Martina's Trattoria — Restaurant in Ventnor City

Pleasantly surprised at the dining experience we received here. I'll talk about our favorite part first, live music! What a treat, an older Italian man singing (in Italian!) with his guitar around the restaurant. The rest of the place was singing along on a Saturday night, it really felt like an Italian family had invited us into their home for dinner. This immediately jumped my review higher because I believe that the atmosphere/vibe can be half of an overall dining experience.

When we arrived, they were loudly playing hip-hop music, which was weird. The average of the restaurant diners had to have been 50 years old. Also, the interior is a little too modern and chic, whereas playing on the old Italian (the classic Italy, not tacky) theme would have worked better. Fake wood floors, trendy stained wood pallet on the walls, etc. A slight miss there.

We arrived for an early dinner on a Saturday, but we made reservations earlier. When we arrived, they asked how many were in our party, which I thought was weird, because they already had our answer in the original reservation. Then they tried to sit us in the middle of the restaurant when the entire wall of tables were vacant. I had specifically asked not to sit in the middle tables when I made the reservation. A slight miss again, but we gave them a pass because we could tell this would be a quirky dining experience. Just rolling with the punches at this point.

When we ordered our food, my date and I ordered our main entrees first. They tried to upsell appetizers a little too hard, asking "What would you like for your appetizer?" we both each had to say that we didn't want to order an appetizer. We would obviously have ordered the appetizer before the main entree, if we wanted to get one. Again, a little too pushy.

The pasta didn't taste homemade, if I'm being honest. I've had pasta in Italy, and europe, and this tasted nothing like that. Seemed processed, each piece of Orecchiette was perfectly identical...weird. Pasta should melt in your mouth. I think this was also a miss.

The silverware is cheap, similar to a workplace cafeteria, but I think perhaps thats only something I'd notice?

The tiramisu dessert comes in a cute little Moka pot. Original and quirky, but the tiramisu was just decent, it was huge, actually. Too much cocoa powder (see pic). The bottom layer of the dessert was frozen, however. Points off for that too.

Overall, I would still recommend this restaurant. It seems like it is still finding its way, and for Ventnor, its a refreshing addition to the food scene. A solid 4, and on its way up to a solid 5 easily if they can just iron out the kinks. Please never get rid of...

It's difficult for me to post a negative review during these tough times. The last thing I would want to do is make anything harder on businesses that have been hit by this covid situation. However there were a number of things that were unacceptable for me and my party. First, we were not made aware of the price for water. This is not the kind of restaurant where it should be assumed in my opinion-- it is located on the side of the road in a strip. This is relevant later. We had a large party, however we only filled the outdoor seating to capacity. The food took a while. When it came, my friend who requested NO shrimp and fried calamari in replacement of the shrimp. It came out with the shrimp, no fried calamari. There was no offer to replace the dish, only bring out fried calamari. By the time it came her dish was cold, and also missing the zucchini that was advertised on the menu. Then, I ordered a veal special medium rare. It was fairly on the well done side, with only a little pink in the middle. The meat was pretty dry. The pasta and sauce was UNBELIEVABLE. The flavors were the one redeeming quality, other than the personability of our lovely server, whose name I forget. The meat was fine enough to eat for me, until I got the bill and it was $55. The bill also had 9 bottles of water charged. The excuse was that the other tables in our party were put on our bill-- meanwhile the other tables in our party were already charged for 9 bottles of water. ($7 a piece). When we tried to correct the owner on the number of bottles ordered, he swore that we got 3 total. Our table got two, and took a bottle from one of our friends neighboring tables. I waited til we were leaving to let the owner Victor know that I found the preparation and the size of the meat to be unacceptable for the price. He then asked if I lived in the area. I told him nope, i live in Hillsborough. He then proceeded to give me his name and number written on a piece of paper with 20% of written on it. What a joke that was to me. After asking me if I lived in the area...as if I would be coming back. I am disappointed in the quality of service. Some of the flavors were fantastic. Upon further reflection, the kind of restaurant who holds themselves in the kind of regard that they would be so assuming as to tack expensive waters onto the bill without notifying customers, should also have had the professionalism to replace the dish that was served incorrectly without second thought. It's a mismatch in terms of the actual service...

Let me tell you why this place is excellent all around. First, we’ve been trying to get in for weeks on both open table and resy with no luck. This evening, a “waitlist” popped up on open table and gave it a whirl. The app said 15 min wait for 2.. i hesitantly put is on waitlist and walked there..understanding , there were no expectations. I knew it would be too good to be true.

We walked there … when I arrived, I checked in and explained we were on the “remote waitlist” . While she found my name, Tanya, the lovely host, nicely explained there was an error and likely we would not be able to enjoy a meal there as it was packed both inside and outside.

Initially, I just said thank you and explained that this was a problem because I was sure I was not the only person who was on the waitlist..

After a few moments, my husband and I asked if there was any chance at all of being seated..she asked us to wait. But, was clear (and it was evident ) that it was packed. I looked for a back up reservation in the meantime…

After about 10 minutes, Tanya came over and told us that if we can be patient, we might be able to get a table within 15-20 minutes. Of course, we said yes! They even held on to our wine and kept it chilled for us!!

The wait was worth it! The grilled octopus was tender and so full of flavor. The lemon Salmon was fresh, perfectly broiled ! We ordered the pistachio and mortadella pizza and wow! That’s all I can say- it was amazing!

Service was attentive, on point, and everyone was happy to help with a request.

It’s hard to get in to this place.. I had tried for weeks.. maybe off season will be more accessible but wow, this was one of the best meals and service in...