Da Marco Cucina E Vino

11/21/09

High End Italian

by SGBG001 at Citysearch

Da Marco is arguably the best Italian Restaurant in Houston. It is expensive but rightfully so given the unique and upscale items on the menu. I recommend the Business Lunch if you want to try Da Marco. For a reasonable price, you get three courses.

• Pros: Unique & Upscale Menu
• Cons: Sometimes Fancy doesn't equal Tasty

09/04/09

Impersonal service/subpar food

by saipop at Citysearch

The waiter tried to get us to order our meals as we were odering our drinks.He seemed to be in a big hurry.

Our salads were very salty.We asked the waiter to take them back.He neither apologised nor gladly offered to take them back.When he brought back the salad,it was loaded with vinegar and sour.

The main course was OK,not great.

The service was absolutely impersonal.

The waiter never smiled nor even said good night when we started to leave.

Will not go there again.

01/07/09

Should be called Da Marc-up

by insearchofyum at Citysearch

Having recently moved to Houston from San Francisco, my husband and I don't mind paying extra for a nice meal. This is NOT THE PLACE for a nice meal. Trust me!! We arrived early for our reservation and decided to wait in the "bar"- a nasty little corner of the room jammed with people. Having a large wine collection ourselves, we were surprised to see the mark up from retail for their by the glass offerings. Highway robbery. After being seated, the waiter rolled up a chalk board of the specials. Yes, that's right- rolled up a chalk board and left it for our consideration!! We felt like students in a terrible cramped and loud classroom. The restaurant itself is in an old house kind of place with creaking wood floors that serve to amplify sound. The tables are all jammed together in such a way that one can not avoid hearing the neighboring conversations. Not too romantic, I must say. We chose to order some of the specials as well as some from the menu. All were bland and nasty. I had the fish with artichokes and risotto and it tasted much like paste. Sadly, the rest of the meal was so un-re"marc"able that it has completely left my memory. We even tried dessert, hoping for something to save this dismal evening, but it continued the whole tasteless and unmemorable trend. I wouldn't return to this restaurant under any circumstances. I am not a person who gives negative reviews- check out my other ones- but this is one overrated place and people should be warned!!

• Pros: We had a nice waiter
• Cons: unre"marc"able, "marc"ed up prices, bland terrible food, loud and cramped

11/24/08

Best Italian Food

by trendyfoodie at Citysearch

Da Marcos is always one of my top favorites in Italian cuisine! They offer a seasonal menu to keep things fresh and lively. Their food is always elegant and delicious!! A great place to impress a date or for your anniversary!! It's a must go and dine place!!

• Pros: ambience, food, service
• Cons: valet only

10/30/08

HIGHLY OVERRATED. Go here because you are told to.

by HoustonRestaurantGuy at Citysearch

What is it with the reviews of Da Marco- 5 stars by 75% of people? How can 3 in 4 people think this restaurant is "flawless"??

I can only think of a handfull of places in Houston where the parking lot looks like a Mercedes SUV dealership. Da Marco is one of the culprits. And not without reason- if a 150$ dinner for two is up your alley, then your Range Rover should fit in nicely outside.

The restaurant is not at all as strong as others have suggested. Firstly, the service is a bit off-putting. It seems as if the snobbiness of the "discerning clientele" has rubbed its way off onto the waitstaff. It seemed to me that taking our order and being attentive to us was a burden.

The food is not a deal maker either. All of the dishes we tasted were EXTREMELY salty- to the point of inedibility. The wine was expensive and bad and did not pair well with our dishes (even though we asked for specific recommendations). We left our dishes and left the restaurant and will not be returning.

• Pros: Very nice atmosphere
• Cons: Everything Else

09/29/08

Best Italian restaurant in Houston, Excellent service, pricey

by meieden at Citysearch

My fiance and I had reservations at DaMarco this weekend to celebrate his birthday. I'd made the reservations based off a glowing recommendation from friends, and I have to agree whole-heartedly with their recommendation. Although the food was indeed extremely pricey, it was DELICIOUS! And unlike many high-class restaurants which give you only a tiny portion for the price you pay, they gave us enough food where we were stuffed by the end of the meal. I highly recommend their sweet corn ravioli with lobster as a 1st course. My fiance ordered the gnocchi and loved it also. Their roasted potatoes were a tasty side dish - crispy on the outside and soft on the inside with just enough flavor, and for the main dish, I ordered the chianti braised short ribs which just melted off the bone. Finally for dessert, we ordered the creme brulee with sorbet, which was equally fantastic - smaller than I'm used to at most restaurants, but very tasty.

In terms of service, we thought they were GREAT (but I think this is a manner of preference). The servers were quick in providing bread, taking our order, removing our plates as soon as we were finished, - they didn't try to push any alcohol on us (we are non-drinkers and many restaurants seem very pushy on this front) and were very gracious throughout the entire meal. The food was quick to arrive and tasted marvelous. We were also very likely the youngest couple in the restaurant at the time , AND non-caucasian, but unlike the reviewer's experience below, we felt we were treated very well by our servers.

The only "con" I would have for this restaurant is the price- it is EXTREMELY pricey and I would only come back for a special occasion. Otherwise highly recommended

• Pros: excellent food, superb service
• Cons: very pricey

09/29/08

A Meal to Remember

by florida63 at Citysearch

Went to dinner last Saturday night here. The service was outstanding (ask for Heath). The wine recommendation was spot on as Heath had described. I spluged on the white truffle angel hair pasta as an appetizer and it was truly worth the expense. It is amazing how a just a few ingredients (white truffle, parm. reggiano, white truffle oil) come together for such an amazing dish. Had the roasted lobster (daily special) as my main. Perfect. A tart lemon pudding cake was the end of an outstanding meal.

This is a place to come to indulge...not to be cost conscious so set your expectations appropriately (i.e if you have to get one dish split 4 ways to manage costs...move on). As other posts have indicated, yes, the table are close together. So, if this does not appeal to you, you might choose otherwise. But if you can treat yourself to an indulgence...this is worth it.

• Pros: Service, wide variery of choices, quality of food

06/04/08

Disrespectful and condescending service.

by hanong at Citysearch

My fiance and I went for the first time to celebrate our anniversary. We were promptly greeted and seated in a cozy corner of the restaurant. Our waiter seemed aloof and did not really talk TO us as much as he talked AT us. He brought us the daily specials on a sign and then turned it away for an older couple sitting behind us to look at. He came back and took my order first. My fiance asked if he could turn the daily specials sign around so he could select what he wanted. The waiter says to the older couple "excuse me" and reaches for the sign. At that point, the older couple says "we're ready to order." The waiter immediately turns his back towards us even though he was in the middle of taking our order, and gives the other couple his full attention. After he was done with their order, he did not return to our table. We had to flag him down so we could finish ordering our meal. I was very upset by this, so I asked my fiance to talk to the manager. The manager told him "Where are you sitting? Don't worry, I'll take care of it." The rest of the meal, we had the same waiter who did not apologize for his behavior and continued to be aloof. I at least expected the manager to come back and explain how he "took care of it." Instead, the manager very quickly leaned towards our direction, asked "everything ok?" and walked off. It was a very uncomfortable and awkward meal. Plus, the back waiter's cell phone went off with T-Pain's "shawty" blaring through the tiny silent back room, and he did not make an effort to silence it, or get out of the room. We got our bill, and it was for the full cost of the meal. It's clear that the management allows/encourages this pompous discrimination to occur on his watch. We were the youngest couple in the restaurant and the only non-white people in the place all night. Perhaps they thought that we would be poor tippers. Unfortunately, with that type of blatant disrespect, it became a self-fulfilling prophesy. I am never going back.

• Pros: food was ok
• Cons: rude service, ruder management,

05/14/08

Truly excellent

by FedUpUp at Citysearch

Truly excellent food and service, and it feels like being served an excellent meal in your own home. And an excellent wine list as well. Their best mark of excellence is that the waiter does not insist in torturing you with a litany of specials that one is supposed to pretend to remember. Must try it.

03/15/08

Pretentious restaurant, expensive and bad food

by michael_callaway at Citysearch

We went to daMarco for an anniversary. We were seated and then ignored for 30 minutes. We had to get up from the table and ask for a waiter, even though the waiter that was assigned to our table had stood around with his arms folded and looked at us several times. Being a Wednesday evening, the restaurant was not crowded, yet it took extremely long for them to bring our food. The waiter pushed botttles of wine costing over $100 and then sniffed when we ordered one costing $45. The wine was so bad we left 80% of it.

The food served to us was mediocre at best. Some of it was inedible. Tough veal and sauces so bland babies could eat them. And then the bill came - over $180 for 2 people for a most unpleasant experience. The simple decor matches the quality of the food, and tables are so crowded we could hear the adjacent tables' conversations as if they were at our table. They didn't like their food either. It puzzles me how critics can rave about this place, while the average person who goes in is treated like dirt and served terrible food. I would never return

• Pros: None
• Cons: Haughty service, high prices, small portions, horrible food