Market Fresh

Market Fresh had a wonderful selection of hot and cold food items. While some have said that it’s not set up to be a «fine dining» establishment, I can say that the service and food quality is quick to match it. All of my food was cooked well and I was very very happy with the fruit options, all of which were sweet and fresh. If you are looking for a place that allows you to get a lot of food for a decent price and to be held over hunger-​wise for quite some time, this is the place to go. I will definitely come again.

This place is awful. If you want a salad or fruit you are good to go but don’t bother with the cooked food here.
I got breakfast today at 8:15am. I told the person they were out of bacon and she she laughed and said «oh well, haha». The hash browns were inedible as they were over cooked and hard as a rock and filled with grease. The pesto egg cup overcooked and cold. The potatoes were overcooked, cold and too spicy. Everything I got was AWFUL.
I went once before for lunch but I was late so I thought maybe I just missed the good stuff b/​c the salmon was overcooked, cold and inedible. Now I know that all their hot stuff is cooked poorly and left sitting for too long.
I miss the Market Fresh in the tunnel of One Union/​Rainier Square-​they did a MUCH better job than this location by far.
I will no be going here again, it’s food poisoning waiting to happen.

This place is great. I usually make my own salad and have a couple of hot items and the price is always around $ 10. Amazingly, my hunger is satisfied in a healthy, delicious way and I am not hungry again until dinner time. I can eat a different combination of healthy food everyday. I rotate my choice of protein daily and sometimes I have two. I just can’t get enough of this place. The location is great too. I like eating in the atrium of the Columbia Tower. Bring your colleagues and friends. It is the perfect place to have a lunch meeting. There are many more restaurants on the first and second floor.

I was just there asking about the chicken they serve in the salad bar. I asked if there is soy or flavorings in the chicken. The lady who works there is very nice and willing to find out by asking her coworker to go check the Costco box, but the guy wouldn’t do it. He would not go and check the ingredients on the Costco box. He told me «there are no allergens in our food, it is all natural.» Well, I just ate it, feel pain in my stomach, and looked up Costco brands of cooked chicken. The two main products a restaurant would buy are Tyson. I looked up ingredients on Tyson’s website, and of course there is soy in there. This Korean guy with glasses is also the same guy who a while back got irritated at me for asking about their salmon. I got no clear answer, just irritated sounding non-​English. I will never go there again.

Edit: I was being mean my first time around. I think I was having a grumpy day. I went back to Market Fresh because i was seriously in the mood for avocado and the avocado tomato salad is quite tasty. I really did make a satisfying salad today. Their items are still a bit greasy and saucy, but I put everything on my big olé pile of lettuce so it acted as dressing. They now get a thumbs to the side slightly pointing upward.
I just returned from Market Fresh and feel like a Negative Nancy. This negativity was spurred by a couple aspects.
1. I just spent $ 20 at Market Fresh.
2. I wasn’t that happy with the food at Market Fresh.
Now, I am logical enough that I know that fruit is heavy. But, I can not believe it is THAT heavy. I literally just got reem doodled because I wanted a nice fruit salad. Cut fruit is expensive anywhere (even Target), but I feel like something is wrong with their scale because that was not that much fruit. Anyway that is reason number 1.
Reason number two is that Market Fresh has some decent lunch options. But, everytime I visit Whole Foods where the hot food bar has a similar pick and choose set up, I am always impressed with the quality or taste of at least one item. Nothing here stood out. A lot of the food was dry and not that tasty. The salad bar options were lacking. Honestly, I love hot food and salad bars, but I wouldn’t return here for even one item.
I am going back to Umma’s Lunch Box which is both a better deal and much more yummy in my tummy. Market Fresh gets a disappointing thumbs down from this gal.

I can’t decide between 4 stars or 5 stars. I ended up with 5 stars because although it is definitely not a fine dining cuisine type of place, it is fast, efficient, convenient, and so darn fresh, just like the name. I love the idea of this salad bar. At first, I thought it was just salad, which kind of sucked to me. However, once I walked to the salad bar, I was in love. There are so many things offered in each bar.
The salads come with the usual iceberg lettuce chopped, very fresh looking, nothing old at all. Then there’s the more spring garden mix (my favorite!). I love it because it does have all the works. There’s even more – spinach and some other power green. Next to that, oh gosh, there’s shrimp, cucumber, carrots, red onions (yummm) more vegetables, and more toppings! I’m in salad heaven because the ingredients are clean, and very fresh to me. Lots of fresh grilled chicken breast and every kind of topping you can imagine.
Left of the salad bar (which is in the center) is the hot foods. I appreciate that they are vegetarian friendly because I am on Lent. They have tons of hot foods from mac & cheese, to chicken parmesan to pastas to fishes, and then vegetarian dishes. It is truly endless! Following that is more cold food like mac salads, friend mushrooms, fried potatoes, vegetables in vinegar, and even further down there is my favorite: Black Bean Noodles!!! Ahhh, they are cold, tasty, and so refreshing. I am in love because the flavors are so fresh off of sesame and there are mushrooms, zucchini (or cucumbers, I’m not sure) in them. Yum!
Across from that is the other side of the salad bar. Yumm to chick peas, several options of cheeses, croutons, and all the other stuff you can think of. They have so many dressings to choose from too. My favorite is the asian sesame which is perfect to me! They have lots of vinaigrette, caesar, ranch, you name it!
I love that when you check out, it is SUPER fast. Seriously, it takes 30 seconds or less for you to weigh your food and pay. It is $ 6.99/lb… I think it’s a good price, but I do wish it was a little cheaper because I once got the wrong salad and couldn’t throw it out so it added extra weight to my total. On a good day, I will spend $ 5 on a to-​go box which fills me up. On a «my eyes are bigger than my stomach but I’m starving because I missed breakfast» day, I will spend roughly $ 8. Not too bad if you ask me because I get to design my own salad, dress it up, and enjoy other sides if I decide to. Definitely peak times around 12:00 — 1:00PM where the rush sometimes gets crazy and you feel like you’re standing there too long as you are unsure of which toppings you’d love to accompany your greens.
Love the fresh food options, love the flavors of things, and it is so fast! I appreciate that they have some Asian food, but of course, they cater to their main audience, American food. I hear their salmon is good… I’ll have to come by when it’s not crazy and try that for myself. Yumm fresh!

I come here every now and again as my office is nearby. They have a pretty decent salad bar. They have peas. I love peas. Bonus points. They also have mango. Double bonus points. Besides the salad bar, they have lots of other food options (pasta salads, chicken, fish, rice, etc. etc. most of them are really good. especially the noodles. i love noodles).
They charge you by weight. It’s about $ 6.29/lb (or somewhere around there). My plates usually costs less than $ 6, but it’s because I get a lot of heavy food, i guess you could say (mango, etc). Not too bad…
Friendly workers. Fair amount of seating, tho sometimes tables fill up. Pretty noisy. Otherwise, okay.

Good lunch option when I want to eat healthier. I tend to go around 11:30 or so, before the lunch rush, and everything is always fresh and full. Lots of options here too. In addition to an extensive salad bar, there are also some hot and cold dishes. I tend to stick to the salads. The salmon is huge here and it goes pretty quick. It’s not uncommon to see a small group gathering for the next batch of salmon and thankfully the wait isn’t typically long. But watch out during the lunch rush, this place is popular.

It’s good. Lots of fresh salady goodness and some hot selections. Some hot food items are a bit greasy, but its a buffet so what do you expect?
The one on 3^rd Avenue has a really nice breakfast buffet as well, but its almost not worth the hassle. Watch what you buy — oatmeal is one price and everything else is another. This AM (and two others in the past) I almost got charged over $ 7 for what turned out to be $ 4 worth (determined after I pointed out the error). I «sort of» got the feeling that they were playing dumb to take advantage of the naivety of the patrons and got away with it many times before. And I don’t see them exactly clamoring to make it right by their patrons either. You can only hear «oh I made a mistake» so many times before you wonder at what is really going on. Call me silly, but personally my eyebrows are raised.
Probably won’t go back for breakfast, but the salad bar and hot food line for lunch cannot be beat!

I had no idea this place existed. Good salad bar, and great fruit selection! I had fresh kiwi with my lunch today, and it was DELICIOUS.
I managed to only spend $ 5 – go me! – but I *only* got salad and fruit (to go with some other food that I already had, which I didn’t end up eating since the salad was so filling). My friend totally loaded up her little tray, and couldn’t finish it at the end! She was laughing at herself – «Why did I even get the salad?! Why!!!» She ate everything else first, and said it was delicious.
I’m not a huge buffet fan, but it was so fast, cheap, and convenient, and the quality seemed pretty great (as buffets go), so I’ll definitely have to come back.

What can I say — this place has perfectly cooked salmon. That with a spinach salad never runs me more than $ 4. Great healthy lunch alternative.

Market Fresh is a very good lunch spot that provides variety and value. The options are diverse for both hot and cold and there’s always something for lunch that fits what you’re in the mood for. The staff is friendly and keeps the food well-​stocked during the busiest time of day. If there were organic options I’d give this four stars.
When you’re around downtown at lunch time Market Fresh is always a great option.

There is another MF on 3^rd and Madison that I could go to every day. The veggies and salads are always fresh and stocked quickly and the store itself is so clean. I love the shrimp and the potstickers, too. The pricing based on weight and there is so much variety. Also, the price is really reasonable. I think there is an organic place across the street that charges at least $ 1 per pound more for a much smaller selection.
There is frequently a line, but it moves quickly.

I have been going to Market Fresh for years now… I started at the one of the Columbia Tower and then moved to the one on 3^rd avenue… due to convenience. Both locations offer the same variety of food… it is always fresh and always inexpensive.
Whenever I go to MF I always get the same items… I have never really strayed too far from the salads and the salmon. I never really tried the other warm items… generally because whenever I go there I am in the mood for salad and also because the other warm items never really look that appetizing.
If you are a new comer try the salmon… it is typically one of the first things to go but if you are lucky that get there when they bring out a fresh tray it is always light and tender. The salad fixings are always fresh and I have never had any complaints. Their fruit section can sometimes be lacking but overall it is good and always tasty.
Just don’t be one of those fools that stock up on the white rice or watermelon… they charge by the pound so lay off the heavy stuff.

Good salad, lots of fresh fixings and the line wasn’t too bad and I was there at 12:30, peak lunch time.
They charge you by the total weight so get as much as you like. I had a healthy sized salad and it was under $ 10 and included LOTS of meat and everything else!

If you want some of the most delicious salmon in Seattle without forking over $ 20-​$ 30, this is the place to be. It is so good and everyone knows it – there is often a line of people waiting for them to replenish the supply (doesn’t take too long). I make it a meal with the white and brown rice (yeah, I mix them together) — and I can’t believe I’m raving about rice, but it’s tasty and a perfect complement to the salmon. The entire other half of my plate I fill with their fruit — really nice watermelon (well, they have other melons too), strawberries, and pineapple.
Some of the downsides to this place are the mac n cheese («meh») and that they have the same items every day (though the variety is not bad).

Decent price, convenient, variety of stuff (cold and hot).
I grabbed a little bit of everything so don’t mind me if I really don’t remember what I did actually eat. The stuff here is pretty fresh and tasty and worth the price per pound.
The only downside is the LINES at lunch… omg. Make sure you get there at 11:30am or after 12:45pm to avoid the crazy-​mad-​super-​extended-​into-​the-​lobby lines.

Best salad bar in Downtown Seattle! I work in the I.D., so when I’m tired of Asian food for lunch, I grab a quick bus to Market Fresh. They have lots of fresh ingredients for salad, as well as a hot bar with things like potstickers, mac n’ cheese, poached salmon, and teriyaki. I look forward to the baked spinach, which has layers of cheesy goodness throughout. The people that work there are always really friendly, and very fast. However, if you’re coming here during lunch hour, you may want to take your food to go – there’s very limited seating in the Columbia Tower atrium, and the deli itself only has two small two-​person tables. Lunchtime lines are long, but they move very quickly.

So fresh you know they killed the cow in the back! Well, maybe not really but you can really taste the difference in their products here.