Ok, so I had a chance to check out the food hall last weekend.
My report is as follows.
As you'd expect, it looks very nice, principally done w/the trademark white stone w/select use of grey/black. There is also some darker wood finishing in a couple of 'rooms' within the space.
On to the important bit, the food.
So I first examined and sampled from the Roman pizza bar.
Slightly expensive for a slice, mine was $7, but not unreasonable for the quality.
Did remind me of Rome, except they cluttered the pizza a bit with too many toppings. Not way too many.......but a little editing would be in order.
The slice I had featured 2 types of sausage, san marzano tomato sauce, fior di latte cheese, hot chillies and confit potatoes among other things.
There was decent selection, with about 8 varieties of slice. Including a drink, the damage was under $10
Eating area for this part of the market is stand-up only with a shelf for your food. Fine for me.
Also featured were a coffee shop, a bakery, a separate vegan bakery, a chocolatier, a hot and cold to go counter, a butcher, a cheese area, a champagne bar, a sushi bar, and some standard 'shelf grocery' and produce.
They had a number of freshly squeezed juices; however, when I was there, they were almost all three days old. Personally, if I'm forking out a premium for freshly squeezed, that means today, to me.
The hot/cold counter had some interesting offers, including steamed octopus and poached lobster tail as well as a sandwich made on a baked pretzel.
I found nothing overly exceptional in the butcher, if you're a Whole Foods or Cumbrae's type person, I'm not even sure this measured up, it was nice, but not original or next-level.
They did have fresh-made pasta, which included Saffron Pasta @ $14 for a modest portion. Meh.
A very good selection of soups, many vegetarian (in bottles) for the standard price range of $6-8 or so per bottle.
Some very good high-end olive oils.
I wasn't knocked-back by the sushi choices.......
The vegan bakery had a large selection and it certainly had a lot of very appetizing looking options, but as I was full and they weren't doing free samples, I can't speak to the actual quality.
Oh, and I almost forgot, they also have a Roast section....which featured a Prime Rib Sandwich for $18. It did look nice, but for $18, I think I want table service.......
And a 'date bar'. No, not a singles spot. A counter feature little treats made of different kinds of dates.
Nice stuff (free samples); but not something I would go out of my way to get.
***
All in all, a good addition to the food to go, grocery scene, for people with a good sized budget; there are affordable options for those looking to just try something.
But in terms of achieving a next-level, best-in-class offer, I don't feel it quite hit the mark.
There was very little on shelves I hadn't seen elsewhere, no game meat in the butcher section, only one kind of wild mushrooms in produce and again nothing that made me go 'wow'.
Stars of the show are the pizza bar and the hot/cold meals to go counter.
