http://www.marcellinoristorante.com/
1301 E Northern Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85020
(602) 216-0004
Get directions
WOW! Hands down this has to be one of the most incredible Italian experiences I have had since my last trip to Rome.
To start with I got to meet the Owners: Sima and Marcellino Verzino. It really shows that they just love Italian food and love to entertain. I basically felt I was in their personal home.
Decor is nice and elegant without being too over the top. This is the only Italian Restaurant to date that I have experienced that is using the team approach of 2 servers per table. Service is International Level!
The food: All his food is fresh and homemade. I tried his one of 7 dinner specials which was a filet filled tortellini, and my wife's was a porcini fettucine in a white truffle oil and lobster. No food compares to Chef Marcellino.
Appetizer Prices run from $9.99 and up.
Dinners can range from $19.95 - $39.95 with some specials exceeding $50.
Desserts are in the $9.95 range.
Whats not good: This is hard. I guess this place only had 1 item so far that I didnt like as much. The beef carpaccio seemed a little too thick by a few millimeters. It could be broken with a fork, but with more work, and the knife was recommended. I am used to carpaccio that I could break with anything -- super paper thin.
Pros:
Incredible Service
Great Food
An Italian Experience
Cons:
Price - although well worth every penny.
I am making this my special ocassion place. Although expensive in cost, it is all worth it. Oh an ask them for their homemade Lemoncello before you leave (as long as you have a designated driver). If you dont know what Lemoncello is..... google it :)
1301 E Northern Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85020
(602) 216-0004
Get directions
WOW! Hands down this has to be one of the most incredible Italian experiences I have had since my last trip to Rome.
To start with I got to meet the Owners: Sima and Marcellino Verzino. It really shows that they just love Italian food and love to entertain. I basically felt I was in their personal home.
Decor is nice and elegant without being too over the top. This is the only Italian Restaurant to date that I have experienced that is using the team approach of 2 servers per table. Service is International Level!
The food: All his food is fresh and homemade. I tried his one of 7 dinner specials which was a filet filled tortellini, and my wife's was a porcini fettucine in a white truffle oil and lobster. No food compares to Chef Marcellino.
Appetizer Prices run from $9.99 and up.
Dinners can range from $19.95 - $39.95 with some specials exceeding $50.
Desserts are in the $9.95 range.
Whats not good: This is hard. I guess this place only had 1 item so far that I didnt like as much. The beef carpaccio seemed a little too thick by a few millimeters. It could be broken with a fork, but with more work, and the knife was recommended. I am used to carpaccio that I could break with anything -- super paper thin.
Pros:
Incredible Service
Great Food
An Italian Experience
Cons:
Price - although well worth every penny.
I am making this my special ocassion place. Although expensive in cost, it is all worth it. Oh an ask them for their homemade Lemoncello before you leave (as long as you have a designated driver). If you dont know what Lemoncello is..... google it :)
3 comments:
I find it hard to believe that this place can serve as anyone's favorite italian eatery outside of Rome. I've been to Italy myself and this place did nothing more then tarnish my memories of what was truly a mind blowing experience from a cultural, culinary, and of course shopping experience.
Inside of what was once described so beautifully, a filet filled tortellini with a sage butter sauce with black truffle shavings.....well instead I found something inferior to taco bell meat. Not sure if this was actually beef, might as well been spam.
All the deserts, especially the tiramisu and ricotta cake, just had to push it all away. No flavor, none at all. The appetizers were all average at best. Muscles in white wine sauce, bruchetta, scallops, wild mushrooms with polenta, all of it was average at very best. Just no depth of flavor. I don't doubt the freshness of at least some of the ingredients, but there was no complexity or depth to the flavors at all.
Italian cooking is all about adding just simple, fresh ingredients, but executing perfectly. This place claims to make homemade pasta. Instead I just received undercooked, thick, heavy, and flavorless dough wrapped around minced meat I was told is filet mignon.
What a joke...that's all I can say. No need to comment on the decor since the restaurant itself exists in the parking lot of a economy strickened stirp mall just seconds off the freeway. I've enjoyed subway food under the streets of Rome outside the Colliseum more than this supposedly refined italian experience. The only enjoyable experience was watching somebody else pay the bill.
I for one, will never go back to this place. Nobody should have to digest this pasta, its not worthy.
Wow! That was a world of difference from when I first ate their... guess I need to try it again.
Here is the thing about food, its very subjective... what I adore, my wife cam hate and vice versa. Both cooked and flavored the same way.
For some its a dining marvel, for others its inedible.
Dr Foie Gras? How would you rate the service from the staff?
I can't complain about the service one bit. The entire staff was knowledgeable about the food, and very attentive to our table. The owner/chef also came out on several occasions for small talk which for some is nice, for me it doesn't really matter. Either way its still a nice gesture.
I'll agree about the subjective nature of food. However, I don't see how anybody can defend minced 'filet' inside a tortellini, dry and flavorless ricotta cake, or the less than inviting outside decor as well. Maybe on a different night things would be different, so I would potentially give a second chance. This will only happen when its somebody else's dime though because there are too many other places to try. A truly great restaurant should be good any night of the week, from top to bottom of the menu, and not compromise ingredients. This place simply fell short. For any restaurant, service should be the easiest thing to control and modify, food is the most difficult to execute. If receiving good service is enough, what better is there than drive thru.
Recommendations for Marcellino's: cut the prices by a third, double season all the food since it seems everything is underseasoned, boil the pasta 1-2 minutes longer, and relocate to a nicer strip mall.
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