Marco's Kitchen 誠記新派粤菜 — Restaurant in Calgary

We arrived as a party of 4, 115-130pm or so on a Wednesday. Maybe they were short staffed, but there were a lot of tables available, however full of dirty dishes. There was only a couple ahead of us, waiting by the door to be seated. After about 5 minutes, more people arrived after us, a group of 3 and another couple. At this moment, I quickly went up to their counter to ask whether I needed to put my name down on a wait list before I get seated. Lady said it's not necessary and that the 2nd table available will be mine. So I go back to my waiting spot. Another 5 to 10min goes by, 1 staff is busy clearing the tables and another staff is getting meals for other tables. Then, for some reason, the party of 3 that was behind me gets seated before my party does. I'm confused. Maybe, just Maybe the other table is smaller, I'm not sure (the party gets taken to the other side of the restaurant where I can't see). Anyway, another few min goes by and we finally get seated. We got asked if we wanted tea, I wanted chrysanthemum tea (where all other Chinese restaurants provide it complimentary, they said it's $2 charge), so we declined and settled for just hot water that was apparently already available at the table in a thermos. Then the server left. We had no menus. We sat there for more than 10min, I couldn't wave anyone down because they were all busy somewhere else. Finally, I was able to wave someone down and I asked for menus. She was surprised and apologetic that we didn't get menus.

Now on to the food. We ordered 3 different types of rice rolls from the dim sum menu and a stir fried chive and beef ho fan noodle. Then, was recommended we try their freshly baked bun (that had a pineapple bun outside and a custard inside).

When the food finally arrived sequentially, every rice roll seemed to be swimming in soy sauce. The beef rice roll was the worst, it was a shallow pond. This one, the server did apologize, said the soy sauce bottle over poured. The rice crepe texture is good. However, the soy ponds ruined the rolls after a few minutes of it sitting. The rice roll with Chinese donut is the worst, it arrived soft to begin with when it should've been more crunchy for texture. The donut basically was a sponge that soaked up all the soysauce. The fried ho fan was okay when hot, but the moment it started to cool, the noodles itself became so hard and chewy (I don't think they use fresh ho fan noodles, because it shouldn't be like that), the beef they cooked was sinewy and hard to chew. Then the buns arrived. My kiddo was looking forward to this bun because they looked really good when the lady was advertising it to us to try. I think the bun was under baked. It was really doughy and sticky. The texture was really off. We should have complained, but with how the service and flow was from the moment we stepped into the restaurant, we just didn't want to bother and just leave. I don't think we will be back. It wasn't worth the 20 min drive for this dining experience of mediocre food and mediocre service. I'm better off dining at Edgemont Palace for similar dim sum pricing.

Also, not the fault of this restaurant but, there's only ONE bathroom with ONE toilet. For a restaurant this size, and if/when they are busy, really not ideal. With that said, the toilet/bathroom was...

Good place. Check it out but plan ahead /be patient, or avoid standard mealtime hours.

The lg tables set up for seating 10 are relatively small. Can fit 8 people comfortably, IMO. The lazy susan could only fit 5 items of food at a time, so we felt abit rushed to eat and make room for the next dish. All other tables are good sizes and well spaced. Bright restaurant. Sound carries and gets loud quickly.

Staff is effective but could use more help. We saw at least 4 customers help themselves to sauces, bowls, utensils, etc. 2 also walked to the bar counter to get water from the waitresses for their own tables. One stood right in front of the kitchen door to wait for them. I assume they were regulars. I always feel bad for staff when I see this. Pls don't do this unless you are familiar with them. Working as waitstaff in a prev life, we would find this rude, disruptive, and potentially unsafe.

For the above reasons, I suggest making a list for the staff. Ask for all your sacues, waters, menu choices, extrea napkins, or whatever you need all at once if possible. Getting the attention of staff after ordering can be challenging.

The menu is confusing with lots of food options plus various dinner sets and deal combos. There is a digital version of the menu and the standard hardcopy to check out. The waitresses are great with helping folks out for the best deal tho Chinese would be an asset to get this service. (One small issue with the digital menu (pun intended), you cannot zoom in. The print is tiny. Hopefully this can be fix for old eyes like mine.)

The food here is very good. And we would return for this alone. The meats are particularly tasty; juicy moist inside with crispy (thin/non-fatty) skin and or perfectly flavored crunchy batter. Portions are generous compared to the average for comparable priced restaurants nearby.

The cream sauce noodles that came with the crab was the only slight disappointment. They were overly soft and tastless. Stick with the standard crispy egg noods instead of the upgrade for $5.

There is 'free' house soup and Chinese dessert available to compliment your meal, if you're lucky. Go on a slower night or earlier in the evening so you don't miss out.

Lastly, parking out front is busy, usually full, and must be paid/registered with impark. We choose to drop off the older folks, then park, and walk less than a block away on the street. 2hr max....

I didn’t realize that one of my favourite Chinese restaurants in the city is closed every Tuesday. In a desperate search for a place to quench our hungry tummies, we happened to stumble upon this restaurant just a block from the place we were intending to go and boy, we were so glad we gave this place a go as it has now become one of our favourite Chinese restaurants after just dining here for the first time!

Located on 222 16 Avenue NE, Marco’s Kitchen (Chinese Fusion Cuisine), was a total revelation!

We got to the place at around 5:30 PM and it wasn’t that busy then but that soon changed after just 30 minutes and the place was packed the entire time we were there.

We ordered: The House Special Pork Belly and Boiled Clams with Pepper on Sake double combo. The Pork Belly came with Mantou (white steamed bread or bun) and the pork was out-of-this-world good! Melt-in-your-mouth texture and packed with so much flavour - salty, sweet, hint of spices but not overpowering. The boiled clams were perfectly cooked and the broth flavoured with sake was incredible! Very light and yet so complex. WOWZA and YUMZA! 10/10! Yang Chow Fried Rice - we ordered two servings because we love rice so much! Super smoky! YUMZA! 9/10! We ordered Stir Fried Beef Ho Fun in Black Bean Sauce but the one that was served looked like the Seafood, Meat and Veggie Fried Noodles. We didn’t complain as it was soooo good and the serving was HUGE! The highlight of the dish was the amazing thick sauce and it was packed with seafood, meat and veggies. WOWZA and YUMZA! 10/10! Chicken and Preserved Meat Hot Pot. The flavour was great - gingery, salty and with a hint of Chinese cooking wine. The serving was huge as well. YUMZA! 9/10! Pork Chops. Lightly battered so they were so crispy and a little bit spicy. Again, it was a huge serving of porky goodness! WOWZA and YUMZA! 9/10!

All of these food came to only $140 plus tip and there were 7 of us and still had two containers of left overs to take home.

Service was outstanding even though they were so busy with just a handful of servers manning the huge place.

I cannot wait to come back and dive deep into their...