Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Au revoir, Le Marche

On my lunchtime stroll I noticed that Le Marche, a long-standing restaurant at the corner of Yonge & Wellington, had closed. It caught me - and a number of would-be lunchtime patrons - by surprise. There was a sign in the lobby thanking customers for their patronage.

Guess it's gone for good.

Now I'm not exactly shedding a tear for the place. I hated eating there. It was an overpriced buffet that actually charged an automatic 15% gratuity. (WTF?)

I also didn't like the social aspect of it. You get seated, then have to get up and walk around looking for food. It was like a giant menu that you had to walk through and you and your friends would have to go your separate ways to get your stuff (unless you happen to be eating the same thing). Then you get back to your table with your food, possibly minutes apart, and eat. This means there's no time between ordering and being served to talk with your meal partner(s). That's crap.

Then, when you check out, they charge you the gratuity for the pleasure of having served yourself. Thanks. If it's automatic, why not simply add it to the posted price of the food?

So, yeah, I hated the place. But it was a bit of an oasis in the midst of the downtown core. It looked nice, at least, and it often played French music - particularly Joe Dassin - inside the restaurant and out on the street.

I wonder what's going to take its place?


UPDATE: Spoke too soon? Yes and no. What will replace the Marche? Well, a Marche, of course!

4 comments:

Michelle Sullivan said...

Oh yay. More buffet.

Or food court, anyway.

Sounds like all of your complaints about the previous place will still hold. I'm pretty sure Movenpick has an automatic gratuity as well.

And no Dassin! Well forget it! ;)

The Movenpick here in Montreal closed after a couple of years.

Alison Jutzi said...

Dear Phil,
I'm bored. Please post something immediately.
Love,
Alison

Alison Jutzi said...

I said IMMEDIATELY.

Ron Hutzul said...

whi-chtchk!

that was the sound of the whip cracknig - good job fulfilling on this one Phil!