Marcellos Ristorante — Restaurant in Sunderland

Having been to Marcellos many times during previous visits to Sunderland we were left more than disappointed. Service was incredibly slow and the wait staff were clearly overstretched. We were shown to our table on the terrace and given food menus. Nobody returned to take a drinks order and a long wait followed before anyone came. We were questioned why we had not ordered drinks yet. No drinks or wine menu provided. We then had to order food and drink all in one go - feeling very rushed. The waiter came back with our drinks but no glasses for our table water.. these were given 20 minutes later after us asking twice. The starters we ordered came and were of good quality and taste. Following our starters we were asked to move tables before our mains. Fair enough these things happen we thought. Our mains arrived and were lukewarm at best. We ordered a seafood risotto which had very little seafood in and one ‘king prawn’ which must have been the runt of its litter. The chicken dish was flavourless and almost cold. The pasta dish had no flavour whatsoever and tasted nothing more than tinned tomatoes with some onion and sliced pepper. The Tuscan sausage in the pasta was cold and gristly. Nobody returned with any pepper or Parmesan and there was no waiter anywhere to be seen to feedback about our meals. We asked for our bill and this left another long wait where nobody ever returned. Eventually we went to the bar area and paid our bill. The few staff there were stressed - we chose our battles wisely and decided to pay the bill and know to never return. The restaurant was very busy but why book in so many covers if you don’t have the staff to manage it? More staff or...

I have recently been going to Marcellos with my Mother as a weekly treat. Out of the 7 or 8 times in the last 2 months I have been here I have never had anything close to what I would consider a bad meal or experience

Premises and atmosphere

The interior of the restaurant is quite spacious which allows for easy movement around the premises. The atmosphere is quite cosy and no matter where I sit the place is always clean. Moreover there is Italian radio played in the background which helps soak in the atmosphere and sometimes it is nice to just listen to music from another country.

Staff

The staff are absolutely fantastic and I have never had a bad experience with them and quite frankly they all deserve a massive pat on the back. They are always super friendly and both me and my mother love talking to them when we visit. The staff are also very accommodating and will go out of their way to ensure the experience is fantastic (which I appreciate massively)

Food

Typically I will have a three course meal every week which consists of fresh parma ham and mozzarella, lasagne and either chocolate fudge cake or a tiramisu. The food is always fantastic and I always am able to fully clear every plate which is quite rare for me.

Summary

I would whole heartily recommend this restaurant to my friends and extended family as in my mind there is no better place to visit in all...

We arrived early but were to busy to seat us fair enough when checking out booking it wasnt on list id booked on line but said was fine the name they had wrote on the scrap of paper was an error , so we went and came back and a party were sitting at the table that was supposedly ours so it had been double booked,. Eventually we were seated our drinks order was quickly taken and delivered but half an hour later there had been no meal order taken we had to ask and the girl had to get the manager to take our order it seemed the manager did everthing instead of delegating to staff. Food was ok when we got it, i wouldnt put salad with potato skins. We didnt have time for dessert as we had tickets for theatre and at this point we wete running late and getting bill was ridiculous as only the manager could generate itt and he was so busy running around doing every other jobs we had to wait again for him to sort it out. He didnt have a clue what we had ordered by this point we needed to leave or we were going to be late so we just paid the bill assuming it was right but when it was checked next day we saw we had been charged twice for our drinks!! My advice to manager /owner is to trust your staff to take orders ect and delagate as you had no control on Saturday and it wasnt just my party...