Mercato Ristorante

Went there for dinner. The food was good but overpriced for its quality and portion size. The atmosphere was stuffy and the staff appeared if they hated working there. This translated into mediocre service.

Excellent Sunday brunch. The eggs, polenta, and sausage were well cooked and delicious. The coffee and service was also excellent.

We had a pizza and the a pasta with white sauce and chicken. Well pizza had very tart sauce and the sausage tasted a little expired. pasta was ok chicken was dry and over crispy no sauce could ever refresh. My cousin got a desert it was made in front of us fresh from a small fridge out of the aluminum foil sealed pace placed on caramel sauce with over amount of whip cream. Wow kinda spendy for such little effort. Would have to say the waitress with the brown hair and sexy glasses was the best part of this restaurant. She has a cute piercing she’s just move up from miniasota. Wow how cute.

Mercato was excellent overall. I’ll remember the appetizers and dessert, in particular. The appetizers were delicious… I’d recommend the calamari and the prawns. The ribeye was pretty good. I asked for medium rare and it was spot on. I thought it was a little under seasoned, but I’m kind of a salt freak with steak. The star of the show might have been the bread pudding! It was melt in your mouth great. I’d consider going back just for that alone!

Let me start off by saying that the Mercato is probably my favorite restaurant in Olympia. Their dishes are consistently well prepared, hot, not lukewarm, and their flourless chocolate cake is off the chain. With that being said, the service is not consistent and it is an absolute shame, because the menu prices and food quality really should be complimented by world-​class service. What I have been left with the last couple times I have been there is a lackluster impression of servers who would rather be trimming their pony-​tail beards, (that is seriously how one of the servers looks), and chatting with each other rather than attending to the diners. I understand it is busy, and I understand that there are a lot of people at 6PM, but the whole pace of service could stand to use a shot in the arm if this is going to continue as my favorite restaurant. Aside: I had never had polenta and think it is amazing. Also the rigatoni is fantastic. If you are gluten-​free you won’t even be able to tell that you’re not eating a flour-​based noodle. Going back to the lackluster appearance of the staff. It would probably not be an issue, except for the fact that I have yet to be truly wowed by the service here. Fix that and they’ll be unstoppable.

After going to mercato for a dinner meeting with about 20 people I am lowering my rating. I came for lunch in previous post, and I loved it! So if I come back it will be a lunch meal. They gave us a tiny one page menu that didn’t have all there usual items on it. Gave us a choice of three salads, or a soup as an appetizer and then 5 – 6 entrée choices. When I discovered where we were meeting I already new I wanted the fat spagetii that I had got back in June for my birthday and just loved! And the waiter, who had barely any personality or friendliness about him, let me order it off the regular menu. I was excited! Even without getting my fried polenta I wanted as well.
When I had the fat spagehetti back in June, it was everything it was said to be. Sausage, corn and veggies wonderful pasta and sauce. Hearty and delisious meal. When I ordered it this time, it had olives, and capers and anchovies!!! I had never had anchovies, and was never planning to have them, they were not in any description of far spaghetti on the menu. (Check it out!) so when I got a mouth full of terrible salted fish flavor I quickly realized what I was eating. If they change recipes seasonally, or between lunch and dinner then that should be clearly marked on there menu! I like when a restaurant is consitint, so I know when I go back I can expect goodness Everytime. This was NOT what I was looking forward to. My husbands ravioli was outstanding and he was nice enough to share a bite. There was also the issue with the service, now I realize this was a large group, but we were in a reserved room and they could have easily planned to have better servers. Our server was dull and almost snooty to us. Barely stayed on top of the water and I was never offered a refill on my tea. Because we had a large group there was an 18% gratuity automatically added to our bill. I’m guessing since the waiter knew that, he didn’t care how he treated us. When I go back,
For lunch, I will be asking about the spaghetti to make sure there are no added surprises. I would have complained about the fishy food, but after we were given our meals that waiter didn’t come back for a long long while. :(

One of our favorite places in the Oly area. Relaxed atmosphere. Friendly staff. Interesting menu with some seasonality. One of the few places that has duck items on the menu. Best place for gnocchi, with shrooms & egg. Wonderful!

Went here the other night and was pleasantly surprised.
We just moved here and we’re worried there weren’t any nice-​ish restaurants but this one is great.
I had the penne, which was a bit like carbonara. It had thick shreds of prosciutto which ROCKED. Shreds of chicken too, which were also good, as well as sun dried tomatoes.
We split a Caesar salad, not bad. Average but enjoyable. We also got the castelvetrano olives, we loved them.
I would HIGHLY recommend the donuts for dessert. Holy mother of god they were incredible. Freshly fried with sugar and caramel drizzled on top. At first I was disappointed that it wasn’t chocolate, but I feel that chocolate would have overpowered the incredible flavor of the dough itself.

Great for all occasions, food is average but I do enjoy how they update their menu to follow the seasons. However, this is a great location for larger private parties, they have great spaces and meal/​appetizer options.

Italian American cuisine with nice wine list.
We came here for dinner with some colleagues, and they had a decent menu for everyone to get a little something.
— Polenta: fried and served on a bed of mushroom creaminess.
— Burrata: so well done and really flavored well.
— Pappardelle with carbonara sauce: fresh pasta made in house. While normally served with spaghetti, this was well seasoned and delish.
— Ribeye: lots of flavor, but asked to be medium rare and we got more medium well.
This place was good. Nice cuisine and venue that apparently is frequented by the legislature.

Been some time since we stopped in at Mercado. The menu is unchanged and our dinners were average both flavor quality and portion size. I enjoy the wind selection and a decent amount of creative cocktails on the menu. The prices here are what I call special occasion money. The dockside bistro and hearthfire nearby are excellent alternatives in the area. Personally, for the price I recommend Gardner’s. The service at Mercado was again average. Young people with nice smiles but poor organizational skills and spending allot of time socializing worth each other rather than making regular rounds through the restaurant. The prawn caprese is a wonderful and the atmosphere is nice for conversation or dates.

My husband ate here for the first night of our honeymoon trip and it was truly amazing! I had the butternut squash ravioli and it was truly something out of this world! I can see why our waiter said locals call and ask if it is back on the menu yet! We shared the much raved about bread pudding for dessert and certainly were not disappointed!
Staff was friendly and attentive.

Fantastic food! Eating the dishes here was like enjoying a work of art! Definitely a classic style Italian restaurant with multi course options with a gourmet flare. We had the grilled pear salad, butternut squash ravioli, and smoked duck gnocchi. Each one was fantastic, very rich. The ingredients and preparation were spectacular. Best food we’ve had in long time. At the time of the review, the average rating was 3.5 stars, seems much more like the average rating should be 4 to 4.5 star place me to, my experience was 5 star.

Great food, service, and value. Best restaurant in Olympia we tried during our vacation.

Haven’t had a ravioli that satisfying in quite a while! Service could have been a bit better but I loved this place… It was daytime but we still ate by candle light

Excellent food, great service. They have a really good deal for $ 25 for three course meal, I came on a Wednesday. For the $ 25, I ordered the zucchini appetizer, salmon dinner followed by bread pudding. All very excellent! I also ordered a drink I’ve never tried before which wasn’t to my liking. The server noticed that I was not drinking it and took the initiative to remove it from my tab. Very nice! Great service! I I ordered a Gavi white wine, very nice light wine with great flavor. I also ordered the pear, hazelnut, gorgonzola salad which was ample and flavorful. To top it off, I ended with a cappuccino. Overall, a very nice dinner enjoyed on a sunny deck for a pleasant experience!

Lot’s of seating and great service (even for our party of 12); delicious food and very well priced. All, unfortunately, ruined by an automated air freshener located directly above our table that pumped out fragrance every 10 – 15 minutes. Completely astounding. Why would you ever think to put one of those gas-​station-​bathroom-​style misters in a restaurant?
If you can manage to avoid being seated under one of these air polluters, the bread pudding alone is worth a visit.

Met my sister and my niece here for dinner. Wasn’t sure what to expect based on the local area but was very pleased.
I had the Duck which was ok but I should have had one of the pasta dishes.
Be sure to grab some deserts we shared 3 at the table and we’re glad we did!
Nice place will definitely go back.

Tasty tasty treats from drinks to desserts. Service was a bit «off» on this Saturday brunch. Meals were served a bit on the cold side. It seems like our server was too overwhelmed by all that was going on. She got the orders right, but alas. Food was served cold. Will try again next time!

Came here for my friend’s rehearsal dinner.
They have a room adequate for approximately 40 people, and even have enough space for the rehearsal.
The waiter kept getting everyone’s order wrong. He wrote it down, but my fiancé ended up with my salad, AND entrée. A friend next to me got HIS salad. Come on.
The food was. tasteless at best. My salad was pretty much greens with balsamic vinegar. My fiancé’s Caesar salad barely tasted like a Caesar salad. I ordered Eggplant, and though the top was salty, the rest did not taste like anything. His very small-​portioned Penne pasta was the best dish. But it was nothing special, it was just more tolerable.
It was not a terrible experience. But the food is not worth coming back for.