Seattle Mealpal Review
Recommended by: A co-worker recommended the service and provided me with a promotional deal that came out to $3.52 a meal.
What is Mealpal and How Does It Work?
Mealpal is a subscription meal service that currently exists in downtown Seattle for lunch. You pay a monthly fee and it allows you to reserve a lunch from a restaurant in downtown.
Once you reserve your meal, you go to the restaurant at your allotted time of your choosing and simply pick up your meal by scanning a barcode. You don’t have to wait in line! You can reserve your meal as early as 5:00pm the day before up until 10:30am that day.
You have the option of a 12 or 20 pack and the meals must be picked up within a 30 day billing cycle. If you do not pick up your 12 or 20 meals during this 30 day period, you are out of luck. You lose those meals.
Due to a referral from a current Mealpal user I got a promotional deal that made each meal $3.52. That’s damn good in downtown Seattle! Even the normal price of $6.39 per meal is pretty good considering the numerous options and also considering you don’t have to wait in line to get your meal.
I was skeptical of whether the portions would be smaller than normal and if the actual meals would really match the meal pictures on the app. So here are the results:
Tuk-Tuk Mobile Feast
Pork Fried Rice, Actual price – $10.00. This was my first meal I got through Mealpal. It was at a food truck down the street from my office. The portion was big. It was spicy and flavorful, but not much pork. It was well seasoned though .I would get it again.
Actual meal
- Closeness To Mealpal Pic: 5/5
- Portion Size: 5/5
- Meal Overall: 4/5
Pasta Casalinga
Pasta Al Pomodoro, Actual price- $11. The actual meal looked nothing like the picture on the Mealpal app. Nonetheless the meal was delicious and filling. It was a bit of a walk to Pike Place Market, but worth it.
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 2/5
- Portion Size: 5/5
- Meal Overall: 5/5
Hurry Curry of Tokyo
Braised Chicken Curry Bowl, Actual Cost – $13. This looks like a smaller portion than what’s served in the restaurant based on the Yelp photos. Although the portion size does look similar to the photo on the Mealpal app, but the toppings were non-existent. It was spicy and flavorful.
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 3/5
- Portion Size: 4/5
- Meal Overall: 4/5
Athena’s Food Truck
Lamb/Beef Sandwich w/ fries, Actual Cost – $10. This is one case where I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of lamb and beef when comparing the actual meal to the photo on the Mealpal app. You can also see that the toppings on the fries in the Mealpal app were not present in real life.
Mealpal photo
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 4/5
- Portion Size: 4/5
- Meal Overall: 4/5
Mamnoon Street
Chicken Shawarma, Actual Cost -$10.00. The photo on the app looked nicer, but the actual portion was rather large. The shawarma itself was a bit bland, but filling.
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 4/5
- Portion Size: 4/5
- Meal Overall: 3.5/5
Mamnoon Street
Chicken Shawarma Salad, Frites, pickled pepper, romaine, tomato, and roasted garlic sauce -$10.00 . This was the first place I made a return visit to. More so, because it was close to my work rather than the food being good the first time around. I got the salad version this time around.
Mealpal photo
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 5/5
- Portion Size: 4/5
- Meal Overall: 3.5/5
Citrus Thai
Chicken See-Ew, llat rice noodle, “gai lan” broccoli, egg and see-ew sauce sauteed with chicken. Actual Cost- $8.95. The chicken was plentiful, but the taste was lacking a bit. The photo from the Mealpal app looks vibrant and fresh compared to the droopy actual meal.
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 3.5/5
- Portion Size: 5/5
- Meal Overall: 3.5/5
Poke Alice
Alice’s Special Bowl – Half & Half (brown rice & kale); (2) Cucumber, seaweed, onion, crab salad; (3) Salmon, shrimp, scallop (1 scoop each); (4) Medium spicy with cilantro aioli; (5) Furikake, ginger, green onion masago, seaweed salad. Actual Cost- $11.99. The portion was huge. The quality of ingredients I felt were subpar in comparison to other poke places.
Actual meal
- Closeness To Pic: 3.5/5
- Portion Size: 5/5
- Meal Overall: 3.5/5
Summary of Seattle Mealpal meals:
Pros to using Seattle Mealpal:
- The cost of $3.52 during the promotional deal is definitely the number one benefit of using Mealpal. Even the non-promotional price of $5.99 or $6.39 is a darn good deal for downtown Seattle.
- Your meal is ready when you get there. There’s no waiting.
- There’s a variety of choices, both in the different types of cuisine and in restaurants.
- Discovery. I went to many new food trucks and restaurants I would have never have visited or didn’t even know existed before participating in Mealpal.
- I liked the feature on the app/website that shows what meals co-workers, who also signed up for Mealpal, ordered so I can get ideas.
Cons to using Seattle Mealpal:
- I did this during a month in which the weather was mild. I don’t know if I’d participate during the cold, rainy, dreary months.
- The meals could have been prepared awhile ago. Anything with egg will be overcooked and cold.
- There are no alterarations to the meals. If I didn’t want onions in my fried rice, there’s no way to signal.
- Some meals from the more popular restaurants sell out quickly since there is only a certain allotted number of meals available per restaurants.
- Only lunches are available. No dinners. Also, meals are only available on work days, so weekends and holidays are not available.
Seattle Mealpal Savings
Summary:
I won’t participate in Mealpal every month, but might do it once in awhile. Mealpal does have the ability to put a hold on your account if you want to take a break. Personally, I’m a creature of habit and content going to a small number of restaurants near my work. I also bring a lot of my lunches from home. I’ve also have business trips often and do take longer vacations which would also preclude me from doing Mealpal during these months.
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