Marotta’s Bar-Risto

I’ve eaten here several times and it is a feat to be seated! You have to walk into a tiny corner in the hall entryway, and wait for someone to see you standing there?! A server may walk by and quickly turn the corner as you try and ask about being seated, but more than likely you’ll have to ask someone working the bar who will likely ignore you until you rudely have to interupt a conversation between them and the lucky person who is actually seated with a drink!
The food is just ok, nothing special but not bad for the region.
The real problem with this place however, is the absolutely awful owner. EVERY.SINGLE.TIME I’ve been here he is swearing and talking about who I assume to be other staff with the staff working at the time. People don’t come out to eat to listen to the owner of an establishment swear and berate others. That’s awkward. The last time I went in, I ended up leaving before being seated because he actually made us feel like he was doing us a favour by being there. Sorry, there are too many average places around to eat at for me to patronize this place.

2 stars for the food, none for the service. The only redeeming quality here was the food. We had a reservation on a Saturday night at 6:00pm. It was a Saturday before an 8:00pm Proctor’s show, hence the reservation. I also mistakenly thought that two hours would be plenty of time to sit, eat, and get out. Unfortunately, I was very wrong. We walked in at 6:00, got seated at 6:20. Our waitress came and was pleasant, but didn’t take a drink order. We had a table with nothing but our menus on it. No water or bread. Ten minutes later water and bread came, as did our drink order. We thought the safe bet was ordering a bottle of wine, as there’s nothing to make and only one bartender for the whole place, on a Saturday. The wine finally arrived after speaking with the manager, and our food order was taken. At this point it was probably 6:45, we had about an hour to get our appetizers, entrees, pay the bill and leave. After half an hour we didn’t see our food, or our waitress, and spoke again to who I’m assuming is the manager. Our food came with 20 minutes to spare. We shoveled our food down, paid the bill and left. The wine was comped, which was a nice gesture, but definitely not enough to bring any of us back. The food is fantastic, and maybe on an off night it’d be a better experience.

Went here on a Sunday night as most Schenectady restaurants are closed. Everything was excellent. Had great service, the bread was delicious as well as the grilled vegetable salad. They offered a great drink menu. Will be back when in town next time

After a miserable experience next door. I came here for a beer and something to go. Friendly bartender and quick service. Being new to the area this is one place I’ll def be back to

Wonderful and large amount of street-​side, sidewalk-​level outdoor seating with umbrellas. Glad to see the vegetarian and gluten-​free labeling on the menu. Server not as knowledgable re: gluten-​free questions but chef on top of it and responsive! Appreciated that the server followed-​up and reported-​back to me (regarding mashed potato gluten-​free status: they are, indeed, gluten-​free). Of the 3 entrees and 1 salad my group ordered, the butternut squash thin-​crust pizza seemed the awesomest (although I could not sample). All portions large. Prices seemed fairly reasonable for food + great outdoor seating. Great place to bring my parents.

So, let me start by saying that I really root for small businesses in Schenectady, and as such gave some thought as to putting a negative review on Unilocal,but this experience I could not let pass.
So we had reservations for 4, for Mother’s day at 6 pm. Trouble started right away, as we arrived about 5 minutes early, but were not seated until about 6:20 pm.
Once seated, we received water rather quickly, but then did not have our drink orders taken for about 10 minutes.
Then began the waiting. Sitting close to the bar, we could clearly see the bartender ponderously making drinks and putting them up, and then some other waitress taking them to other tables. About 25 minutes after we ordered drinks, our waitress returned looking exasperated, to grab one drink that had been completed and gave it to my wife, with little apology or explanation.
at 30 minutes from drink orders, and only 1 drink to be found, we flagged the owner, who grabbed two more drinks for us, and nicely offered to comp our drinks because of the extremely long delay. Shortly after, we realized that 2 out of the 3 drinks were incorrect. (But at least they were very strong?)
Roughly 10 minutes after this, we finally were able to order food — (still no bread on the table at this point) and received bread shortly after.
The drinks and the bread made my grumpiness ease somewhat, but sooner or later, my drink was gone, and I couldn’t help but notice the table next to us that was seated about 10 minutes after us had received their food, and were about to finish.
I’ll save the suspense, the food was a 50 minute wait. During this time, we received no apology or explanation from either the waitress, the owner, bartender or busboy.
The food did arrive however, and it was actually pretty good. The food was the strongest point of the evening, although, for the $, my parents entrée’s looked a little on the small side.
It took a while longer for anyone to notice we had finished eating, and then a little while longer after that to get the check. When we did, receive the check, the drinks had not been comped, as the owner had said to the waitress in front of us.
At this point, it was almost 2 and ½ hours from our reservation time, all for Dinner and drinks, with no appetizers and no dessert.
I flagged down the owner, and showed him my written timeline of our service — He did give us our comped drinks and knocked an additional $ 25 off of our bill which was appreciated, but really I just wanted a sincere apology which I did not receive.
Overall the experience was one of the more disappointing service experiences I’ve had in a while. When I dine at restaurant with entrée’s priced in the $ 20 — 35 range, I have certain expectations in terms of service that I do not have of places priced much cheaper.
I do hope that they get their act together as certainly it could be a good place, the ambiance is nice, the food was good, etc. But as it stands after this I do not plan on returning for at least a year or two.

Their pizza is amazing, but the rest of the food– not good. I got a squash ravioli and the sauce choice was just awful– it did not complement the ravioli at all. I didn’t finish my dish and neither did my mom. Top that off with some of the slowest service I’ve experienced lately. And the waitresses were being catty to each other. Just not a great experience. Their lucky that they have the ambience spot on or they’d be suffering.

I made it a goal of mine to try more small business, local restaurants and i’m off to a good start with Marotta’s!
Nice modern atmosphere, friendly service, no hassle to split the check 5 ways.
The food was excellent! I had the vodka rigatoni and although i found the chicken to be seriously bland, the sauce definitelyyyyy makes up for it. I could drink gallons of that «spicy» vodka sauce! Meals are well portioned and super filling (I can *inhale* 7 slices of pizza down easily, to put this into perspective). Although they’re on the expensive side (as our entire party mentioned), everyone was impressed with their meal and took home plenty of leftovers — so in my eyes, it’s worth it!

I brought several people from work and they all loved it. The service in s great and the food quality very good. Schenectady has many very good Italian restaurants and this is one that should be on your rotation!

So after our last experience I was sure I would not be eating at Marotta’s ever again. However — The owner had heard about our experience and sent us a $ 50 gift certificate to try and make up for the poor quality of the food. This time I ordered the sirloin steak (which came from Avon Market) and it was great, nice size — even delivered it was properly cooked. The potatoes and veggies were also very good — however the blue cheese sauce that was supposed to top the steak was nowhere to be found. My girlfriend ordered a cavatelli with sausage dish that was quite small but she seemed to enjoy it. Again there was the small stale bread and butter minus the softer garlic focaccia that came last time.
I heard that the owner was informed about the weird chicken they had been using — I hope that he has since changed his supplier. I think I will let someone else try it first!
Again — Put more focus on the FOOD! Ambiance, and tunnels do not a good eatery make — good chef, good food, good atmosphere will bring good patronage!

First time at Marotta’s after many recommendations. I got the Crastaceo Fra Diavlo, which was a generous serving and very good. The sauce was good, and all of the seafood, which there was a lot of, was fresh. I had leftovers again today, which were also delicious.
Although, I no longer live in the area, I will be back. This place deserves a visit if you haven’t been and you’re looking for good Italian

The bread they give with the meal is delicious. That’s about all I can say.
I had the veal scallopini which was awful. It was drowned in sauce, the veal completely overcooked and dry. Perhaps the worst veal I’ve ever had.
The pasta that came with it was perfectly cooked though. But it too came drowned in sauce. They just overturned one of those half gallon tomato sauce cans in my food, I think.

Agree with the good but not spectacular ratings. Odd odd layout, my table was 1 inch from the front door which leads to a hallway to the host stand. Bathrooms are single person and next to the bar right by some tables as well.
Friendly staff though and nice people are sometimes enough to make a pleasant evening.

Loved it! Ask for Alejandro to be your waiter!

I’m a big fan of all of the development that has been going on around Upper Union Street. As a result, I was excited to try out Marottas on a trip back to the area. My parents and I came down here on a Saturday night and we were pleasantly impressed with the décor. They clearly put a lot of time into making it a swanky, modern bistro.
From the beginning the service was great, the waitress happily reseated us when our table was simply too close to the two neighboring ones. We first ordered the Arugula Salad which was dressed with a nice balance of a citrus vinaigrette and served with cranberries and goat cheese. It was a crowd pleaser all-​around and I wish the rest of the meal had followed suit.
Entrée I: Chicken Scaloppine
I was excited about the blend of artichokes and other vegetables in this dish but unfortunately it really did not deliver. The chicken was a bit bland and the sherry infused marinara sauce really lacked flare.
Entrée II: Verdura and Fava
The dish was served with far too much cheese and the consistency was off. Really not very enjoyable.
Entrée III: The Tortellini Marotta
This was actually very good, just a bit too rich.
Overall the food was OK but it really did not fit the bit for the price tag. I’d check out Scotti’s instead.

I have found my favorite «real meal» in Schenectady. Typically when we go out to eat, I will order some sort of sandwich. Not that a sandwich and fries doesn’t constitute a meal, but do you know what I mean by this?
The Tortellini Marotta is out of this world, and may have set me on a path to always chose the item on the menu with the establishments name in the title. The tortellini was cooked perfectly [there is not much worse than mushy pasta] and tossed with eggplant, sausage, broccoli, and sun dried tomatoes in a marsala and pesto cream sauce. This is a dish I will definitely be going back to have again.
I was also really impressed with the blueberry vodka and soda I ordered at the bar before dinner. Crisp and refreshing, this was served in a stylish cocktail glass garnished with a thin lime wedge and a bamboo skewer of beautifully bright, fresh blueberries. The bartender was also super friendly and fun to chat with, without being annoyingly clingy or inquisitive like other bartenders I’ve come across.

I wish I could give a 3.5 star review. The food was good, but nothing spectacular. Prices were very fair. I wish they told us when we made our reservation that there was a limited menu for the entire Valentines Day weekend.
The atmosphere was nice, but very crowded and packed together. No place to stand at the bar without feeling like you are cramping the tables nearest the bar.

To me, good food is only half of the dining experience. With that being said, I would have given this review 2.5 stars if I could have.
Our party of three dined here during a slight heat wave in New York. With temperatures climbing to almost 100, any breeze or pump of cool air is appreciated. Marotta’s did not have their AC running (multiple employees checked the wall unit right above our table) and the packed restaurant was stifling. Things happen and I can handle the heat, so no big deal. What I can’t handle is being seated at our table for an hour and 20 minutes, being told by our server to not order dessert because it «isn’t that good», and being ASKED to leave. Our server approached our table about 2 or 3 minutes after setting the bill down and explained they had a reservation for our exact table, right then. I explained to her that we, too, had reservations and were not done dining yet. She pushed and lingered while we hastily addressed the bill.
After speaking with the manager, he truly didn’t seem to care. He expressed that he would have never told her to tell us that but didn’t seem to think it was that big of a deal. I have never, ever, been asked to leave a restaurant– especially not when the customers are sweating over their entrees!
Aside from the off-​putting service and management, the food was really great. My aunt can’t have spicy food, so a heads up that the marinara had a kick to it would have been nice. My rigatoni was super tasty– the sauce was perfect. I’d like to say that I would be back, but I’m not too sure.

Since this place has open my brother has been telling me to check it out. He has been here a few times and never has had a bad experience, and he said the food was on point every time.
We went on a Sunday night and I made sure that I made reservations because my brother said they pack up pretty fast. As we enter we were greeted by the owner I would assume. He was polite and sit us right away. As I counted there was only 2 waiters or waitress working. Definitely not enough to keep up with the number of guests. Needless to say the service was affected from the shortage of servers.
We started off with their fried mozzarella, it was alot different that I have had before. Basically it was a grilled cheese sandwich on Italian bread coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried served with a marinara sauce. It was different, in my opinion it is too heavy for a appetizer.
Entrees came out and I ordered the Veal Formaggio served with a side of pasta. My wife ordered the Gamberi Scampi, their version of shrimp scampi. My dish was nothing like I was expecting, I only eat half of the Veal. The sauce, I was not a fan of at all. It did nothing to compliment the veal. The side of pasta was ok, the sauce was on the watery side probably because they didn’t drain the pasta enough. My wife’s dish was just weird and made no sense I thought. Feta cheese has no business being in any scampi. While the shrimp was cooked properly the rest of the dish I didn’t care for, my wife thought it was different she normally if likes the dish will bring the remainder of it home but, didn’t bring the rest of her dish home. Dessert we split a piece of their carrot cake, it was alright.
Over all, I might come back here if I am in the area and try their pizza but I will not make a special trip here for dinner.

A serious snafu almost derailed my first Marotta’s experience. I made a reservation for a party of 9 during Restaurant Week. When we got there, we weren’t in the book and the place was super crowded. The staff bent over backwards to fit us in, and eventually found our reservation written on the back of some random sheet in the book.
Our server was attentive and friendly. The menu was diverse and appealed to all dietary needs in our group. The crabcake appetizer was ok, and I really enjoyed my chicken scalloppine and pasta. The marinara had a surprising spicy kick to it. HUGE portion too; I had leftovers for two days!
The iPad on the table was distracting. I see the value in looking at dishes before you order, but something was up with the wifi because the menu just didn’t work. Kids probably enjoy Angry Birds :)
Great service (despite the reservation mixup), good and decently-​priced food, nice ambiance. Will definitely be back.