Marmo is an upscale restaurant with a beautifully decorated atmosphere and gorgeous bar; however, that's mostly where the positives end. I came here with my husband to give this restaurant a try as a potential place to bring clients and unfortunately, it did meet the criteria. The live piano was a beautiful sight and change from loud music; however, even when the piano wasn't playing it was extremely loud inside to where we were having to talk in very raised voices just to hear one another. There is also not a walled off private room - there is a private room, but it's separated by a sheer curtain.
We sat a 2-person table, which felt oddly smaller than normal (perhaps this was just my perception and not reality because I didn't measure the tables) - one side had a chair and the other was a cushioned bench seat. Normally I love a cushioned bench seat, but this bench seat felt claustrophobic for whatever reason to where I had to take my jacket off because I felt like I just couldn't move - not something that I've experienced in my 30+ years of dining out. The menu was also oversized, which makes it easy to read, but not necessarily easy to handle, especially when someone is trying to move into the bench next to you and runs into your menu. Our waiter was new, but we got fairly indifferent vibes from him - normally when you mention it's your first time at a restaurant the waiter will offer the explain the menu and offer suggestions - none of that happened. While our waiter wasn't very personable, he was not rude - we didn't feel very welcome, but in the same sentiment we did not feel unwelcome. Again, he was new, so no points were deducted from our interaction with our waiter.
Before moving onto the food, I just wanted to add in that there are 4 individual (unisex) bathrooms. I personally like unisex bathrooms - it makes it families and encourages people to leave it more tidy. Anyways, when I went to the bathroom, there were 2/4 bathrooms were available - both were missing paper towels to dry my hands. For an expensive restaurant, this is simply unacceptable. I had to dry my hands with toilet paper. Also, you have to pay to park in the garage and the restaurants do not validate parking.
Finally, onto the food. Complimentary bread (focaccia I think) and butter with flaky salt is provided; however, the bread is small and served cold - simply providing warm bread would a huge improvement. We tried the basil lemonade mocktail (2.5/5), which I was mediocre and not worth the price. My husband ordered the squid ink campanelle (4/5) and I ordered the chicken parmesan with spaghetti alla chitarra (0/5). Perhaps I have rudimentary taste buds, but the spgahetti alla chitarra was practically inedible for me. On the menu it's described as "san marzano tomato sauce, basil", which I understood to be simple marinara or pomodoro sauce....boy was I wrong. The dish that came out had was extremely salty and the tomato sauce was VERY sour/acidic with a hint of sweetness. I prefer more acidic marinara sauces to sweet sauces, but this was another level. It tasted like tomatoes taken straight from a can and warmed up on the stove and then served without any herbs or spices. I sent the dish back and had another one brought out - this was was more edible in that the salt levels were contained; however, it still had this crazy sour/acidic taste to it. I ended up ordering the 8 oz wagyu skirt steak (5/5) which was absolutely delicious! It was tender like a filet and not as fatty as a ribeye. I hate having to send food back and normally I can power through it, but it was just one of those times where it wasn't in the cards. Despite my issues with the spaghetti, the staff at Marmo were absolutely amazing with trying to remedy the spaghetti and then swapping it for me for the steak - 5/5 on service!
In a nutshell, this restaurant has a kind waitstaff and managers, and the food is certainly unique. I wouldn't come here with a big group simply because you'll be yelling to hear each other; however, they do have portion sizes to support large groups. I personally would not recommend the spaghetti alla chitarra, unless you like clean no-frills (i.e. no herbs and spices) highly acidic/sour tomatoes. I would come back for the steak though! read more