Merry... what can I say.... I'm sorry.

first of all service and greeting... being an American I'm used to the fact here that most restaurants have dour faced waiters

but the food?... mrs. and I have been there on three recent occasions that come to mind... one saturday brunch, one midweek lunch and one dinner and on each occasion the food was superb-- served warm by cold waiters.

really............sorry.

Grynch, there is absolutely no need to apologise. My husband and I went to the restaurant on our own free will, and as we well know, one man's meat is another man's poison!

I think that the main problem with the restaurant, is that the owners are not, at least yet, attuned to running a restaurant in Switzerland. "Dites-moi" as a greeting may be acceptable in France, but certainly not here. I also have a feeling that they are perhaps resting on their laurels, but past success does not necessarily guarantee future accolades, especially when the owners give the impression they are doing you a favour to permit you to enter what they consider to be their hallowed hall of gastronomy. I also feel that the owners have a certain lack of savoir-faire - when commenting on the complete lack of welcome, instead of trying to smooth things over, the owner was immediately on the defensive and as previously mentioned, exclaimed that they are renowned for their hospitable welcome; likewise, when suggesting that it might be an idea to remove a table in order that the room (which made the Black Hole of Calcutta seem palatial), offer more comfort for clients, he remarked that they had already removed a table - well, unless this table was hanging from the ceiling, I don't know where it could have possibly been placed! But perhaps, the best example of the owners' attitude to clients, is that when it was time to leave, the owner was no where in sight and did not even bother to say goodbye to us, despite us having spent CHF133 on a very mediocre meal.

There is a lot of competition from other restaurants in and around Nyon (had an excellent lunch at the Auberge de Signy today), and imho the owners of the Café du Marché would do well to note this if they wish to continue in business.

Auberge de Signy?... is that the one on the road leading away from the shopping centre? (if you came the back way.. not going onto the rt. Divonne )

mrs and I have passed it but never gone it.. guess we'll have to give a try.

....
....
if you are still willing to accept recommendation from me this place IS very good... a bit pricey but good ( don't however expect much of a greeting )

http://www.auberge-bogis-bossey.ch/cartes.asp

( there is also an english language version of that site, but the menu's exist only on the french version )

That's exactly it Grynch. Very simple place, but excellent food for reasonable prices. They do filet de perches every Tuesday for the plat du jour - really excellent - for CHF19, including a salad. Do reserve your table however, chose the bistro, because it gets really full - 022 361 23 62. They also do an excellent souris d'agneau à la carte.

If this is the chinese restaurant located opposite the Nyon Post Office, it is excellent!

Well in the end, we returned to Lausanne for dinner but all your comments were very very helpful and wanted to thank you even a bit late...
However we found a lovely shop at the main street of Nyon with various
stuff for coffee and tea..thought I should share it with you (apologise but I don't recall it's name...).
Rania

On a related note, l'Hotel Restaurant de la Plage in Gland is fantastic, especially in the summer! We've been numerous times and many more to come...

Just google the name for info...

You are right! Well overpriced and the Swiss seem to be happy to pay over the odds for "average food" and still be contented. Having said that, I took my children to an Italian pizza restaurant called "Cafe des Marroniers"in Collonge-Bellerive for my daughter's 11th birthday. We'd had a tough time with a difficult neighbour and the mood was downbeat. The greeting we had was simply amazing, the service FANTASTIC and even though we had not ordered desserts (as I had organised a cake back home), they still brought a giant "creme brulee" with spoons for the whole family and candles, and got the whole restaurant to sing "happy birthday"! The whole restaurant was buzzing yet we were always superbly looked after...and yes, the food was really, really nice (even if I still have to get used to paying 19 CHF for a pizza!) HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Another one for the list is http://www.le14.ch/ in gland. Had a fantastic steak there on saturday, yummy. They do the hot slate thing, absolutely fantastic sauces to accompany.