Marcello’s Market and Deli

I used to work in the building close to where this Marcello’s is now located. I didn’t mind the old (somewhat lame) place it was but was curious how a Marcello’s would work here. So an old co-​worker and I tried it out today.
The good: The food is great and there is a ton of variety including desserts. I opted for the buffet (meatballs, butter chicken and greek salad to name a few were great) while my friend had a grilled veggie sandwich and a drink. The total for both of our lunches was a normal $ 18. The staff, many carried over from the «old lame place» are still there and friendly as always
The bad: CHAOS. There is no logical flow to the place so you have the buffet being pillaged from every which way. I overheard a lady say «OMG this place is stressing me out, it is too chaotic» as she literally stood back by the dessert cooler holding her head. Mix in people in line to pay and people in line for sandwiches and someone is going to get elbowed. Or worse. I think it’s too narrow. Or it needs traffic controllers. But yeah, stressful.
The other thing is that there isn’t seating yet. The owner told us it is coming soon — his table top order was wrong. Not his fault but it is a pain that you have to deal with the chaos then fight for a bench to sit and eat after. He said it should be remedied soon so I’ll forgive that!

The 8^th Avenue Place construction has been a major pain in my ass — the +15 closures forcing me to actually go outside in the cold for my noon hour Hunting & Gathering.
So I was pretty excited to see that Marcello’s gutted the previous (lame) food court in this Amec Place building, and was opening soon — using all the former space as their own, exclusively.
Now, as someone who typically grabs takeout for every weekday lunch, I’m cautious about eating «unhealthy.» The sad reality being that if you do any nutritional research at all, you soon realize it’s nearly impossible to NOT be.
So in recent months, that has meant Sunterra /​salad bars as a major staple. But the nearest Sunterra is a distance from me, and now involves «outdoors.»
So «YES!!» for a brand new, close proximity Marcello’s!
As of this writing, I’ve grabbed lunch here 3 times — and thus far, ONLY trying the buffet /​salad bar.
Initial impressions are that the selection is pretty decent on the hot side, (with changes, it seems, daily).
If you check the website, the complete buffet menu is pretty extensive. So variety is good, and not an issue.
The fresh salad bar side (which is my primary target) is smaller than Sunterra, in terms of fresh toppings. But there are several more «prepared» salads, such as spinach and fruit, or Greek, that you can mix and match.
Price is all by weight… and I could see that adding up really easily, if you aren’t careful.
But my standby mixed green salad with veggie toppings and protein is in the same ballpark as what I’d pay at Sunterra.
Overall, I like this place, and I’m a return customer ongoing. My only nitpick (and star deduction — I would have given 4) has been for some of the fresh veggie toppings, like radishes, carrots, onions, etc. Several consistently appear «dried out,» which really should be an easy thing to avoid — and correct. Which I’m sure they will, and I will re-​evaluate.