Daily Loaf

Stopped by the beautiful new Publix Greenwise Market in SoHo for some lunch today. After reading Laura Reiley’s cautious optimism about the massive selection of prepared foods, I thought it might be worth a try now that the market has almost a month under its belt to get the kinks worked out. If anything, it seems like the kinks have taken over.

Get past the confusing system of ordering everything from its own section, the areas delineated only by small, laminated “Order Here” signs that are often hidden by waiting diners and you’ll find a staff that has the haunted look of the harried and fearful. Or the defiant glare of workers pushed past the breaking point, just daring you to comment about the slow service. Or the downcast faces of truly practiced restaurant workers who want to avoid eye contact until they finish the task in front of them. If you’re looking for a quick, healthy lunch during a brief work break, it’s a horrifying experience.

Sure, it’s a pretty place, with a glorious selection of ready-to-go items, hot sandwiches made to order, and quick cook pastas and pizzas, but just try to get your lunch and get out in a timely fashion. After standing at two separate counters for a few minutes, with only an “I’ll be with you in a minute or two” from the people behind the sneeze guard, and I settled for a cold sub I could have gotten from the most low-down Publix in the chain. And even that took an agonizingly long time, the sandwich guy laboriously layering meat and veg in a tentative and unpracticed way.

Sigh. I guess I’ll check back next week, although at this rate the entire prepared foods area could devolve into cannibalism and Lord of the Flies-style primitive gang warfare by then. Mmm, organic long pig.

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