Marco's Cafe — Restaurant in Wales

Awful experience here yesterday. I visited with 9 adults and 3 children of my family for a bite to eat after a Saturday morning walk along the promenade. Everyone ordered coffees and cakes but I was after something more traditional over their breakfast option of a bacon, Brie, coriander and dill artisan baguette so opted to pop two doors down for a sausage bap. My family occupied 2 tables on the promenade itself (not in the premises) and I sat adjacent to them on a wall, not using their chairs or table, which I’m pretty certain is just a public space.

Within seconds I was pounced upon by a heavily tattooed table cleaner who loudly announced that no food purchased elsewhere could be eaten near the table and I should go elsewhere. There was no decorum of a quiet “excuse me sir” or “sorry sir but the management are strict on food from elsewhere” and despite me retorting that it was a bit petty given the rest of my family had just paid close to £50 for their food and drinks and I was in a public place, not even sitting on their chairs, there was still not an ounce of courtesy, friendliness or decency and I was loudly told to move away, much to my dismay.

I ended up sitting on the promenade wall across from the establishment where my 3 year old took pity on me and joined me to share my food, both of us bewildered why “the mean man shouted at daddy”

Needless to say, I won’t be taking my family to this establishment ever again and will choose any of the other places along the beachfront for a bit of my weekly dose of Barry charm and warmth that makes the area great. Ironically most of these places are owned by the same family but lack the pretentiousness to put a dampener on a family morning out for the sake of a power trip by a knuckle dragging staff member intent on causing a scene to bolster his overinflated ego.

On the plus side, my 1 year old managed to discretely eat his baby food with the remaining members of my family, without the aggressive staff member noticing, so I did have the last laugh when the same staff member sarcastically told me to have a nice rest of the day as we all left together. I’m sure he would have had a meltdown if he had noticed but when people have this lack of common courtesy and customer service, it’s nice to see future generations might be able to fly...

If you have any modicom of self respect, you will not waste your hard earned cash by spending it on a visit to Marco's at Barry Island. Clearly they are trading on the legacy left by comedy series Gavin and Stacey and certainly not on the quality of the food, the variety of their menu or indeed any shred of customer service or professionalism. The food is rudimentary at best and the menu extremely limited. You have a choice of bread, bread or if you would like it...bread! One has to question their business model when they do not offer a children's menu in any form at a seaside resort in the height of summer! They clearly do not want to lower themselves to serving families or those looking after children. They sell ice cream despite there being a number of other ice-cream vendors within a few yards of them but they do not sell chips for exactly the same reason! Our 4 year old is entering a phase where she will only eat chips. Any parent will know that it's not worth spending money on other food when a child wants a certain meal especially on holiday. We had ordered our meals from Marco's and taken a seat but had bought a small portion of chips from elsewhere for our four year old who by this point was extremely hungry. We were then pounced on menacingly by a member of Marco's team who was extremely rude, standing over our daughter in a threatening and intimidating manner and could easily have passed off as a doorman from Phoenix Nights. His disdain and contempt for the English was laid bare for all to see. He was quite happy to take our money but clearly that was all he wanted. We were warned by friends that the Welsh are happy to take your money, but make it plainly obvious that they do not want you in their eyeline or country at any cost. There was no conversation, simply an order that we must leave immediately. We had already tried eating at the only decent restaurant in Barry but they were fully booked. We will certainly never return to Marco's. Clearly the panini's have more substance than the staff and that's...

Terrible experience... After a lovely time at the funfair and arcade, we decided to grab a bite to eat. There were 6 of us and we ordered 4 paninis, 5 drinks and bakery items. The little one only wanted chips and a couple of us fancied some chips with our panini. I popped elsewhere for chips. On my return I was very quickly and abruptly approached and told we can't eat chips here. I explained that it was to go with our paninis and was told he didn't care and again we cant eat chips here, it says so on the table. I assumed it said no chips as they didn't sell chips... we should have then and there left and asked for refund and to cancel the panini order. However, cakes were being devoured and drinks opened so our group then split as I wasn't to have the chips there and had to leave while my partner waited for the paninis. Half our party was then stood in the rain waiting. We went bk to the chip place who kindly allowed us to use their tables. The paninis were also not paninis they were squashed and toasted baguettes. We have had a panini there last year and it was an actual panini. We were going to complain but didn't feel it was worth while given the attitude of the staff member. Will never return or recommend. However the chip shop next door were lovely. The burger bar on the corner opposite the motorbike parking is fab. The kiosk right as you leave the car park also really lovely for sweets and treats and the ice cream counter on the front lovely and large...