Marzano Italian Grill — Restaurant in Great Britain

Had my eye on this smart-looking Italian restaurant on Fossgate for several years now, but it was always packed and I am easily intimidated by crowds… 😃

Decided to try again this week and was very pleasantly surprised to find that it had moved down the road and now sits in the much larger premises previously occupied by Loch Fyne – this was most welcome, a lovely building and they had a space for dinner. Excellent.

The restaurant itself is a listed building, sitting adjacent to the bridge over the river Foss – tall and stately. Stray Loch Fyne signs aside, the building itself was, in a previous life, a haberdashery, and the conversion has kept much of the original features intact – of note, a row of wooden cupboards and shelves which the restaurant have incorporated into the bar area. Also twin staircases in the corners and a secluded nook to the rear. The tables are nicely spaced and created a cosy and welcoming vibe. A good range of chairs and benches, large windows to the front and side. Landmark is a good work for this location.

The beer was Peroni, as it was and as it should be in an Italian restaurant. Peroni in cold glass bottles. Crisp, satisfying and superior.

Good choices on the menu – a mix of the classics and some novel dishes. Opted to try the arancini to start – I do like arancini. In this case, the risotto inside was unctuous and rich, oozing flavour. The starter portion came with two – I would have liked three (or four…), but they were rich, so I’m not sure. The sauce was beautifully peppery and an excellent accompaniment. I also spotted garlic mushrooms – yum.

For a main, I opted for pizza – they had a calzone, but I chose not to go that way for once. The pizza was the Festa de Carne (or the Fiesta Del Carne as I ordered…) This pizza features Milano salami, pepperoni, smoked prosciutto, roasted peppers and caramelised onion. Lovely base and a good amount of meat. Meat for the people. A good size as well – not too big and with a nice and thin base – I could eat the whole thing, including the crust and it didn’t feel like a challenge. I saw a calzone as well going elsewhere – looked plump but again, not too big. I would order that to try in future.

On the specials board there was a fantastic sounding truffle pasta with mushrooms – I would also try that.

Didn’t have a pudding on this occasion. There were some lovely looking ones on offer, including what looked like a big creamy bun (I think this was actually tiramisu) , but I just wasn’t in a pudding mood. If you know what I mean. I regret that now, as I love tiramisu.

Overall a very positive experience – tasty food, reasonably priced and excellent service on the night. People talk highly of this restaurant and that’s clearly well deserved. I will add this place to my list of favourites in York and will certainly look to visit again at some point to try some of the other items on the menu.

If I lived here, I’d definitely be visiting for the...

We came in with high hopes since the place has very positive reviews.

The staff are super friendly, albeit a little slow at times. A couple of instances where we struggled to get their attention to place our order and pay the bill. They didn’t come round to check if everything was ok with our meal or at the end asking how it was (which is partly why I’m leaving this review).

The real disappointment was the food. The carbonara tasted like watery cream. Couldn’t taste any egg or cheese and the pancetta was a little chewy. If someone blindfolded me I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between this and a ready meal version tbh. The spaghetti bolognaise wasn’t much better. These are not complex dishes so not sure who they have working back there.

Very odd considering the reviews are so positive. Maybe we just caught them on a bad day with it being a bank holiday Friday.

Such as shame as the restaurant itself is beautifully presented and the staff are energetic and friendly. Wouldn’t recommend.

Management if you’re reading this - please review tonight’s service (18th April) because the food was not up to scratch for the prices...

Aggressively questioned for our booking details on arrival, twice. Felt unwelcome from the start. The Sparkling water provided was a very small bottle which was already opened and very flat - but replaced without fuss. We were immediately chased for our food order, and felt we were being forced out as quickly as possible to turn the table for walk-ins. Thankfully we didn’t get the awful 2 seater table in the middle of the floor. Was advised by one of the four servers not to take the special as it was ‘very, very spicy’ (in other words it was the previous days’ leftover arrabbiata and people had already complained about it). Arancini seemed to be Marks & Spencer’s own. Both main dishes served with the thinnest pieces of chicken possible, and mostly full of fat/skin. Had been looking forward to the ‘full bar and cocktails’, which seemed to be just a couple of shelves of wine and one of gin, no draught beers/ciders available, only bottles. On leaving there was a mandatory gratuity of 10% (or 15 or 20%), preferred tip option would have been 0%. Will never trust a google...