sunterra market, keynote

this company seems to avoid hiring white people. it is illegal to discriminate on race, last time i checked. slow service and food was cold last time i went for lunch at vic park.goodto have a new kensington location but again, service at this new market is also poor.

the lunch specials aregoodand reasonably priced, this is a bit of a change from the grocery store which i find overpriced but convenient. the lunch paninis are usually ready to go and only 7 bucks.

went to market bar last week for drinks and dinner before a show. definitely a cool place, nice vibe. i liked the tvs and the pizza oven (looked gas). when we arrived we sat at the bar and were greeted promptly by the bartender. he listed off some specials, and we both had the 5$ stella - great deal! we looked over the menu, decided on 2 of the pizzas to share, but they were out of one of them. changed to the smoked salmon pizza & maple habanero ribs. they were both so dissapointing. the pizza crust was so dry, it was like eating a cracker. and there was so little toppings on it. no sauce, 3 or 4 pieces of cheese and 2 pieces of smoked salmon. it didn't tastegoodand was a rip off. the ribs were obviously re-heated, and weren't even heated through. when you put habanero on the menu, i expect some spice. there was nothing. it tasted like a peach/apricot based bbq sauce, overly sweet, with no heat. when the bartender asked how everything was, i expressed by displeasure but he just walked away. brought the bill, we paid and left. service was quick, prices were reasonable, but if the food sucks and the servers don't care, i won't be returning.

probably one of the most disappointing sunterra experiences i've had, that meaning i've had more than one bad experience. i could go on and on about the inconsistencies, lack of quality and deception that sunterra market never fails to offer.

in the year 2010 they advertised their infamous yogurt cups as having fresh fruit, despite the fact that they were and are currently using frozen fruit in all yogurt cups. the trick? the fruit dethaws by the time an unaware customer decides to purchase it. this is straight up propaganda at its finest.

every single thing you buy in the deli is made days in advance. if you think that $10.00 precooked bbq chicken breast is going to taste delicious and fresh, then you have no idea what delicious and fresh is.

so what is fresh at sunterra? technically everything, they just don't serve everything to you fresh that day. it's a marketing ploy that many are unaware of and unfortunately when employed by sunterra market in 2009, i was subject to many situations where clientele questioned the freshness of sunterra's product and i was basically told to flat out lie. for example when a woman approaches the deli and asks if it was fresh made today, i was informed to always tell her yes (even if the product i'd be selling her was made 4 days ago). so what's the catch? they make everything fresh daily but they serve it at a later date. so although everything in the deli was being made fresh daily, the product being sold was not the fresh product made on that day. following me?

anyways let's talk about my disatisfying experience i encountered today after buying a few groceries and eating in the market bar upstairs (which was nothing spectacular... i had the turkey dinner tonight and parts of my turkey were pink). i thought it would be nice to treat myself to something from the bakery. i saw a lovely looking dessert with a cream of some sort (possibly a mousse) sitting behind the glass in a chocolate cup. i asked the girl working what was inside the chocolate cup, and she said it was whip cream. i mean clearly it was not whip cream, it was a coffee color and there's no way a bakery would use perfectlygoodchocolate cups and fill it with only whipping cream. i was a little taken back. and then a gentlemen beside me asked the same woman "i'm trying to lose weight is there anything in here that would begoodfor me to have?" and she said "you can have anything in here, it's all ok" and he replied "no way all these are ok, you're lying to me" and then walked away with his wife. 2 sales lost in 1 minute of her time.

a couple minutes later i was able to find the manager, or supervisor (i'm unsure of his rank) however he was a short bald man (wearing more business attire ie: white collar shirt and tie) who when asked to speak with a supervisor, took it upon himself to help. i never got his name so i can only assume he was a superior.

when i explained what had happened, he basically acted like he didn't care. i'm telling him about how his staff behind the bakery are unknowledgeable and he tells me "well they aren't trained in knowing weight loss products" and i said "they clearly aren't trained in any of the products you have for sale". either way, i pointed out the dessert to him and he told me it was a tiramisu mousse, further proving the fact that his staff lacks knowledge in product, and he just still didn't care.

first of all, if i am running an establishment that deals with food, i'm going to want my staff to know about what they are selling, and if not, i'd hope there would be tools available for these employees to know what they are selling (a sign for example in the front of the case distinguishing what dessert it was would've been perfect). if staff are really lying to customers about what's in a product it could result in serious problems. for example, let's say i bought the chocolate cup with what she told me was whip cream, took it home and ate it and died from an allergic reaction all because i thought it was just whip cream when in fact is was a tiramisu mousse the whole time?

but let's face it, the real icing on the cake is the fact that the manager of keynote sunterra straight up didn't care at all about the lack of knowledge his staff has, he wasn't apologetic for the treatment i received, and above all his lack of care for serious potential liabilities is outrageous. he is putting sunterra market at a serious risk by not hiring thorough and competent staff, but overall it reflects more about him and his lack of care for his career.

i've eaten at this location once or twice a week for the past year and a half.

the salad bar is just so convenient that, damn the price, i keep coming back. i've been doing the keto diet for a long time, so it's an excellent place to get your fats and proteins as well as your allotted 20g of carbs in leafy green vegetables. i've also eaten their baguettes (which are really good), their squares, which are asgoodas mom makes them. they make a lemon coconut square that i really like and i feel like is verygoodvalue. their canoli is also very good; as is their meatballs in the deli department.

when you are in the checkout line you also get to watch hipsters pay a premium for buying groceries from their hella expensive grocery store. it's a lot of fun.

why i keep coming back to sunterra:

their salad bar is convenient (but expensive)
their dessert selection is reallygood(and more reasonably priced)
it's the only place near work where i could manage my macros

in a word: average. i agree with james' review regarding the second floor restaurant - quite disorganized. as well, they over salt everything, often to the point of making the sides inedible. service, although slow on occasion, is typically with enthusiasm. two small things that bug me every time i visit are, 1) the employees smoking en masse right outside the parking entrance; 2) watching the employees eating the samples while working. overall, very convenient andgoodmore often than not. hoping they continue to improve with time.

great food but takes navigating. love the concept the second floor is really comfortable and a great deck. the are also open early you can show up at 6:00 am get fed a verygoodquality breakfast for a reasonable price and on the road by 7:00 am but watch the parking - confusing the main floor is small but seems to have everything i want in it if i lived in a condo i would pay an extra $50,000 to have a place like this on the main floor makes living easy. lunch and dinner are againgoodquality and "the price is right" i find the big pan selections healthy and well received and you can get them on spinach not just rice. great place for family and kids open kitchen concept with an emphasis on healthy that allows the kids to get what they want but still have something healthy. service is amazing - they have some sort of a no tip policy i do not understand but what i can tell you is everyone makes an effort to please. well worth visiting.