Marche Restaurant (VivoCity)

As I have been here in Singapore for 7 months now, I am always looking forward to my weekends as these are the best time to discover and experience new things.

I went to Vivo City one Sunday to lounge at my favorite bookstore and buy a book. I was then asked by a friend to join him for lunch at Marche. I've never been there nor have I heard of it. So I thought it was worth a try.

As we came in I was taken by the interior and the arrangement of the place. I thought it was quite unique and the concept was commendable. It offered different seating areas and arrangement which will suit every person's taste and mood.

As I looked around I was overjoyed to find a nook for Spanish paella but was surprised that no one was there to serve me moreso inform me if it's open or not. So I tried to get around and managed to find a waiter who explained what the food was like (not that I don't know what paella was supposed to be) but who definitely gave it a try. I then tried to talk to the unfriendly cooks beside the stall, but they couldn't give me an answer. But, because I really wanted to have the Spanish paella I didn't give up, finally a guy went in the stall and looked like he was clearing up. So I asked him about the dish. I was informed that it will only be served at 5:30 pm. What the heck? I can't believe it. I almost lost my appetite but since I haven't had anything yet (both breakfast and lunch) and it's already 4 pm I decided to just go around.

I found the pasta corner and chicken and cream pasta sounded nice, but when I ordered it and was given a bland pasta without enough cream in it, I was taken aback but dared not ask. So I put my pasta on our table and went to the steak corner where I asked the guy to have my sirloin steak well done. I had to wait for 15 minutes but I thought it was worth the wait...

So I started munching on my pasta, to my dismay it was the worst pasta I ever tasted. Not only was it bland in color but also in taste. I tried to finish it because I was really hungry. I went to collect my steak hoping it will bring salvation to my very late lunch. Alas! It was well done, that's for sure... the steak was burnt and had the taste of charcoal in it...

Not even the nice interior and seating arangement can make up for the whole experience...

Oh! and did I mention? I had a pineapple juice freshly squeezed (according to them) which doesn't even tast a bit of pineapple. it tasted like mixed fruits of some sort...

I really don't like Marche at Vivo City. I used to love it when it was in the basement of the Heeren (and in Suntec) and we went there often, but we've been to the Vivo one two or three times and been disappointed every time.

The building is cramped, the tables are so close together that it feels claustrophobic, they've stopped doing some of the food our children used to love and they've hiked their prices up so we've stopped going.

There's still some tasty food there and it is one of the best places to go for a nice salad bar but if you go when it's busy you end up rushing your meal just to get out and get some space! There's a big rooftop up there so why they had to build a pokey little teletubby house in the corner, I'll never know (bad design).

Plus, the toilets aren't even inside the restaurant and that's a real pain in the backside for anyone on their own with a couple of kids - you have to take the whole family out of the restaurant just to take one child to the toilet...........not exactly family friendly!

Sorry Marche, but I'm not coming back.

It was my 6th anniversary and I thought I would like to give my wife a pleasant surprise. I did not make a reservation as I presumed it was wednesday 19th Nov and would not be that packed.

My wife and I arrived at the restaurant at around 745pm. To my surprise, there was already a queue of about 20 people before us. We had to wait about 20mins before we actually cleared the main door. I was wondering what actually took them so long to move the queue.

It took me a while to realise that the lady in green uniform at the front desk was joking and laughing in malay over the communication system. I would not forget her name was june. Thereafter she was literally barking to the guests how the card system works and that we had to leave our identification with the guest card if we needed to use the wash rooms. Who gives them the right to retain our identification unless thy are from the law enforcement ??!!!That was a really bad start for the evening.

Thereafter we were shown to a table that was split into "half" by a lady in a dress. I asked if I could get a bigger table as it was pretty crammed. She replied sorry the place is nearly full. I accepted as she was very polite to us. Thank you Carol

We order calamari which tasted like "mini latex filled donuts with a really pungent fishy smell". The salmon was merely passable considering the price and the pork knuckle was really dry and tough, probably needed a chain saw to break the pieces.

We walked past the vegetable counter and the cooked vegetables looked as though they were cooked hours ago. All looking soggy and disgusting. Where are the stir fried vegs that Marche Heeren used to have ?? They only prepared it upon ordering. And to add to the misery of the vegs, there were seriously overpriced.

Pasta with cream sauce was the only consolation and that filled our hungry stomachs.

The sour plum and calamansi was awfully sweet and was really puzzled with the chalky texture of the drink. The passion fruit lemonade had a real funky taste to it. Well the person who came up with the recipe should get their taste buds checked. Overall the homemade drinks were over priced $5.20 per glass ???

Overall the service staff were efficient in freeing up the space on our very cramped table and he actually greeted us and asked us to enjoy our meal. Thank You Roslan.

The deserts were apple crumble and crepe of the week. The filipino staff was really good with his suggestions and the complimentary flavors of the cheese and ice cream really lifted our dampened moods. Thanks Marco.

Cashier queue was smooth. Was served by another staff in green uniform who asked us how was our meal and evening. We gave some feedback about our dinning experience and expressed our disappointment as to how our good old Marche had become till this extent. He apologized on the behalf of the company and asked that we could fill up a feed back form so that this unpleasant experience could be avoided. Lastly he asked if he could do anything to make up for the evening. (We forgot his name but he was quite short)

We are adding names here so that the people who really made our horrible evening into a pleasant one could be recognized for their excellent service.