Foodies Will Love This Upscale ‘Food Court’ With a Cozy, Warm Atmosphere in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Where has this place been my whole life?  It's been at the Mall, but Hearth Market in Portsmouth, New Hampshire is WAY better.

We had the opportunity to go to Hearth Market at one point recently with friends and we declined.  I was under the impression that it was a pizza place, with a market attached.

I think I was thinking of a place I used to go in Portland, Maine where people had to wait for their pizza and they also sold bread, wine, etc.  This is not that at all.

Think of Hearth Market as an upscale food court.  I will say that when you first walk in, it might be overwhelming because they have so many options for your to choose from.  Just like in the food courts of old, you can pick where you want to sit too.

You can have full service at their bar, the Elixir, if you don't want to go from place to place.  They will bring it all to you, including fancy drinks.  When I say ALL, I mean, appetizer, main meals, desserts, coffee, the list goes on and on.

The full service element is important is you want to take your time, have a drink or two and relax.

Foodies of New England Must Go

They have delicious brick oven pizza, but only a few flavors; cheese, margherita, pepperoni, sausage and bianca.  (Bianca is vegan)  But, do NOT get the wrong idea.  It's much more than a pizza place.

My husband said the pizza was delicious, so I had to try a bite.  He was right.  They make it with house-made sourdough.

I opted for a rice bowl, which I customized to my taste.  Very, very flavorful and delicious.  The only thing with this is that they used chicken thighs, which are really nice in soups, but I would have preferred chicken breasts.  No biggie though.

They make their caprese salad with arugula.  I prefer mine with basil, but to each their own.  Their ingredients were fresh, nonetheless.

Hearth Market desserts are off the hook

Next, was dessert.  We couldn't skip it.  They had everything from little chocolates to cheesecake to full cream and vegan ice cream.  David had the pistachio cheesecake and I had the vegan ice cream that didn't suck.  In fact, it was delicious!  That's hard to find.

I didn't even get into the amount of seating, the cool vibe, suffice it to say that you will love it there, no matter what you are looking for.