Richtree Market Restaurants

I fancy the concept or at most their assertive intention of a chichi cafeteria. Very decorative in form, spreading their persuasion of alfresco dining indoor per parasol and patio chairs throughout.
We stopped by the grab-​and-​go stand. An accepted outlay of sandwiches, pastries, pizza pies and fresh juices. We had a vegetarian pizza square. Chockfull cuts of tomatoes, brocolis and red onions among others make up for the thick pan crusted dough. Yeah it was good.
The design flaw of siding with an escalator just above the open baking station leaves enough margin for prejudicial conclusions. Just how much dust and dirt have landed on.

I love the concept of a restaurant that looks like a French market in the middle of a mall. Makes for really nice atmosphere.
I actually liked this place more when it was a Mövenpick. Though the layout and the concept were essentially the same, I do remember the food being better.
This has been one of the restaurant I have been bringing my daughters to whenever we have to shop downtown. Its good and they have a large choice of food. I don’t think I’ll do this again though.
Let me explain, my daughters are small for their age. They are, 15 and 16 and both could pass for 12. So whenever we go to Richtree, they are ignored. They will stand in front of a booth with their tray for a really long time until one of the staff accidentally mistakes them for someone else’s kids or my daughter comes to get me so I can ask someone to serve them. Ok, yes my daughters should speak up for themselves a bit more, but that’s a work in progress, but my point is they «SHOULDN’T HAVE TO». Customer service is a big part of being a good restaurant. Children and teens are customers and they should be treated as customers.

Don’t waste your time visiting this restaurant in the Rideau Centre. It is gone. Closed. No notice on the Richtree WEB site. Instead, what I discovered is that the company laid off 50 workers at its Toronto location:
How is it that a première Canadian company can close without notice while laying off workers to avoid unionization. Can’t they do better?

I had the sushi. $ 15 for a poorly made, bland dragon roll. Loud environment. Confusing set-​up. For the price I could get something at bento. Or a sushi lunch buffet.

I have been here before without issue, but my experience last night has tainted how I feel about this place. I had chicken and vegetables — the chicken was fatty and not much meat on it, and the veggies tasted like butter even though I asked and was told they weren’t cooked with any. My partner had the mussels that were on special, and today he has horrible food poisoning — when eating he did notice that one or two tasted «off.» Also we waited in line for 10 minutes for crepes for dessert, then gave up (there were only 2 people in front of us, and no one took our order in this time). Overall the service was slow, and the food poisoning was the last straw. We won’t be coming back.

Good food, stay away from the sushi though. Found chewed bubble gum on my bowl once, not the cleanest place.

This place is pretty good and has a lot of variety. The prices are very reasonable too. Its similar to a served buffet with different stations. I stopped in for lunch and had a spicy baked chicken thigh with macaroni salad and broccoli salad as my sides. I also had the fruit flan and passion fruit juice. My bill was around $ 17. The worst thing about this place is having to make up your mind.

A wide selection of fresh, tasty food, but if you go close to closing time they tend to run out of a lot of items.

The food is mediocre, but it’s nice to come here sometimes during the winter when you don’t want to walk through the market.
Otherwise, there are better options in the Byward Market, which is just across the street from the Rideau Centre.

I think the concept of this place is so incredibly cool. I’ve only been here a few times but we got out food to go. Basically, they’ll hand you a card, you can go around to a whole bunch of little stations that include a pasta station, a sushi station, a phở station etc. You hand them your card, they charge you for what you got and you just pay on your way out, you can go to as many of the stations as you want.
I’ve tried the pasta, the stirfry, a sandwich, and some of the drinks from here. I had freshly squeezed orange juice you can get in at the front, it was really sweet and delicious, maybe a tad expensive. The pasta I’ve had from here is something I could easily make, and it really wasn’t anything special. The sandwich was the same way, I got one with breaded chicken and it really didn’t stand out to me, kind of boring and bland.
I was so excited when I saw they made bami goreng, something I used to eat as a kid but never could find it in a restaurant here. It’s an Indonesian noodle dish. I was kind of disappointed by it too, it just tasted salty.
Really good idea, it’s too bad the food can’t be better. +1 star for the fantastic juice.
Edit: I forgot me and Richtree kind of have a special bond. I once successfully gave the heimlich to someone here.

I’ve only had food here a handful of times but I am a regular at their morning coffee deal.
I’ve had lunch with business partners and colleagues and found the food to be alright — definitely healthier than the food court, but not quite as tasty as I’d hoped… Especially for the price; you pay mid-​range for a pick-​your-​own style lunch and a very limited waiter service.
I do enjoy their ready-​to-​go smoothies (although you could get cheaper at Orange Julius or Booster Juice).
Hands down, their morning (med) coffee and muffin deal for $ 2.50 is both kind to my wallet and a tasty caffeine and snack fix.

I can’t speak to the food although for being in a mall, it’s a much more decent alternative to a typical American food court. But the blessing of the French an awesome bakery with tons of loaves in all sizes shapes and flavors. I had the butter clove for less than 2 bucks.

This place really downgraded from what it use to be. I use to eat regularly at this restaurant over 5 years ago and it use to be much cleaner and the food was way better. The bathrooms where gross and the food had flies all over it. The people working don’t seem like they want to be there. It is quite disappointing because I really used to like the food and concept but now it’s just a rip off.
There are so many other places downtown Ottawa and even in the Rideau Centre so I don’t think this business will be there for much longer if they continue this way. There needs to be a serious face lift, perhaps management is also the problem.

My girlfriend took me here to meet her childhood friend from Quebec for some brunch. We had just had breakfast and were about to have lunch with her dad, so I just got a celery salad (I love celery, but you can’t find stuff like this in the US). I thought it was pretty good, although a tad bit salty (but I think most restaurant food is too salty). My new friends were not impressed by the pie though, saying that it was way too sweet, and we didn’t try the crepes, but for that price, they had better be phenomenal. I plan on coming back for many visits to this city in the future, and wouldn’t mind coming back here, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it.

I went here several times while staying at a nearby hotel, but the best rating I could muster was a ³⁄₅. I enjoyed the breakfast options (good deal on a coffee and muffin) although the ‘muffins’ were of the cake-variety…carry it around in one of their paper bags for a few minutes and it looks like you’ve been carrying a philly cheese-​steak.
For meals, they have multiple stations where they basically try and have every food option covered. That’s a problem. They try to do too much and end up doing everything ok but nothing extremely well.
There’s nothing horribly wrong with richtree, but it’s really mediocre food. If you need a place to eat where everyone can get something unique to eat, I would suggest hitting up the Rideau food court instead.

Given it’s location, you’d think the Richtree would be a big tourist trap. I’m sure it does bring in a lot of tourists but at the same time it’s a really great place to eat and relax.
You used to be able to ride the escalator near the Rideau Street entrance and look down and see the cooks prepare the food but that’s since changed. Probably for the better because I was always concerned about how safe it was from above!
I met a friend here for a salad and I grabbed a fresh sandwich. The food was very fresh and reasonably priced. You actually didn’t feel like you were inside a busy shopping mall and just steps from the somewhat rough Rideau Street.
The late afternoon bite to eat was quickly prepared and we were able to pay fast and get on with our day.
If you’re inside Rideau Centre and need a meeting place I’d suggest avoiding the food court and even the other mall restaurant — instead meet here.

I have always loved the Richtree Market in the Rideau Centre. I first started coming here in first year university after an early morning class on Fridays. A group of us would come and we would stay and have a leisurely brunch for a couple of hours.
My absolute favorite thing to eat here is the muesli. I generally eat a lot of muesli and I don’t know what they do to theirs to make it so delicious. The colour is even a really pretty purple from the blueberries.
The crepes are also scrumptious and they make them to order in front of you. Try the banana one and get some ice cream on it if you are feeling hungry!
One of the little known secrets about Richtree is that on weeknights just before closing, take-​away items are sold off two-​for-​one. You can get some excellent deals on sushi and and sandwiches if you happen to be passing through the mall at this time!
I’ve always had great service here. Sometimes it can get quite busy though.

Richtree Market Restaurants (formally Marché) are usually found in shopping centres in the Greater Toronto Area, with the exception of this location at the Rideau Centre. If you’ve never been to one before, it’s an open-​concept restaurant made to look like you’re outside in the market.
They have different stations for different types of food, including salads, sandwiches, pizzas, pastas, rostis (like a solid block of hash browns), sushi, grilled meats, desserts, coffees, teas, freshly-​squeezed juices, and even some beer. They also have daily specials and will change some menu items every month. The one at the Rideau Centre also serves spring rolls and Vietnamese phở. You can buy things to-​go or have a seat under one of their umbrella-​shaded tables.
They work on a debit card type of system, where the attendant at the front will ask you how many people for a table, seat you, you use your card to pay for food and drinks, and then on your way out, you pay your balance. This can get a bit tricky, though, since it makes it really easy to wrack up a pretty hefty bill without realizing it.
My friend had never been to a Richtree Market Restaurant before so we gave it a try for lunch. I had never been to this location before, either, so I was curious about their food selection. I ordered the smoked salmon rosti with sour cream, spinach and tomato salad, and a small freshly-​squeezed mango, banana, and orange juice. The rosti and salad were priced separately, only $ 10 for the rosti and about $ 2.50 for the salad. The rosti was well cooked and not greasy, with crispy hash browns on the outside but more like a solid mashed potato inside, completely satisfying my carb craving. It also came with four slices of smoked salmon, which was quite generous and probably would’ve cost me the $ 10 alone if I bought it at a grocery store. The sour cream seemed homemade and the salad had crumbled feta cheese all over — both were very good as well. The juice was really small and I thought it was overpriced at $ 3, but it was incredibly fresh and you could really taste all of the fruits. My total bill came to almost $ 18 with tax and I was definitely full.
My friend ordered chicken fettuccine alfredo, which was the special in the pasta section that day. It was pre-​made with red onions, but since she’s allergic to red onions, they were great at accommodating her allergy and made her a separate dish.
As we were getting up to leave, the lady cleaning up the table was very sweet and asked us how our meal was, if we enjoyed it, and was all smiles. Great food and great service!