Marinara Pizza — Restaurant in Plano

Absolutely HORRIBLE customer service and their pizza dough is tainted with FUMES from the new remodel! If you love food like I do or keeping your body healthy, I'd stay away! They don't have the best food handling you'd want from a restraunt. If you have any issues or voice your opinion they harass you endlessly. My hubbie and I ate here at the end of October and it was sooooooooo good, WOW! Ya I'm really in the bashing business huh?!? Right! It was so good we went back a week later (2 weeks ago)... unfortunately we were not greeted with the same food. I have a tummy problem and really have to watch what goes into my body. Not that anyone needs an excuse to eat decent food! Anywho, the new remodel they were doing involved the floors being redone as well. Which is fine but they kept the business open whiledidn't remove not one thing from the building...including the oven! Which I'm sure is completely tainted now! Needless to say our ENTIRE meal of Stromboli and garlic knots wreaked of polyurethane or something like that....as did the entire building where our food was being prepped and cooked....we had to wait outside with the owner's wife and baby for our food to be done due to the immense amount of fumes! We DID NOT EAT dinner that night! When we arrived home and ate a much needed garlic knot, it was spat right back out immediately! It tasted like straight fumes. We called them IMMEDIATELY and let them know. NOT TWO WEEKS! I WAITED TWO WEEKS BEFORE CALLING THEM BACK, BECAUSE THEY CAN'T CALL ANYONE AS PROMISED! They told us to come back the next night and they'd replace it. So we did just this ONCE, that's it, not multiple times as the business claims....WOW! Little did we know they would attempt to serve us burnt, cold garlic knots and a skimpy half version of our previous nights Stromboli. It was pathetic! We asked them what's up with the Stromboli and the guy at the counter argued with us saying that's not we ordered the previous night...even though I have pictures! We just ate and left. So, my hubbie called the next day to talk to an owner/manager and they said he'd have to call my husband back because they're busy. No worries. It's been OVER a week since then as of today so I finally stepped in and called them myself. I asked for an owner...or at least he claimed to be! He argued with me endlessly even though I kept requesting an email or something, so that I may show him the pictures that I've taken of what we were served. He didn't care in the least bit and kept saying,"Well what do you want me to do....and you waited two weeks to call me"...ummmm seriously...you didn't call US back!....WOW! We drove over 20 minutes one way to get there and then back home on BOTH days and this is how he treats what few customers he had I there...that HE personally served inedible food to....because according to him he made the food himself...and again argued with me even though I have pictures. We even gave him a chance to redeem himself...twice. He was trying to tell me we ordered different things....ummmm I have evidence jerk, it was the EXACT same order just a different quality! He continued to yell at me and kept talking over me....the OWNER! He stated that didn't care if I wrote a Yelp review or called the health dept, nor could I get a name out of him....OMGoodness! Now I'm being harassed and told that this incident never happened....riiiiight! I think my husband and I both are in shock at their blatant, belligerent attitude vs ACTUALLY FIXING THE SITUATION! I know the difference between a Calzone and Stromboli, thanks! How many others that day actually ATE the tainted, inedible food that could make us very ill...that's so scary! I DO NOT SUGGEST COMING HERE IF YOU WANT...

Relatively unknown find in Plano.

From NY, and a hard core pizza connoisseur, I make it my business to try the best pizza anywhere I go, especially in the Dallas area where I live.

In short, there's a select small list of NY style places around DFW that I consider worthy. Aftter much trying and retrying, I dare say with confidence that I rate Maranaras to be #1 (again, speaking NY style, not Chicago, Italy Neapolitan, etc.). The final battle in my own rating system was between Maranaras and Zolis (W. Davis in Dallas). Like Maranaras, Zolis has an authentic NY pizza guy as cook.

Both, and quite possibly the only places in DFW, serve regular round, Sicilian, and grandma's pies (grandma's, invented in long island NY, is sort of like a thinner crust Sicilian, and with bold home made "grandma's sauce". ...Call it a hybrid newer pizza, what ever - done right, it's good!

Anyway, bottom line, Maranaras wins by an edge. Their home made dough - moist and chewy, yet has that NY crunch on the bottom, is actually NY quality, which alone probably makes them an island onto them self here in texas. Zolis crust is good - well well above Dallas average, and I'll say, makes the elite list. But Maranaras takes the edge.

Besides crust, Maranaras uses top quality cheese and sauce - exact same as NY places use. Anyone can buy and use it, but they don't - either don't know the difference and/or save a buck, figuring people here don't know the difference.

He makes his own sauce for the grandma's pie's and will proudly give you a spoon of it to taste. It is really top quality. While I would rate Maranaras regular round pies just "average" by NY standards, and #1 by Dallas standards, I would venture to say that his grandma's sauce is actually ABIVE average NY standard, which may not sound like that much, but it is - I'm saying the world right here.

I also think his Sicilian is slightly above NY standards, which is again, an incredible compliment - especially considering how hard to find Sicilian is in texas.

Last - try his truly authentic NY garlic knots. Only place I found them here - I mean, the real deal that is. ...and, they're even cheaper than in NY! - 5/$1 at Maranaras. Where else can you find a top top quality NY appetizer where $2 worth feeds appitizers to a...

What an excellent experience! I only eat out once per week so I am very selective in where I eat and spend my money, I can say I will be a regular here until I die.

Service - Fast, friendly and attentive. Sal is a great guy that works very hard to create a successful business.

Atmosphere - Don't really care as I am only interested in good food as long as it is clean establishment, and it was. I am sure some will say it could be nicer but I would rather have the cheap prices he offers than decorations on the wall. It looks like a real pizzeria rather than a gussied up 5 star restaurant.

Price - Cheap and large portions!

Food - The Pizza is amazing and is a true NY style pizza (not NY style, it IS NY), I lived in the northeast and know what I am talking about. The crust is truly a work of art and baked at the perfect temperature in a real oven. Crisp, soft and foldable. The cheese is full of flavor and melts to perfection. Sauce is finely balanced and compliments the crust and cheese perfectly as it should.

I am someone who believes NY pizza should only come in pepperoni or cheese only, so I had pepperoni. I think that anymore toppings take away from the experience and flavor of the crust. Yes I am a pizza nerd.

The garlic knots were crusty, soft and made with real garlic. A+

The terumasa was real and the best I have had from anywhere, made with real liquor. A fine balance of flavors, light sweetness and texture make this a 5 star dessert.

The cannolis were.... Amazing!!! Truly authentic, sweet but not overly sweet.

I eat a very clean diet during the week consisting of low carb, baked chicken, salads and healthier foods. A lot of times after eating out I don't feel very well....Bloated and heavy feeling. I am not saying pizza is a health conscious food but I did not feel bloated or sick at all after eating A TON! Great quality ingredients.

He has more than pizza that I am excited to try. Strombolis, Calzones, Italian ices, pasta/meatballs, cheese steak, chicken parm.

Sal is on par or better than any of the famous pizzerias like...