Cafe Martorano — Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale

I wish I could give 0 star to this restaurant. In short, I don’t recommend anyone going to this restaurant for the following reasons: The waiter is pushy, rude and disrespectful because we were too slow to make up our mind about what to order, given the fact that we have two Asians in our group who don’t speak English at all. The restaurant is way too noisy and over crowded, which makes it impossible to talk to each other without shouting in our group of five. The receptionists/manager are dishonest and irresponsible. The customer service at this restaurant is NONE. No one really cares about your thoughts, and no one responds to your complaints. I made a reservation for a group of 5 for dinner at 6 pm on 12/29 through Open Table, which required me to put down my credit card info to secure this reservation. And it stipulated that my credit card will be charged $25 per person if there is no show or last minute cancellation within 24 hours prior to the reserved time. All 5 of us arrived at the restaurant on time, at 6 pm on 12/29. It took them 20 minutes to get us seated in a tight table in front of the kitchen area. The restaurant was so noisy that we had to scream at each other in order to talk. And the seating space was so tight that it feels like everyone is on top of each other. As our table was right in front of the kitchen area, all of the waiters and waitresses are walking and shuffling around us. Then our waiter greeted us and introduced to us the chef’s selection of the day, which I barely could hear what he was talking about, again, the background was too noisy. As my parents came to visit us from Asia, and they don’t speak any English, I was trying to translate and explain Italian menu to them. Again, I had to shout so they could hear me with the noisy background in the restaurant. Our waiter, unfortunately, lost his patience, and started popping up at our table every two minutes to check if we are ready to order, while we already told him we need more time to explain the menu to my parents and let them decide what they want. In the meantime, my husband asked him if we can start with a few appetizers while waiting for my parents to go through the menu. He impatiently told us no and we have to order everything in one shot and this is the rule of the restaurant. From the way our waiter jumps on us to urge for our order, and how he talks to us disrespectfully and answers our questions abruptly, I didn’t feel comfortable to continue dining at this restaurant. In the meantime, my parents also felt pushy and not relaxed with this dining experience. So we decided to leave. My husband spoke to our waiter, and he agreed that we can feel free to leave. As a courtesy, before we walked out of the restaurant, my husband spoke with the receptionist and told her we are leaving because we don’t like our dining experience at this place. The receptionist confirmed with my husband that she understands and she put down a note on the Open Table app that we shall NOT be charged for the no-show fee of $125. However, the next thing I know is I got an email from Open Table notifying me that we canceled our reservation that evening. I replied in Open Table app explaining that we did show up but because of the noise of the restaurant and the disrespect from our waiter, we felt insulted and decided to leave without ordering anything. Then, on the very next day, my card was charged $125. We called back to the restaurant and the receptionist told us on the phone that the charge was not made by the restaurant, but by Open Table. In fact, this charge was posted as a complete transaction by Cafe Martoranos FL on my credit card account. I tried to call Open Table but with no success as all the calls were forwarded to the robots. However, from the posted transaction, it’s obviously charged by the restaurant instead of Open Table, otherwise the merchant name will be posted as Open Table I assume. The restaurant is obviously lying to us about the charge. We called them a few times to complain, but no manager has responded...

Where do we start? From the moment we walked in, we were greeted by hostesses as if we were A-list guests. I casually mentioned that we had a reservation for four at 10 PM, and she immediately responded, “Eddie? Welcome!” Then she guided us to our table in mere seconds, despite the place being packed. To top it off, the soon-to-be Mrs. Martorano, Valerie, welcomed us with a radiant 10K-watt smile.

We were pleasantly surprised to see Steve at his signature DJ booth. As we passed by, he acknowledged us with a friendly fist bump, making us feel like long-time patrons. He added a personal touch that made us feel like VIPs throughout the evening, even sending over a complimentary dish that was simply amazing.

I haven’t even started describing the night, but it was incredible from beginning to end. The staff was attentive and made the entire experience—because that’s what it was—truly memorable. It wasn’t just dinner; it was an experience.

For starters, we ordered the Famous Meatball Salad, Calamari, and a Sicilian Slice. For our entrées, we had the famous Veal Chop, Carbonara, and Chicken Marsala (Martorano’s version). Each dish was a mouthwatering delight!

Steve’s DJ set was perfectly curated, taking us through over ten decades and various genres of music, which sparked great conversations at our table across generations—Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z.

I have so much more to share, but I’ll keep it brief—the best way to top off the meal before we moved to the bar was being led through the kitchen and prep area to spend some time talking to Steve himself and taking photos. It’s no wonder he has been so successful; he is a humble owner who genuinely treats you like family or a long-time friend.

Visiting Martorano is not just a must-visit; it’s a mandatory go-to when you’re in Florida for an EPIC dining experience. Be sure to ask if Steve is there ahead of time. If I could, I would give it ten stars instead of just five.

Thank you, Steve Martorano, for making my birthday special and for treating me and my family as your own. God bless! I now have a new tagline after last night:

“Yo Cuz, who wouldn’t want to be a...

My experience with this restaurant was less than what it should have been. The restaurant was way too loud to carry on conversations much less hear the specials. While dining with others I couldn't help but notice a few things. From the beginning we felt rushed. While the wait staff was nice we felt like they were too quick to remove dishes before you were even done. They never refilled my water glass after the 1st filling. I was told by one of the guests not to grab the water bottles because they would take care of it but they didn't. There was a pasta dish offered to our friends that was suppose to be Al-dente. Unfortunately, I found the pasta way too hard for even Al-dente. I ordered a dish that did not indicate it was spicy. Upon finding out, I told the waiter that it was too spicy for me to eat and there wasn't any indication on the menu that it was. He said there was nothing they could do about it short of charging me for another meal. Since our friends were paying for the dinner I didn't want to impose or make a scene. So I asked the waiter if he could just simply take the food off the plate put it onto another clean plate minus the sauce that lay underneath. I explained the heat was in the sauce. I requested this twice. Upon returning with my plate the only thing on there was the chicken. They had apparently thrown out the rice and the vegetables that came with it. I was not happy that they didn't comply with my request nor even try to remedy the situation. At the very least they could have saved that part of the meal then I could have given it to my husband. Later when dessert was being served, we requested coffee but they said they weren't serving any. After the meal was done, the waiter came over and apologized again but I reiterated to him how disappointed I was in how it was handled. After our friend paid the bill he was requested by the waiter that we vacate immediately because they needed the table. I do not take pleasure in writing a negative review. But unfortunately, that night there were too many misfires and a lack of how to handle a dinner...