| About: | Marche, a grande French Brasserie in Chicago offers a theatrical dining experience in the Randolph Street Market district. Marche is punctuated with owner/designer Jerry Kleiner's furnitures. Across the street from Red Light, west of the Loop, Marche is witness to the hustle and bustle of business as usual in the Randolph Street Market district, one of the oldest wholesale produce markets in the Midwest. Known as a 'hot spot' in Chicago where the elite meet and eat, Marche is host for many pre-game dining rituals for the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks home games and has acquired a substantial following of nightlife at its main bar in the cafe area of the restaurant. Marche's Cuisine revolves around the freshest products available, prime meats, the freshest fish and the finest vegetables. |
| Hours: | Lunch Mon.-Fri., Dinner nightly |
| Categories: | French Restaurants, Continental Restaurants, Restaurants |
| Parking: | Valet |
| Payment: | MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express, Diners Club |
| Specialities: | People Watching |
| Amenities: | Award Winning, Banquet/Private Rooms, Bar Dining, Beer, Business Lunches, Cafe, Parking, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Reservations, Smoking, Wheelchair Access, Wine |
| Chef: | Paul Wildermuth |
| Cuisine: | Contemporary, French |
| Ambiance: | Elegant, Family Friendly, Fun |
| Feature: | Bar, Healthy Options, Late Night, Outdoor Seating, Private Rooms, Take Out, View |
| Reservations Policy: | Suggested |
| Smoking: | Non-Smoking Restaurant |
| Dress Code: | Casual Dress |
| Price: | $8 - $28 |
| Other Contact Info: | Fax: 312 226 4603 Email: fdp@marche-chicago.com |
Very disappointing experience. The French onion soup was way too salty, and service was unreasonably slow (1 hr 20 min for prix fixe lunch) even though there were three waitstaff, three chefs, and seven tables of two customers at the most.
We decided to try Marche because of there pre-fixed menu at lunch during the week. For $18.95, you can pick an starter, entree and desert off of there regular menu. What a great deal!!! The French Onion Soup was so good...I wanted to jump on a plane to Paris and I hate Paris. A couple of complaints. The food is very sauce intensive and the sauces are quite heavy. Welcome to France. I would recommend you ask for them on the side. You will feel the richness of the sauces hanging in your stomach later in the day. The chairs in the front room are metal legs, so when someone moves there chair on the stone floor it sounds like someone scratching there nails on a chalk board. This ruined the restaurant for me...maybe the owners could invest in some felt pads for the legs, so the terrible sound is not heard by all of the diners. My favorite part was the staff sliding the chairs across the floor to arrange tables and not caring if they were disturbing the other diners...I guess they must like the sound. I know I did not. Last complaint, the fries were highly recommended for me to try. They came to my table cold...and not just cold but stale cold...like they had been sitting there for hours. How could the staff even serve that? All I could hear was Chef Ramsey yelling, "Shut it Down!!!"
Nice, small portions, but can be crowded: I had to remind myself that I was at a French restaurant so that I may understand the decor of the place.
The food is excellent. Service is fast.
If you are expecting to have a private, quiet dinner, Marche is not the place. The tables are crowded, plus, there is a bar area for those who want to socialize and/or wait for an open table.