Marché Museum Cafe

Marche Museum Cafe, I feel so conflicted about you. On the one hand, you rescued me from starvation (or at least munchies) when I was studying at the library over the break and found all their vending machines broken. You offered me savory scones with cheese and generous helpings of thick bacon.

However, when I returned the next day, proudly showing my husband my scone revelation, you gave me some sad news. Due to a 'baguette malfunction', you were not serving sandwiches. And since you were already on a special spring break menu, you were serving nothing but soup or a salad, and some pastries. No sandwiches of any kind, no bread with the soup, nothing.

We decided to go for the soup and a scone. The scone was still great, but the soup was terrible. I left more than half, which is an absolute first. I've eaten plenty of mediocre onion soups, but this was really just a bowl of slightly bitter water with the texture of onions. Yuk. And no side of bread (but still the same price of course) :(

Now I ask you: Was there no solution you could think of for your baguette malfunction? None whatsoever? You run your own bakery (Marche Provisions), were none of those breads good enough for my sandwich? How about the countless other amazing bakeries in town whose bread, quite frankly, is better than yours? Were you too proud to visit one of those so you could at least still serve lunch in your cafe? Too proud to let them profit from your 'baguette malfunction'? As your customer, perhaps you will allow me to remind you that I would rather eat panini on a DIFFERENT bread, than a big plate of nothing at all.

PS: Hang some stuff on your wall please, even with only 5 people there the cafe can be painfully loud. Also: how about replacing that tiny, thin prison flatware with some real knives and forks, or simply plastic?

A nice change from the majority of campus and vicinity lunch options who feature heavier offerings for students looking to stretch their dollar. Think European cafe overtaken with college students; the initial concept of a sophisticated atmosphere overpowered by casual PacNW academic types. Marche Museum Cafe is the preferred place for student/professor meetings outside of their offices, coffee with visiting UO guests, and GTF study breaks.

I had a delightful small meal of a mushroom-cheese panini, with a side "salad" for lunch the other day. I don't know why I thought my selection would be a healthy option-one can make a healthy grilled veg and cheese sandwich at home, but here you are at the mercy of French preparation; white bread (brioche/country blonde?) was perfectly toasted, thanks to the wonderful coating of butter; the sauteed 'shrooms blended nicely with the creamy, melting havarti slices. The petite portion of delicate mesclun greens tossed in a vinaigrette (that's it, no other veg) would have been all but consumed in two normal forkfulls, but were stretched over several bites by use of the tiny, seemingly flimsy forks made from recycled tinfoil or similar metallic compound.

Pros:Local business; quality ingredients; nice outdoor patio area, very good coffee; decent prices; good food, vegetarian options; small portions

Cons: inconsistent, rough-around-the-edges service; cramped ordering area when busy; cafeteria-style dining area can get noisy and needs more upkeep (read: table wipe-downs) during peak times, small portions

I've only had the quiche lorraine which is a lovely little slice of heaven. Not a fan of the green salad. Can get a little noisy during lunch rush and I wish it had a little more light but all in all, as nice a place you can find on campus.