Marco's Italian Restaurant Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Ashland

Waitress that seated us is friendly, knowledgeable, and attentive. My dining companion wanted a beer they no longer carry so the waitress brought him a sample of another to see if he might want that.

The menu is pretty extensive and everything looks good. A little pricey, but it is Italian Food and we've come to expect that. The atmosphere is peaceful, with good music playing at a nice level. It's a little chilly as we wait for our food. They could stand to turn the air up a wee bit, but, it's not enough to turn us away of the food is good.

I ordered chicken picatta and my dining partner a regular calzone. His calzone looked incredible! My picatta... more like marsala without the mushrooms. 🤔

Not sure if the food is prepackaged and warned up, or if they aren't sure what chicken picatta is, but this isn't it. It was edible but it reminded me more of a Salisbury steak we were served in the school cafeteria. Weird looking chicken breasts covered in a brown gravy and some capers thrown in there. No taste of lemon nor wine whatsoever. 😞 Edible yes, but NOT picatta. And definitely not worth $22. Or even $12 for that matter. The mashed potatoes tasted instant, but, it could just be that they were bland. The broccoli a bit over cooked but, I don't mind it that way so that was the best part of my meal.

The calzone was large, well stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella, and cheap cold meat style ham. It was served with ample marinara. Not the best calzone we've ever had, but tasty nonetheless. Highly recommended over the "picatta".

Unfortunately during our meal they were apparently closing a section of the restaurant and began mopping with what smelled like straight pine-sol. Fortunately I had already finished my meal, but the stench was overwhelming and my dining partner mentioned, with every bite, they should have waited to mop. He doesn't mind pine-sol (I find it to smell of porta potty), but this was so overwhelming the food tasted of it from across the room.

Overall, a meal that didn't match the high price tag (nor the name). If we lived in the area we might give the place a second chance for pizza, but earlier in the day. We would never come back at night to eat anything pine-sol flavored.

If you like honest, detailed reviews, follow...

Unfortunately this was probably the worst restaurant experience I have ever had. I always treat staff with respect and kindness.. even if there is a problem. I believe in the give/get respect policy. I have never called a restaurant back over being treated so poorly until tonight. I spoke with Heather and she seemed genuine about the problem.. she said she would call me back but I havent received one.. although I do understand as being a manager in a restaurant is crazy hectic.. to the treatment of myself part.. the bartender tonight (older guy) was by far the most inconsiderate, disrespectful and overall just down right non customer service friendly person I have ever met. He treated me like I was the biggest inconvenience of his life. I could obviously have not been more of a bother to him. I had a simple issue with the food and was very kind the entire time and even apologized for my ignorance of how their food is made and how menu options worked. Instead of just talking to me like in a normal conversation, I was treated like absolute garbage. He did not attempt to get the manager or attempt to fix the issue but instead only did what one would call poor service with an even worse attitude. I tried to play it off, but just really have never been treated so poorly in a restaurant and then to top it off, the food just isnt up to par with having to deal with the attitude of a bad staff member. It lacks on flavor and seasoning. Absolutely lacking on garlic which is a shame for an Italian restaurant. Anything tomato based is very sweet. It just isnt that great of a place for Italian food. Two entrees and a dessert for my first time ever here ran me $53 and all I got was poor attitude, poor service and poor quality. Really just the biggest let down in trying a new restaurant. Definitely...

So Good! We decided to try Marcos instead of driving to the West End. After passing this restaurant on many occasions, we finally stopped. Immediately I was impressed with the outward appearance of the restaurant. Inside, the decor and appearance was impeccable. We were seated and the server came right to us and introduced herself and asked if we would care for a beverage. When she returned with our drinks she proceeded to tell us about their specials for the day. We knew what we wanted and ordered. Our salads came very quickly along with the best garlic knots I have ever tasted. I ordered the Italian seafood linguini. My wife had veal parmigiana. EVERYTHING WAS FANTASTIC. The waitress was very attentive and friendly. If there was any negative aspects of the whole experience, it was that my dish was not exact what I am accustomed to with this particular dish. It had shrimp, clams and mussels. Normally this dish would have included calamari and octopus. The clam sauce was fantastic as well. We ordered a desert to take home which was 2 cannoli. On that note, I felt that $5.50 per cannoli was a bit overpriced just for the fact that the cannoli did not have filling all the way through. They only filled each end and the entire center of the cannoli was empty. All and all it was a great song experience and I will return. Two days later we ordered a pizza to take out and it was probably the best pizza I’ve had since leaving Brooklyn. So, if you love truly authentic Italian food, give Marcos’ a try. You won’t be...