Piccolo Grande visit to Mackay my visit in December. Thumbs down!

Usually I enjoy going to Piccolo Grande in the Byward Market during the warmer months and always make it a after dinner (or anytime) treat.
When I saw a deal on a local website for a half price lunch and gelato that seemed like a good opportunity to try a new location.
Here are the details of my visit. I don't have too much else to add to the description as I have not been back to this location.
This was previously posted by myself on another website and is being added to my blog to give a heads up to people who enjoy gelato.
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Last week I went to Piccolo Grande at 411 Mackay st.
I had gotten a coupon deal from the website Koopon.ca
For $12 you got a soup, sandwich, coffee and cup of gelato.
-thought that was an ok deal and had never been to that location, so bought one of the coupons for lunch.
You could buy unlimited coupons, but figuring how it is not so close by to me and I usually buy gelato at a nearby store (5 minutes from my place), I only thankfully bought one of these "deals".

Usually I like to support local stores and if service is somewhat bad one day I might give the store another chance.
But my visit that time, too many things were annoying and doubt I will be going back to that area for ice cream.
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The soup they had 2 choices today-roasted red pepper and the other one lentil soup.
Service was kind of slow as there is only 1 lady working there and I think she is the owner.
There was 2 people eating lunch there already and the lady finished serving them before even taking my order.
She could have gotten me my coffee while I waited 5 minutes (not a huge deal though).
Then as I am waiting for my food some other customer comes in and the lady working there makes the food for that person instead of my food-that I did find annoying as I was there first (but my being not rude,did not say anything about this).

So finally I get my food. Had ordered the tandoori chicken wrap, roasted pepper soup,coffee and cup of gelato.
The wrap was made with a tortilla and had tandoori chicken breast,tomato,lettuce and a kind of curry mayo.
There was not tons of chicken on the sandwich-but the quality of the meat was good. Lettuce and tomato were fresh and I could hear the lady chopping the lettuce for my sandwich.
Soup was good and had lots of little bits of carrot in it,some corn kernels and a good red pepper taste-was not spicy.
Coffee-I was under the impression that it was any coffee on the menu and not premade drip coffee.
I did ask for a cappuccino and the lady there she just told me all they were making today was drip coffee.
Kind of felt ripped off on that-it is prob not more than .50 for a cappuccino in cost to make.
Now finally I get to my gelato-got a pistachio and vanilla cup.
The ice cream was no longer in the display freezer-but was in the storage freezer as I was told they would be putting out chocolates for holiday sales.

So after waiting for the gelato to defrost so it could be scooped I had my dessert.
The pistachio ice cream was a bit gummy and seemed like it had been there a while. The vanilla was fine.
I do not think I will be getting pistachio ice cream from Picolo Grande-I like the place on Bank st I go to a lot more (as it has actual nuts in the ice cream).

Overall I can say my lunch was alright.
But before I forget, there were a few other things that annoyed me.
The lady had a bit of a cough and she also did not wash her hands in between serving customers and handling cash and making other items.
Then I also asked about the price of the Leonidas? chocolates that were in the display as they did look good. She tells me $1.50, another person came into the store and she tells that person that is was $1.
That's not really cool!

Ok went back to look at my offer online (I've bought so many from coupons or auctions,hard to keeptrack).
But my deal was from Koopon.
Also forgot to add that I do not think it is a value of $24.
Normally soup is $5 and a sandwich is $5 or $5.50- but there is a special of soup and sandwich for $8.95
Coffee is around $1.50 and ice cream around $4.50 (was not a big cup).

I'm still very disappointed with my meal at Piccolo Grande.
Lousy service, the owner of that location really seems to cheap out on everything.
But not washing hands at all and seeing the woman lick her fingers when she put the ice cream containers back??
Really....YUCK!
I didn't put that in my earlier review,but really just yuck!
Also that my pistachio ice cream seemed like it was old and was kind of gummy.
Then the refusing to make me any coffee except what was already there-premade coffee in a thermal server.
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Sorry to make this long, but this was from my post and follow up post on another site.
Also forgot to add that as the woman was making my food she was hacking and coughing too.
Hopefully she did not cough too much on my food?

The only good things of my visit were that on the way back I stopped at Epicuria and bought some cheese scones and macarons (macarons were not made right..were too crunchy,not gonna complain for a .70 item. would get those again if they have them as they were tasty).
And that I also finally saw where Da Bombe bakery is and went to buy a peanut butter mousse dessert (and their lunch menu looked good too).

*Just wondering has anyone else visited this store?
I also find it a bit odd that even though Piccolo Grande is known for gelato, they will have none on display?
I could understand if their freezer broke or was being cleaned (happened at the place I go to this summer).
I'll also add the soup was good at Piccolo Grande Mackay st, but not enough to make me go back there.

Also, did contact the website Koopon.ca that sold me the deal and they told me that the woman is running the store by herself and her son is away-still not a good excuse for lousy service like the day I was there.
Was also hoping to get a partial refund or credit and nothing was offered,which is not that good either.
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My last thought on this is why the heck would a GELATO SHOP that is known for ice cream and supposedly sold hundreds of these deals recently NOT have any ice cream on display.
Especially if their offer now is gelato and a chocolate piece for $6???
Really?

If anyone goes to this store I'm curious if they actually have any ice cream out now.

 

Cedar and Company Grocery Store Food Counter Meal Review!

Tonight I did not feel like cooking and really wanted something that was tasty and grilled for my dinner.
I had been the the new Cedar and Company grocery store earlier this week and noticed they have a prepared foods counter where you can get a meal and sit at some tables to enjoy your food.
It is not too obvious from the outside of the grocery store what foods the counter serves except Shawarma.
At the food counter there is a hand written board with the foods that you can order and that seems to change often.
A few days ago the special of the day was some Tilapia in a sauce (did not try it,but it looked good).
You can also order chicken or beef shawarma,falafel and a tasty poutine.
I tried the poutine earlier this week and the fries are fresh and made in store, cooked while I was waiting.
The french fries also came unsalted,which is nice for a change as you can always add your own salt if you wish.

One thing you should know (and that I was told a few days ago before ordering is to call ahead if you are getting a brochette-they take up to twenty minutes to cook).
I did not call ahead today,so did have to wait around twenty minutes for my brochettes to be cooked on the grill. It was not a huge problem to wait as I saw my food being cooked on the grill and I know it was very fresh.
You get 2 fairly large brochettes with your platter and that also comes with humus,eggplant dip,roasted potatoes,rice,salad and a piece of pita bread.
It was quite surprising the amount of food that there was in my container. I'd say there was enough food for two people or else one very hungry person.
The brochettes when they are stored in the fridge and being cooked they are on some metal skewers that look very similar to small swords.
On my brochette there was around 5 decent sized pieces of chicken and some red and yellow peppers.
The chicken was nicely seasoned and very well grilled. The peppers had a bit of charring that added to the taste.
The quality of the chicken was very good and was made up of chicken breast that was tender and not tough,the meat was also not greasy like in some other places I've eaten at.
One thing I really dislike in eating out is when certain places use chicken that is just too fatty.
I found the chicken here was great,very fresh and tender.
The roasted potatoes were good and had some garlic flavor to them. The rice was a bit seasoned and good.
My salad had some lettuce,tomato,green pepper,red onion and a homemade dressing-the vegetables were very fresh. There was also some garlic sauce included in my platter.
I took my brochette platter to go as I did not think I would be able to finish it all and that was a good idea for me as I only managed to eat half the platter.

You can also eat in the grocery store and there is a very nice seating area with tables and chairs and the store actually has some real plates and cutlery if you do happen to be eating in.
That is actually a nice touch as most places who have shawarma usually just have take out cartons and not real plates.
There is also baklava and pastries for sale at the food counter and in the Cedars and Co grocery store.
If after stuffing yourself with brochette or shawarma you want a healthier dessert,there are also fruit cups topped with Ashta-a type of custard that can be bought.
The fruit cups are $4 and are filled with many kinds of tropical fruits like strawberry,pineapple,mango,banana,blueberry and I'm sure I am forgetting some of the other tropical fruits.
The fruit cups are also quite large and the size on the bottom of my cup said 24oz, so it seems to be a good value.
I would definitely recommend this new grocery store and food counter for a fresh meal.
I'm sure I will be going there quite often as the food is fresh and tasty.
My brochette platter was $14.63 including tax.

Cedar and Company grocery store and food counter is open until 10pm every day and located at:
1255 Bank Street.
There is also a free parking lot beside the grocery store.
If anyone remembers the area,this is where the old Fresh Fruit Company store used to be.