Pepper Market
Coronado Springs
Lunch
Date of Visit:	2/11/2007
Time of Visit:	12:00
Adults in Party:	2
Children in Party:	1
Total Cost:	$40.00
Average Price Per Adult:	$18.00
Ten Point Scale
Food:	9.0
Value:	6.0
Service:	6.5
Environment:	9.0
Overall Rating:	7.6

The food court at Coronado Springs, a convention center as well as a hotel, this place can get quite busy, but has tables enough to handle the load. It uses a hybrid service system that's quite unusual: you receive a blank ticket when you are first seated, and you bring it with you to the various food stations that look like many food courts. Order items from any or all stations, and each time something will be stamped on the ticket. When you're done eating, you bring your ticket to the cashier at the exit (the entire dining area is caged in) and pay on the way out. A gratuity of 10% is automatically added.

The gratuity is a real puzzler. You carry your own trays. The servers do take your drink order, and bring the cups, but in our case they never checked on us again, and also did not refill our drinks, despite draining them quickly. The gratuity being automatic at any establishment is not a customer-friendly policy, and it's doubly vexing in a fast food location.

We ordered a sampler dish ($16) of Chinese food, consisting of an eggroll, bourbon chicken, and beef stir fry. The eggroll was unremarkable, though the bourbon chicken was zesty and the beef fairly heavy on the ginger. A hoisin-styled soy sauce was poured over the white rice, and it was the best thing about the dish. Otherwise, the food was on par with a dish you might find for much less at a local shopping mall.

We also had a wet burrito ($11), which had mildly flavored chicken and entire beds of diced tomato and shredded lettuce. While the guacamole portion was generous, it wasn't a particularly tasty sauce. The salsa, moreover, was such a small portion as to be all but invisible. This is a major problem for a "wet" burrito. That the entire affair was bland and tasteless only compounded matters. Lastly, beware of the salads (which someone else makes to your specifications). Those seeking simple iceberg lettuce will be disappointed-there are a lot of different lettuces used here.

While the peppy atmosphere and smart theming look alluring, the food quality bespoke of an almost complete lack of caring. The high prices comprise the second negative. And the coup de grace is the automatic gratuity for no purpose at all. My advice: steer clear of this place.