Marlena Long Beach — Restaurant in Long Beach

This place is beautiful. The entire restaurant is basically outside but in different levels of exposure. They have heaters thru out that keep things balanced. We went at night, and if you know anything about coastal living, you know it can get fairly chilly in the evenings. I STAY cold but was fine here.

We were greeted by a lovely lady who showed us to our seat and immediately welcomed by our server...a sweet, patient, informative young lady who gave us all sorts of tips about wine, menu suggestions, etc.

We ultimately ordered the meatballs for an appetizer, oxtail pasta, and clam spaghetti. Meatballs came out first, and they were PHENOMENAL... SO GOOD THAT I ORDERED A 2nd round!!! They're kind of small. Comes with 3. If they came either in a 5 or 6 count OR if they were 3 larger ones, it would have been perfect!!! Very flavorful. Highly seasoned!!!

The Oxtail Pasta was pretty good. Consistency of the pasta was very good. Al dente. The Oxtail meat was tender, shredded, and served with lots of gravy. I could have used a wee bit more salt on the meat, but it was good. Also, the ratio of pasta and oxtail meat was slightly imbalanced. Just a little more Oxtail meat and it would have been perfect. I found myself with more pasta than meat/ gravy at the end.

Do not do the clam spaghetti!! It is bland and seems like a dish that still needs developing. The sauce was very thin, the pasta overwhelmed the dish and had no flavor... and I'm told the clam was tasteless. I'd recommend taking the clam out of the shell for most of them, making the sauce thicker and completely rethinking/redoing the flavor/ seasoning and ADD SALT!! We ultimately sent it back.

.... and ordered a mushroom pizza instead and added prosciutto. It was AMAZING! The crust was decadent, light and airy.... minus a few burnt spots from what I'm assuming was a brick oven, it was PERFECT! The toppings were flavorful!!! It was filling and delicious!

We've been eyeing Marlena's since Christmas and finally made it for my birthday in late February. We will definitely be going back. I hope they bring the gnocchi and fennel sausage back. I'd...

My husband and I have been to this restaurant several times before with overall great experiences. Today, however, was a different story. I was out for a Mother’s Day walk with my son and we made an impromptu decision to have brunch since it was chillier than expected outside during our walk. The hostess was not warm and inviting at all. After asking for a brunch menu, we asked to be seated outside in the sun. Fine, no problem. Long story short, it took FOREVER for someone to come take our order. We ordered brunch entrees and a glass of Prosecco. About 15 minutes later, a group came of 3 men can and sat on the outdoor patio almost immediately behind us. About 5 minutes later, while I was still waiting on the glass of Prosecco, the men sitting behind us were served their draft beer and beverages. This bothered me because we were there first and had ordered well before them. Anyway, our food came and I advised the guy who brought it out that I was still waiting on the Prosecco. It took another 5 minutes. We finished our brunch and sat there for at least 30 minutes without anyone saying anything. I asked for our check which didn’t come out for another 20 minutes. The guys who arrived after us had their check and were being chatted up by one of the staff members. They’d left long before our check was finally brought to us. Marlena was NOT busy during our visit.

I got the distinct feeling that WE WERE NOT WELCOME at Marlena kitchen this afternoon which is disappointing given the relatively positive experiences I had previously with my husband (which I could elaborate on but will leave it at this for now). The hostess seemed very snobbish and the energy felt “off” the entire time except for the attitude of the staff bussing the tables. I noted my poor experience on the bill and hope Marlena does better in the future. We live a stone’s throw from Marlena and have many dining options given the location. In light of my experience today, I will likely NOT dine there again, not visit with guests, nor...

I wanted to treat my father to dinner this evening around 6pm, but unfortunately there were no available tables until 9pm and the bar was fully occupied as informed by the two younger hostesses tonight, and it was recommended to make reservations prior. Totally understandable if reservations are committed to full capacity, however, less than 5 min after leaving, I went on their website to check the link to make reservations. Automatically the date was set to this evening Feb 23, and I happen to come across not only one, but THREE patio reservations on the toast tab feature available before 9pm tonight; 6:15pm, 6:30pm, and 6:45pm. Also at the time of initially inquiring the hostesses, the outer patio areas were mostly unoccupied. It is absolutely disheartening to receive refusal of accommodation, especially shortly after the discovery of 3 available time slots for the same evening near the initial arrival time. It makes a potential guest feel unwelcome, much like the experience of Julia Robert’s principal character in pretty woman. I truly wanted to support a local business for a delightful gastronomic experience, but unfortunately I wasn’t granted the opportunity, despite the website’s ample availability. Other than a clerical error, the only reason accountable would be discrimination, and I can only hope the issue is associated...