MARDU BISTRO - ITALIAN RESTAURANT — Restaurant in Distrito de Cusco

I can highly recommend Mardu at the mall in Cusco for the excellent service, great food, wonderful atmosphere, location and value. I was so impressed and delighted that I returned four more times, both solo and with friends. The thin crust pizza is delicious. We tried all three vegetarian pizzas and all three received unanimous approval. My favorite is the Napolitano with fresh basil. They were gracious to allow us to get half and half so we could all have our favorites. The 30 soles lunch special is definitely a value and I recommend that as well. The tasty , circular bread balls, served with two choices of sauce are super fun. The salad is very fresh, the olive oil is fantastic, and the vinegar is really good ( I don’t usually like it). The desserts are delicious, and very satisfying. We tried the carrot cake, red velvet cake, and ice cream, which comes with chocolate sauce and fruit, and is included with the lunch special. The charismatic manager recommends the tiramisu, but I have not tried it yet. He is very friendly, greeting people individually and getting the door for them, answering questions, etc. He is highly involved in the food/ kitchen and I enjoyed interacting with him. The entire staff provided excellent service. I absolutely adore Marise, and will miss her, as she is an excellent server, as well as warm, kind-hearted and considerate. Her sweet personality was one reason returned and brought my friends. There is ample seating with comfortable chairs and booths, clean bathrooms with toilet paper and soap, and lovely Italian music. The lemonade is so good and the non- alcoholic Shirley Temple drink so s gorgeous , sweet , refreshing and fun. It is worth the trip. Feel free to contact the manager ahead of time for group or special occasion...

I was not impressed with the food and expected a lot more given the high reviews. The food was just average in taste, not bad by any means, but both my guest and I left regretted our choice; as there are so many pizza restaurants in town. We ordered a chicken, bacon and mushroom pizza. The topping were good and it had lots of cheese; however the pizza crust was very thin, like a flatbread. Pizza is subjective and although some people may like this style, I did not as the crust was not crispy, rather it flopped when you picked it up. In addition the crust was not that flavorful. We also ordered the lasagna. It was baked in a nice porcelain dish and was stacked high with melted cheese and a meat sauce. Again, this dish was average and lacked flavor and was not deserving of such high reviews. In the positive side, the service was excellent and the space was comfortable and clean. I give Mardu 4 for food, 4.8 for service and 4.8 for...

I stumbled onto this cafe on my last morning in Cusco before heading to the airport. I wish I had known about it before because the menu looked really good. I'm really glad that the place I originally was heading to for breakfast, was closed. I ended up getting an omelette with toast and pineapple juice in a carafe, which was a great surprise since most places only gave me one glass of juice versus a carafe.

While I was finishing up, the owner came in and greeted the couple that was on their way out. Then he sanitized their table and the area around it. We started talking and it turns out he spent a few months living in my home state.

The amount I paid for my meal would be the equivalent of about $5. Really?! Five dollars for all that? That's a fantastic deal! I would 100% recommend this place to anyone who is looking for good food at a great value. I will definitely return to this place the next time I...