Plated

I have had no trouble with deliveries at all. In fact the first week I was supposed to get my shipment but UPS couldn't deliver on time (severe storms) they had UPS dispose of the box for me and put off my free box (everyone gets their first one free) until the following week. I had no trouble contacting them or getting it resolved. While this is expected in my opinion, it's important to note. The food has been great, and there are a lot of options to choose from every week. This service also offers 3-serving meals, which is often not the case with other ones. The price ends up being lower for us than choosing another service and paying for an extra serving at each meal. My 3 criticisms: 1. Pretty much no low-calorie options, just low carb. 2. This is the biggest one. A couple of times an ingredient smelled/tasted off to me. The first time I went ahead and used it (corn), cus I'm dumb. It kinda ruined that side dish for me. The second time I left the ingredient (fava beans that smelled vinegary) out, which didn't seem to affect the meal at all, but inexcusable nonetheless. 3. Poor cuts of steak.

I bought my first Plated meal at my local Safeway a few days ago. The meal kit was on sale for $9.99 to entice people to try it (Regular price $18.99). I liked that it was a meal for just 2, prep time was only 10 minutes (30 minutes cooking time) and $5 per person seemed like a good deal. I purchased the Chicken Marsala with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes.
I am NOT a cook by any stretch of the imagination but the ingredients were well labeled, and the instructions easy to follow. Everything seemed fresh and only the parsley was slightly wilted - no big deal.
I naively thought that 10 minutes prep time was all that I would spend in the kitchen and for the remaining 30 minutes the meal would cook in the oven or on the stove. It took me a full hour to prepare and cook the meal while standing in the kitchen the whole time.
I struggled with the following items: Rosemary was to be minced and parsley was to be finely chopped. I didn't know the difference between minced and finely chopped so both ingredients were cut into small pieces. Unfortunately, I mixed the two items when I should have kept them separated. The tip on drying your chicken before dredging it in flour was good but once cooked, my chicken looked pale and did not have an 'evenly browned crust' or any crust at all. I also failed at making the Marsala sauce. I couldn't judge when the liquid was reduced by half and my sauce turned out thin & watery. I also didn't have a meat mallet to flatten the chicken but a heavy pan can be used instead. The potatoes turned out well but the sizes were quite varied some - very small and others 4 times as big but it didn't seem to make a difference when they were cooked.
Additionally, the meal was 710 calories per serving but didn't feel worth that number of calories.
Would I do it again? Hmmm, maybe. If it was still on sale, I'd try a different meal and go in knowing that prep time and cooking time will take longer than indicated and all that time will be spent in the kitchen.

Judging by other reviews, I think the freshness of food probably depends on where you live and how close you are to their distribution centers. For me, everything has been good to great in terms of freshness. I've tried almost all of the same type of service (Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, Sun Basket, Marley Spoon, Home Chef) and Plated is still the one that I think has the best recipes. When I say best recipes, it's in terms of a) how good the final result tastes, b) whether the ingredients/process is easily reproducible and c) how well the recipe is actually written in terms of time management/clarity. One giant caveat: Plated doesn't publish their recipes/you can't retrieve archived meals or the other meals in your delivery you didn't purchase.
I'd say 90% of the time, the meals turn out great. There was one or two that I questioned their choice (large pieces of eggplant in lo mein, not what I'd choose but hey) but overall, just fantastic. The instructions are also always very easy to follow, and any highlights are printed separately for you to keep note of. I've also cooked a dish or two I've loved again and they were also great. It's slightly pricier than some of the other choices, but I think it's worth it.

Note: this is a subscription service like any other type (handbags, shoes, etc). You will be charged recurring weeks unless you deactivate your account or skip a meal. It's sometimes difficult to remember, but I always skip all the meals for the upcoming month or so to be safe and then go back to unskip once I'm not as busy. I'm pretty sure this is outlined in the sign-up somewhere, so it's not a surprise.