On a Monday night in October, “Marzano”:https://www.marzanoitalian.co.uk/ in York’s historic centre was packed, but fortunately we had a reservation. Our table was near the door but because of the way it opened, it wasn’t draughty, and it was a little bit away from other tables.
This position gave us prime view of the whole operation and the man dealing with a huge volume of reservations and enquiries using an old-fashioned notebook and pen. People were turned away or promised a table later as tables were turned over quickly. It was fascinating to watch and all the staff were friendly, and it seemed a very jolly place to work.
The set menu seen on the website was now £1 more at £16.95, but we both decided to go light and started with upsold bread and olives. This turned out to be a nice mix of bread strips with garlic and salt, a balsamic and olive oil dipper and a selection of olives. The “menu”:https://www.marzanoitalian.co.uk/menu/food_menu.pdf?v=1.3 was extensive with pasta, pizza, meat and fish. There was also a specials board, which we couldn’t quite read from our table, and as the place was pretty packed, we thought we wouldn’t disturb everyone. I chose what I often choose in an Italian, lasagne which came with a small side salad, whilst Roy opted for his favourite, linguine with bolognaise sauce. Having asked the waiter how the pasta was, he said it was very good, and that it was freshly made each day due their high volume of customers.
We had a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and glasses of tap water.
We were too full for puddings, which could be upgraded with a shot of limoncello for £2, but we finished on a double espressos which came with an amaretti biscuit.
The bill was £58 with service not being automatically added but the receipt said all tips were shared equally between staff.
As we left at 9.15pm our table was already being wiped down for the next customers.
