Mercato

Was so great tho, too bad it closed. I frequented this establishment daily. I heard the chef was super hot;)

THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED DOWN. Mercato wasn’t bad. Ate there a time or two and had a decent but forgettable experience each time. So it’s no surprise to me that it is now closed. Hopefully Unilocal will update soon.

My friend Balki Dan and I stumbled into this place after just wandering around aimlessly looking for somewhere to eat. Great modern design. Kind of uncomfortable chairs. Great options to choose from. I ended up getting the Scamorza panini. It was very tasty and hit the spot before we walked over to get a cupcake. Love the font Mercato!

I did like it when it was still in business.
I believe they went under and closed shop as there are now «for lease» signs blanketing the windows.

Mercato has been a solid establishment for a quick business lunch. I have had nothing but great service and excellent food. The soups are creative and inventive like tomato– pear or potato– procuitto and the panini were fantastic.
I have recomended Mercato to multiple folks and will continue to do so.
P. S. The interior is totally cool.

Nothing to complain about food wise– it’s excellent fresh pizze, panini, and gelati EXACTLY like you find in Italy. I went back twice in two days. Prices are reasonable too.
The only problem is that the room is sterile. Definitely not for dates, or not somewhere you want to linger when you are finished eating. Almost a cafeteria feel. So, great for quick, excellent, healthy meals. Not a destination.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone.
Oh yeah, it was closing time and the staff were yelling closing instructions across the restaurant. Rude.

The bread blew it for me. it was like a hot dog bun that was turned inside out and toasted. The service could also use some work.

Mercato is just around the corner for my work, so I had to check it out. As I approached the place, there were nice, iron tables outside; on the inside, it was surprisingly cavernous. The kitchen was viewable by from the floor, and there was a couple of places for large groups. It felt a bit like IKEA on the inside, with its clean, modern furniture, but that wasn’t a problem. There was a bar that lined the window by the door for singles. It was a fine layout.
I had the Tonno Panini (Tuna). It was a typical tuna-​salad like filling on a great grilled panini. But it lacked something… it was a bit bland. It needed more tang, zip, or something.
Accompanying the sandwich was a mixed-​greens salad with that zip I was looking for. I should have asked for more dressing because it was delicious.
The outdoor seating allowed me to take in the Pearl in the shade. The service was fairly slow, though. It took me about 15 – 20 minutes to get my meal.
On the sustainability end, they mark their vegetarian, organic meals with a star and they have a ‘commitment to local and organic whenever possible’. The ‘whenever possible’ gives me pause, but at least it is getting mentioned.
All in all, I was out 9 $, but I’m still hungry. But don’t take it from me, I’m football-​player sized. Maybe I’ll go back for gelato for the calories I seem to be missing in a couple of hours… I’ll give the place another try because their menu looked pretty extensive, even if they do spell it «panini’s», another fine example of the LOHCAS* apostrophe strikes again.
*Look out! Here comes an S!

A minimalist design seems to aim for an edgy, modern Italian feel and almost hits the mark (I’m not an expert on such design techniques, but I do know the layout and décor choices feel almost spot-​on). Plastic chairs, open kitchen, one brick wall, and lots of red, white and orange somehow strike a balance between strange and inviting.
Personal pizzas ($ 11 — $ 13) are nicely portioned so you won’t leave feeling starved and come in delectable selections of: Prosciutto (with mozzarella, organic arugla, parma prosciutto, shaved grana cheese and trufle oil), Piccante (organic san marzano tomato, calabrese psicy salame, fresh mozzarella), and of course a dazzling Margherita. I highly reccommend any of these pizzas.
You’ll also find tasty paninis, salads, and an expensive pepper-​crusted ahi tuna appetizer among the list of other tasty treats. The only this is, the table are uncomfortable, the prices are a touch high, and the service (table or counter) is confusing… sometimes I walk in and order, and sometimes they want me to sit down for table-​service.
They serve gelato (which I didn’t try) and appear to have a kids menu (which I didn’t try). Mercato is definitely worth the visit, especially if you love your pizza as much as I do.

I totally wanted to Unilocal this place I went to this weekend, but for the life of me couldn’t remember the name. So I Googled something like «molded plastic chair panini new café near Powell’s» and ta-​da, there you have Mercato.
I liked Mercato. It’s a little something for everyone. Want to have a nice coffee and sit by the fireplace on a rainy day or on a street-​front patio table on a sunny one? OK! Wanna grab a quick panini during your lunch break? Sure! How about a pizza, ready to take & bake at home, on your way out? Yep! Can small child and I get two gelato cones to go and head down to the park? No problem!
Any one who knows me knows about my panini obsession, and Mercato offers up like nine choices to drool over. I had something with smoky cheese, roasted peppers and kalamata olives, which was added immediately to the I Must Try to Replicate This at Home list. The coffee was strong. The petite scoop of gelato hit the spot. The slick molded-​plastic chairs hit me in the wrong part of the back, but they looked pretty cool
Oh, and get this: Woman behind the counter asks Small Child if she’d like a coloring book while her panini junior is being grilled up. Small child nods yes. Woman behind counter produces a brand-​spanking-​new Hello Kitty coloring book and a complete shiny sharp set of Crayolas. It’s little things like that folks, you just made Small Child’s day.
I’m wavering on 4.5 stars for this place. I turn into my Grandpa when it’s time to settle restaurant checks, so $ 9 for a small panini and $ 3 for a golf-​ball-​sized scoop of gelato chafe a little bit. But then again, it IS the Pearl, what do I expect? Hmmm, after we go back again and try the pizza, let’s see if I can bump this place up to a five stars.

apparently i need to go back to try the gelato, but the pizza was not particularly impressive. it’d be closer to a 3.5 star experience if only we could do the half-​stars here, because it was in no way bad, and was attractive and cooked quickly in a real oven-​with-​flames-​in, so that should garner some points.
what they have going for them: quick service at lunchtime, an interesting if not welcoming interior, and a good selection of pre-​designed pizza sorts with frou-​frou ingredients. i cook with frou-​frou ingredients myself, but i can do better as far as making an exciting pizza, and my oven’s flames are not exposed in any way.
i’d probably recommend a sammich if you were to have to eat here, as a result.
and, uh, their gelato is definitely tasty. i’m more of an ice-​cream guy, but i found some pretty incredibly creamy flavors in here. in particular, i loved on the mascarpone and the rum-​raisin almost enough to give them an extra star.

I actually forgot that I even came here for a bit, which I’m assuming means that it wasn’t all that stellar. The gelato was good, especially the Chocolate de Menti, but I wasn’t entirely impressed with the rest of the flavors. Some were very rich, but none really stood out to me. Apparently it’s a big deal that they make their gelato in house — is that a strong feat? According to the guy that worked there, it is.
The stop into Mercato was more of an impromptu visit, simply walking by and suddenly having the craving for frozen, flavored cream. At least Mercato satisfied my craving… that’s good enough for me.

Mercato was just strange. I liked my lunch from there but the interior very odd. It isn’t very friendly in there, it is quite sterile actually. And the seats are really uncomfortable. The food was good though.
My mother in law and I split a soup and sandwich. The soup was a tomato and pear soup, which was really great. I think it was pear anyway, maybe it was apple. Hmmm, well, whichever it was… it was quite good. We also got the scamorza panini which was smoked scamorza cheese with peppers and olives in it. It was great! We both enjoyed it.
Paul and his dad both got the tuna panini. They both liked it.
Good place to grab lunch if you are over by Powell’s. Just don’t expect to sit on comfortable chairs!

Eh. Just eh, I suppose. A new lunch place in the Pearl that would be casual anywhere else, yet I felt slightly underdressed in my jeans and t-​shirt because the menu is displayed on nice LCD TV’s and the chairs are made of molded orange and red plastic that, while Eurotrash tacky, probably cost more than all of my bedroom furniture. The food, though, was pretty good. I had just a bowl of butternut squash soup (soups change daily) and the BF had a panini with good meat, cheese, and tomato. Tasty bread alongside my soup as well. The beverage selection includes beer, wine, and the guilty pleasure of bottled Italian sparkling waters and fruit juices. Our tab was $ 18 for a sandwich, bowl of soup, and two aforementioned beverages. Pricey, but tasty. I probably wouldn’t ever come here if it wasn’t a block or two from home. That says quite a bit considering that dining out is my hobby.