Menu review: Marcello Pizzeria and Ristorante

I don't normally make repeat visits to restaurants. Usually, it's never as good the next time I try it, and if I didn't like it, it doesn't get any better -- even if I really, really want it to be.

So I was a bit skeptical about giving Marcello Pizzeria & Ristorante (1404 Commercial Drive) a second shot, as I wasn't impressed by it the first time I went, despite having heard very good things about it (both from a friend and from online reviews).

Marcello is known as one of the best pizza places in the city -- apart from Lombardo's Pizzeria and Ristorante (1641 Commercial Drive, and 970 Smithe St.). Lombardo's and Marcello actually used to be owned by the same guy -- Marcello Lombardo -- until his ex-wife was awarded Lombardo's as part of their divorce settlement. Apparently, Lombardo wasn't a very honest guy: "... Lombardo had secretly skimmed almost $300,000 from his previous Commercial Drive restaurant, Lombardo's Restaurant and Pizzeria, which he ran with his wife Patricia for years before they separated. Marcello used $200,000 of the money to start Marcello Pizzeria a few blocks away in 1999, the judge found earlier."

Both places have pretty similar menus, and both use wood-burning ovens, though I'm sure Lombardo's oven can't be as cool as the one at Marcello (see below).


The first time I went, my friends S, K, and I split a medium pizza ($13.95). We had one that was half "Marcello" (tomato sauce, mozzarella, anchovies, black olives, capers, and onion -- see below for another blogger's pic of this pizza), and half "Palermo by Night" (tomato sauce, mozzarella, salame, inferno sauce, and baking cheese -- see below for yet another blogger's image of this pizza type).
I was intrigued by the anchovies (which I had never had on a pizza before, and which ended up tasting pretty much like sardines) and the baking cheese. We had one slice of each kind of pizza apiece, and they were good, but unmemorable.

We also shared a small "al quattro formaggi" gnocchi ("traditional Italian home-made potato & egg dumplings sauteed with 4 mouth-watering cheeses and broiled to perfection"; $12.95). I can't find anything that looks exactly like it, but if you picture the gnocchi below without the black specks, with more uniform shapes (a rectangular/squarish, tubular shape) and a whiter sauce, you'll get an approximation of what it looks like.

It was the first time I had ever tried gnocchi, and I was excited, because a friend who had eaten at Marcello had said it was really good. Unfortunately, none of my dining party particularly liked it, although we all agreed that it was interesting. It was just okay, and very rich (we had quite a bit of it wrapped up, since we had to save room for some dessert on the Drive!).


Fortunately, today's meal at Marcello was one of the few times when my second dining experience was much better than the first; from appetizer to dessert, it was all delicious.

I let my dining companion, the talented writer DB, lead the way with the ordering, since he's dined at Marcello many times, and has lived in Venice (though he's not Italian). We started with a red wine and an "insalate pomodoro e cipolla" (a tomato and onion salad with gorgonzola dressing; $9.95).

I actually enjoyed the wine, which surprised me, since I generally don't like reds; I don't know what kind we had though -- from an online list of their wine offerings, it may have been a "Tommasi, Amarone, Veneto".

It's too bad that I can't find any pictures that come close to capturing the salad, because it didn't look any other I've ever seen before (apart from when DB made it during a dinner party, with boccocini instead of gorgonzola cheese). Basically, it was three huge wheels of juicy tomato with gorgonzola cheese smeared on top, on thick white rings of onion, submerged in a pool of balsamic vinegar, with one slice of some of the tastiest foccacia (normally 95 cents for one slice) I've ever had. I'm glad DB suggested it, since I never would have thought to order it, as it sounded quite boring on paper. I did find a pic of one of Marcello's caesar salads, however, with a wedge of foccacia on the side (see below).



Next came the pizza ("thin-crust pizza baked to perfection in [Marcello's] wood-burning oven"). DB was adament that we stay away from the half-and-half option -- stating that it was something introduced for Americans -- so we stuck with a single option and shared a medium "al due formaggi" (tomato sauce, mozzarella, ham, salame, baking cheese, and mushrooms).

It was one of the best pizzas I've ever eaten. I think it had a lot to do with the baking cheese -- DB explained to me what it was but I can't remember anymore, so maybe he'll comment and let us know what it is if he ends up reading this. The Palermo by Night I'd ordered the first time I came to Marcello was supposed to have had baking cheese on it, but I don't think I'd had any on my slice. I feel gypped now that I've actually tried some.

Baking cheese is sooooooooooo yummy. I don't know how to describe it, but it's even better than mozzarella. I wish it had been more evenly distributed on the pizza, as one of the slices on our pie today didn't have any baking cheese on it either.

I can't find a shot of the exact pizza we had, but it looked as good as the professional shot of a Marcello pizza featured below. The crust, toppings, and everything looked and tasted soooo good, and DB thinks it's because we ordered our food right when the lunch rush ended (after 1:30pm), which gave the chef time to get our pie just right.

That's something to keep in mind if you decide to head to Marcello -- the first time I went was during a busy Saturday night; sometimes it pays to eat later during the day.


Our waitress asked if we wanted dessert, telling us that the tiramisu (it's called something else on the dessert menu, but I don't remember the exact name; $9.95) was amazing. Since they were all out of their white chocolate dessert (boo!), and I'd never had an authentic tiramisu before, we split one.

It didn't look like the cake I was expecting -- it came in a wine glass, and consisted of two layers of marscapone with chunks of lady fingers in between, soaked in Frangelico at the bottom of the glass. It didn't have the sprinkling of cocoa on top that I've come to associate with tiramisu. It was very good -- better than all the other tiramisus I've ever tried -- but I wasn't blown away. DB pronounced it very good. I would not recommend getting one on your own, as it's extremely rich.

Along with dessert, DB had an expresso and a grappa, and I had a caffe mocha. DB thinks that there's nothing like a coffee and grappa to end off a meal.

Grappa is "a fragrant grape-based pomace brandy of Italian origin, made by distilling pomace and grape residue (mainly the skins, but also stems and seeds) left over from winemaking after pressing... It was originally made to prevent waste by using leftovers at the end of the wine season... [and in] Italy is primarily served as a 'digestivo' or after-dinner drink."

DB let me take two sips of his grappa (which I'd never even heard of until today), and it was really interesting -- it felt like drinking liquid echinacea, making my nose tingle -- and left a pleasant aftertaste.

The mocha was okay, but I wish it had tasted more strongly of chocolate, because I couldn't detect a hint of it in my drink -- to be fair, I think that the taste of coffee seems to overwhelm my tastebuds whenever I have it, regardless of what it's mixed with.

Overall, it was an excellent lunch -- DB pronounced it as being perhaps the best lunch he's had in years.

Contrary to the dinehere reviews I saw just before my meal, the service we got was excellent, our pizza was perfect, and I was very happy with all aspects of my meal.

My second experience was more in line with those of Yelp reviewers and the people on tripadvisor.com, which is a good thing.


DB tells me that the pizza at Lombardo's is actually better (their pizza options sure look more intriguing), while Marcello is better for the ambience.

This post on which place has better pizza seems to favour Marcello.

I'd say try them both yourself. I still need to try Lombardo's!

Note: I just remembered something not so great about our otherwise fabulous meal -- we found a hair on our pizza plate, and since neither I nor DB have short brown hair, I don't think it was from us. Hmm...

If you've had anything at Marcello and/or Lombardo's, let us know what you thought -- and if you know of an even better pizza place, be nice and share your pizza-expertise, please! :)