MealPass, a new, “affordability”-driven online service for ordering a restaurant takeout lunch one day ahead — for $5 a dish — raises the question: Can New Yorkers who have a gazillion choices really economize — and eat well — by racing the clock to book a dish the night before, then racing through traffic to pick it up themselves?
That depends. Here’s how the system works:
You sign up, for $99, via credit card at mealpass.com, which lets you order all your lunches for a month — which really means 20 days, because the service runs only Monday through Friday.
Every night starting at 7 p.m., you log in to some 100 “highly curated” Manhattan eateries, from fast-food counters to real restaurants including Union Square’s Blue Water Grill and hot new Kat & Theo in the Flatiron District. Each one features a photo of the MealPass dish it’s offering the next day.
Click on both your choice and the 15-minute time frame — say, 1 to 1:15 p.m. — in which you’ll pick it up. When you arrive the next day, your meal is handed to you, wrapped to go. No money’s exchanged — you’ve already paid.
On the plus side: Preordering theoretically lets you commit to a lighter, supposedly more healthful dish, such as quinoa salad or a veggie burger, before you’re tempted on-site by fatty beef and pasta.
The dishes I ordered were freshly made and substantial. “Shrimp and string beans w/soup” at bustling Chinese spot Jimmy’s House on East 25th Street boasted not only four tasty, head-on shrimp, but pork meatballs and rice.
So much for the good news.
The offerings too fairly reflect Manhattan’s common on-the-go lunch offerings. In other words, there are more elephantine, high-calorie and high-cholesterol taco combos, Buffalo wings and mayo-slathered wraps than human bite-size salads and smaller sandwiches. That isn’t the fault of MealPass, though, which at least tried to offer lighter alternatives.
The claim of “less than $5 a day” for lunch is true only if you use MealPass every day. Skip even a few days and the average price quickly rises to what it would be if you ordered normally.
MealPass places are clustered between Third and Seventh avenues and between 14th and 33rd streets. If you’re not in the zone, your food might be cold by the time you schlep it through the streets and subways. (Site co-founder Mary Biggin says she plans to expand to other neighborhoods soon.)
Each restaurant offers only a limited MealPass quantity, and many ran out as early as 7:15 the night before. Claiming Kat & Theo’s chicken and kale Caesar salad felt like trying to book seats at Momofuku Ko. I nailed it in time, but leg, thigh and tough kale tossed with romaine lettuce did not show this splendid kitchen in its best light.
And, for added agita, you can’t strategize in advance, because between 9:30 a.m. and 7 p.m., all choices vanish from the screen with the words, “The kitchen is closed.”
So is my appetite, until I know what’s cooking.