Maison Marcel — Restaurant in Lake View Township

The reviews for this restaurant are so mixed, I stopped there for an early morning breakfast to find out what people were talking about. My rating is 4 stars for a few reasons, below. I expected to be seated by a host/hostess and have my order taken by a server - traditional. This is more like a coffee shop, bakery and to place an order, patrons walk to the back of the space to the bakery case. The food in the display cases looked so appealing! I ordered coffee, fruit plate and quiche and was handed silverware wrapped in a very large napkin, and the table order number. Table selection is up to the patron and, early in the morning, is wide open. There are several large round tables surrounded by tall-back cane chairs, smaller tables with short-back cane chairs, some benches, a community table with benches on either side and live plants hanging from the ceiling. In a closed space, it looked a little busy. It might look packed when a lot of patrons arrive. The table I selected had 2 chairs, each with a couple layers of loose, pillowed, seat cushions. It was a challenge to both sit and keep the cushions from sliding off. Most of the chairs were padded like this. I didn’t really notice the coffee station and no one mentioned it at the order counter so I asked about my coffee order when the fruit plate was brought out. They were gracious about it, delivered a cup of really great coffee but no cream or sugar. When asked, they brought a carafe of cream, poured some into the coffee then took the carafe back to the coffee station. I guess I should have picked up coffee myself. The fruit plate was beautifully arranged with thinly sliced strawberry, watermelon and pineapple, and blueberries and blackberries. The fruit was sweet and easily speared with a fork meaning the slices were not too thin. It was delicious! The quiche plate included spring greens dressed with oil and balsamic vinaigrette, just sweet enough, without any bitter vinegar taste. The quiche had a slight refrigerated taste along with mushroom and Gorgonzola. The crust was over microwaved and needed a knife to cut it. When I slid the quiche from its crust, the flavor came out a little more but still wasn’t what it should have been. Where the flavor should have been creamy, eggy, cheesy with that umami fresh mushroom flavor, it was flat. Disappointing. Overall Marcel Maison is an interesting coffee shop-restaurant offering smooth, well roasted coffee and bakery items, beautiful food presentation, and attentive staff. Arriving patrons seemed familiar with the setting and were very comfortable in the space. The decor is front-porch cozy, has low lighting and light music in the background. The staff was busy with food prep for the display cases, take-out and delivery orders but it was quiet business in the background. A nice way to...

We ( a party of 5 ) dined here recently after walking past the place a number of times I was so intrigued and really wanted to try the food.

The place is absolutely beautiful inside and out, and I personally find it hard to write this review because I myself work as a server and completely understand that mistakes happen and judgements can not be made from one experience, But in saying that I was extremely disappointed in the experience we received and how it was handled afterwards.

First of all you have to sit yourself, there is nobody waiting to greet you with a menu or find you a suitable table which caused confusion for us and other people who gathered at the door waiting to be seated or handed a menu at the very least

Then you are required to pay (AND TIP) before you even sit and eat, which reminds me of a fast food place. This turned out to be a nightmare as our bill was big and we spent a lot of money (100+ ) and the food itself is expensive , so I was expecting great things. Our food came out extremely late 26 minutes to be exact I had asked after 20 minutes passed to check on our food to which I was told “yeah it’s coming” there was no apologies and I didn’t really feel like the waitress even cared or tried to resolve the issue promptly. I would also add that the place was extremely busy and the staff were under pressure, but I don’t think we should suffer because of this.

The waitress placed the food all in one area of the table for us to distribute to eachother, my food and my friends food didn’t come out so I sat with nothing in-front of me for a further 12 minutes my soup at the point it was handed to me was Luke warm , again I understand that mistakes happen but no one apologised , no staff really cared or seemed to be concerned. There was no apology from start to finish and I felt I received a passive attitude from the waitress.

Not to mention the order wasn’t correct for at-least two of our dishes , and I feel confident enough to put that down to the lack of concern from the waitress who took our order. The table beside us had similar issues with missing items that they had ordered (and already paid for !!)

I think this place has massive potential for a brunch spot, and the food I have to say is great quality and really enjoyable my cousin said that the chicken burger was one of the best burgers he had and I can say the same about my bruschetta so props to the chef , but I truly believe that a great quality restaurant is also about the experience, and if you are going to pay big prices you should expect a good experience.

Side note the window ledges inside the restaurant were extremely dirty and should be addressed , I enclose a photo of said ledges. We moved from this table...

went to maison marcel to get their tea for two. cost $43 for two people and came with 4 sandwich halves, 2 pastries, and 4 macarons as well as a complementary coffee or tea for each person. overall, ok value for the price but honestly you are paying for the experience as well not just the food.

the sandwiches were decent, i wasn’t a fan of the avocado tomato one but really enjoyed the lox and cream cheese sandwich. the bread was standard white sandwich bread, not too toasted, nothing special.

the pastries they chose for us were the blueberry danish and the nutella pistachio roll. i LOVED the blueberry danish and would highly recommend it. it has a very ample amount of filling that’s not too sweet and has that tart blueberry flavor and the pastry dough was so soft and buttery. the nutella pistachio roll was also quite good although i expected there to be a nutella filling but it’s not actually filled. there isn’t really nutella either, it’s more of a hazelnut spread with a hint of chocolate spread on top. it wasn’t too sweet and had a pleasant rich cacao flavor. didn’t get much pistachio. i found the pastry dough was a bit stiffer than on the blueberry danish but overall still pretty good, especially if you like chocolate and hazelnut.

the macaron flavors we received were blackberry, raspberry, lemon, and orange. overall, they were all very good. the crust was crunchy and the right amount of soft and hard. the fillings weren’t overly sweet and were very flavorful.

one thing that was disappointing was the tea. they basically just boil water in a cup for you and then you pick a tea bag and steep it yourself, no teapot or anything. additionally, they don’t bring out the coffee or tea to you; instead, you pick them up yourself at the counter which i thought was a bit odd.

the setting was beautiful, we sat outside and it was lovely. the food came out quite fast as well.

overall, very enjoyable experience and would recommend if you’re looking for an affordable and lowkey...