I have been craving some Italian food lately, so I thought an outing with my friends would be a great opportunity to try a new restaurant and blog about it. ^_^
I found Marcello Ristorante through yelp and since it was relatively close to where I live, I wanted to give it a try. The location is absolutely horrible (almost as bad as their website!). Although there is a sushi restaurant next door, Marcello is located between Chucky Cheese and Petco. (Great landmarks to point out since I had some trouble finding it) The outdoor patio was small but it was still cute (and it had Christmas lights … very popular decor, I guess)
The interior was *much* better. When I first walked it, it seemed a bit small but the atmosphere was nice. The lights were slightly dimmed and everything looked very clean. We arrived around 8:30pm and the place only had 2 other tables occupied.
We were planning to eat at 7:30pm but decided to wait for another friend to arrive, who was going to be late. But by the time it hit 8:30pm, I couldn’t wait any longer. So when the waiter brought us the bread, I was extremely happy! But then I look at the sauce he gave us … looks spicy! But it was actually a sun-dried tomato sauce with olive oil. It was really delicious! (Or maybe I was just really hungry…)
I was talking with my friend for about 30 minutes while looking through the menu. I was torn between the Risotto Mare (Italian arborio rice with whole mussels, clams, calamari) and the Cappellacci (Small pasta folds filled with ricotta and spinach, in a tomato and cream sauce). I’ve actually never tried risotto before, so I decided to try it out.
Ok, so I’m not sure if it’s because we were still waiting for another person, but I felt a bit snubbed by the waiter. After dropping off the bread, he never came back to our table. By 9pm, a lot more people came in (an additional 5 tables or so), and he was very attentive to them. But we had to call him over and ask if we could order. We also had to ask him what the specials were, although he told the table behind us at the start.
My friend decided to order their pasta special (Rigatoni with fresh basil, tomatoes, mozzarella, and another cheese I can’t remember. The whole this was apparently baked, but it looked as through they just melted cheese on top. Nonetheless, it was good. The rigatoni seemed a bit hard though, but the sauce and cheeses were good.
I was pretty pleased with my dish. I thought risotto would be softer than that, but I guess that’s how it’s supposed to be. The seafood tasted great and the sauce had a cream-based seafood taste (yum!). I’m a really lazy person when it comes to actually eating, so I was glad that the muscles were easy to remove from the shells. I was also happy with the portions (I almost couldn’t finish!).
When my late friend finally arrived, it was almost 9:30pm. And believe it or not, Marcello closes at 9:30pm Monday-Thursday. (But it’s Thousand Oaks, so what do you expect?) She ordered the Focaccia with Prosciutto pizza. It wasn’t bad … it just wasn’t anything special.
Overall, Marcello Ristorante was average. The atmosphere was nice (a good place for a date), but the food wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. Plus, I still felt like the waiter didn’t attend to our table as he did with others. Our bill came out to $47 before tax/tip ($18 for the risotto, $16 for the pasta special, and $13 for the pizza).
Marcello Ristorante
140 W Hillcrest Dr, Suite 117
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360
805.371.4367
www.marcelloristorante.com
Posted by foodheavenly 
Posted by foodheavenly 