Marina Cafe Restaurant & Tiki Bar — Restaurant in New York

Several things make the Marina Cafe our destination. One, of course, is its location: central to our family and on the water. But its biggest draw is its wonderfully diverse menu and the owners' desire to accommodate and please - even on Saturday night. When the owners accommodate you, young children, last minute changes, and menu requests, you know you're in the right place. Three different families arrived at different times, one was tardy, yet they seated us with a smile, brought us drinks and bread and butter.

My daughter called in a surprise gift card. It was a packed Saturday night crowd, yet the owner found me and delivered a beautifully packaged birthday gift card for me to use the same night.

I would never order a porterhouse steak anywhere but at home or an upscale steakhouse, yet the price of this porterhouse told me not to let it pass. Granted, it was not a 28-day dry aged prime porterhouse, but it was far superior to anything I could buy at any other restaurant and a steal. It was such a value, I fear revealing it will drive its price up and spoil it for me next time.

Most at our table did not drink, but no server raised an eyebrow. Wine by the glass was well selected and again, less expensive than elsewhere. I can't say enough about our servers. I made a mental note to compliment them by name, but alas, my memory is not what it was. They deserve better. I can't say enough about them. They were experienced. They ensured the children were quickly served - chicken fingers, mac 'n cheese, bread and butter ... whatever the children needed to ensure their satisfaction was tended to, but so were the adults. I repeat: I can't say enough about the servers. This is not a trite review of service - the usual, "Our server was friendly and knowledgeable." Forget that stuff. Our servers were attentive when needed and invisible when not. As the meal drew to a close for the adults and the children began to grow restless, they brought our desserts, coffee, and check at the same time.

The Marina Cafe made our night a warm and wonderful family memory for all of us. I can't say enough about how well we were treated. It was not our first visit and it will not be our last. We are grateful and now loyal to The Marina Cafe. One final note: we inadvertently made our Saturday night reservation online at the Marina Cafe in Florida. Eight of us arrived to a packed house on Saturday night with NO reservation. When I stood at the hostess station with no reservation and all the tables taken, the owner yet smiled and found a way to treat us as if we were VIPs. Thank you to her and her partner. They earned...

We went to the Marina for my sisters birthday in the beginning of July - really nice. We were so happy we went back again for my mother and husbands in August. The food is terrific; there was not an unhappy person at the table. (Both times we were 9 people.) Some ordered a la carte others from the pre-fixe - which has awesome choices - and all were happy. The food is terrific - the stacked mozzerella, the Italian "egg roll," and the fried mozzerella coins were favorites. The egg roll is basically a rice ball with a crispy "egg roll" outer as opposed to breaded and fried. The coins are a delightful play on Mozzerella sticks - and enough to share! We had all kinds of entrees from pasta to filet to pork chops - which are delicious; you can say we tasted the menu. Everything was cooked perfectly and presented in a timely fashion. The only disappointment was one of the desserts - it didn't appear to be homemade (sadly I can't remember which it was but believe it was the Tiramisu) and tasted a little old. But if that's our only complaint - it won't keep us away! Why only a "very good" for the service? Well it seemed that once our food was presented our servers would leave us - for a while. And it took a really long time to receive and pay our check. (I don't believe this is the norm so this also would not prevent us from going back!) The decor goes without saying - it's a beautiful view of the Marina and the bay. Very serene and picture worthy! On a personal note - on our first trip I left my cell phone case containing my license and some other personal papers on the chair. 24 hours later - as I did have my phone - I remembered I left it there. It was in tact and with the hostess safe and sound for me to pick up. I really appreciate their safekeeping; it's nice to know their servers are honest and trustworthy also as they were the ones to turn it over to be held. Cost per person was averaged out between a la carte and pre-fixe and included some drinks...

IF PAYING WITH CARD PLEASE CHECK YOUR STATEMENT!!!! WAITRESS COMMITTED CREDIT CARD FRAUD! Very nice restaurant, however, the service was terrible! We went during lunch and sat outside on the deck it was about 89° out. We ordered the lobster slider and 2 filet mignon salads with 2 drinks. 3 tables that came after us got their food before us, by the way those tables had about 4-6 people (it was just me and my sister at our table). Moving forward, we got our food about 40 mins later, the waitress never asked if we wanted a refill on our drinks, again it was 89° out and our table was just barely under the umbrella. So here we are, under the sun, choking on our salads, and our waitress is nowhere to be found. I called over the bus boy and asked if he can please get our waitress, he said sure and never came back. So after waiting for 15 mins for our waitress to acknowledge us, I became anxious. I walked over to her and explained that we've been waiting for 15 mins for the check, she apologized, made us wait another 10 mins and then finally brought the check. We got the check, and where it says "tip" my sister wrote "be more of service". As we stood up to leave the waitress was already walking to our table to get the check. Which we found pretty amusing because the entire time we were there she didn't come to our table. So I checked my bank statement today and realized that she gave herself a $10 tip. I called and spoke with a "manager" who then said he would call me back, I am still waiting....I am a very generous tipper, and I am very understanding. Treat me right and I'll treat you better. This girl didn't care to even offer a refill on our drinks, and the restaurant wasn't packed. We were there during lunch time. I'm shocked that they would allow a person that would steal money from customers to work there! I would never recommend this...