What can I possibly say about MARKET at Shangri-La Vancouver that hasn’t already been said?
I’ve got a thing or two in mind.
But, let me pause and frame this review with a brief glimpse of the other end of the spectrum, by referring to the quarterback of the ‘rain on the MARKET parade club’, The Globe and Mail’s Alexandra Gill. In particular, her scathing review in the March 25th issue where you were introduced to a whole new level of hate, with such phrases as:
“…is avocado meant to look so sludgy…”
“…pitifully pale, tasteless, out-of-season tomatoes…”
“…service is friendly and attentive, if at times a bit klutzy…”
“…sweet, sloppy, or just plain ordinary…”
Enough about her review as I think she’s been given too much road to run on here with MARKET. As you know if you’ve been reading timinganddelivery.com for a while, I’m not a food critic. So I won’t take her (or anyone else) to task with the dissecting of the menu.
That’s their job…so have at it.
What I do take issue with (like I did with Piatos) is her classification of the service.
The three of us had service that was tailored exactly to our needs. What do I mean? I mean the following:
- appropriate amount of contact – a handful of people were our only MARKET ‘touch points’ for the afternoon – classic service; less is more);
- timing of contact – spaced out appropriately, and did not interrupt our conversation;
- hard sell goes ‘bye bye’ – at no time during our entire afternoon (2.5 hours for lunch – perfect for the Juno people watch parade) were we corralled into ordering things we didn’t want. Our server (the one with the light rimmed glasses in case you want to pick him next time you’re in) was nothing but professional, and we noticed it;
- space sells itself – the staff did not need to enforce the ‘cool factor’ that MARKET pumps out with more force than the Death Star’s tractor beam; and
- contact is king – eye contact, smiles, and attention to detail was overly apparent. I particularly enjoyed overhearing one of the servers personally walk an elderly lady into the hallway to where the restrooms are located and briefly describe what each door was and how it was built (it’s dark in that area, and noticeably more quiet than the main dining area not 12 paces away – very cool).
So, to those of you who: are into ‘cool, new spaces’, appreciate (by what we felt was) a tastefully structured (and delivered upon) menu, and enjoy people watching for about the same cost as an afternoon at Joey’s or earl’s would run you, check out MARKET.
And, if you see anything sloppy, klutzy, or sludgy, you didn’t hear it from us.
darren
