Marco’s Coal-Fired | Englewood — Restaurant in Colorado

This is an interesting place, the menu is diverse the salads beautifully made and the ingredients are exquisite (yes exquisite). I thought the service was quick and efficient, the waiter seemed like he was in an awful hurry though which made the dining experience a little stressful, not huge, just a little. I do have to say that the waiter was quite good, the problem was that he didn't really wait for me to respond to some of his actions, I still tipped him 20+ percent. So why only 4 stars, well, it's simple, with the ingredients so wonderful and the layout being beautiful and my sausage (and some other ingredients) pizza so very tasty there was a single glitch, the cooking process. I was told that their oven is set somewhere between 900-1000°. Huh? I didn't need to taste the pizza to know what would happen, the tops of the crust are carbonized black and the cheeze in the middle is barely melted. Anyone with an understanding of heat dynamics will tell you that at that temperature the top parts that stick up (crust) will be burned and there isn't enough time to get the heat to the center of the pizza, hence the middle is considerably less done than the outside. When I mentioned that the inside of the pizza was barely warm the waiter stated quickly that he'd have another one made for me. He didn't wait for me to respond and what I wanted to say was that all it needed was to be warmed up a bit and let the interior heat more. Very quickly they whipped up another one, and in 2+ minutes they gave me a brand new pizza, and guess what, this one was just as imbalanced; crust carbonized, outside cheese well done, inside cheese barely done. I realized with the waiter doing things this way that I would get nowhere complaining again, since the problem was with the cooking time and not his work, so I accepted the pizza as it was, ate it and left. Again, it had VERY tasty ingredients, even cooked so strangely it was a good pizza.

So the problem is the cooking time/heat ratio. A good and humble chef will read this review and hopefully take some time to work on a more reasonable temperature to cooking time (I was told that the pizza's spend 90 seconds in the oven). I sincerely hope that the managers and the cooks here will take that time. This pizza has the possibility of becoming one of the most amazing pizza's of it's type that I've ever tasted, the huge drawback to the final product is the cooking process. Hence...

Ok, so I didn't get any pictures this time around and that was a mistake on my end.

Aesthetics: I can't speak to all Marcos because this is the only location I've been to. With that disclaimer, I loved the ambience. It was a mixture of 'we refined our look' and 'this isn't a place of silver spoons but we have some'. Loved the look, staff all matched with apparel theme and it feels upscale without making someone in a t-shirt and jeans feel out of place.

Food: Again, no photos and I'm sorry for it. I myself ordered the Brooklyn Pizza, my wife got the Bronx and we shared the burrata appetizer. Both pizzas looked great out the oven, dough texture was fluffy but still had that wood fired bake on it. My only let down is the sauce. And I'm conflicted about it. It's not that it's bad, it's that it's meant to be a crowd pleaser. From a consumer standpoint, it checks the box. From someone who's been in food for over 15 years and is Italian (I mean come on check the name) it fell a little flat. I also concede that my pallet might lean towards the saltier side, but I digress.

For dessert (we were celebrating my nephew's 13th) the kids got the Nutella balls or whatever. Look I'll be the first to say I don't like Nutella. This was amazing. Fried dough balls with a sweet sauce drizzled over them. Hard not to be a crowd pleaser!

Drinks: My wife had a glass of red (can't remember sorry!) And I had their negroni. I'm going to take the blame for this one. I have a preference with how I want Negronis to be made and didn't specify. For what it was, it checked the 3 boxes. The part I didn't like, and this is universal, is they finished it with soda water. That wasn't listed on the menu, and definitely not something I want to experience again. I'll ask ahead of time next time especially since it's totally my fault.

All in all, would recommend. If the chain is consistent at all locations this is a hitter.

The price is what I'd expect to pay for what we purchased (especially as supply chain stuff has bumped costs for restaurants up!) And felt like I got a good ROI....

Being a New England native and having access to Boston's North End, New Haven iconic pizza parlors and New York City pizza joints, I believe I know good pizza. Marco's has good pizza. Here's my problem with Marco's and why I did not give five stars: Their pizza crust is SO great that it shouldn't be wasted. The leftover end crusts BEG for olive oil dipping. I have rarely been to Italian restaurants that did not bring a basket of bread and olive oil to the table as soon as guests have been seated. Marco's pizza crust has that great chewy, glutenous mouth feel and after devouring the slices, those chewy end crusts are just pushed off to the side. Instead of dessert I would prefer some good EVOO to dip those leftover crusts in. Aside from no olive oil for dipping the crusts, I thought the waitress was a bit on the rude side. She was definitely very busy handling many tables but didn't have to exhibit her inability to cope with that kind of stress to the diners. Aside from no olive oil for dipping and an overworked waitress, I would definitely return. The pizza is made using the highest quality ingredients and I loved it. If the crust is not chewy, then it is not authentic, in my opinion. Cracker-type and wonder-bread-type dough just does not work. Marco's pizza is the real deal. I work at a grocery store in the DTC and am telling customers (many of whom are business people staying at DTC hotels, most of whom are locals) to try Marco's. I will definitely go back and next time will ask for olive oil for the crust ends dipping. Best pizza in Denver. UPDATE 12.30.24: Was going to order my fave Del Re pizza today but when I saw the price of $25.20 I almost passed out. Would never go that high for pizza. As far as I'm concerned they've passed the price point...