Marvelous Market

They should change their name to mediocre, because as mentioned below, nothing marvelous. Coffee. a little on the weak side. Deserts… the slices are the thinnest ive ever seen (cakes). I overheard a guy picking which slice he wanted because they were so thin. That made me pass on the desert after my mediocre meal.
The workers tho are quite friendly.

I work near MM, so I frequent it fairly regularly for breakfast and lunch. The staff here could not be more helpful.
A previous poster mentioned that he couldn’t create his own sandwich. They must have addressed that, because I ask them to make one for me a lot, and they always do it happily.
I do wish they’d fix up their latte situation; they’re always too watered down for my taste. It’s more like warm milk with a hint of coffee.

I wish I could go higher with my star rating but… the cannoli we brought home was, quite frankly, one of the worst I’ve ever had — and that’s a shame.
We were eating dinner at M&S Grill right across the street and had a window seat. One advantage of becoming far sighted as you age is being able to spot things at a distance and know what you’re looking at. So… I looked out the window and spotted — Route 11 potato chips LOL! Of course, I just had to get some since they’re not easily found (and that’s by design… but I digress). After eating, we then headed across the street. First order of business — grabbing a bag of lightly salted Route 11 Chips.
Right by the chips was an assortment of candy. The Sky Bars caught our eyes — yet another item not easily found. However, we passed on them but filed away the info for another time. We continued on looking and spotted such goodies like M&M cookies, mini whoopie pies, and brownies. By the register in a glass display case were yummy looking cupcakes (a small selection), cake slices and tarts. Then we spotted the cannoli and decided that’s what we would get. We rarely have them these days and it looked sooo good. But… looks are deceiving. It turned out to have a sour taste and thus wasn’t very appetizing. So disappointing :(
Would we go back? Yes but no cannolis! I now know where I can find Route 11 potato chips and Sky Bars. However, after the cannoli experience, I am leery about buying anymore pastries. Still, I have to say that service was friendly and prompt…

Preface/​background: I eat more than average in terms of quantity (I’ve eaten 2 Chipotle Burritos in one sitting) but appreciate quality and am always looking for a great deal.
Ordered the Grilled Chicken and Avocado Wheat Wrap, and I think the only thing that got points was that it was sufficiently hot. Having gone to the Marvelous Market in McLean, I expected to be able to create my own custom sandwich. However, no, they only had 5 or so pre-​selected sandwich options. Upon asking them if they could make custom sandwiches, the reply was no, because they didn’t have the necessary ingredients for something not on the menu, besides shuffling around ingredients that they already had.
It was an utter disappointment. However, being hungry and ready to eat, I decided to try the Grilled Chicken and Avocado wrap, and it was underwhelming. It was tasty, sure, but it was empty; it just had cheese, chicken, a crispy (yeah, crispy) avocado, and supposedly sundried tomatoes, but I didn’t taste that last one.
I give it a 1. 0.5 points for it being really nicely toasted and 0.5 points for it being somewhat tasty. Probably won’t come back here again because, at $ 6.29 for a wrap that is more like a snack worth $ 2, it is not worth it. I’d choose Cosi, or even Panera over this place any day.
I ignored the Unilocal reviews simply because I thought that the Marvelous Market in Reston would be the same as the one in McLean. But oh, how I was wrong. I still don’t understand how the same chain could be so different in their offerings. I’d hate to bash this place, but it just doesn’t measure up to what the McLean branch offers.
Go to the one in McLean, that one is much better.

I’ve not tried any of their hot items except for their soup, which was actually not bad. However, I’ve tried a shrimp pasta salad from their fridge section, and one bite told me the shrimp had rot by the time I’d bought it. I’ve also had their sushi, which was not quite hazardous to one’s health, but not quite fresh either. I’m not sure what their turnover rate is for the food in the fridge aisle, but I’d be a little wary of trying anything beyond their baked goods. At least baked goods don’t go bad on you as quickly as the other stuff.
Their cakes taste fine, albeit overpriced. I’d buy desserts from them more often if it didn’t kill me to be paying $ 4 for a small slice of (a rough estimate, 8″ diameter) cake. The serving is definitely not «American-​sized» if you know what I mean. Their prices are yuppied though. Meh.

I’m in the area for meetings. As it happens, the company I’m visiting has a daily lunch menu arrangement with Marvelous Market, so I gave them a try.
I’ve been eating there every breakfast and lunch since. That’s highly unusual for me; I like to try a variety of locations whenever I’m in a new area for any length of time. MM has me sold, though.
Their inexpensive, simple, yet flavorful food with fresh ingredients is a real attraction. As you can see from the picture I uploaded they have a nice little outdoor café area — what you can’t see is that it overlooks a pleasant, park-​like square surrounded by trees. Very picturesque. It’s nice to find yourself serenaded by birds the whole time.
They sell bottled wine, but do not serve it in the restaurant as of now. I asked about that, and they may expand later.
The staff is friendly, helpful, and prompt. For example: out of all the tables they have, only the one I wanted was a little dirty — some leaves from a nearby tree, nothing bad. I went in to ask for something to wipe it with, but the woman came out and wiped ALL of them down for me.
Free wi-​fi.
Not that they have any control over it, but there’s a free public parking garage just down the street.
I leave today. I may not be back in the area again for quite some time, but I would certainly make this a part of my morning routine if I lived nearby.

I guess I see this as the corner sandwich shop. A handy place for people staying at the Hyatt Hotel who just want to grab a snack, or for locals who need to grab a quick lunch in the Town Center. I expected a gourmet assortment, but found nothing amazing. They have all sorts of drinks as well as prepared meals to go, but we were disappointed that their brownie desserts were not fresh on the day we tried them.
With Panera across the plaza and Cosi around the corner, I suspect this newly opened store will have to do more to distinguish itself in the neighborhood. Right now, the best I can say is it’s handy and quick.

**3.5 stars**
Today I hit up MM for lunch — and then later in the afternoon for espresso.
For lunch — I had their Reuben Panini and a cup of Chicken Noodle Soup. The Chicken Noodle Soup was tasty — but a tad heavy on the sodium. The sandwich included Sauerkraut, cheese, and dressing on Rye bread — with nice grill marks — it had a slight grilled, smokey aspect to it which was nice. While the sandwich was not bad, the meat was not heated evenly throughout the sandwich. There were a couple of spots where the meat was almost cold.
Later, I came back for a triple shot Cappuccino. It’s nice to have an alternative to Starbucks and Panera for caffeine. The Cap was strong and tasty. I split one of their massive White Chocolate Raspberry Caramel cookies with a coworker.
3 stars for lunch.
4 stars for the Cappuccino and cookie