The Marc Restaurant — Restaurant in Walla Walla

We recently had a group of 12 at The Marc Restaurant, they were able to get us in short notice no issues. They were relatively slow that night and not busy. They appeared to be well staffed even if they were to be busier. The vibe of the restaurant was very nice since the remodel. All of us had eaten at The Marc previously and always enjoyed the food and service. However this time the food was very lackluster, bland, and not satisfactory.

The Food: Between our table we ordered the majority of the entre's on the list. We all had the same take aways. The food was perfectly cooked, warm, and presented well. But there was zero flavor or seasoning for any dish. When paying that much for food the flavor matters just as much, if not more so than the appearance. The Scallop "entre" was an absolute joke. They would be better off pulling them from the menu, or making them an appitizer for 1. Total waste of money, and the "salad" was hardly even a garnish and flavor was actually awful. A few of us ate at the bar when they first reopened and the food was honestly not much better but gave the benefit of the doubt due to new menue, and probably new staff all together. It is hard to even consider giving the menu a try again at this point when there are so many other better food options in our town.

The Service: Again the wait staff was super friendly, enjoyable, and polite. Their pace though, for how empty they were was frustratingly slow. The time to come back to the table, refill waters, and bring checks was pretty bad. Drinks took a while but thats to be expected if a lot of people order drinks. The food also took longer than it would have expected to be as well.

For one of the "star" restaurants in our downtown, the overall expereince is...

We were so delighted to go to the Marc, as it an award winning restaurant. Our experience was much less than we'd hoped for. We waited over 5 minutes at the host stand before we were acknowledged, " someone will be with you". We were greated quickly, once we were seated, and served very tasty parm crisps and rolls. The specials were shared and a delicious, by the glass, Syrah was delivered. The Caesar salad sounded tasty, as did the shishito peppers. We also ordered the seafood pasta, and the shortrib stroganoff. Our appies arrived quickly. The shishitos were not blistered at all, merely warmed and the Caesar salad was very underdressed. The onion rings were sublime. I asked for a touch more dressing, and was brought a watery, un- emulsified few more table spoons of parmesan flavored watery liquid - noot Caesar at all. The salad had several unripe cherry tomatoes and the quail egg, was hard in the middle; truly a swing and a miss. The service was very efficient and we'll orchestrated. Our entrees arrived, and again; a swing and a miss. My husband said his seafood pasta tasted like "elevated senior citizen food", and my stroganoff had all the ingredients, but was underseasoned and lacked depth. The mushrooms, were tiny buttons, and there were very few. We were also challenged with a group of 30-somethings who were so loud, the manager had to ask them to quiet down. Again, the wine and the onion rings were a true highlight. As was the lovely service. The rest of the meal was uninspired, convention banquet food, at best. We did not stick...

The service was lovely. So was the ambience. And, the fresh produce shareable were to die for. The restaurant sources it from a local farm called “Frog’s Hollow”. And that alone made the dinner worth it.

The main courses, however, were not as well done. I had the halibut, which was dry. It also had a slight fishy taste. I should know better than to order halibut in a place where it can’t be flown to the same day from AK. However, it also was served with beans, which were badly cooked. They were a mix of overcooked and mushy, yet half of them were mealy and very undercooked. This is a rookie mistake.

The lamb was served with a mustarda - way way way too much. It overpowered it so much that it had to be scraped off. Then, weirdly, they served it with a table pour of lamb jus. Pouring a jus over a mustard sauce is odd. Pick one. Pick the jus. Or dab the mustarda on the side.

The deserts were good. I do get tired of chocolate tyranny in the desert world. I know I’m in the minority. But even the ice cream sandwich had unadvertised chocolate crunchies on it. Like mustard, chocolate overpowers everything. That’s fine for a chocolate desert. But the ice cream sandwich wasn’t that.

I wanted to like this...