the store design is overwhelmingly beautiful i must admit. immediately one is struck bythesight of bright, open kitchens, gorgeous marble countertops and tables; chrome and copper fixtures, appliances, pots, and pans everywhere. sizable, polished espresso machines linedthemassive coffee bar. i had a double shot of espresso and it was outstanding. i also had a cannoli, which was overpriced, and terrible.thetaste of stale grease overwhelmedthefilling unfortunately. there was mozzarella cheese being prepared, before my eyes, inthecheese section, which was fun to see in person. there was a large selection of turkish cheese, but not much intheway of italian varieties. there was an array of dry aged steaks and prosciutto in large meat cases; gorgeous displays of assorted dried nuts and fruits, and surprisingly, not italian in origin, gogi and blueberries, also replete with sizable prices. i lovedthelong reading tables interspersed throughoutthegrocery store, filled with magazines and books to complement each section.thefresh bread area was small, buttheloaves were works of art to my eyes. i love common, turkish breads, but it was nice to see and taste european styles as well. i miss that dense, crisp crust.
there was a large gelato bar made for mass consumption, apparently, asthegelato was emerging from multiple machines like soft serve ice cream at mcdonalds: creamy, lacking in taste, but eight timestheprice. i saw they had another smaller area with a larger assortment of gelato flavors that were being held and scooped from pans, as traditional gelato is. inthedessert area was an obvious advertisement for nutella: a huge display jar casting its formidable girth acrossthefloor.theapron and tote bag section was disappointing as well. emblazoned across their signature tote was "eataly is italy". really, thats all their design team could come up with? it's insulting to italy as i'm sure there are better products made and sold there that were not getting face time ontheshelves of eataly. i was hoping to find a nice selection of different types of vermouth, but sadly, no. they did have martini and rossi though, available at any liquor storetheworld over…yay.
readthelabels before you buy, asthehouse label panettone contained mono and diglycerides.
there was one brand of truffle oil, but no truffle salt.thepizza was good:thecrust was a perfect ten in my opinion...chewy, and crisp.thepasta was subpar; terribly undercooked (i know what al dente is supposed to feel like, and this wasn't it), with perhaps a tablespoon of bolognese sauce strewn about.
in a nutshell, i was disappointed to see so many well known brands. i was hoping to actually discover something.