I came to Cafe Martorano for a networking event on a Thursday night. The decor was really chic and they had several big screen TVs playing mobster movies which I thought was classic! The drink specials were pretty good and the happy hour food they served was delicious...chicken Parmigiana and penne. I liked that the bar was large with plenty of space to sit around. It made it really easy to make conversation.
Review Source:The only reason I am giving Martorano 4 stars instead of 5 is because we had to wait nearly an hour for our table even though we had a reservation. However, we got a space at the bar and enjoyed delicious cocktails. Â It was a perfect night out for a friend's 40th birthday celebration. Â The food was amazing and the wait staff was charming and attentive. I am sure the waiters were faking their accents, but it was fun nonetheless. Â I will be going back next time we go to the Hard Rock.
Review Source:Do I start with the fact that they encourage you to watch tv while you eat?
Do I start with the $12 meatball? Â Â Yes, that was singular ball of meat.
Do i start with the fact you must put your whole order in together (cant' order appetizers while you look over menu for entree)?
Do i start with the fact that they can't bring the table's entrees out at one time ?  In fact  out of  a group of o 6 I got my hot plate first.....ummmm....What's the etiquette again, especially knowing they other plates could come in 5 or 10 MINUTES?
Do I start with the fact I'm wrapping up my 2nd job to pay for this? Â Ok, not really...but this place is cha ching!
Here's the breakdown:
Two bottles of wine: Â A $42 each 'reasonable' pinot noir.
Appetizers:
* Mozzarella #1: Â Special for the night. Â Served hot. Â This was darn good, the highlight.
* Mozzarella #2: Â Their take on caprese. Â 8 oz cold mozz served with cherry tomatoes. Â Fine, but nothing to write about. Â Well....hah.
* The ubiquitous $12 meatball. Â I don't eat red meat, but folks at the table did. Â I didn't hear any OMGs.
* Thai Shrimp: Â An Asian dish at a Italian place...funny enough, this was great.
I ordered eggplant parm as I typically do. Â Came with gnocchi. Â Since I'm not a huge fan of little balls of dough, I asked for spaghetti. Â Hold on to your hats...$5 to substitute!!! Â Â I found the dish salty, and oily. Â Â
My wife ordered some downtown chicken. Â Tasty.
4 other meals with the other couples. Â Â Â Â We walked out for $140 a couple, or $420. Â Yikes.
When we were done, i stopped by the bathroom where I got to meet the bathroom attendant. Â More dinero.
We hung out for a bit, danced a bit, then hit a few places around hard rock. Â Overall great night, but not running back here.
Music loud, service  horrendous! Never going back. The food was half way decent but then again all we tried was the pizza and some meat ball appetizers as well as the calamari appetizer. Nothing out of this world.  The fact that I couldn't hear the guy next to me sorta sucked plus it was towards the end of the night so couldn't find our waiter either and had to chase a few of them down to get the check.  Stay away!
Review Source:I am not the type to frequent places like the Seminole Hard Rock as it is not my style. Â I am even less the type to eat at an "Italian" restaurant in a complex like the Hard Rock. Â
First impressions were tacky, cheesy, tourity, overpriced, crappy food. Â Reality: Â It was tacky and cheesy and overpriced, but the Linguine with clam sauce was AMAZING. Â I know, I was completely floored by the flavor and the perfection. Â I would shlep myself back just for that dish. Â I am drooling as I type.
This was an experience to remember. The Chilean sea bass on risotto was amazing!!! It will set you back mucho denaro$$$$ but it was worth it. The desert was definitely the topper, chocolate brownie topped with vinalla ice cream was heavenly... The sad part was I couldn't finish it...but I tried. Lol. The atmosphere was relaxed but entertaining and the staff was very helpful and attentive. Great job.
Review Source:Soo...I've come to the conclusion...this place is either a hit or miss BUT when it's a hit...it's worth every penny! This time around the food, service and atmosphere was incredible. Wish it was like this always...as it's the only go to place in the Hardrock with a great bar scene. I order the Pastina each and every time...it's must...esp if you've never had it! I've yet to make it the Oakland location but will in the near future.
Review Source:Can you say YUM!? Apparently this Martoranos has two separate seating areas, inside or out. While we would normally automatically opt for the under AC choice, we were greeted with the option of a 2 and a half hour wait for indoors or immediate seating outdoors. Break out the pony tail, lets sit outside.
I wish I would have taken a picture of the food, but I was too busy shoveling it all in my face. That's right... face! We ordered 4 menu choices which we all shared family style. We split a meatball. Yes! That's right, one meatball - 4 people. At $18 for a meatball, I think it was well worth it to feed 4. Then moved on to Linguini with White clam sauce, A cheesesteak AND a pizza.
At Martoranos you can also order the house Martorano wine, which is delish! A bottle of Pinot Grigio and a bottle of Chianti please!
I'm so ready to go back again.... Would even wait 2 and a half hours if I had to - Delish!
Rude Employees, management and kitchen staff. We were told before being seated that it was their way of cooking or the high way. That should have been my cue to exit and run as fast as I could. But I was excited about this "new Concept". Anyways We waited and waited and waited forever just to be seated and the place was empty and we were the only ones waiting to be seated. When we got tired of waiting we told a busboy that we will be seating ourselves and freaking hell open loose. If you seat outside the place looks like it got stuccoed in the 80's and it plays very loud music. I'm 32 and hip. But I want a restaurant not a club.
Service is super slow and with an attitude, try telling the waiters and see if they care. Good luck with that!
It is extremely overpriced for the quality . I would say the food is below average. But they charge like you are eating in 5 star hip restaurant in Milano.
I mean i could go on and on.
But experience all around. I ended up walking out. That's how pissed we were.
Never again!
I wanted to like Martorano's; I really did. I had heard good things. I was even considering throwing a party there. This place is pricy. Way too pricy for what you get! We tried a few items, and there was not one that I would want to rave about or to eat again. One item I regret not trying would be the meatball, but honestly, I wouldn't go back just for that. Martorano's is a legend in their own mind. Go have two decent dinners someplace else for what you would pay for one here.
Review Source:I've been a fan of the original for many moons (at Oakland and A1A). I've only ever just drank and partied at this one, as it is a target-rich environment for hottie Cougars. They are a little money hungry, but that is okay.
This trip I met a potential client here and we started with cocktails. My martini(s) were fabulous, but I'd come to expect that from Martoranos.
Next we ordered a big plate of various cheeses, prosciutto, mozzarella, marinated cherry tomatoes, peppers, olives, bread, olive oil, balsamic, and more and it was AWESOME.
After that we enjoyed meatballs and ricotta cheese and that delivered too.
The music sometimes gets in the way of chatting, and the place is slightly overpriced, but I shall be back.
Yes, I got the new client. :-)
Ok so supposedly this is a celebrity chefs restaurant. Â It definatly was over the top with extremely loud music, but it turns into a club after hours so this is to be expected. Â The service was exceptional from start to finish. Â
The food - the four of us had a ton of food ordered:
Apps
Caesar salad - fresh crisp homemade dressing and croutons- very good, a bit to much dressing for me
Broccoli rabe and meatball - again homemade meatball, delicious and the rave very tender and the  roc rabe not bitter at all.  Probably par blanched then sautéed.
Meatball with fresh ricotta and green salad, just as good as above.
Grilled octopus - very tender with red onion and very good Sicilian olive oil.
I had the fresh spaghetti puntanesca which was cooked perfectly aldente and the sauce was extremely tasty with the capers, olives and pieces of tuna, a variation. It was well executed.
The others had fresh pappardelle Bolognese, fresh fusilli with breaded chicken and veal Milanese. Everyone commented on how excellent their dinners were and we all left very full. Â
1 bottle of wine, 2 bottles of Perrier and a bill of 300 before tip, Â Pricey, one would say, but worth it in my opinion. Â I would recommend this for a nice fun night out.
Good spot for the young/hip crowd.
You should think of this place as a over-the-top R&B/Hip Hop lounge that also serves food. I would go here to just eat italian. A quick glance at some other entrees on tables near by, I can tell that the pasta is covered in too much sauce/cheese with thick (cheaper) pasta. Â However, the Classic Pizza was VERY Good. Me and my girl caught an NFL playoff game here while jamin to classic jams. Good place for drinks and apps (nothing more).
After a concert at Hard Rock live  decided to have a snack with friends
ordered appetizers: the Meatball, spicy shrimp and the classic pizza shared family style we were told up front dishes would come out as they  were ready no prob, great food, great service Thanks to Anthony for being a great server who was very courteous and consistenty checked on us. I gave it 4 stars not 5 since I did not sample  entrees or dessert for those who complain about noise the place is known for being noisy so dont go
there if you want peace + quiet
The first impression or image of the place shows a huge picture of a bold muscle Italian tough guy at the front entrance, so I never had the desire to go there, but we received a gift certificate and tried it out. Sheesh, it was a huge disappointment and a very aggravating experience. Â The menu was limited with gnocchi as the main pasta accompaniment and I am a lover of gnocchi. The gnocchi was the WORST gnocchi I have ever had, even worst than what you can buy at your local grocery store. It was hard, bland, and tasteless. The chicken marsala and the veal parm were not impressive either. The service kept on saying this is the "Martorano way", well the "Martorano" way is horrid and not worth the over-priced bill.
Do not go here.
We came here for my husbands birthday and I have to say not only was the food incredible, the atmosphere was incredible  and the service was impeccable!  Wait for the seas to part now....no kidding I always leave some room for improvement, but not here - 1st time ever!  Eat the Carnegie cheese cake, the eggplant app and the pork w/rigatoni -
Split them, portions are huge...the world will be a more beautiful place.
I recently went this past sat(Dec 2010). Â The place wasn't packed maybe b/c I went late (11pm). I decided to eat at the bar. The bartenders were friendly and gave good service .I ordered the sweet n spicy shrimp apt. and mozzarella stack. The mozz stack was really good. I had the tiramisu and that was also good. Like many others I have to complain as well about the loud music. They def could tone it down a few notches. I've gone back a few times after that and have had consistently good service and food. I had to take out 2 stars b/c of the loud music and I think the food can be better like their other place in Ft. Laud.
Review Source:It is best when you order family style, that way you get to try a lot of stuff. The quality of the ingredients is really outstanding and they cook perfect andante pasta. BONUS TIME: The one in Hardrock serves liquor, so it has the edge over the Ft. Lauderdale one. The movies playing are also great and entertaining. Â I love when they stop the music so you can hear a special scene.
What we had...
The perfect linguine and claim sauces with a little spice.
The cheese steaks are a must try.
Anything with pulled pork is a good bet.
Also, they make a solid meatball with plenty of ricotta...hmmmm
The deserts are great, try the tiramesu.
The worst part of the experience is it's so loud, very hard to have a conversation. So if you don't like the person you are going out with or they have an annoying voice, this is the place for you.
Wow! What a disappointment! had been wanting to try this place out for the longest time. Apparently, I was not missing much. Here I was thinking this could compete with Casa D Angelo for example NOT EVEN CLOSE. It was like a glorified Buca di Beppo. Yes, I said it.
The place is nice and they were playing varied Enrique Iglesias songs which was a nice touch since pretty much everyone there was headed to the concert after dinner.
They never brought out bread for us though we later noticed other tables did get some. The house salad was pretty good. The menu is limited to the same items at chain Italian restaurants. Both dishes: an eggplant parm and chicken entree were soaked in either cheese or a ton of breading. The accompanying gnocci was barely edible. They were hard and tasteless. The brownie was more like a chocolate cookie with bland vanilla ice cream on top. All that and a glass of wine each was about $75pp huh? I am not cheap and have dined at some very very upscale restaurants but this was NOT worth it at all!!!!
Something else, when I arrived they were playing a DVD of Italian scenery on the tv screens over the bar. That was nice and got you in the mood to eat Italian food. ( ok, maybe it worked for me only..lol) Once the DVD finished, they inserted CADDY SHACK. Why on earth would they do that? It was still early, not even 7pm. The table next to me had 2 Tweens seated. Did they really need to be looking right at the naked woman in bed with a guy and other sexually suggestive scenes? Whose bright idea was it to change DVDs? Wow. That movie had no place at this restaurant.
Be prepared to yell over your meal! What's up with the obnoxiously loud music on a Wednesday night?? If you're looking to having a romantic or a nice & quiet meal....don't come here! Either that or bring some earplugs. The food however, was delicious...perfectly cooked al dente pasta. I had the spaghetti carbonara....it had pancetta, Cream, parmigiano reggiano and an egg yolk. I'd recommend this dish if you are a carbs, pork and egg lover...who isn't?? The servers were great as well, my glass was never half full. All in all, good food, great service.....music is just way too loud.
Review Source:Would give it 3.5 but no half stars here
While in Florida for a conference, ran into some people i knew and they invited me to join them for dinner. I wouldn't have stopped by as it is very pricey for italian. Glad I did.
Had the spaghetti carbonara, pasta was cooked perfectly al dente and the sauce was nice and rich and plenty of pancheta. Â
Was there middle of the week so no crazy party scene and was able to have good conversation. Drinks were well made and not stingy with alcohol.
Very pricey, but servings are large enough to share.
Fun, delicious, great service! Waiters are very knowledgeable about the menu and history of the establishment. Food=excellent. Recommend sea bass and any Italian specialty. The meatball salad is great! A good, reasonably priced bottle of wine and cheesecake flown in from NY. Delicioso!
Review Source:It is so weird how the reviews of this place are really split into really good/ or really bad. Â Mine unfortunately is falling on the REALLY REALLY bad side. Â I was here on a Thursday with a large group. Â The place was empty, which was just fine with me, I am not the must be seen type of person and like the extra service attention. Â Service was Meh, just OK. Â I'm sure some like the family style sharing, but it is not really for me. Â I want to order what I want to eat, not have some of what everyone else is having. Â I guess it is my refined, unique palate...LOL. Â
The food we had was below average. Â It reminded me of stuff you would order from a Pizza Hut or another really bad chain place that is not really an Italian restaurant. Â All of the seafood we had was cooked in butter, which I find you only have to do to cover a bad taste. Â What happened to some nice olive oil? Â Canoli cream was so bad I didn't even try the shell, I know, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
Pricey??? OHHHH YEAH...$85 per person for our group without drinks. Â Not even worth $15 per person. Â I ended up only getting about 1oz of fish for dinner. Â I didn't eat the veal, but was never offered more fish to compensate? Â Good thing I ate before we left or I would have been stealing off of someone else's plate.
I would suggest somewhere else to eat at the Hard Rock, but just haven't had much luck out there, so I say, eat somewhere else before you get here.
I dined at Martoano's on a Friday night; and a Friday night at the Hard Rock means that it was PACKED. For some reason they think its "trendy" to have a DJ spin while you're eating dinner. The music was OK but it was way to loud. Someone needs to turn down the volume on the speakers and to kill the spinning lights. You are not a nightclub, you are a restaurant. Act accordingly.
I was told by my waiter that they serve their entrees "family style". Well, I ordered one dish, the Spaghetti Carbonara, for me and my boyfriend to share. Sure it was for two people, but when the food came, which took long by the way, it looked like it would only be enough for one person. We did end up splitting the meal, but we were left wanting more, and NOT in a good way. They dish was tasty, but not enough to look past the flaws.
Taking a look at the rest of the menu, I could tell that everything was overpriced. This may be due to the restaurant's location, but c'mon, is it really worth sacrificing quality for quantity?
I wouldn't eat at Martorano's again, unless I was invited by someone else who was paying for my meal. I've had better Italian food at other places than this.
Great food and great service. Â A little overpriced but expected for the location. Â Only negatives: Â charged $8 for each piece of bread, charged $3 for my candle on my surprise bday cake and no coffee or tea is served...at all! Â Weird. Â Loved the dinner but what's with the nickel-n-diming???
Review Source:The food is amazing. Â Do get the meatball, as a previous reviewer said. Â It's famous and it lives up to the hype. Â We went there on a Tuesday night before the Stone Temple Pilots concert, and there was no crowd at all. Â I hear it's a different story on the weekends. Â I dislike the atmosphere (loud, likely to attract Jersey Shore wannabes, as another previous reviewer said) and the service, but it's worth enduring for the food.
Review Source:This restaurant is a true experience - a great place to eat and party with a group. Â The atmosphere is funky and electric, with 70's music (mixed with dance tracks) and mob movies playing on flat screens. Â As the night progresses, patrons start dancing near their tables and the vibe gets very "friendly." Â The food is delicious, served family style, and the service is old school professional. Â The meatball with ricotta and salad is a dish I dream about. Â The huge shrimp served over garlic toast, with a scampi style sauce, was a table favorite, and the chicken Parmesan cutlets were devoured quickly! Â The fresh mozzarella - being made right before our eyes - was another real treat; dipped in olive oil we just couldn't put it down. Â Grab a bottle of chianti and some friends, put on some sexy duds, and you'll have a great time. Â Can't wait to go back!
Review Source:This is not your typical quiet romantic restaurant. It is loud, the music is blasting and you have to wait a minimum of  an hour for a table. On the other hand once you have tried their food it is so worth it. The mozzarella is homemade and amazing in literally melts in your mouth. The service 5 stars all the way. I literally got up to go to the bathroom, and they folded and gave me a new napkin. If you like good food, and don't mind spending ALOT to eat this is the place to go.
Review Source:I can't sugar-coat this: I hated this place. The loud music is obnoxious, and they will literally laugh in your face if you ask them to turn it down. Why? They told us that they're so busy that they don't care if people think it's too loud. That's some fantastic customer service right there.
We waited an hour and a half for a table, and for a group of eight, we were shouting just for the person next to us to be heard, never mind talking to the people across the table from you. The TVs are constantly showing The Godfather and the Sopranos, and since we couldn't hear each other anyway, we just watched random scenes (including rather gruesome ones that I didn't really want to see before eating).
I will say the food is quite good. I got the cheese pizza which is a large personal-size pizza (at $16, it was by far the cheapest thing on the menu, and I refused to pay over $30 for pasta). It's probably one of the best ones I've had, with a thin crust and fresh cheese. However, I very clearly ordered it for myself, and another one in our group ordered one for himself, yet they brought them out as appetizers. Everyone else's food came out 25 minutes later. If we had waited to eat ours until theirs came out, it would've been disgusting. Even though I tried to eat very slowly, by the time everyone's food came out, I was full and left to watch them all eat. It was quite frustrating, and yet I knew it would be pointless to complain about it given the previous attitude we received about the music.
No matter how good the food was, I refuse to come back here. It was a pretentious, club-like atmosphere that I'm sure is quite popular with the Jersey Shore wannabe crowd. If you like that kind of thing, you'll fit right in. Otherwise, just avoid it. It's just not worth it.
This is a mob scene, if you know what I mean! Good fellas beware- the prices are atrocious. Maybe you need to be in the mob to afford it. Â If you go with a man, he will surely watch the movies being played on the big screens everywhere, as so do your pockets get played. There are so many fine Italian establishments here, so avoid this one, if you know what's good for ya.
Review Source:Not as crowded as the place on Oakland Park, with the same Italian-mafia movies blaring, and the same great food. Wine pour was a little light the first glass, but ample on the second glass.... fun place, lots going on around us! Definitely not a place to go for a quiet conversation, or with the kids...
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