Marinara Restaurant Clayfield — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Probably the worst service experience I’ve had for a long time. Lucky to get one star. Travelling on my own, on entry, I was given the impression that they were just able to squeeze me in. Several tables remained vacant during my stay. I was then pressured to order my main quickly. It was still early and I wanted to enjoy a drink first. After 1/2 a beer I ordered my main and a wine. The main came in a good time and the calamari was excellent. Then the rot set in! I waited a long time for wait staff to notice that I had finished and that my drink was empty. Eventually I asked the young female waiter for a sweets menu and drink. I also asked her to advise the manager that I was not happy with the wait time. Nothing more happened for another long period. I assume, like me, she was ignored and I hope she will not be held responsible. After approx another 20 min the head honcho came and plonked a sweets plate in front of me without any explanation or apology. I advised him that I was about to walk out the door without paying and that I would pay if he bothered to show some courtesy. He abruptly and aggressively told me I could go without paying and not to come back. I said I would go, would not pay and that I would not be back. I also said he should pay more attention to customer service.. A very embarrassing and unnecessary experience. I will not be back and will advise my colleagues accordingly.

Your response below is rubbish & you know it!! I never asked or have ever asked for free meals. They have only ever been offered by more considerate businesses due to their errors etc. The real reason for my accurate review was that I waited over 20 min after asking for the sweets menu and a drink - without a response. I suggest the waiter is intimidated by your arrogance and lack of interpersonal skills. I also suggest you read your other reviews referring to poor service. I do not have a problem with other businesses that provide...

My partner and I visited on a Monday evening for a post lockdown birthday celebratory dinner. The restaurant was busier than I expected for a weeknight, but that must be a reflection of how amazing the food is.

We don't usually go to Italian restaurants often because of limited gluten free options available, but after looking at the menu online we were pleasantly surprised at what was available.

All precautionary measures taken for social distancing where possible, masks present for all staff and sufficient places for checking in/signing book and sanitiser provided etc. The restaurant iself is cosy and quaint and I enjoyed the decor and setting.

All the wait staff were amazingly polite and attentive.

We had gluten free cheesy garlic pizza which was served on a wooden board which was delicious! I don't recall the name of my meal, but it was a creamy chicken and mushroom linguine dish and my partner had risotto. Both our meals were generously sized and tasted incredible. The chicken and pasta were cooked to perfection and I was happy that there was ample sauce as I personally prefer my pasta dishes with lots of sauce. My partner was very happy with his risotto!

We were shown the dessert menu which was a physical platter brought to us by the waiter where they pointed to each one and described what it was.

I had a citrus cheesecake which was like a citrusy cheesecake in a glass cup with a decent layer of crumb base at the bottom, topped with a thinly twisted slice of lime. It was presented nicely on the plate with a small bowl to the side which had home made vanilla ice cream and some piles of whipped cream as well. It had a creamy rich citrus flavour (which I love) and was absolutely beautiful with the crumb base.

My partner had a Panna Cotta which he was neutral about but he really enjoyed the vanilla bean ice cream.

Overall we were very happy with our meals and will surely...

Unfortunately my experience last night was not a good one. We waited 50 minutes for our mains. At around the 40 minute point we asked to check in on our food, to which the server came back and said they were going to make it now. The couple next to us were seated after us and were on to their desserts before we had received our mains. They obviously rushed our orders as just under 10 minutes later after bringing it to the server’s attention, our mains were brought out. My girlfriend ordered a risotto and it was very much undercooked (assuming because they rushed to get our orders out). I’m vegetarian so I ordered a vegetarian pesto pasta, and I was brought out a dish with chicken in. I then had to wait longer for my dish to come out, and when the dish came out, the pasta was completely drowned in sauce and not enjoyable. We were polite and understanding during this whole experience, but once I finally received my main after over an hour I was very disappointed. We told our server about our experience and his attitude was not good at all, considering we were being polite and apologetic as we didn’t want to cause any disruptions, however we were met with “well, it was just a mistake” when we brought up the chicken dish being served to a vegetarian. He then proceeded to say we can just take the dishes off the bill and he took our food away, there were no apologies in this exchange, and we were disappointed with how it was all handled. Considering the dishes are around $30 each, it would have been a close to $70-$80 dining experience including drinks and starters, however it was definitely not worth that with our undercooked pasta and waiting times. Unfortunately it is our second experience there of not being served/long waiting times because they forgot about our dishes, which is a shame because the atmosphere is so nice and it had potential for being a lovely night...