Marché In Ba - bridge Island

Phenomenal. The chef is a master. The steak is always cooked to perfection. Everything here is outstanding. Best restaurant on the island by far.

My girlfriend and I gave Marché a visit for our anniversary over a week ago. I’ve taken a few days to sit on this review, just to give it room to air, and maybe come back with a fairer perspective. But the more I’ve waited the more it’s aged like milk, instead of wine. I’ll begin by saying that I feel like my expectations were justified, given Atkinson's reputation (locally and online . He and his wife were present and were charming, from what little we saw of them. The staff appeared to be enjoying themselves in the kitchen—which you can see from the entryway—and the atmosphere was fine, if not a little on the generic side of “homey.” The food, however (how do I say this without being dramatic… was shockingly dissappointing. I've only sent two plates back to the kitchen in all my life, and this is one of them. Believe me, I'm not a snoody foodie—my small town roots compel me to eat what I’m given and be grateful for it. For $30+ a plate, however, I expect better than unseasoned, undercooked squash, plain-as-cardboard muscles garnished with steamed-to-death fennel bulb (and *nothing* else , and a pasta with a cheese sauce so broken you’d have to sip your way through several spoon-fulls of oil to get to it. Believe me, a no-frills, small town diner chef could’ve done better. They politely offered to fix us another plate, which, admittedly, we should’ve taken, but at that point the wind was so far out of our sails that we decided to cut anchor and row for the nearest Anthony’s Homeport. We left hungry, $25 poorer (for two drinks and an “appetizer” , and looking for redemption. The menu offered an intriguing amount of daily specials which may, given some time and healing (ok, now I’m being dramatic entice us to come back, but not before we’ve tried the rest of Bainbridge.