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| - I was seeing an old friend of mine who I haven't seen in a while, and when we decided to go for a healthy lunch, I suggested Mela Cafe after reading a number of good reviews.
The cozy and cute set up with the front window wall completely open was inviting. It could have been seeing my old friend sitting there that made my first impression of Mela Cafe very welcoming. We were hungry so without hesitation, we ordered right away. My friend ordered Lasagna and I ordered Sweet Potato with Rapini. I asked for a glass of water, but the server forgot to bring it. I was very engaged in catching up with my friend that this didn't bother me much. What was really disappointing for me was the food.
First I gotta say, their portion is more than generous. When I saw this dish through the glass display, it was about a bowl size, but when it was warmed up and brought out on a plate, it was huge. Happy with their generous portion, I started eating. Then I noticed this gelatin looking clear/yellow tinged goo separating either from the tomato sauce or the sweet potato, and just sitting on the bottom of the plate. Not a fan of gelatin or any slimy sticky gooey substance, it was not a pleasant sight for me. Then there is the flavour that needs to be discussed. Although the tomato sauce on top was delicious, the main mountainful of food had little to no flavour. Very few rapini in the dish was simply way too overcooked and the rest of the dish which was mashed sweet potato, was too stringy.
I wouldn't normally call $9 bucks expensive. But for stringy sweet potato with one or two overcooked rapini leaves?? Me thinks NOT again.
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