Marna's Eatery and Lounge — Restaurant in Robbinsdale

Great little spot in Robbinsdale. My wife and I have been twice now and it's been great both times. This most recent visit, they made me a drink that they had on their menu a year ago, but was no longer listed - which to me, speaks to their strong customer service and desire to make their guests happy. And in fact, our server Samantha was wonderful and very attentive.

We had the yuca fries to start, which were well-seasoned and very tasty. A must-try on a first visit! The sauces are both delightful, but very different, which provides a nice juxtaposition. One is a creamy chipotle sauce and the other was more like a green salsa with a very strong cilantro flavor. The seasoning on the fries wasn't 100% consistent, though, with a couple of them receiving almost no seasoning.

I had the tortilla aliñada. The pork was melt-in-your-mouth good, and went so well on top of the cheesy tortilla. The corn masa tortilla is something one should try if they've never had it, as it's quite different from a regular tortilla. More akin to to a Mexican tamale in texture. My two pieces of constructive criticism on this dish: 1) my tortilla was slightly burnt in some spots on the bottom, and 2) the banana leaf on the plate was a nice aesthetic touch but can become a bit problematic when cutting your food.

My wife had the el dorado, which was a mahi mahi dish with mango salsa, plantains, and coconut rice. The fish was well-seasoned, well-cooked, and tasted amazing. The real highlight were the plantains, though, as they're just so tasty. A must-have at a restaurant like this, either with a dish or as an appetizer. The mango salsa was a great addition to the fish, but the only criticism here was there wasn't enough of it!

We finished with the corn bread, which was amazing. It had a bit of a charred/grill flavor to it, and was slathered with honey butter.

My drinks were very good, the rum old fashioned is must-try if you're into that type of cocktail, and the smoked option will make you feel like you're drinking something a pirate might have drunk.

Covid note: they had a cute outdoor patio space with socially-distanced tables. Very nice plants and a large shade-tree with some very talkative birds in it. Overall, a great outdoor...

I never leave reviews, and I don't feel that the experience was so bad that it deserves to knock down stars, however I do feel that our experience tonight needs to have feedback shared. As a former server/bartender/kitchen staff member I'm very aware that everyone has off nights however our service and food tonight was awful, it was not busy in or outside of the restaurant and they had many hostess/bussers helping, unfortunatelyjust not with us. We saw our server once while she took our order and once after 45 minutes after we got our food, refills we asked for when she finally checked in on us never came. We absolutely loved the marna burger in the past, this time it was really bad, 3 of us ordered it and all agreed there was entirely too much hot sauce on it. That burger used to have the perfect amount of heat, this time we all picked at it because we were very hungry but it was not enjoyable at all due to the excessive hot sauce. We let our server know, she said she'd had the same complaint a few times that week. Again, no refills came, I finally went inside to pay because she didn't show up again. I let her know we wouldn't need the refills, she was very dismissive and borderline rude, no discount had been made on our bill nor any apology for the experience, just that she would have a burger with her manager to see about it. I always tip at least 30%, but I just couldn't this time around, which is disappointing. We ended up going across the street to birdhouse to get an order of fries we had ordered but not received at marnas as well as dessert and a few beers, which were all fantastic (and a well...

Atmosphere was nice and we were able to get a table for 8 on Saturday with no res. Service was fine.

But there was the whole thing with one side of the menu saying "10% employee wellness fee" and the other side saying "20% gratuity for large groups" that seems intentionally hard to find. And then they bring the machine to your table and it has a tip option, defaults to 25% by the way. And it's not a receipt so you can't see if the gratuity was already applied or what's going on there.

And then the food. Now I haven't had Costa Rican food so I didn't know what to expect. But I can't say anything was very good. The plantains with beans and Parmesan were ok but it's a weird combination. The cornbread basically just tasted like raw corn with a tiny bit of honey spread.

And when they brought the entrees out, my buddy sitting next to me just chuckled when he saw mine. Everyone else's plate was packed to the edges with food, but mine was just a single tostada sitting alone in the middle of the plate. I didn't realize I ordered the least filling thing on the menu. I mean could you throw in a side of rice at least? And it was the worst tasting thing I had there. I thought it was a safe bet since I love steak. But every bite just tasted incredibly sour. Lemon juice was bleeding out onto the (again, mostly empty) plate every time I cut another chunk off. It was so bad, I couldn't finish it, even though I was quite hungry (and it was pretty small).

Anyway, maybe if you order the right things, the food will be good. But I would not choose to...