Marino's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Johnston

We had not been to Marino's for a while so we were looking forward to the great service and food that we have always known. Instead, we walked into a mostly empty restaurant and still had to wait 5 minutes for someone to come out from the back and seat us. I get it though. Small businesses are hard to staff and run and I am a huge supporter of SB. I truely understand staffing issues and how hard it is. However, we were seated and left alone for 10 to 15 minutes. Finally we see the waitress as she snaps at the table next to us that they food she delivered is what they ordered. At that point we decided to leave. As we leave the waitress snaps at us "OH, so you're leaving?...SEE YA" in a loud amd snarky tone. I replied yes, we have been here for over 10 minutes with no contact or water. She then proceeds to try to argue with me as I am repeatedly saying good bye. I have to be honest, I haven't ever had someone do that at a small, locally owned business. Maybe it was just a bad time, however I cannot recommend this as a place to go until the waitress learns better manners...

If you get nothing else here, get the tiramisu!!! It was as good as the very best I had when in Italy and the best I've had in DM. Not saying there isn't other good around, but I'm rather picky and often disappointed when ordering tiramisu at other places... I'm not commonly a dessert person but I SERIOUSLY did NOT want to share ANY of it.

For those just learning Marino's at Merle Hay and Hickman is now closed do not fear... they are relocating to Johnston after Hy-Vee purchased the lot and the one next door with very little advance notice... so more of a drive for some of us who like to support local but hopefully the parking will be so much better. And I'm glad they are still pushing on.

My teen son loves the fresh, gooey Moz used on the pizza. I've liked their pasta... fairly "home-style"... nothing fancy... but it is locally owned, with SUPER FRIENDLY staff, and I'll trek to their new location once opened now and then to keep dining at a down to earth table that might have been set by...

Will not be going back to Marino’s. We used to come here at the beginning of the pandemic and it was great. We went in last night and had horrible service and mediocre pizza. The service is what I will never come back for. The waitress was very busy and seemed to be the only one working but does not excuse the way she welcomed us. She looked at me and said YES? And I should’ve walked out right then but our kids were hungry. I replied we are just waiting to be seated. The service was very rushed and witnessed her questioning a family why they were leaving. She was busy but they were seated for 10 minutes without having someone come to their table. When they were getting up she blocked the gentleman from getting out of his booth and questioned where they had to be. That was very distasteful. I hope for this family business they can hire more staff but I will not be...