Reviews for Marco's Tapas Bar

Not one good thing about the Evening

Having eaten in this restaurant at least 10 times over the last 6 years of living in St Albans(but not at all in the last 18 months), I was surprised to find the standards had plummeted. Wine list consisted of just 3 wines - The House White, The House Red and the Cava. Unfortunately only the House Red was available on a Friday night! Food was awful - the Garlic King Prawns were clearly frozen prawns and they were overcooked and tasteless in watery garlic butter. The Liver in Sherry was like rubber - again in watery sauce. The restaurant was freezing and has been decorated in a dark brown colour on the walls with very minimal lighting. So you couldn't really see what you were eating anyway - maybe that was the idea. I like to support independent restaurants wherever possible - but I would rate 'La Tasca' (The Tapas Restaurant chain) at least 10 times better than Marco's. [Feb 10]

what a night!!

My experience of marcos hasn't always been consistent no, but on my last visit i had 20 people at this venue for my birthday this year and the staff were very accommodating the food was spot on and also the staff made me and my party feel very welcome. so welcome that despite arriving at an early time me and my party stayed the whole evening. Thank you marco and staff for making my birthday an unforgettable one. [Sep 09]

Suprisingly average, as it used to be wonderful

We've had some great evenings at Marco's since the new team took over - but Friday night was a real disappointment. The place was packed - a good sign of course - but we wondered if they could cope with the volume of covers they were trying to turn. Despite being asked to arrive earlier than we would have like to avoid the arrival of a big table, the food came very intermittently; much more than the lovely grazing style of tapas calls for; meaning for a fair part of our meal we only had a bowl of spinach on our table. When the food did come it was ok. Not great, just ok. We immediately wondered if they'd had a change of chef but apparently they haven't. The food felt rushed - for example the chorizo and meatballs could have done with good few minutes more cooking time. If this was our first visit to Marco's we might not have noticed these little cracks in the operation. But as we've had very good service and pretty impressive food before, it was a disappointment. In the current climate, a meal out is more of a treat than it was. So when you come away feeling let down and short changed it's frustrating. [Jul 09]

Good food great place

Great food, really friendly people. Reasonably priced been twice recently, will be there again soon. Regards Steve and family. Thanks Marco's. [May 09]

tasty tapas

This is an award-winning Spanish restaurant, and it's not hard to see why. Centrally located yet tucked away, it has a cosy, unpretentious feel. We've got a Spanish relative so have had our fair share of tapas, and don't think we've ever had tastier - in particular the whitebait, the pollo al ajillo (chicken in garlic), and the tortilla. The Russian salad was a little too salty for our taste, though. The only slight downside was the service, which was slow (our 5 dishes came pretty much consecutively over the period of about an hour and one dish and a drink were forgotten) and a little bit sullen. But if you're happy to hang around and like tapas, we think Marco's is very hard to beat and will certainly be back. [Apr 09]