The restaurant opened in the Downtown Market this past spring and today we walked through its doors. It's taken up the entire open dining area that customers have used since the market opened but this is a much better use of the space (probably not from other vendors' points of view, however).
A wall divides the restaurant into two parts, dining room and bar, both about equal in size.
High tops fill up the bar area along with much counter seating.
The dining area continues the salvaged material decor and is equally interesting.
From the dining area we could see into the open kitchen that also had a pizza oven on the side.
We were promptly seated and provided with a lunch menu and a make-your-own-salad-bowl option.
We did not avail ourselves of the social greens menu but started with chicken and waffles, probably one of the strangest combos to ever come out of the South :-) But if you take a momentary break from being health-conscious, what's not to love about a buttery waffle and maple syrup topped with some chicken. It was a small and tasty treat.
An egg sandwich was next, layered with guacamole, sriracha, tomato, cheddar cheese, and house-made bacon. Some fresh greens accompanied the sandwich. Buttery toasted bread held the ingredients that combined just fine, especially if you like a dash of sriracha with your food.
The Turkey burger was touted as being house-ground and to be served with parsley salad, sriracha, garlic mayo on homemade pita bread. Add options included bacon and a fried egg.
This sounded good but the egg being over easy instead drenched the sandwich in liquid, which would not have been bad except that the dish was served on paper on a tray. One cannot attempt to fork and knife a soggy burger when paper is your base. In addition, the bacon was too tough to bite and, with the rest of the sandwich being soft, made the entire thing a mess. On top of all that, there was no detectable seasoning to the turkey. A little seasoning and being served on a plate might salvage this item.
We added a $6.00 side of fries because they came highly recommended. But seriously, how many people would you need to consume this tray full of fries, as good as they were? A quarter of the size and price might be an improvement.
They have their own restroom facilities downstairs (I think the rest of the market uses the facilities on the 2nd floor), and there's a nice patio outside of the bar that looks out onto the parking lot.
They have rolling doors to close off their space for private events or for when the rest of the market is closed. Overall, Social Kitchen and Bar is a robust and interesting addition to the Downtown Market.
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