after hearing so much about the fish market at marseille's old port, i was expecting something far…read moremore grandiose, along the lines of tokyo's tsukiji, perhaps. but when i scanned the quai des belges from my hotel balcony at around 7:30 this morning (the market opens at 8), i came to the conclusion that the fish market must be closed because i saw no signs of life there. lo, individual fishmongers gradually appeared and set up shop from 8 onwards, and by 9 or so there were a good dozen or so of them offering up some very fresh (some still alive and flopping around) denizens of the mediterannean sea. a tv crew filming something about a grisly old timer hawking mollusks added to the atmosphere, and i couldn't help but think that if i actually lived in marseille, this would be where i came to get my fresh fish. still, i couldn't help but get the impression that the heyday of this well-known fish market had long since passed.

From the owner: Marché alimentaire Du lundi au samedi de 8h à 13h.read more

The fish sellers here offer better prices than at the Old Port, and the open-air convivial ambiance…read moreappeals to those of us who try to avoid supermarkets whenever possible. Fresh fish, vegetables, and other products like Marseille's famous olive oil soaps are regularly for sale. Check it out for yourself.

Our late lunch was at Les Halles de la Major, a covered gastronomic food market located in the…read morevaults of Marseille's La Major Cathedral, which has been remodeled to a retail area. There are a bunch of food options inside the market and the best part? Your food gets brought to your table after you order! It's actually quite interesting, because the shop owner will bring you your food and then also offer water and bread for the table. Since we ordered from three different shops, they were all "fighting" to bring us water and bread! It was really cute and kind of funny at the same time. My sister opted for a juicy, rotisserie chicken. I had a delicious, tender burger while my mom went tapas style and had a bunch of pickled and cured veggies. We all really enjoyed our meal and were super full by the time we left. I really like this method of eating because we could try three different things without having to commit to one store or restaurant.

Lots of different options in this food hall. Great for non-French speakers as you can see the…read moreoptions (example plates laid out). However, no signage for the process. When you go in, get a wooden number from the host stand. Then, go order whatever you would like - they will ask for your number. Take a seat outside, display your number, and food is brought to you. At the end, go back to the host stand, present your number, and pay your bill. We enjoyed a lovely plate of pad Thai!

I wanted to like this place, I really did. Unfortunately we were left with a disappointing end to…read moreour stay in Marseille. I understand good food takes time, and it looks like the establishment is run by a one man old chef which is why our hopes were high and we were happy to wait 45 minutes to one hour for our food after ordering. But in the end, we waited a long time for mediocre and bad food. The food presentation was nice but the end result was disappointing. My girlfriend ordered a daily special half chicken. The sauce was good and the side salad was delicious but the chicken was way overcooked and arrived to our table when it was cool. I couldn't even bring myself to finish her chicken breast piece - it was so tough and dry. I ordered a beef meatball and ravioli dish that came in a nice clay pot. The beef meatball was incredibly bland and flavorless. I could only taste the tomato sauce. The ravioli was the same. I had to add a lot of salt to even get the dish even reasonably good. At the end of the night we were also trying to get the servers attention to pay the check. We were finally given the bill and attempted to pay via card with two attempts to flag down the waitress after. I even made eye contact with and she acknowledged my need but she ended up waiting on two other tables and then running into the kitchen after with some finished plates. I understand when places are understaffed but this was ridiculous. We left the full payment in cash instead and were thoroughly disappointed in the experience. I enjoyed the ambiance and decor. The other people in the restaurant seemed to have a good time. If you trust the other yelp reviews, do yourself a favor and order their pizza or steaks. Seemed like to us everything else on the menu would be too risky. -1 star bad service -1 star dry and cool chicken dish -1 star bland beef meatball and ravioli -1 star felt invisible to the staff I generally don't leave one star reviews for restaurants unless they insulted me or wronged me somehow. I hope this restaurant can turn it around because it looks to be run by good people, but we had a terrible experience.

From the owner: Une cuisine aux accents du sud Depuis sa création en 1996, cet établissement dont le créneau est la…read more"cuisine du marché à tendance provençale", connaît un succès qui ne décroît pas. Mais ce n'est pas pour autant que le chef s'endort sur ses lauriers ; bien au contraire puisque l'on trouve sur la carte des nouveautés culinaires chaque semaine aux côtés des classiques de la gastronomie régionale. La décoration de la salle dans les tonalités aubergine et verte s'avère être à la fois sobre et contemporaine. Résultat : l'espace est simple, agréable et convivial. Dès l'approche des beaux jours, il fait bon déjeuner sur la terrasse et profiter de l'une des places les plus sympathiques de la ville, avec vue sur le Vieux-Port.