the marquis

the first and only time i tried this place with afriendwas the worst experience ever!! firstly, the place seemed pretty busy with hardly enough servers to acknowledge your presence or seat you once you enter. myfriendand i ended up seating ourselves and waiting some 15 minutes or so later just to get a menu!! when we finally managed to order something (in this case drinks only as it seemed impossible to wait again for anything else), we had to wait another 20 minutes for our order. to top it off, when the beers came the server ended up accidentally pouring my entire beer on the table which subsequently went all on my lap and was completely soaked!! she came back with a towel to help clean up mess and also for me to dry my clothes. she did profusely apologise for what happened of course but then offered to split my friend's drink between me and myfriendand not charge the one she spilt on me?!! was sooo embarrassed and just completely taken aback (not to mention i could tell the server was clearly upset herself), that myfriendand i ended up leaving without paying for anything!! such a huge disappointment to what could have been an overall great night! will not be going back!!

had a bite to eat after seeing a play. myfriend& i shared the salmon. not only was it tasty but the yam fries we ordered were better than expected as well. nice touch that they brought the one order out on 2 plates when we said we were sharing. : )

you know those hidden gems that i've been writing about lately? i don't know how but i always happen to come upon those. the marquis in south granville (between 10th and 11th avenue on granville) is one of those hidden gems. i think it's because it's kind of hidden, and people don't seem to realize it's there. but yes, it is actually classy as it portrays itself (although i am not sure why they added the tv screens) quite frankly, i wouldn't have added the tv screens, i like the room nice as it is without them! my goodfriendjana and i arrived there right after the live at squamish launch party at the commodore (it was a tad too noisy for me, thus we decided to head to the marquis, a place i had been wanting to check for years. yes, you heard me. in my decade(s) of living in vancouver, i had not checked the marquis. i am glad we did, not only because we had a fantastic time, but because i got the assistant manager (jenna) to create a sweet drink on my name (the hummingbird, so if you

eat elsewhere. wow wow wow. will not be eating here again.

drinks took forever to come because they couldn't find the pellegrino. i guess they don't get a lot of non-drinkers in there.

appetizers were brought out at the same time as entreés. a little awkward.

waitress didn't bother telling us that anything with a tomato base was not available that night as they'd run out of tomatoes. we only found out when the first person tried to order the vegan chili. this was 7pm on a saturday night. out of tomatoes already?! where's plan b? there's a market right up the street for pity's sake.

the little puffy moist-centered balls of dough tasted like anything but gnocchi. the lobster was okay but the sauce was nothing to write home about.

the ribs were described as tasting like they'd been in the fridge for a few days, and the borscht was too salty - this last comment coming from afriendwho tends to salt her food regularly too.

the waitress, to her credit, attempted to split the bill up for each of us but botched that so badly that it took about 15 minutes to square it all away properly.

sorry guys. the ambiance was nice but other than that not a lot of positive things to say.

my first time there will be my last time there.

they need help!. i have been to this restaurant on several occasions and when it first opened it was hit or miss, then it did get a lot better. however, in the past few months it has taken a turn for the worse. the service has gotten a lot slower. my friends and i ordered drinks and we saw the server put them through to the bar tender and he picked up the order, looked at it, and continued to talk to the people at the bar instead of making our drinks. the server was waiting at the bar for the drinks as well. i was not impressed by this at all, and clearly the server wasn't either. the food was okay, we ordered a few different things. i ordered the burger, which i have ordered before and it was nowhere near as good as it once was. it was bland and tasteless, they must have changed the recipe. myfriendordered the seafood fettucini and it was also bland and tasteless. she has ordered it previously as well. we were very disappointed with the downturn of the marquis, it used to be great place to hang out, the staff were great, drinks and food were good. they have new staff, but they are not as personal and chatty as the others were. this could be a good and bad thing. many times i have gone in and it would be only one or two tables including myself. hopefully things pick up for them because at this rate it is not going well. i don't see them being open for very much longer.