Mercato

Ehh. With all the excellent food in Charleston, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to have a meal here. It’s ok. Typical Italian fare.

If in Charleston make sure to eat/​drink at Mercato’s on Market St.
We were there January 2014 they were actually closing for renovations a
few days later… we can’t wait to see the
’New Mercato’
We had the Margherita Pizza & Calamari Friti & lots of good Bourbon.
Unfortunately, we ate too many appetizers therefore, no room for
our entrée.
Great place to eat have a cocktail, friendly staff, comfortable & accommodating.
Wonderful atmosphere, great location, the best barpeople [Zach & Leah]
Not forgetting Matt Miller [Manager] what a pleasant surprise to have had
the pleasure of meeting him. Certainly an asset for Mercato. Thank you
Matt for making our evening pleasant.

Atmosphere: cozy and elegant at the same time. Live jazz is a really nice touch. Most of the seating is upstairs and I didn’t see an elevator, but I didn’t look either. Service was slow but since the restaurant was comfortable it was fine.
Food: good to very good. Calamari tasted very fresh, not fishy, although the tomato aioli wasn’t my favorite. Bread and oil very good. Veal parm was excellent. Switched out the spaghetti for homemade rigatoni which was also excellent. Rigatoni al forno was very good, loved the homemade mozzarella melted on. Nice and stringy! Tiramisu was fantastic, very moist and creamy unlike some. Latte was very good, plain espresso was weaker than expected.
Price: $ 108 + $ 20 tip for 3 drinks, app, 2 entrees, 1 dessert, and 2 coffees

I really like this place — despite a spotty food service. Live jazz Thurs thru Sunday at 5 PM. Decent trio tonight on our visit. Décor is well designed. Linens.
Our server was nice enough, she had her act together, but was a little too perky at times. The place is not cheap; we spent $ 100 before the tip without really trying — two rounds of drinks were included.
Salads were just OK. Pastas were nice. My wife had the lasagna; I had the tagliatelle with bolognese.

DELICIOUS Italian food. Great service (though I found the hostesses a bit snarky), good prices, excellent drink selection. A good pick when celebrating a special occasion, or if you just want to stuff your face with pasta.
I recommend the shrimp scampi and salted chocolate sorbet. Pro tip: the olive oil was the star of the bread course; get extra!

Delicious food! A must have is the calamari, pizza and chicken marsala. The staff is super sweet and welcoming. The chef also made an appearance at our table. Love the live jazz music ;)

Loved this place! The food was so great and the staff was very friendly. They were very accommodating to our large party of 18 and didn’t have a problem when we added people last minute. The pricing was very good and the food tasted home cooked!

Fabulous wait staff that knew the menu backwards and forwards. Our server Sarah went out if her way to make sure we were happy. It was a cozy room with high class ambiance without the snooty feel. They have a decent wine list and some fun cocktail choices.
We got calamari which was tender with a lovely light breading. The accompanying sauce was good but not extraordinary. Our second appetizer was fresh figs filled with a triple cream blue cheese and wrapped in pancetta. They were heavenly.
Entrees were generous. We had lasagna which was fresh and savory. Chicken Marsala with tagliatelle had a little peppery kick. The fresh oyster and other wild mushrooms were a wonderful change from the usual button. Fresh scallops with scallion risotto was absolutely perfect. We got a side dish of sautéed kale with luscious whole garlic cloves that must have been poached.
No dessert. We were way too full!

Lovely jazz place to grab a drink or dinner. Our server Caleb and bartender Zachery were amazing. Helpful and honest with suggestions on food and also things to do around town in general (we were on vacation). I very much enjoyed the food as they put a ‘southern’ spin on classic Italian. Unique and still delicious.
I give 4 stars only because the menu isn’t huge, but there is still plenty to choose from and I suppose that could be part of the charm.
Tiramisu is excellent and the atmosphere, if you enjoy some jazz, is great.

Well there was Jazz music playing close to 84 decibels outside to attract unwary pedestrians who might have missed its subtle location next to a large Ben an Jerry’s waffle cone. However inside no music but at least the equipment was staged close to the door to give the impression the band was smoking outback during your entire meal.
1. Food was home cooked Italian (lasagna, risotto, chick parm). Which matched the price perfectly.
2. The real gem was the service… outstanding. The waiters were knowledgeable and and worked well with the kitchen for a speedy delivery of your order.
Summary great atmosphere, food you can make at home without doing the dishes, and excellent service.

Review is for the bar only, not the restaurant.
Wonderful atmosphere. Live jazz many evenings.
Drinks are good but not superb. If you really want great drinks in a divey bar, go one block down the street to Toast (yes, Toast the breakfast place) and ask for Matt to make you a Manhttan.
Three stars for the drinks, Four stars for the ambience. We had dinner at The Peninsula Grill at the hotel next door. Now that’s heaven. Come to the Mercato for dinner if you don’t have reservations at The Peninsula Grill

Everything was delicious!

Wow. When you cannot stomach anymore tasty pig parts, shrimp and grits and so on… Mercato is great. I ahve had seafood there as well as interesting gnocchi which was fantastic. Wines are decent and if there is some jazz playing– well your chatter may not be intimate, it will certainly be very lively and a great night out.
The staff was great and I heartedly recommend Mercato.

I visited Mercato with two gal pals while we were in town for a girls weekend. This place had a great vibe and is a sweet date spot if you are in town. We started with salads and drinks. The drinks are creative and make you feel cool just drinking them. The salads were so fresh it was almost like someone had just picked the greens for it. The three of us split 2 pizzas and that was plenty of food.
Mercato has live Jazz music downstairs but the music fills the entire restaurant. The ambiance is perfect with the music floating throughout and the low lighting is perfect for date night and isn’t so low that it makes it awkwardly romantic when you are with your gal pals.
Make a reservation to make sure you get in and enjoy the experience.

So after making reservations here I googled. Turns out there are two Mercato restaurants in the United States. One is BYOB. Which is what we tried to do here to no avail. My bad. I probably should be more careful about that. Oh well. Though our tasty wines didn’t get drank that night the wine list here was pretty extensive though not as many show stoppers as I would expect at an Italian restaurant in the Charleston area. But that said. We were still happy with our two bottles we had here. And if you google the other Mercato just remember this one is not BYOB. Learn from my mistake.
Our app was the pepperoni pizza and boy was it GOOD! The crust was just right and paired with the fresh mozzarella it is a can’t miss. If you aren’t exceptionally hungry two people could fill up on that in and of itself. Most of the pastas here are homemade and well worth the try. The chicken parm is hearty sized and they will change the side if you aren’t a spaghetti person. The bolognese sauce is maybe the closest to grandma you will ever get. I was thrilled to have it with homemade pasta that didn’t take away from its heartiness.
There also is live jazz some nights so feel free to park yourself at the bar for the night if you are in the area.

Is it fair to only leave 3 stars when we only had wine at the bar? Typically I wouldn’t but I was blown away by how rude our bartender was. Above that, I feel pressed to let you all know how great the music can be!
We went for drinks and music before having dinner at FIG. Our thought, enjoy some great live music and wine. We got the wine but the service from the bartender was poor. He was just extremely unfriendly for some reason even when we tried to chat with him.
The music was great though and it was great to relax to. I look forward to trying the food in the future and expanding this review!

I took my fiancé here for Mother’s Day. It was my first time dining there and her second. The atmosphere is pretty upscale, and it’s very relaxed. Our waiter was very personable. We were seated on the second floor, and there was live jazz playing (but not too loud.) I got the veal parmesan. It wasn’t the best. I have definitely had better at cheaper restaurants. My fiancé ordered the special pizza of the day which was absolutely delicious.
Mercato is definitely a place I wouldn’t mind eating at again, but with so many other dining options available all over Charleston I’m not necessarily in a rush to return.

This is a lovely restaurant, food was good (sorry, Chicago has better Italian), and our dining experience was very pleasant. We were seated on the second floor which is more conducive to conversation.
Service was top notch, ambiance calming.

My husband and I were in Charleston just for one night and decided to eat here based on the great reviews from Unilocal,and the yummy sounding vegetarian options. I’m very glad we made that choice! I wasn’t initially sold, as I’m not generally a fan of «touristy» restaurants, and this is for sure right in the middle of the tourist area of Charleston, but don’t let that keep you away!
We split two entrees — the wild mushroom risotto and the gnocchi in a garlic cream sauce. Both were amazing! They also had a nice wine selection, of which we took advantage. The olive oil served with the bread was also killer, it was a full bodied and flavorful oil, so if you are expecting EVOO, think again. The service here was also exceptional. As I mentioned above, we partook in some wine, so at the end of the meal we called a cab, which arrived within two minutes of the call. We weren’t quite ready to leave, so the server ran out front and told the cab driver to wait a bit without us even asking her to do so.
The only negative to the experience was the TV in the bar area — the bar isn’t a separate room, so everyone in the dining room can see the TV, and this is upscale enough I feel I shouldn’t have to be distracted by a flashing screen while I eat.

We were referred to Mercato by a golfer we met during a ride-​along. He had said it was some of the best Italian food he’d ever tasted and we decided to give it a try. Other than knowing Mercato was voted the Best New Restaurant in 2007, I didn’t know anything else about it.
I couldn’t decide if it was «fortunate» or «unfortunate» that the restaurant is on N. Market Street abutting the «Historic Market». Tucked in between t-​shirt, candy and jewelry tourist traps lies Mercato. The street itself is somewhat touristy, but the restaurant is far from it.
When we arrived we noticed signs for «live Jazz», which was a nice surprise. The hostess could not have been nicer. She asked where we’d like to sit and described the different seating venues available. We chose to sit upstairs.
As we walked up stairs the hostess talked about the traditional Venetian painting of the walls — which were a dark red. We were seated at a lovely table near the center of the room. In our view were other patrons, of course, and an open-​air «station» that made various menu items — slicing things to order. A nice, made to order touch.
Our waitress, Natalia, was very attentive, and yet, unobtrusive. The restaurant works via a «team approach» and we did not want for anything the entire evening. Plates came and went, water glasses were kept filled, and questions were asked about our satisfaction, all effortlessly, yet perfectly timed.
For our appetizers we chose the Tuscan Bean Soup and the cheese plate. Prior to this we were served hot Italian bread along with some of the best olive oil that we have ever tasted.
One thing that I have to say about Mercato is that the food and its’ presentation were exquisite. Everything we ordered was fresh, served as requested and beautiful.
The Tuscan Bean Soup was a nice warm blend topped with a light wild mushroom truffle oil. The cheese plate was served with three cheeses — one was similar to Brie, a Pecorino and a Gorgonzola. All were served at room temperature allowing the flavors to burst through. Accompanying these selections were small slices of dark raisin bread, a date and fig compote, fresh honey with toasted almonds and a fennel/​apple mixture to cleanse the palate after the tasting. We tried not to eat too much of it as we wanted to save room for our entrée, so we set it aside assuming that we’d have it for dessert (the cheese, that is).
Our entrée selections, Pork Osso Bucco and Veal Saltimbocca did not disappoint. The Osso Bucco was a pork shank served with Anson Mills polenta, citrus gremolata (I had to look it up, but it was fabulous chopped herb condiment typically made of lemon zest, garlic, and parsley”)and rosemary pork sauce (this, I understood). It came to the table looking like a large, beautifully seared pear. It was spectacular. The kind of meal that you feel like you should smoke after. Seriously. The meat fell off the bone. The dish was simply, perfect.
The Saltimbocca’s veal and accompaniments were hot and incredibly tasty. My mistake was that I forgot to ask for something other than the garlic and olive oil spaghetti that is served with it. It wasn’t something that I usually would order, but it was piping hot with a hint of garlic. The only thing and I even hesitate to mention it, that could have been better was the prosciutto that was cooked with the Saltimbocca. It was very tough, similar to beef jerky. BUTTT… Veal Saltimbocca was not on the menu, Chicken Saltimbocca was, and the chef accommodated my special request, which was also something not many restaurants do.
Our waitress recommended some desserts and even though we were full and still eyeing my cheese plate, we decided to take her recommendation and split the Blood Orange Sorbet. We thought that everything else was spectacular, so the desserts had to be great — it was. Colorful as well as flavorful, we fought over it to finish it. Alas, the cheese plate went by the wayside as we were just too full.
As I walked in the restaurant I was uncertain if I thought the location was appropriate for the caliber of the restaurant. I’m still on the fence about this, but what I did like was that they catered to everyone. There were couples «dressed up» on dates, casual businessmen and women and tourists in jeans. The music and the atmosphere made everyone very comfortable.
I would highly recommend Mercato and can’t wait to go back to try more of the many things that they offer. I vow that next time I’m taking on the cheese plate like Grant took Richmond.