Marzano on College

Marzano is gone! That will teach me to be overly critical.
Hey, it was a helluva lot better than Blondies.
Hey, I want the Pizza oven for my yard.
RIP!

I came here twice in two weeks. The first time I sat at the bar for dinner. We had Sicilian Punch, which consisted of booze, juice, and love. Delicious! Light and refreshing.
We ordered the octopus for a starter, which was very spicy and delicious. However it was a bit tough and chewy at parts, probably due to it being unevenly grilled – it looked charred on the thicker parts, but it was delicious nonetheless. We ate it all. For our entrees, said friend had the meatball marinara pizza, which was spicy and pretty good, with arugula. Thin crust. Slightly above mediocre, nothing mind-​blowing. I had the pappardelle, which was REALLY REALLY good. I loved it! The portion was pretty big, and I finished it all. I could tell the pasta was definitely handmade in the house, and it was cooked perfectly, with mushroom flavor and big piece of fresh wild mushrooms scattered between the pasta and the sauce. It was quite amazing.
Last night I came here with a girl friend, and had a half-​liter of the house red (which was quite decent) for $ 15. The meatball appetizer was good, wish there were three piece of bread – one for each of the meatballs, but there were only two. I had the seafood stew, which was kind of salty, and had the overpowering flavor of capers, which is not a bad flavor, but there were a LOT of capers. Like five in every spoonful. I liked it a lot, but it made me want some noodles or bread to go with it.
The pear panna cotta is really good. REALLY good flavor and consistency. I enjoyed it. Overall, I really like this place, but it’s a few things short of making it excellent grub.

I thoroughly enjoyed happy hour here at Marzano! My friend and I sat at the community table in this chic, warm-​hued dining establishment with a friendly and attentive waitstaff.
They have a nice selection of cocktails for happy hour — I went with the Sicilian Punch (basically sangria), which was pretty satisfying at the end of a long week.
Marzano has some great happy hour food deals as well. We had the fritto misto, which comes with a delicious spicy mayo dip. We also split a fantastic quattro formaggi pizza. The wood fired pizza crust was great — I actually preferred it to my experience with Delfina in San Francisco. I also sampled a taste of my friend’s pumpkin soup, which was divine. If they have this the next time I visit, I am definitely ordering it! I was surprisingly pleased with the food — even the breadsticks were terrific!
And after we had been there for a while past happy hour, my friend convinced me to dabble with dessert. We split the torta di cioccolato with vanilla ice cream, drizzled with olive oil — fabulous. The cake was warm, gooey, and rich, and the cool vanilla ice cream offered the perfect complement.
On top of all that, the ladies’ room was clean, stylish and, for a restaurant restroom, I might even describe it as luxurious? Major plus.
Both the hostess and our waiter provided excellent service. As the restaurant is located just around the corner from me, I’m looking forward to many repeat visits!

I’ve had a couple wonderful meals at the Park Blvd. outpost and have now had two delicious meals at the College Ave. Marzano.
The pizzas, drinks and appetizers are all nommy. Most recently, a friend and I porked out on the arancini with tomato jam (fried risotto, what is there to complain about?), the delicious meatballs, the Bianca pizza (OMG) and the Margarita pizza with sausage. We finished with the chocolate bundino and vanilla soft-​serve. Yum!
A word about the customer service — we weren’t seated until 35 minutes after our reservation time. The hostess wasn’t apologetic enough to make me think this is an unusual occurrence. On the other hand, when something went amiss with my dessert, the kitchen sent out complimentary chocolate and vanilla soft-​serve. Overall, the service is great.

I wanted to like this place, but it just wasn’t very good. The place was very crowded, very noisy (and this was on a Tuesday night), and the seating was not helping the situation. Our table was no more than 10 inches away from our neighbors. We ordered one pizza that was supposed to be «slightly» spicy, but it was almost indelibly spicy. And, I know this is a minor detail, but the wine was served in small glasses– what looked like juice glasses. Maybe it was an attempt to be hip, but there is a reason wine glasses are constructed the way they are constructed. On the plus side, the service was very friendly.

We finally had the chance to eat at Marzano this weekend to celebrate my son and my birthday with the rest of my family. This nice little neighborhood Italian restaurant was highly recommended by my sister who lives about 10 min away. So as usual she was right.
The food was absolutely delightful. For starters we ordered the Wood-​Fire Roasted Meat-​A-​Balls (that’s meatballs with an Italian accent), Sweet Corn-​Saffron Arancini, and some warm Castelvetrano Olives & Rosemary Roasted Almonds. The Arancini came with some tomato jam, it was REALLY tasty and my kids just devoured the Meat-​A-​Balls.
Then for my main entrée I got the Seafood Stew. YUM-​MY!!! (No Italian accent just an emphasis on the YUM.) The Seafood came with some cod, calamari, mussels, and some cous cous. Boy I love me some cous cous. Only thing the plate was missing, in my opinion, are some peeled prawns. Then my wife and the kids ordered Margherita Pizzas each. We thought it comes in little personal size, but they were full size Pizzas (Oh well, more food to take home and plus my sister was paying). Then the rest of my family all had the House made Linguine. My brother thought it was very good.
For dessert we had the Crispy Fried Zeppole and the Fig and Brioche Bread Pudding. Never had Zeppole before, it’s basically an Italian doughnut served with plum jam, and it was quite flavorful.
Marzano definitely did not disappoint, and I highly recommend this place. The only thing they didn’t have was a kids menu. Also the parking could be quite challenging (Tip: There is a public library near by, try parking in there first, it’s free).

The world needs more Marzanos. Not because they offer a particularly unique menu, mind-​blowing food, or an extraordinary vibe. It’s just that everything lines up pretty nicely at a reasonable price. Sign me up any day of the week for a restaurant that’s open late (with a late-​night happy hour too), a menu where most dishes fall in the $ 15 range, a nice range of choices, a short but solid list of cocktails, and a lively ambiance. I’ll be back, no question.

Kinda weird how Marzano shares the entry & building with it’s sister restaurant Garibaldi’s, but it has a nice warm casual feel to it.
We sat at the bar and the bartender was great. He gave some wine samples to help with the selection and answered our questions regarding some of the booze brands we’d never seen before (and provided a taste).
The food was quite tasty as well.
We started with the eggplant fitters. Nicely crispy with soft moist eggplant inside. The tomato jam had a slight kick to it which complemented the fritters well.
I had the roasted pork shoulder with polenta and romano beans. I’d never had romano beans so the foot long ¾″ wide flat beans took me by surprise! I thoght of irradiated snap peas, but luckily I haven’t started glowing yet! The pork was fork tender and the salsa verde was spot on as well.
Only downside was the g/f’s pasta with pesto. The fresh noodles were under-​cooked. Luckly it was homemade pasta so it wasn’t crackling in our mouths, but definitely detracted from an otherwise tasty dish.

Came here with a group of 7 tonight. First, my friend tried to make a reservation and they didn’t even pick up the phone earlier in the day. Then we were told there was a 2 hour wait even though the restaurant was more than ½ empty. Then they did seat us outside, but obviously not very well attended to since we were outside. They also tried to serve us other people’s food 3 times!
The food when we finally got it was good. The eggplant fritters and arugula salad were delicious! (yay my dinner!) My friends got pizza and they said that the margherita was good, but the sausage pizza was a bit dry. They also have serious issues with consistency since there were 4 margherita pizzas on the table and they all had different amount of cheese and basil… like significantly. My friends later said they probably pass on the pizza.
For dessert there were cream puffs and soft serve ice cream by our group. Many of us had the caramel and salt on our ice cream, but again was completely inconsistent with the amount of salt in that I had to go to the inside the restaurant and ask them to just give me some salt.
If Marzano could work on the consistency of their food, that’d probably help them out considerably since I don’t know if I trust the food to be good the next time around… well hopefully the fritters and salad are good go to dishes. :)

This place is so noisy, it literally hurts your ears. It is extremely unpleasant to spend any time inside.
The food is mediocre. Interestingly, it’s different than Marzano on Park — the same dishes don’t taste the same at all. Pizzas are a little better here than on Park, but the level of salt in the fennel sausage is unpleasant in both locations. The arancini are good, the meatballs are tasty but chewy (as opposed to M/​Park, where they’re tender but unpleasantly sour-​tasting). The pastas are serviceable, nothing outstanding.
Desserts are a joke. They are grossly expensive, lackluster, and the coffee is terrible to boot.
There are better pizzas elsewhere. There are better bistros nearby. There are better desserts almost everywhere. There are many restaurants where you can hear yourself think, all over the place. WHY DOES ANYONE COME HERE?

When this was Garibaldi’s, I loved it! Their happy hour was great. Their pizza was terrific. Their staff were fun and I would see them over and over.
Now, it is lackluster. While it looks nice, they have lost the edge.
The other night, three of us went to Marzano for dinner. We had reservations but we were seated at the community table. There was a family also seated there and their kids made a mess on and under the table. It was gross.
Our waitress was the worst. Clueless! It took her a while to come by. She took our order and it was a very long time before we saw drinks, never mind the food. I finally asked for the manager since it was awful. I will say the manager tried to make things better, and I gave an extra star for his effort.
Hopefully, they get their act together soon cause I am seeing a trend here and it is not so good.

Marzano’s is pretty awesome.
I love how they have Happy Hour Specials until Midnight on Friday. A group of us rolled in on Friday night around 10:30 pm and we were seated right away. We ordered the Meatball Pizza, the Margherita Pizza, and the Pepperoni Pizza. The pizzas have a nice, chewy, crunchy, thin crust. I really liked the pizza here.
They also have some really interesting drinks — I tried one that consisted of egg whites, kiwi juice, and vodka. It didn’t taste half bad. I still prefer my drinks to be clear, but it’s worth it to try something new from time to time.
I’d definitely come back.

Walked up to Marzano last evening to check it out for the first time — well worth the walk!
They take reservations on open table which is my favorite — we were greeted with huge smiles and friendly people — the service was awesome! Attentive without being obtrusive. The tables for two are really small so it’s important that they clear dishes promptly — without whipping your plate away in mid-​bite!
My husband — the beer expert — noted that they have on tap and very fresh — West Coast Brewing company ales. This is the Fort Bragg brewery that makes Red Seal Ale and the infamous Rasputin Stout. Last night they had their IPA on tap — delicious! If you are a beer fan this is a good thing !!
We had the castelvetrano olives and rosemary almonds — absolutely wonderful and light. The almonds were toasted to perfection and had a slight rosemary background flavor that was a wonderful compliment to the light fruity green olives.
The table comes with a glass of the most wonderful bread sticks that we have ever had! They are flavored with parmesan, rosemary and we think a little bit of red pepper flakes — they were just yummy! A fight broke out over the last one!
For dinner we had the bianca pizza — prosciutto — mozzarella and arugula with grana padano a tasty paremsan type cheese. The crust was thinner than the layer of mozzarella — still tasty and not too crunchy — I ate the whole crust which is unusual for me!
Dessert — soft serve ice cream — chocolate and vanilla swirl. It was good and they have a great selection of toppings (things like reduced balsamic, house made caramel, and fruits) — but we like our ice cream plain so can’t comment on those.
The bill wasn’t bad just over $ 60 with two beers each. The bar bill is always our downfall!
I agree with one other Unilocaler who said this is not a good place for a first date — it is LOUD — and crowded — but tons of fun friendly people! Just get into the groove of the place and you will have a good time!
Have fun out there!

Marzano is Oakland’s answer to SF yuppie pizza. The pizza is, in fact, quite delicious. Worth what I paid for it, given that we already have places like Arizmendi and Cheeseboard? Possibly, which is saying a lot. The house white was also decent, but nothing spectacular.
The salad, on the other hand, was pretty pathetically bad – sad hunks of grapefruit cut up in spinach drizzled with some sort of watery dressing stuff. Not impressed, and didn’t go at all with the pizza, something I would have expected our server to mention before we ordered, given the ambience of this place. It’s faux-​rustic, beautiful brick and iron décor, lowered lighting. They’re trying hard to live up to sharing a space with Garibaldi’s.
That said, while our server was nice enough, the hostess had a ginormous stick up her behind. I believe this girl gets the prize for snottiest, most obnoxious hostess ever. We walked in when the place was almost completely empty and she said, «Sorry, I can’t help you if you don’t have a reservation.» We explained that no, we did not intend on sitting at a table for two hours (which was when the first of the «reservations» would be arriving) and she grudgingly sat us, obviously disgusted that two people wearing non-​designer apparel were allowed to eat in a place like Marzano. Give me a break.
Marzano, count this as one vote to fire your hostess. And stop making stupid salads. But keep making awesome pizza.

«New» location, same great menu and offerings.
Only writing about this place, which recently was re-​branded as ‘Marzano’ (the original being on Park Blvd), to let people know the following: same great menu, and same great food as at the other location.
Once again had the wood-​fired, meatball appetizer, which I swear I could eat once a week. Accompanied by a thin sauce, each bite was exactly what you would want a meatball to taste like. Also had the sardine appetizer, which although still an obscure eat by many Americans, was definitely was the dish probably tastes like in various coastal regions of Italy. Fresh from Monterey Bay — this ain’t the canned sardines you remember (and hated) as a kid. This dish had the salinity and flavor that the oily fish is known for. Not overpowering, but subtle.
And for the entrée, the pizza was phenomenal. Got the quattro formaggi, which is layered with 4 different cheeses, and although there was no sauce to speak of, I was not let down, as the thin crust was perfectly cooked, and the flavor of the cheeses, simply delectable.
So come here if you are looking to eat at Marzano. This place has more seating, and more room, than the quaint, Park Blvd location.
Finally pizza gets the treatment it deserves. This is what is should taste like, instead of the chain-​pizza that most of us grew up on.

This place rocks!
We were ready to attend a double birthday celebration at a friend’s home, when at the last minute we learned about a problem with the host’s stove, (faulty igniter switch) so we had to scramble to locate a place that could handle 9 of us, with only 2 days notice.
I called about 5 places before hitting paydirt at Marzano, on College. Messaging my 8 other dinner companions about the stove issues and the location change was easy and painless. We were set for 9 people, 6:00 pm on Saturday night.
The next evening, having just arrived home from work (
) I received a frantic message to my cell phone, «Hello Mr. Patton, We’ve been holding your table for 9 — 10 people for over 20 minutes and we’re hoping you will arrive soon!».
I had made a reservation for the following day and they mixed it up. I was not happy. After much debate back and forth, they offered to seat us inside of their sister restaurant, Girabaldis, as Marzano was booked solid for Saturday night. We reluctantly agreed, but only if a concession was made.
We arrived to dinner and were seated straight away. The place was packed and they showed us to a smaller room to the back. When I looked over the menu in front of me, it was from the Marzano side, as the staff had decided to be extremely nice to us because of the mix up with the reservations. Once we all were seated, appetizers we had not ordered arrived to our table, again, as a way to make up for the error.
We then ordered pizzas, salads and starters from the menu, for the group to share. We had the Bianca (2) and the sausage pizzas, the chopped salad (2), the meatballs (3) and the asparagus (2), Everything was perfect. The Bianca pizza might just be my favorite thing to eat on this earth!
As this was a double birthday party, we had cake, coffee, port and presents waiting, so we opted for the check. The total bill was far less than expected. The service, the kindness and the level of attention was far higher than anticipated. The tip we left might be the biggest I’ve seen!
We will go back to visit both sides and I’m sure the food will be as great as the service!

We arrived early for our reservations by about 15 minutes, and were told that something would not be available until closer to our time.
This was my first time here; from what my companions had told me, half this space is already occupied by Garibaldi’s (dressier, pricier, and classier, and with a different décor), and they split the existing restaurant into two different restaurants!
AMBIENCE — There was a wall separating the two spaces, and there were two openings in the wall — one in the far-​back closest to the kitchen, and one close to the front door.
On the Marzono side, it was REALLY tight, and half the space is taken up by the bar. The other half was occupied with approximately a dozen to a dozen and a half TINY TINY tables that *don’t* comforatably sit two people. We had an end table that allowed us to be seated as a party-​of-​three. The tables really weren’t any more than a total of 4 – 5 SQUARE feet.
There was a very small sliver of space for the customers waiting on a table.
For such a small space, the bar was rather disproportionate, so naturally, there were lots of people at the bar. The result — NOISY, NOISY, and NOISY. The waitress came to take our drink order, and we could barely hear what she said.
On the other hand, I appreciated the ambience — intimate with low lighting, candlelight, warm colors, and a rustic décor.
FOOD/​DRINKS — Before and during the meal, they seem to really push the drinks, and the drink menu prices implicate that they are high-​end. I had a $ 9 shot of whisky called «Death’s Door» (I liked the name!).
On the menu, there were a wide variety of appetizers, a fairly diverse group of salads, and a handful of soups. There were lots of pizzas, and also a smattering of entrees.
They seem borderline Italian, influenced by rural-​fresh influence. My eye honed in on the pork shank, cuz, where else am I going to find a restaurant that serves shank? I also went for the arugula salad.
The arugula salad tasted crunchy, and FRESH, and I think it came withpine nuts, persimmon, and a subtle, but good, white basalmic vinagrette. It was really really yummy. The price on this was $ 11, I believe.
The pork shank came as a giant bone served on a bed of italian white beans and collard greens, and sitting in a pool of tangy, yet salty broth. Being a butcher’s son who gnaws on a good bone, I was in dog heaven! The price on this was $ 18, I believe.
I wish that the menus weren’t so italian, cuz I had a hard time reading the dessert menu. My companions had the soft-​serve with chocolate and caramel topping; it tasted natural and homemade cuz it didn’t taste as sugar-​sweet as you get at McDonalds!
I had some sort of honey and pistachio concoction in a pie crust, and served with a dollop of soft-​serve. When it arrived, it looked similar to a pecan pie, and so I was scared of having it be a gut-​bomber, however, I was pleasantly surprised that it was relatively warm, soft, and light. The dollop of soft-​serve could’ve been larger though, so I hijacked some from my friends. :-)
SERVICE — the space was tight, it was crazy-​busy, and it was noisy. Things like this always impact service, and this was no exception. Our server tried to be attentive, however, it just doesn’t work in a chaotic environment.
PRICE — With tax, tip, etc., for three people who had entrees, appetizers, drinks, dessert, and coffee, the bill came out to $ 173. Though it’s pricier than my usual joints, it wasn’t unexpected, nor did I think that the price was irrational… and I wanted to treat my companions to a NICE dinner!
For the uniqueness, freshness, and taste of the food, the price was OK, however, my pain point is this — for the price that I paid, I’d prefer better service and ambience, and thus, what *could’ve* been FOUR stars has been bumped down to THREE in my book.
One thing about the ambience/​space —
When you get down to such tight quarters, you should only have the amount of tables that the kitchen can comfortably serve — rather than trying to «have your cake and eat it too».
I really think that they are trying to compensate for the small space by having a giant bar with expensive drinks — which were right at the price of the appetizers.
My humble opinion is — when you get down to a space that small, something has to give — service, food quality, etc. In this case, it was prob the service, and also the ambience. I just don’t prefer having to talk over the table next to me!
With a space this small with a giant bar, the formula might work better if they don’t have the full-​plate entrees and concentrate on bar-​food or appetizer-​size plates. Sometimes it’s better to think outside of the box with regards to design. For example, maximizing the space with bar-​height tables, counters, and chairs.
Either that, or give up the bar, and give the dining area some breathing room!

So, I have this friend that I like to call a ‘fancy-​eater’. I’ve known her for several years and every place she tells me is ‘fantastic’ is one of those places that serves a bowl of tomato soup for like $ 20 [but they call it bisque] and asks if you want still water or bubbles and fancy shit like that. Typically it’s a place staffed with characters that are just «too cool» to be serving your non-​cool ass.
I really wanted to like this place as much as she did, but I didn’t.
Here’s the deal:
A: I don’t speak Italian. so when your entire menu is meant for those that do. you better not give me the stinkeye when my gringoesque, valley girl ass orders the ‘4-​cheese pizza’ instead of «Quatro Fromage». I’ll speak Spanish when it comes to food, but I am not going to fake Italiano.
B: When a pizza on the menu contains the word pumpkin in its name, but fails to mention how pumpkin is incorporated in the description of the item. and then the server gives you that «wow, you’re pathetic» attitude and look when you ask why it’s called Pumpkin Pizza… that’s pure weaksauce right there. You can shove your elusive pumpkin up your big hairy ass man.
Listen here Marzano. this is Califuckinfornia. not too many OG Italianos around these parts. I don’t speak Italian, never have, probably never will. rewrite that menu in English!
And if you’re gonna put pumpkin pizza on the fuckin menu. let a bitch know if that shit is pureed or in big slices on top.
So, my 4-​cheese pizza, which was actually 4 cheeses and some fancy mushrooms with long stems drizzled with truffle oil (also left out of the description on the menu), was actually pretty good sans the burnt, crispy bubbles of dough throughout. My bruschetta trio kinda sucked but I ate 2 out of the 3 anyway. The dessert was awesome!
Vanilla soft-​serve with reduced balsamic and sea salt. it was seriously slap-​yo-​mama good. I came home and replicated that shit with a quickness (not bad I might add)
Good service is a big deal with me and had we had the chick at the bar serving us vs. Mr. Moustache, I believe I would have left here having a better experience. Plus, I absolutely hate bar seating because of the proximity of strangers to me and my food. But apparently we went out on the busiest weekday night of the year so, we were stuck with that option at ever place we checked into.
The place is small, quaint and cute and contained all the necessary amenities for the College Ave. fancy-​eating-​yuppie-​folks to come out in drones and sit around eating swanky pizza and appetizers. I… am HAPPILY not a yuppie so, I don’t really see me coming back here to rub elbows at a crowded bar with those folks again. Especially now that I can make that dessert at home :)

I’m thrilled that Marzano opened on College for all of the following reasons (in no particular order):
–I don’t have to slither my way over to Park Blvd, which is not easy to get to without coche.
–It stays open late, and I have cravings for calamari pizza at ALL hours, or at least I crave marzano’s calamari pizza in an uncircadian pattern. Crispy, never soggy, always made with love.
–I also crave the peach fizz cocktail, which is one of my favorite cocktails in the greater metropolitan area.
–Most importantly, it’s great to have another sancturary to pop into when those double strollers and great danes that Rockridge is famous for are crowding the sidewalks for blocks (I mean, really, these families need their own lanes, or at least we single people without dogs need a passing lane.) For now, I’ll duck into Marzano for drinks and pizza while the traffic dies down.

Five of us were there last night — it was pretty good! They’ve done a good job of cloning the menu, wine list and interior design of the original Marzano on Park Blvd. This new restaurant is what used to be the front end of Garibaldi, which is currently closed and undergoing a fancy-​looking makeover. It was packed on a Wednesday evening: every seat in the house was taken, and there were about 4 or 5 tables on the sidewalk on College. (It was unusually warm last night — felt like Boston in July.) On the other hand, maybe there weren’t a lot of customers; after all, the new Marzano is quite small! One thing for sure is that the house seethed with noise and energy. This is exciting, kinda, but conversation across the table was something of a challenge.
As far as the food goes, I was very happy. I started with a salad of dry-​farmed early girl tomatoes and thinly-​sliced parmesan-​type cheese; this was really great! The salad was sprinkled with fleur de sel, which was listed on the menu as one of the ingredients. There was enough of it that I figured I had satisfied my salt quota for the week.
But then we moved on to pizzas. I had the spicy sausage pie, which was a big winner. Two of my companions split a simpler margherita pizza with the supplemental arugula topping served on the side. There was a huge mound of the arugula, and I was invited to dig in. I definitely went over-​quota with this addition: yikes, the stuff was salty!
The bottom line here: this is a wonderful addition to a segment of College that had a lot of good eats already. If you can snag a table here, go for it.