Café Bistro La Marinara

Picked up take away15 min wait but this was warly when restaurant was still empty. Pasta sizes are very generous; we shared with kids and had leftovers. Prices proportional with local market. Average home style cooking. Quick and easy for family dinners.

The friendly service and manner were very easy. The food was excellent and just the right quantity. It wasn’t too much, but just right. We really enjoyed our evening at La Marinara.

Let me start with the good.. the staff was friendly and the ambiance was great. Now, the food… I had minestrone which was really bland. The vegetables were not good, and the soup itself was way too watery to have any flavor. I also ordered a penne Arabiata. Mind you, it took longer than it should to prepare. When it arrived, it was not great. The sauce looked fresh, but unfortunately didn’t taste like it. I literally make better penne at my apartment, and all I do is literally boil it and add pre-made sauce. Overall, subpar. Would not come again or recommend to a friend

Love love love it!!! Excellent food!!! Hubby and I went there for dinner and it is authentic, delicious Italian food. Best Italian restaurant I’ve ever been to!!! The staff is super friendly and easy going. Will definitely eat there again before we go back home!!! Bravi

Good classic Italian meals with excellent service! It was so refreshing to be at a restaurant with mature experienced cooks and wait staff. We experienced fast and perfect service with a smile.

The place is nice. The lasagne is very tasty. Price is moderate expensive. But, I really didn't like the service. I ordered one starter Marinara pasta, served the main dish which is CAD$10 more. So, I end up paying extra, and that dish was not so tasty. After paying the bills, I just wanted to inform the food attended that we actually ordered the starter not the main dish. He responded, "Yes, you got larger portion, we served 8 shrimp, not 3". There were no apologies from his end. I really didn't expected this reply. Anyway, overall the service was good.

Yesterday I had a lousy hamburger, so today I wanted to treat myself with a vengeance. I was mildly successful. I ordered delivery: strataciella, snails boscaiola, scallopini francesca with vegetables and tiramisu. The soup portion was generous and it was good 4 stars. There were 4 snails in a cream sauce with mushroom and green onion, and it was good 4 stars. I had two very thin veal slices which barely tasted of lemon, but they were goodish along with a good amount of vegetables which were not all that good. The tiramisu was a lot of fun finally. In short, roughly 4 stars, and the price is a bit high.

This place looks unassuming at first then as you wait for your fare you realize it's run like a well oiled machine. The kitchen is part of the main room therefore you can watch the cooks doing their magic and I have counted 3 of them and 5 waiters. The food was very tasty , they must be using their own tomato sauce and it shows . Highly recommend it , will be back

I would give it 0 starts if I could. The attitude of the servers and the manager needs serious work. We were treated so poorly and did not feel welcome at all. Within the first 5 minutes, the service was so unwelcoming, hostile and racist, we had to leave. The server loudly called out our order, told us that there are more important people that deserve our take and asked us to leave. I was extremely surprised and shocked. That is no way to treat any customer. The manager was just as bad. He did not apologize or anything. Definitely not going back there ever. For a fine dining Italian restaurant, you would think that it would at least know how to treat ALL customers with equality and without discrimination.

I felt reservations coming to Google to leave a review of this restaurant, however,  after seeing other reviews of people who had a similar experience I've decided to write about mine. I'm not sure if my awful experience had something to do with my age or me being bilingual but I have never received such horrible service at a restaurant like I did at La marinara. The night started off awkward. I ordered waters instead of wine and waited 10 minutes before being rudely informed by the waiter that I had in fact not ordered anything. I brushed this moment off as being a miss communication and preceeded to order my meal. I asked for one appetizer of the rice balls and two main gnocchi meals. The wait wasn't long, but the waiter once again "misheard" us when we ordered and gave my husband one main gnocchi meal and myself one app of rice balls. We ended up sharing that tiny portion of food. Although it was decently tasty, we felt unvalued as customers. The waiter took priority on the older local couples in the restaurant instead of writing down what we ordered correctly. The next thing that occurred is one of the main reasons I have decided to leave this review. At the end of supper, we asked for our bill and I inquired about the location of the washroom. The waiter told me I could not use their washroom. This was surprising because I have never, in my life, visited a restaurant, that in this day and age doesn't let a paying customer use the washroom. This was utterly ridiculous. This was the first time that we visited this restaurant and it will be the last time. Horrendous service. I will never recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Montreal.