MRKT Farm to Table

Underwhelming at best. The hostess was unpleasant with me and my boyfriend because we did not have a reservation. She told us she could not seat us, (there were at least four open tables, and it was a Tuesday) then made us wait while she went out back to (I don’t really know) figure out what to do with us. It was awkward, and it felt like she was trying to make us feel guilty for having not made a reservation («Now some people won’t get tables bla bla») (Also no one even came in after us anyway). Our cheese plate took 45 minutes at least, and our meals took OVER 2 HOURS. That is unacceptable by any standards, I don’t care if you are killing the cow out back! It almost seemed like they wanted us to just keep ordering cocktails so that we wouldn’t notice how long the food was taking.

So excited to check this place out on our birthday trek to the area. Pretty quiet Saturday night, half tables full at most but SUCH slow service. Bread took fifteen minutes + once requested, entrees 1.25 hours after sitting. We came hungry but left disappointed.
The appetizer, pork belly with grits, was the best part of the meal and I’m not normally a pork belly fan. It was smoky and delicious. After getting the chicken, per the waiter’s nod between ricotta gnocchi and chicken, I couldn’t believe what I tasted. I love farm to table for the thoughtful preparation but this chicken tasted like nothing. There were herbs on the lovely cooked skin but they must have been added after. I actually had to ask for salt:(The dog enjoyed the chicken leftovers. The steak was very nicely cooked — perfectly medium rare– though sauce wasn’t ideal. Veggie accompaniments to both left much to be desired, cooked arugula is soggy and broccoli rabe must have been substituted with spinach. So sad to have not loved it, but the service then the food quality did not make for a great Saturday evening meal. Perhaps the chef and management took a night off? The hostess was the shining star of the establishment, friendly and attentive.

I came to this place because l bought a Groupon and I wanted to try the food.
We drove from Springfield (25 minutes drive) fora 6:00 pm Saturday early dinner. As we walked in, we were addressed immediately by the maitre’d that resulted to be our server. The dinning room is unassuming but elegant. The service attentive without been overwhelming.
We order the pork belly and a Cesar salad with real anchovies for appetizers. Both were deliciously fresh and crispy. We then ordered the trout and s New York strip for me. Excellent food. Very attractive and cook to temperature.
I highly recommend this place, make reservations and don’t be famished. Good preparation takes time.

My wife had the trout and I had a local burger, both were vey good. My wife really really enjoyed the fish. Nice atmosphere and good service. We will go back for sure.

Had a great dining experience at MRKT tonight! We used a groupon and started off with a small plate to share– cheese and cracker plate served on a slate. The presentation was excellent and the different flavors of cheese, crackers and jelly were perfectly paired. For my meal I had the chicken with cauliflower and arugula. The flavor was amazing and the chicken was so moist I could cut it with my butter knife. My mom got the burger which I tried and bite of and was also very juice and full of flavor. My favorite part of the meal was hands down the dessert. We got a chocolate ganache served in a chocolate cookie shell drizzled with Olive oil and homemade caramel topped with sea salt. It was literally one of the best chocolate desserts I have ever tasted! Would definitely dine here again!

Sub par service; I wouldn’t even give them a star, but the food was pretty good, OVERALL: unfriendly, SLOW to get food, ordered a BURGER and it took about a ½ hour to get. Snobby HOSTESS & bartender women. Great décor but I would never come back. I knew within the first second I would NOT come back. BUT, I bought a groupon for $ 39, not worth it.

the server apologized that the little neck clams listed on the raw menu hadn’t come in and wouldn’t be available. «they literally can’t harvest them right now,» she said. she knows the captain of the boat by name. i loved that.
creative and potent cocktails from the full bar. super ambience — classy, but not stuffy. sophisticated, warm, with live plants, relevant art. service was leisurely and friendly, and the evening was very relaxed. we were seated by the lit fireplace. on a 20-​degree night, ahhhh.
there are gluten free options and anything on the menu can be modified. i ordered the parsnip soup, which tasted healthy, light, and clean, but needed a little hit of salt and pepper to come alive. the walnut encrusted trout over spaghetti squash with kale, though — THAT was perfection. served with buerre blanc, the textures, colors, and flavors all worked for me. in fact, i’ve never enjoyed trout as much as i did tonight. most entrees were served with a starch alternative like spag squash or creamed cauliflower. portion sizes were reasonable. i could’ve actually gone for more greens though. the kale portion seemed light.
i agree with another reviewer that it would have been awesome to have read what farms the restaurant is sourcing. the whole point is LOCAL, and i expected to see that advertised proudly and specifically, as i have in other farm-​to-​table restaurants.
dessert sounded fantastic — something creamy, something chocolately — but we were already taking food home, so we skipped it. next time, though.
i’m so delighted my friend suggested this place for this month’s girls’ night out. it was really nice. if i were entertaining someone from out of town, or wanted to splurge on a quiet and potentially romantic dinner date, i would consider coming back here. we used a groupon deal, $ 69 for four. the groupon includes a small plate and an entrée. little bit of an up-​charge for the raw oysters but well worth it. we saved a mint. i understand you can get coupons through WRSI too. i say — come on down and treat yourself.

The food might be good, but we didn’t actually get to try it. We purchased the groupon to use specifically on Valentine’s day only after triple checking that there were no black out dates. I called and made a reservation, no problem. We get there on Valentine’s Day though and they are only offering a $ 55 pre-​fix menu and will not accept the groupon, no exceptions. The groupon is just for two entrees and a starter, so I really have no idea why they couldn’t have just given us two entrees and a starter from the pre-​fix menu. Even if I didn’t have a groupon I would have been peeved that no one mentioned that the regular menu would not be available when I called to make a reservation; springing a $ 55 meal on someone on a special day when there aren’t exactly a lot of options around is not good customer service, it’s trickery. We got up and left instead of throwing down $ 200 for our mea when we had anticipated spending an additional $ 50.

We used a groupon and had a great experience. The ambience was lovely and the service was excellent. Our waitress was friendly, but not overly attentive. The food was even better. Between us we had the mussels, the roasted beets, roasted chicken, and the NY strip steak. Everything was delicious, with nicely balanced flavors. I think MRKT is as good as the other fine-​dining options in the area (Blue Heron, Chez Albert, The Lumberyard, 30Boltwood). We will definitely be back.

There is a dearth of good restaurants in the general vicinity of Amherst MA so we were happy to find this little gem. To escape another night of cooking around the holidays, we went there with our daughter and her boyfriend. Everyone really enjoyed their meal and the food was original, with thoughtful combinations of texture and flavors. I was thrilled with the wine list which has all very reasonably priced bottles and we plowed our way through the two we ordered. After two bad meals at the Deerfield Inn, MKRT restored my faith in the locally grown/​sourced concept. Going back tonight.

Finally visited MRKT this weekend. I bought a group on months ago and it’s been sitting collecting dust. I was excited to go because the menu and concept seemed appealing. The service was less than ideal we waited close to 30 minutes before we go to order and the server was not very attentive. My friends blame it on the groupon that informed the server of. Moving last the service the food was great. We started with soup (broccoli cheese), cheese board, quail, and oysters. Soup was piping hot and delicious. Oysters were on point, quail was amazing I think we could have each order one and still wanted more it was cooked perfectly. For entrees the four of us ironically ordered the two same meals, steaks and the clam spaghetti special. No complaints about the food it was cooked well and seasoned perfectly.
Overall the meal was great the bottles of wine and beers were great. The service was less than desirable. I think I would give it another try because the food was that good.

MRKT is an example of what farm to table and the modern food movement is doing right. MRKT is wedged, unassuming, in downtown Deerfield among fellow storefronts of relatively ordinary character. Simply decorated inside, retaining instead the warmth and features of an old small-​town shop: warm wood, warm yellow lighting, an ongoing conversation enough to feel familiar but quiet enough to hear your fellow diners. Food aside, perhaps the meal’s highlight was the friendliness and sincerity with which our waiter helped our large 5-​member party.
But to overlook the food is to forget why we went, and forget why I’ll be back. From the opening courses: marinated olives and soft sourdough spread with a perfect cultured butter to the small plate specials we split, a grape and arugula salad with briny blue cheese and a sweet-​salty Sea Urchin topped carbonara flavors were full and ingredients fresh. Entrees; from a novel take on crepes, crispy with ricotta and squash beneath a mushroom-​leek braise to the fish specials, each unique and intensely fresh, and the satisfyingly typical and impressively conceived Chicken thigh over celaric purée were exemplar. Dessert, a chocolate crème over a crumbly cookie crust with complementary olive oil and salted caramel, and a deliciously earthy Cabarnet Sauvignon to suit, everything was perfect. With leftovers to spare, prices not unreasonable, and service more than satisfactory, MRKT is a gem, not undiscovered but quietly beloved.
Perhaps the service could have been faster, but for a single sommelier and a single waiter, each with great personalities, I couldn’t possibly mind.

Quite a find in this small Western Mass town. The cozy yet ample trattoria on Main St offers a mix of Italian favorites and more American fare. The music seemed out of place, but everything else fit. We were greeted and shown to a table swiftly. The wine list offers decent selections of domestic and imported reds as whites. We had Napa Valley Merlot and it was quite good. The temperature was just right and the pour was ample.
For appetizers, we ordered the garden salad and the Beefsteak tomatoes. The salad was true to form — locally foraged green and a delightful mix of fresh vegetables. The salad was delightfully colorful and not over dressed. The tomatoes were room temperature — so no flavor lost there — served with fresh basil and cheve. Quite nice.
For entrees, we had the small dish gnocchi and the night’s special, chicken and pasta. The gnocchi was superb. Lightly browned and in a light cream sauce infused with prosciutto. The special was a lightly sauced pasta with a generous amount of chicken, sun-​drive tomatoes, prosciutto, and mushrooms. Neither dish was overly rich, but well balanced and layered in flavors. The large plates are certainly big enough to share.
Dessert was a chocolate mousse with a salted caramel and olive oil drizzle. Very light and delicious. The other dessert was a crema catalan espuma — an incredibly light foam of deliciousness with feuilletine flakes. After such a large dinner the lightness of the desserts was appreciated. The coffee was fresh brewed and also quite good.
Overall, a hidden gem in the center of So Deerfield.

Hit and miss. I was looking for an interesting cocktail, but their list is heavy on sweet (lots of maraschino cherries) and I had prosecco instead, followed by a nice glass of pino gris. The arugula and radicchio salad was bitter, and not in a good way; the hazelnuts sprinkled on it smelled and tasted old, and the grilled pears that attracted me were unripe — tasteless and hard as rocks. It was bathed not in bleu cheese, as advertised, but in what tasted like a cheap bottled bleu cheese dressing. I ordered the garden risotto, and was so disappointed. It was bland except for the heat that seemed to just come from powdered cayenne. I only took it home because my father will eat anything.
Now for what worked: the burgers and fries are amazing, as is the selection of local beers. Someone else at my table ordered the burger and was generous with sharing so we all got a sense of what to order if we ever go there again. Someone else ordered the steak and was happy except that it wasn’t cooked the way he wanted it (underdone, as if the cook was asserting his opinion).
The service was good, just got a little awkward when it was clear that most of the food we ordered wasn’t. I never like the scraping the cloth with straight razor thing, though. Makes me feel as though I’ve been messy.
I would go again for the burger. Perhaps if they just focused on being a high-​end burger joint…

I was excited about the farm to table concept of this restaurant. I wish the menu had more information about which farms the food was from. The funny part was hearing «local cod» as a special — three hours away, not sure I’d call that local, but I suppose I living on the Cape has made me a fish snob.
The food was good. I had the kale caesar with spicy sun-​dried tomatoes and a chicken special. I felt like both dishes were missing something and it was very expensive. I got a blackberry basil martini that was excellent. Overall, lovely atmosphere, good food, just a little too expensive.

Almost cancelled our reservation after reading reviews on Unilocal.So glad we didn’t. Arrived 15 minutes early and with a groupon. We were received warmly and seated immediately by the very personable hostess. Server was very helpful and knowledgeable. I asked for modification of a menu item and the chef accommodated without hesitation. The bread was delicious. Starters were great. Steak looked small but was actually just the right size and tasty. Risotto with goat cheese was amazing. All of our food tasted fresh and flavorful while not over-​complicated. We tried a few of the specialty cocktails as well. Perfect. I love the «brunette».
Five stars for the service and for the food and beverages.
We will be back.

Wish I had taken time to read the reviews before we bought the groupon!
As others have said, stinks that the food was not as good as we wanted!
We, like others, got the groupon — which is cool (although we were hoping to find a place we’d want to go back).
We were excited about a farm to table restaurant. We were surprised to see «local mussels» on the menu (the nearest place to get mussels out of the water is over 2 hrs away…). We were VERY surprised not to see any farm names next to any products or a list of local farmers where products had been sourced from (which is something you see at many other farm to table type restaurants). It made us wonder where the food actually came from… if the steak offered was grass-​fed or even local (sorry, but the honest truth is that if there aren’t names and locations it’s not possible to know these things, and if one of the selling points for the restaurant is that it’s farm to table it should also advertise for the local farms as well).
The food itself– was eh.
We got the special salad & soup — the salad was the best dish we ate all night. The soup was a fennel/​carrot soup with paprika oil. The soup was bland at best. My wife commented that she liked the dried parsley on top (does that tell you something?).
I got the pasta dish — it had less than 1 cup of pasta, etc. on the plate. It was supposed to be a ricotta based pasta (which it might have been) with mushrooms (there were sliver slices of maybe one or two mushrooms) and brussel sprout leaves (I’m guessing there was the leaves of one brussel sprout — are brussel sprouts able to be sourced locally in Western MA in March???). It had no real flavor. My wife got the fish special — which was a cod. The fish was rubbery. Do I need to go on? The sauce was a mustard lime flavor — and bright green. She didn’t finish it.
When dessert was offered, we didn’t even ask what they had (desserts are a big thing for us).
We both came home and heated up leftovers for dinner.
Service was fine — our waiter was nice enough. He apologized that the food was taking so long. We didn’t feel like it was taking too long. It was nice that we got a new fork for the entrée and that he cleaned the table surface with a knife between courses.
I wish we wanted to purchase another groupon & try it again– or even go and pay full fare! But, we don’t.

This was our first time here, and we were disappointed in the fare. We came with a groupon which was a really good deal but ended up spending a lot of money in addition. I would like to say first that our service was very good, he was very accommodating and knowledgable about the menu. He checked in on us during every course and was very friendly.
The mixed drinks were strong and delicious but they ran out of one of the ingredients and we could not get another. (Don’t you think they would have everything stocked on a Saturday night?)
The first wine I got was the Tempranillo, wouldn’t get it again. I tried the french Pinot Noir next which was alright but when smelling my wine, smelt dirty dishwater (?)
We started with bread which was warm and delicious. Our oysters were big! But very fishy, maybe because of the salmon roe on top, but at least there wasn’t a lot of shell.
The eat thing about our meal was the beet salad which was a special that night.
We split the steak and the pork. The pork was really good, with swiss chard and roasted sweet potatoes. The steak was incredibly fatty, but cooked well.
We ended with a chocolate desert that was great for sharing because it was so rich. They also had an almond cake for a special that sounded delicious.

Bummer. We wanted MRKT to be our place, but likely won’t be back. Full disclosure: we used a groupon. Fuller disclosure: we’d gladly pay full price for an amazing meal, and were hoping this re-​try of MRKT (we’d been once when they first opened) would win us back. Instead, we worried for hours that the oysters would give us food poisoning.
And we came on the promise of good oysters. I love oysters. Briny, salty, chewy ones dressed in a good mignonette. These were… Off… and shucked improperly. A few shell shards? Fine. This was chunks of shell. I also had some hard piece of oyster I had to politely discard into my napkin. We felt like we got the «groupon» oysters.
My drink was imbalanced, to say the least. I love giving myself over to a bartender’s discretion and signature cocktails. The tequila old fashioned (interesting!) wasn’t good. Maybe I ordered incorrectly.
The special salad was GREAT in theory but imbalanced with overpowering chunks of radicchio. The chicken entrée was decent; the steak cooked nicely but served room temperature.
The highlight? The sourdough bread.
I doubt we’ll be back, which sucks. We’re willing to drive long distances and pay for delicious, hidden away gems. MRKT won’t be on our list. Also: a carpeted restaurant which holds a fish scent is less than ideal.

If you like locally raised meat, go here! I loved the flavors that got out on the plate. Enough to try to replicate them at home (with moderate success.) But I’d go back for sure.
What I hope they learn is a better balance on the plate. At least for me more vegetables and less meat would have been nice.
We went in on opening night and the service was slow — not the wait staff, the kitchen. That is to be expected at first as staff is getting the groove going so that didn’t bother me, but could change how often I go back in the future if it continues.