In the Iron Gate Plaza on Hungryneck Boulevard is tucked a small, charming restaurant named Mosaic Café and Catering. Recently a friend of ours said it was her favorite place to take her daughter for lunch. She hasn’t steered us wrong yet, so we decided to give it a try.
The restaurant whose vision is to “effectively nourish the body and soul while preserving the highest level of quality and value” is warm and inviting. Our server, Lauren (who we also found out was one of the managers), was very knowledgeable and helpful.
The day we had lunch there was the first day for their February “monthly specials” menu. Lauren reviewed the menu with us and I decided to order the BBQ-ranch chicken sandwich which was advertised as a pan fried chicken breast tossed in balsamic BBQ sauce, topped with pepper jack cheese and cranberry cole slaw, on a Kaiser bun. My husband ordered a cup of white bean turkey chili and a Charleston chicken roller which was a wrap with grilled chicken, bacon, smoked Gouda pimento cheese, spinach, tomatoes and basil mustard. (This sandwich is rated as a Mosaic favorite on the menu.)
The menu itself is interesting. It offers a wide selection of salads, sandwiches, pasta and has an entire “fit” section where all of the menu items are 450 or less. It was difficult to chose.
The restaurant got busy but when we ordered it wasn’t and our lunch was served very quickly. We found the white bean chili to be very bland, but the Charleston roller was great. I again, had unfortunately ordered the wrong dish. The sandwich was as described and the cole slaw was an interesting “purple” (literally), but the sandwich was so overpowered by the taste of vinegar that it was barely edible. The pasta salad that I ordered as a side was al dente and then some, bland and tasted gritty. I had thought that by ordering one of the specials, especially on the first day would have be a win, but it wasn’t.
Lauren did everything she could to apologize. I usually temper my feedback if something is not great, but this time I found myself saying it was “simply awful”. She also offered to get me anything that I wanted on the menu, but we were on a time schedule and had to run.
A few minutes later another manager came to the table. She explained that the cole slaw and the BBQ sauce both had balsamic vinegar (no kidding), so that must be what I was tasting. I mentioned that I liked the vinegar, but it was just too much.
She really did a nice job apologizing, offering me a different lunch option – anything that I would have liked. But THEN she did something that was really unnecessary, and to me, somewhat over the top. She comp’d my sandwich AND she gave us a gift card to come back. Often times when a meal is bad the manager will comp an item but I’ve never had a manager give us a gift card to insure we came back and gave them another try. What a great recovery!
We will try Mosaic again. They really want you to have a great dining experience and it shows. I am certain next visit will be the charm.
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