there is a definite difference between an egg cooked medium-well or hardboiled. i have very mixed feelings about what should be a five-star review. fresh market bistro have all the prerequisites that would make this an exceptional eatery beginning with their selection and thoughtful preparations of the freshest local caught and farmed foods. their wait staff is adorable and pleasant and the ambiance in the makawao court yard is casual and pleasing on any fair weather day. however, i have had two experiences which have put me off supporting their endeavors recently.
the first occurred when my dear papa took me to sunday brunch where despite having only four out of sixteen or so tables seated, we were told there would be a fifteen minute wait for a table. perplexed, we teetered back and forth on our standing legs in the fresh air trying to be pleasant and agreeable while soon many others joined us in our bizarre interim waiting to be seated. this created a lot of confusion as to who was there first when the seating commenced, as the waitress had not taken names or remembered faces upon her clientele's arrival(s). finally after being safely seated we inquired as to what the hold up was and she said that she was instructed by the kitchen to seat only as many heads as they could cook for at one time. my feeling was, why couldn't we all have waited sitting down, with a cup of coffee or juice or something? bizarre and uncomfortable.
the second incident, which is becoming frustratingly commonplace at many breakfast establishments on this island, is the failure to be able to prepare an egg the way it is ordered. restaurants always inquire as to how i want my eggs cooked and i have always, now, and forevermore ordered my preferred eggs, whether poached or fried, to be cooked over medium-well so that "the yolk is creamy but not overly runny." one out of a hundred times do i actually receive what i ask for. often the egg whites are burnt, the yolks completely dismantled, and most common is the continuance of bringing out easy and runny eggs which absolutely turn my stomach. such was the case on another sunday brunch at fresh market bistro. what bothered me the most is that when i returned my eggs benedict to the kitchen for amendments, i was told by our young server that "what (i had) meant to order was a hard boiled egg" and that from now on i was to realize that fresh market bistro only prepares eggs two ways, "done easy or hard-boiled."
can you imagine? what does it take to leave an egg poaching for one additional minute? it is for these reasons that i can not justify a higher review.