmel… so good! never watered down and my carmel is always incorporated throughout the drink to perfection.
I was able to hit this spot twice last weekend while working in Portland and was so happy.

I only have ever tried two things here, the chicken cilantro salad, and it is perfection, and the tomato soup, which is fine, but not all that memorable to me (I can do one that is at least as good at home). If you love salads and vaguely «southwest» flavors, try it. Other menu items, who knows, but this particular one, I crave. I had a better salad once, in a hotel in Seattle. It was also $ 45.00, which is just, insane. I crave that too, but at $ 9.95, the Nordstrom salad is *almost* as good, and 4 times as affordable.
The desserts — meh — skip. I tried one once. I’m pretty sure they are shipped in from elsewhere and not particularly fresh. Go to a place that specializes in desserts instead.
The service is sort of hybridized. You place your order at the cash register and pay, then go sit down, and a server comes and takes your ticket and then brings you your food. Generally, I have had very positive experiences with the staff there. They are accommodating and polite.
They close pretty early, I think 5 or 6, so not a good place for dinner unless you like to eat dinner really early.
If you want to leave a tip and you’re using a credit or debit card and do not have cash, be sure to tell the cashier because they have to add it in before they ring it up. You cannot add a tip after they run your card.

Everytime I have come here I have a great experiance. They are expecially kind when I have my daughter, who LOVES the grilled cheese sandwich. We enjoyed the view of the Pioneer Square Christmas tree while lunching.
The only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars are the prices. While they are consistant with the other Nordstrom Cafes it is a tad overpriced.
Tipe– Ensure you go to Customer Service on level 3 to get your parking validated.

I had the pistachio chicken salad and I love it. The balsamic vinegar dressing was perfect, chicken was very tender and tasty. My friend had the angel hair pasta with salmon, both of us thought it’s too rich and greasy. Not very cheesy (which I like), but the sauce was too rich for me. Overall I think it’s a good place for a quick meal after a long day of shopping/​walking.

This is a great lunch spot in the heart of the city! Great view of Pioneer Square. Ample seating but groups larger than 4 are a little tough if you get there at peak lunch hours. Food comes out fast and is delicious! Great soups and salads!

So we went to Nordstrom Café because my sister-​in-​law doing some shopping and we needed a break. We decided we were a little hungry and didn’t really want to go back out in the cold, so we settled on the Café.
The place was almost packed. That was our first clue this was going to be a great lunch.
We ordered the French Dip, which was an innovative interpretation… White Cheddar Cheese with Garlic Aioli on a ciabata-​type baguette roll. It was AWESOME, probably in the Top 5 of French Dips my wife and I have ever had, and we LOVE the French Dip.
The only downside to this joint really was the price. We paid $ 10.95 each for the Sandwich and chips, which while they were REALLY good, was still a bit high, but it’s Nordstrom and it was the holidays, so no big deal. We’d gladly go again.

so i’ve lived in portland for a while.
i’ve been to Nordstroms quite a few times (although not very often, if at all, on the 3^rd floor)
apparently there’s a café there.
am i gonna be eating designer food? i hope so!
whatttt? this place looks like a cafeteria!!! o no bad memories of the OHSU cafateria coming back.
so salad, small soup, half turkey sandwich $ 9.50.
let me break that meal down:
1) the salad was smaller than appetizer size it was about 4 bites worth. i had it with a cherry dressing which was actually really good. it was fresh.
2) the turkey sandwich was nothing to write home about. decent sure. not great
3) this this ugh how do i even describe this monster they called lemongrass phở…
i will break this down. my lil cup of lemongrass phở:
well it was chicken based. the noodles were angel hair? and it tasted terrible. no bean sprouts no nothing to make it a phở. they deceived me into eating a soup i could barely finish and would never order again.
so as you can probably tell. i’m a bit letdown. i’d rather eat somewhere else
i hope they get rid of that atrocity they call lemongrass phở

DON’T waste your time or money at this pathetic excuse for a restaurant.
I would like to give this place the benefit of the doubt, but I keep having bad experiences. This last time (yesterday) was the absolute worst and I will not be returning, ever. I had called my order in to go ahead of time as I was on my lunch break. My order was simple: a soup, salad, sandwich combo. The girl who took my order said it would be ready in 10 – 15 min. So I go up there 15 minutes later and they can’t find my order… I told her I had limited time to wait so she said she would talk to the cook and have it be a priority. 15 more minutes goes by… I can see my food just sitting there, so I ask one of the waiters to grab it for me. He said, «oh yeah sure, no problem» and continues to walk right on past it, just as if what I had said went in one ear and out the other. At this point I could’ve killed those stupid bitches so I make my way to the front of the ordering line and demand to talk to a manager. A young guy comes out who I know for a fact is NOT the head manager and proceeds to give me a bunch of excuses after I tell him how ridiculous and unacceptable my experience has been. And to top it off, he didn’t even bother to OFFER to comp my meal. I was so disgusted I just turned around and left, vowing never to return.

Ordered one of the specialties here for lunch. It was crowded and I was told that I couldn’t sit down on the dining area before I ordered and paid for the food. The service was good and the pasta was cooked about right. All in all, it was an enjoyable quick lunch.

This place holds a lot of memories for me. I used to work downtown and would spend most of my paycheck at Nordstrom, then eat there. They basically owned me. But the lunch was great. A standard lunch here is a half tuna sandwich, small salad and clam chowder. Yum! I still get it when I am around
They have a array of pastas, salads, sando’s and the view and people watching is pretty great.
Hey, got a Nordstrom Note? Spend it here? What is $ 20 bucks going to buy you anyways?

I can’t lie, I actually have a pretty big soft spot for Nordstrom café. When I used to work in this neighborhood, I would frequent the café at least once a week, and can honestly say, that my same positive experience was always repeated by the staff.
Nordstrom Café has sentimental value for me as well. When I was little, my mom took me to the department store in my town before school to get new clothes for the year, and we would have an annual lady’s lunch in the store café to commemorate a new year. It was a fond memory I think many ladies shared especially in the olden days where it was common to go shopping with your ladies, and then have a little luncheonette.
I love that this place exists and thrives. The chicken and wild mushroom gnocchi, the cobb salad, and all of the sandwiches I’ve had are a great value, and really very tasty. Free refills on hand squeezed delicious lemonade is another bonus. Their deserts aren’t shabby either. The service is all on point and friendly, I must say, many points for the nordstrom café :)

I normally wouldn’t write a review for a Nordstrom Café but I had such a good experience there that I had to.
I just got in town and needed a quick place to grab a bite before a meeting. Seeing no other options for my tastes, I ducked in Nordies knowing I could get a solid, quality meal here.
Service was friendly and super fast. I had my order to go within 5 minutes and it was packed with care which I appreciated.
My chicken, apple and goat cheese salad was made to perfection. They did not disappoint and I will absolutely return in the future.

Nice place for lunch. Reminds me a little of Panera Bread.

I admit it. I LOVE rabbit food.
Give the girl some carrots and a celery stick…(sans the disgusting mayo-​vinegar-​dill-​nasty they call «ranch») and I’ll sing you love songs.
This café was great because while I’m a bit of a freak of nature (or possibly just a freak FOR nature) for once I didn’t have to manipulate and convolute a menu to get some delicious raw food for my grumbling belly.
In most cases, a «salad» consists of iceberg lettuce, some carrot peals, and it is usually loaded with fried nastiness, or pounds of cheese, or dripping with this so-​called «dressing» I have already mentioned. But not at Nordy’s!
They were fully supportive of my rabbit-​eating habits… and their menu options proved it! For once, I could just order… no manipulation necessary. And soon I had tons of raw veggies… black beans… arugula, red leaf, baby spinach, at my fingertips! It was an organic spring mix heaven, and the dressing even came on the side! HUZZAH!
I’ll pass on the allure of greasy carts in Pioneer Square and head to the 5^th floor of Nordy’s for the menu, the view, and the convenience. Trouble is, then I’m in Nordy’s. …and although the tummy is happy, the wallet suffers.