Marco Polo's Marketplace

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[split] Marco Polo's Marketplace & San Marco Changes

I tried the Mongolian beef the other day with fried rice. It had a nice flavor with just a little kick. The meat was a bit tough and chewy, but again, the flavor made up for it. I'll be trying the chicken with some noodles next time.
 
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I really hope they work out the service. It was excruciatingly slow getting food on Sunday afternoon. It seemed that the employees just don't have any sense of urgency, nor do they really focus on the guest being waited upon. Also, our food wasn't up to BG standards. The Mongolian Chicken was cold (pretty close to a health dept violation) and the flatbread was burned on the bottom. I hope all this gets worked out in the coming weeks.
 
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This place is fantastic. My only complaint is the massive crowds of people who clog up the entrance because they think it is one line from station to station and not separate lines. I saw a team member once trying to fix the issue, but I fear there won't always be someone there to keep the people moving.
 
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CastleOSullivan said:
I have a feeling that some of this will come in handy for Howl-O-Scream and Christmas Town.
Click to expand...

For Howl O Scream I can see those videos were they do the pop up scares being used.
 
Yesterday marked my first visit to the Marketplace.  Somewhat mixed bag, though happily the many positives are built-in while the negatives are eminently reparable.  

THE GOOD
  • Variety!  So much here.  It is truly impressive how many mealtime options the park has created.  I had read a bit about the Marketplace, but it was still quite stunning to walk in and see how much is in there.  And not just the completely safe options, either.  My hat is off to the park's culinary department for taking this on.  Wow.
  • The attendant ushering people past the logjam at the entry threshold.  Seriously, people, move it.  It's good to see the park helping folks to find their way in.  
  • We (2 adults, 2 kids) got a meatball sub, a panini sandwich, two kids' meals, and a cup of fruit.  All of it was good.  Gone are the days of choosing between just a few heat lamp entrees.
  • This new eatery is tops in the park when it comes to the feeling of personalization.  There was no crowd, nor a line, when we arrived, and the feeling of walking in and having 180 degrees of options filling my field of view was very impressive.
  • The decor.  None of it is strictly necessary, yet that's exactly what differentiates it from the Kings Dominions and Six Flags grub mills of the world.  The hanging fixture is gorgeous; the touches along the walls are really great.  Even the ceiling tiles are painted what I dubbed "blend-in blue."

How many theme park restaurants give you angles like this?  A better photographer than myself could really do something with this.

WyUSGyA.jpg


THE BAD
  • Why did I notice the ceiling tiles?  Service is why.  A short two-person line to get two easily assembled kids' meals took 10 solid minutes to get through, while our adult meals in hand got cold.  Front-line staffing per station appeared to be one thoroughly disinterested attendant.  By the time I got those two chicken nugget meals for my kids, the staff was hopelessly outnumbered by arriving customers, many complaining about the lines.
  • The bigger service issue was that some of the servers were unimaginably slow and borderline rude, shuffling about with no regard for the growing lines in front of them (thereby making them longer).  The kids' meal station and the beer island were particularly bad.  The beer lady wandered off twice as we attempted to buy a couple of profit-rich drinks, returning a few minutes later each time with no explanation -- and then wandering off again.  We finally gave up, and BGW lost out on a handful of customers' beer money as 4-5 people in line dispersed without buying anything.  I wonder how many beers per day go unsold because the attendant wants to take a stroll or check her phone.
 
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I have to agree with you 100% on the main issue of the Marketplace being the slow staff at the stations. They're integral to the flow of the entire restaurant and the overall experience. I don't want to totally condemn them because one never knows if there's other factors involved (maybe they have health issues from standing all day?) but as a park guest it certainly seems that these people sluggishly and lazily going through the motions at their leisure is a huge problem. Every time I've been there I also had staff members wander off inexplicably or blatantly ignore me until I just gave up. I can't help but wonder if that was the desired effect :X
 
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As a potentially related note, I have been noticing a distinct drop-off in the number of employees from other countries working in the park. It's not really a single-year phenomenon, but this does feel like the first year when I can pass a service employee in the park and guess with 90% accuracy that their nametag will indicate they're from Virginia. Does BG really even do the overseas-worker program anymore?
 
I've noticed that as well! I think that's terrible if they're not doing the program anymore. It really added to the BGW experience and I always enjoyed making friends with people from out of the country.

Maybe they just hate the bowler shirt uniforms.
 
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It has been awhile since I read the article but if I remember correctly, their original contract ended with the company that hires out the international students and they had to renegotiate a new one.

Though, from what I've heard about the international worker program, it is actually kind of shitty for a lot of the students.
 
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