San Marco Ristorante

Had my wife’s birthday here on a Sunday. Her family was here from Italy. We had 30 people in total. Everyone was really happy and satisfied with the food and service. The food was truly excellent and the dessert cart at the end was a really nice touch. It’s a great place to have a party and we will definitely be back.

After probably fifteen years I returned to the scene of the crime last night to visit an old but still young restaurateur who I have come to know for over thirty years. He has served many meals to the old team at Symbol Technologies and last night, Orlando proved that once you get the recipe correct, time is not a reason to change it. The veal was spectacular, the tomatoes and mozzarella remain a legend and my favorite, Tortellini en Brodo soup was excellent but the bowl got smaller (heart broken, wanted more) Hats off to you old friend and if ever on Long Island, be sure to stop at San Marco and enjoy a true Italian meal.

We have been here four or five times because it is a good upscale but not exhorbitant family style Italian. Some good standbys on the menu and the way the waitstaff explains the menu makes it feel like they go the extra mile to make you feel welcome.

chicken parm was horrible, watery sauce. breading was coming off. seemed like it came frozen and they stuck in a microwave and added watery sauce. my local pizzeria chicken parm is much better. worst chicken parm i ever had!

On our last visit, I felt the restaurant was not as good as it was in previous years. We ordered the fried artichoke hearts, and they seem to be more batter than artichoke. And my salmon dinner was made up of three thin slices of fish. Other than that, the services was good along with our Company.

Five stars aren’t nearly enough for perfectly prepared, fresh, authentic, Italian cuisine! Orlando is also quite the personable, gracious ambassador to this Little Italy, making you feel right at home, proud to be serving his very best.

To be blunt, this is a dim-​lit, very boring Italian restaurant.
The first thing that happens is the waiter drags in a disgustingly old and rickety cart of appetizers for show that have seemingly been sitting around all day. There’s nothing that gets my palette wet like left-​out food that has developed a film.
The restaurant décor and layout was dreadful. The lighting was very dim and the walls are painted a dark, ugly color. San Marco’s just doesn’t have a warm, comfortable personality.
The menu is very plain jane as well. Just your stereotypical Italian restaurant. There’s nothing on it that makes you think «Wow! That sounds delicious/​exciting/​interesting!»
A few positives:
The food wasn’t bad. Not spectacular but not bad. The rest of the restaurant does not do it any favors.
The service was pretty good. Attentive yet not overdone.

Anyone that complains about this place is crazy. The food is delicious and you can’t beat the price! The owner, Michael Sergio, is a super nice guy and he really cares. Is this a fancy place you take someone that you’re trying to impress, maybe not, but it is a nice place. I’ve been going for over 10 years and love it!

This old school Italian place is nothing fancy or flashy. It’s northern Italian comfort food cooked exceptionally well.
The décor could definitely stand to be updated as it can be a bit dark and dingy.
I have been going to this restaurant for years and have never had a bad experience. The food has always been consistent.
Yes, the beer gets poured into a wine glass but I find it part of this restaurants old world charm =).
Last time I was here I had a baked oyster special, duck special, and New York cheese cake. Everything was outstanding.

Food is amazing. Had a veal dish special where you can cut the veal with a fork it was so good!!! An amazing wine list! Recommend their Italian layer appetizer which is mouth watering. Uuuhhhh soooo good!!!

The first time I went to San Marco was in the 80’s when my husband proposed to me. It was the hot restaurant in the otherwise boring eateries in the industrial park area. Still married and still enjoy authentic Italian cuisine. Today, San Marco is one of the few real Italian restaurants on LI. I based that on my many visits to Italy for regional food and wine. Orlando is the owner, originally from the Northern Italy and an original in his own-​right. His food and service has always been impeccable. His aim is to please and his staff is always friendly. The wine list is one of the finest and well priced. How else can a restaurant survive for almost 30 years!

This is a consistent old world style Italian Restaurant with fresh, well prepared, and imaginative food. We had the best eggplant rollatini any of us have ever had, and The osso buco was fall off the bone tender and delicious. You may count on the professionalism of both the wait staff and bus staff, they are attentive buy not intrusive. By the way, you will find crisp white linens on your table, and waiters in black suits who appreciate your choice to be dining there. Try one of the specials, you are in for a treat.

Love it

We had a terrible Saturday night experience at this restaurant. The median age was 80 so if you’re looking for that good old Italian retirement home feeling, you found the right place.
Yes, they start you off by rolling you a cart full of old stale appetizers that they probably have used for the past 26 years. And by the way the appetizers tasted, I think they served us something off that cart.
We ordered wine with the entrees. First, they claimed to be serving pasta with fresh seafood like scallops and shrimp. However, what we got tasted and looked like something they picked up from the Costco freezer aisle.
The wine was delicious, but here comes the fun part. When we got the check, our wine was double the price! Ok, we figured no big deal, and we will tell the waiter the mistake. Instead, we got a hissy fit and the owner brought over a different wine list which had the double price on it. This was a different wine list than the one we ordered from!!! They stood by their new mysterious wine list and the wine list that we ordered from interestingly vanished. When we got home, we checked the prices of the wine on their website, which were all different from what was actually listed on the wine list in the restaurant.
This place is a scam. They must have paid their Zagat surveyor because aside from the wine ordeal, the food was not good. We will never go back and you shouldn’t either.

I can’t believe people gave this place such bad reviews, and that it’s so under-​reviewed. I love the old school Italian vibe that this place has. They bring over a food cart, and let you chose your appetizer and dessert based on it’s actual appearance, and honestly the food is damn good.
I got the homemade pappardelle with fresh pasta sauce for an entrée, an arugula salad to start, and just fresh strawberries for dessert. I love that they have fresh strawberries as an option, which is perfect after a heavy Italian meal. I will definitely go back and will bring friends!

Ok, not great but not terrible. Probably won’t go back. Unsure how they got good Zagat ratings. The meal started by them rolling over a cart showing us the appetizers. Really weird. Servers very nice, food was edible, décor terrible.

Good food. This is what I would call a neighborhood, hole-​in-​the-​wall Italian place. I had a ceasar salad, Rigatoni in vodka sauce (delish), and chocolate volcano thing for dessert. ALL of it was good. I was with 2 other people and they loved their food too. I definitely don’t think the people who run this place are trying to impress anyone– so taking a shot at the aesthetics of the place would be silly. It’s not fancy, even if the wait staff is wearing 3-​piece suits. I mean, they poured a Coors Light into a wine glass! We were dying, but we loved it, lol!
**Don’t go to this place if you take yourself too seriously.**
The wait staff was friendly, attentive, and I don’t think half of them spoke English (pretty sure the guy who poured the beer in the wine glass was someone’s great grandfather from the old country). But I would totally go back.

Is it not possible to just give a half star?!
Holy crap this place was SO not worth amount spent on dinner.
Dinner is prix fixe: appetizer, entrée, dessert.
At the table, we had calamari, crab and avocado, escargot, rack of lamb for 2, Chilean sea bass, tartufo, and lava cake. First, they had these huge lettering declaring «REAL crab meat»… real my ass… Plus what should have been heavenly creamy crab and avocado was smothered in this weirdly vinegary, purplish cream sauce that was un-​identifiable. The calamari was ok, and I guess the escargot didn’t invite too much criticism. The entrees though were a total disaster. The lamb was too tough, and they BREADED my fish!!! What/​!?!
How in the world was that meal worth $ 66 I have NO idea.
You can tell they were trying to be «posh», but really, the service, well decent, wasn’t too friendly and felt more poseur than polished.
At least the coffee was decent. And the dessert — but you really can’t mess up ice cream and lava cake, can you???