Marche restaurant in Menlo Park, which had been named one of the top 25 restaurants in the Bay Area by Michelin Guide, is closing, the restaurant announced Saturday (March 5).
The last day of service for the restaurant, located at 898 Santa Cruz Ave. in downtown Menlo Park, will be Saturday, March 26.
“After nine years of service, the difficult decision to close was made this past week, as we faced the expiration of our lease,” the restaurant said in its blog.
To commemorate Marche, the restaurant plans to host “one last Nantucket Dinner event” on Friday and Saturday, March 25 and 26.
“As always, our friend and fisherman Steve Bender will be joining us to share his stories of times past,” the blog says. “Please note that on these final days, we will only serve this special menu” ( listed here).
Howard, et al-
thanks for the wonderful food and ambience over the prior 9 years. Marche brought a very interesting and classy restaurant to downtown MP. You will be missed. Good luck in the next venture, what ever it is.
Did the landlord offer to renew their lease? Or did the landlord just kick them out?
Evil landlords are one of the hardest parts of doing business in this area.
The downtown parking policy strikes again. Aggressively ticket customers and watch them go elsewhere.
This was a highly rated restaurant and one that would have drawn customers downtown, if not for the nasty nasty parking police. We reap what we sow.
Look for more of these announcements in the days to come, not by unsuccessful businesses, but the smart ones, that know they can succeed elsewhere, voting with their feet as penalized customers vote with their wallet.
I now look forward to the numerous non-business parking supporters to denigrate this restaurant at this site, and any business that does not choose to survive with one hand tied behind their back.
Business owners of downtown Menlo Park, rise up and let the city council know, that you will move if they do not ease up on their policy of hate and start showing the customers a little love. I vote daily with my wallet, and Menlo Park is too much of a hassle due to the Meter Maids. Another one bites the dust.
I think it will be really hard for the city to change their parking policy without building more parking lots. Are the businesses willing to pay for that?
Don’t worry. All the business generated by BART, CalTrain and HSR will make up for lost businesses……
( My sarcasm for Menlo Park’s NIMBY is quite heavy today )
P.S. Need any Coal Oil Lamps?
How about Buggy Whips?
Buttonhooks?
I’m sure you can get these items in Menlo Park……..
This is sad news. After Chez TJ the best restaurant in South Bay.
Somehow, I don’t think this has to do anything with parking or rent, but rather a weird miss on the Michelin scale. To me Marche has always deserved a star, and a very strong one. For the 2nd one they needed a longer tasting menu, but for the 1st they certainly had everything. They certainly deserve it more then Madera (I don’t dispute their quality), but Madera must have thrown a lot of money behind that star so quickly…
I never seem to have trouble parking in downtown Menlo Park. I don’t know about the rent issue. There are however, several vacant storefronts in the area. So now the owners get to sit on an empty property for how long?? Seems like a bad time to raise the rent. Must be planning on selling.
I have never had a problem parking in downtown Menlo Park — PARTICULARLY at dinner time.
The place is pretty dead, and I suspect THAT is the problem that faces stores and restaurants in the area.
I think the issue may be the LIMITED TIME allowed for parking, rather than availability.
I wasn’t referring to the availability of parking or even to the 2 hour limit, which Palo Alto and many areas have instituted. Menlo Park is notorious for having over aggressive Parking Patrols that they use to supplement their budget. This all-out-attack on customers is insane and has made Menlo Park a No-Go-zone for many of us.
I have never received a ticket there, but I also never linger, and would think twice before having a meal there. I don’t go there as often anymore after all the horror stories from friends who did get parking tickets, mere minutes after the limit, and after spending their hard earned cash there. None of them will ever go back, get their hair done there or make reservations for a large group of people to meet and have dinner there.
Downtown Menlo Park is not customer friendly. The business owners know this and here this from their customers have complained, numerous customers have complained to the city council, which just loves that ticket revenue, not understanding how short sighted the policy is. Just look at the illegal red light cameras they installed at intersections without any safety and fatality justifications, soles to raise revenue. The red light policy was illegal and a tremendous failure, a supposed safety act under the guise of revenue generation, just as the over zealous parking policy enforcement is supposed to turn over parking spots, but is really another revenue generator that kills business downtown. More and more owners are voting with their feet. If you are in a wonderful location, and the rent gets raised, you pay it. If not, you go.
There are no bottomless wells, and Menlo Park is starting to come up dry.
Do the parking limits even apply at dinner time, when the restaurant does most of its business? Most cities end their parking limits at 5pm or 6pm.
Daytime parking limits are to prevent all-day office workers from stealing all the customer parking spaces.
No, parking limits don’t apply at dinner in MP. I suspect it’s bad landlord, plus economy plus limited menu limits appeal, even though it’s an excellent restaurant. Given how many restaurants fail, how high their overhead is & these still difficult economic times, I’m not surprised, but I am sorry. There are a number of notoriously bad MP commercial landlords – I had one & heard many stories when I was in downtown.
Marche is an outstanding restaurant with an amazing chef and great staff. What a loss for Menlo Park! At the rate the place is losing businesses, it looks like it’s turning into a spooky ghost town, and I’m worried that we will be soon discussing safety, not parking.
There is another thread on The Almanac town forum. The Marche chef has written a response (page down to end). He specifically says that the landlord and/or rent had nothing to do with the failure. He put it very precisely: not enough customers.