I normally do not enjoy eating Italian food at restaurants because it tends to fall into an "Olive Garden" model. Da Marco blew me out of the water with fantastic food and great service. We had a party of 8 and they kept everyone happy. The food was authentic and unique for what most people think of Italian food. Try the risotto as a side or the main course and you will not be disappointed. read more

Hands down the best restaurant in Houston. Supreme

I was surprised to see this as an expensive restaurant. My parents and grandparents come here twice a month usually. I would of that some other restaurant was more expensive. However, great service, very nice waiters that often have a personal connection in some way or another. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a romantic getaway or just a bday brunch. read more

Awesome - service, food, expertise of the staff! We were there for an early new Years Dinner but were not rushed. We both agree that having a wine pairing with the food made it even more special and there wasn't a bad dish. I love having a tawny port for dessert and they did not have that but the waiter brought me an Italian dessert wine that was just as good! We really cannot wait to go back. read more

My husband and I went to Da Marco for our first anniversary, and I must say, despite all of the reviews that we had read, we were not overly impressed. I hate to write a review like this, because I am a firm believer that no restaurant is perfect. And I would much rather (and typically do!) write reviews when we have had a phenomenal experience. But after our experience at Da Marco, I have to write something. I will start by saying that the food was definitely good....as it should be for the price. But we both agreed that we've had food that is just as good at a few other Houston restaurants (and certainly other restaurants in New York, Connecticut, and yes, even places like Cleveland, OH). I was a little surprised by where we were seated, as when I made the reservation, and when the hostess confirmed the reservation, I mentioned that it was our first anniversary. Yet we were seated in the back room (the newer part of the restaurant, from the looks of it) right next to the wait-staff stand. Our anniversary was never even acknowledged. I wasn't expecting a party hat (obviously!), or a dessert with candles, but a simple acknowledgement would have been nice. Our waiter was knowledgeable, but every time we asked for recommendations, he recommended the most expensive item on the menu (whether it was an antipasti dish, or the main course). Now, we knew we were going to spend a good deal of money....we wouldn't go to Da Marco if we planned otherwise. But don't recommend the most expensive item every time...it just looks like you're trying to get a bigger tip. And at the end of the night, as we were contemplating ordering a night-cap from their extensive wine list, my husband asked the waiter (as we were the last table in the room) "are we holding you up? Will we be keeping you here if we order one more?" His response was "Yes. But do whatever you want". So we did.....we went somewhere else for a nightcap. We were not about to end our anniversary by spending more money with a waiter who obviously didn't want us to stay. One other item that put a damper on our experience...at the end of our dinner, we asked for our leftovers to be wrapped together in one box. I had had the Colorado Lamb Chops "Scottadito" with Cumin Yogurt (very good...though if you love the taste of lamb like I do, ask them to put the cumin yogurt to the side...it overpowers the flavor of the lamb), and had about half of my lamb left. I specifically asked for the full lamb chop, and the bones of the other two to be put into the to-go box. It's a $45 meal....I wanted my leftovers. When we got home, my husband's leftovers had made it into the box, as had my sides. But not the lamb. I immediately called the restaurant and spoke with the manager (Mr. A___), who told me that he would remedy the situation - I just needed to come see him at the restaurant on any night that he was working. I called the next day (Sunday) around 5pm, and was told that Mr. A was unavailable at the time...the hostess took my number and said that she would have him call me. I heard nothing back. Da Marco is closed on Mondays, so I didn't expect to hear anything. But on Tuesday I heard nothing, so I called again, and again left a message/my number with the hostess. That was two weeks ago. I have never heard back. Needless to say, my husband and I are happy that we have tried Da Marco...it's a Houston institution, and it seems as though many customers have had much more satisfying experiences. But overall, we were disappointed, and based on our personal experience, we will not return. read more

Always come back for the Truffle Risotto and Branzini with fennel. They consistently get it right at Da Marco.

Absolutely amazing! Honestly this isn't coming from a culinary novice. I had the white truffle tagliolini and the person I was with had the Dover sole. Not only is the food melt in your mouth worthy, the waiter and even bus boy are some of the most attentive I've seen around the world. Price point is fair, anyone who complains needs to understand that certain ingredients cannot fly themselves, nor can they be sourced inexpensively. Da Marco is in my top ten favorite restaurants in the US. Yes, it's better than Carbone in NYC. read more

I gave this place 5 stars because it is the BEST dining experience I've ever had in Houston... And I'm from Houston so that is saying alot. The food is beyond perfect. I had lamb which was the best I've ever had and the desserts are amazing. Wine is fairly priced and the servers are very attentive. Go here if you have someone you want to impress!! Best Italian food I've ever had!!! I am very picky and could not find any fault with this place. It is a little pricy but well worth every dollar. Other places just don't compare!! read more

Best food in town, no doubt... Only authentic Italian in town.... Great wine list... Es pensive though.... Coming from an italian... But dessert really has a lot to desire.... Hope they bring back their chocolate ricotta cake which was the ONLY decent dessert... read more

Food quality was very mixed. A few dishes were excellent like the spaghettini with clams. But, the oven-baked Mediterranean sea bass for 2 was significantly overcooked. At $175, it should have been perfect. The truffles on the steak tartare were dry. The desserts were uninspired. This would be a fine mid-priced Italian restaurant, but for a high-end fine-dining establishment, they should do better. read more

Best restaurant in Houston. We travel frequently to NYC, San Francisco, Chicago, LA. for work. All these places have great restaurants. DaMarco is as good or better than their best Italian places. Not perfect everynight but pretty close. Great food, wine and service. Only downside is it can get a bit loud and cramped at times but if you go at non-peak hours its not an issue. Also love his more casual places Poscol and Dolce Vita. Thanks to Mr. Wiles for bringing serious Italian food to Texas.. read more

what an amazing italian restaurant! they seem to impress me more and more every time I go back. Their service is outstanding, the ambiance is quite nice, and their food is to die for! absolutely fantastic! a great place to bring a date or simply to enjoy an excellent meal with friends and family. Try it out, I promise you won't regret it!!! read more

Let me just begin by saying that I realize that I realize that this is Houston, and that means that a lot of kitchens are going to have roaches (They are hard to get rid of no matter how clean you are). I am not one to throw a fuss over the mere existence of a bug, however what I think is unforgivable is not establishing proper procedures so that the roaches do not end up on the table. Especially when you are are charging a premium at your restaurant. There is no excuse for sending out a plate, which is supposed to be clean and sanitized, with a dead roach smashed on it. (No the roach was not IN the food it was on the plate). All it takes is proper cleaning and storage. But that is what happened to me, I ended up losing my appetite just thinking about what other corners they are cutting in the kitchen if a dead bug can end up on a table. With that being said, the service was excellent. The waiters and assistants were all courteous and helpful, if I could give them a separate rating I would. The waiter even changed the table cloth after the roach incident because it touched the table. The food was only good. Not great, not amazing, not bad either, just good. Maybe I had my expectations built too high based on the ratings, but I was disappointed. Maybe I am being a food snob but at $30 to $45 dollars a plate I expect something great. The management was terrible. I waited until I was on the way out to make him aware of the bug problem because I did not want to call attention to it before we paid (I did not want it to be one of those situations where they just brush it off because they think you are trying to get a free meal) However he still pretty much just brushed it off. He said he is having people come exterminate on Monday. He completely ignored what I was trying to say about possibly doing something about the sanitation of the plates. Exterminate all you want its not going to do anything about cleaner plates. Basically if you are willing to pay a premium for service, and the food and cleanliness is secondary in your book, then this is the place for you. If you want a dining experience that is about culinary excellence or you are squeamish about bugs and how clean place is go somewhere else. read more

I've had a similar experience to other reviewers. Was the food good? Yes. Was the experience good? No. Da Marco's current claim to fame is their 29 out of 30 rating on Zagat, and they let you know about it as soon as you visit the website. We had high hopes for this place, and on the food front we were not totally disappointed. That said, I don't think we will be returning. When we go out to a nice restaurant with friends, like most people we like to relax, order a few appetizers, and take our time deciding what we want for dinner. It has never been a problem before Da Marco, and why should it be? According to our waiter, we had to order everything at once because they are "so busy, that's the only way the kitchen can accommodate orders." Please. You mean, that makes it *easier* for the kitchen to accommodate orders! I'm sure it would be easier on the kitchen if I cooked my own food, or washed my own dishes too. Sure, they're busy, but so are most successful restaurants, and I've never heard anything like this before. They're sacrificing their customers' experience for what I imagine could only be a minor increase in efficiency for the kitchen. Ridiculous. So instead of munching on appetizers and enjoying pleasant conversation while we decide what we want for dinner, we all had to speed-read the menu because they will literally not even bring you bread until you've ordered. I agree with previous reviewers that this is not your typical quiet romantic setting with dim lighting and relaxing music. Quite the opposite. The wait staff are constantly bustling around, and the energy is quite frenetic. Being commanded to figure out what I wanted to eat as soon as I sat down didn't do much to set a relaxing tone either. Those points alone, however, would not be enough to keep me away. As I said, most of the food was delicious, but more on that later. The event that will prevent us from returning had to do with the wine. We chose a bottle to start, but for dinner we wanted something different. We asked the tired-looking sommelier to choose a bottle for us based on what we were having for dinner (isn't that what a sommelier is for?). He did not point out a selection on the menu, but instead said he would take care of us, and went away. He never consulted us about the price range we were interested in, but that didn't worry us at the time, because normally the sommelier will stick to the price point ballpark of any previously ordered bottles. After drinking 3 bottles of his selection (not by myself--we had a larger party!) and getting the bill, we realized that the wine the sommelier had brought to us was twice as expensive as the bottle we had ordered before. Talk about sticker shock. Again, this is not the first time we have asked for assistance from the sommelier in a nice restaurant. Was I taking a risk by putting my trust in him to make an appropriate selection? Yes. Did I expect that the sommelier of one of the "Nicest Restaurants in Houston" would act little better than a used car salesman? No. I think this is just an indicator of the priorities that this restaurant has. They're putting profit before their customers and forgetting that it's the customers who bring the profit in the first place! Now onto the food. The short ribs, burrata risotto, wild boar pasta, corn and lobster pasta, and quail were all delicious. The gnocchi, branzino, artichokes, and fried anchovies were nothing to write home about. (Apparently they're "known" for their artichokes. Whatever.) All in all, I'll stick with my go-to Italian date night spot: Prego in Rice Village. read more

Da MarkUp Houston: I'll start with a compliment to the chefs- the food variety, novelty, quality, and preparation was outstanding. But from there, the 'experience' is all downhill. From the minute one enters this tired building with annoying canvas front door flaps that once served, I suppose, as drapery for the foyer, it becomes apparent that this is a ravenous, money-making machine devoted to walking the marketing tight rope between prices that might appeal to the snobbish... and those that insult / offend the forsaken -- trapped, prodded, and rushed virgin hosts who will surely cringe at the astronomical mark ups, but are too often caught up in the affair of savoir affair to object. Round one, party of six- four bottles of imported beer (no domestics, like our beloved St. Arnolds, are offered) and two glasses of 'house' red ( ok, but nothing that could be called elite) w tax and 18% tip added = over $100. Add four lower priced appetizers and two small garden salads (green leaves, a couple of thin tomato wedges and some red onion) your bill is now over $ 200. Keep in mind that neither the beer prices, $12 a bottle, glass of house wine, $15, nor small salads, $8 each, offered to those (sotto voce) 'budgeteers' who chose not to get an appetizer (many of which are set at entrée level prices at other restaurants) are mentioned.. beer prices not even printed. I asked to see the beer list and was told it did not exist. The parade continued with demands for dinner orders not fifteen minutes into the seating. Four of us ordered a piece of fish (two from the menu and two from the price list- free chalk board) and two had the braised short ribs. All quite good, but nothing exotic. Three of us shared small desserts and had nothing else to drink, not even coffee. Bill- $540. Ouch ! I suppose that if this place had a more relaxed, fun, less factory-like atmosphere; the wallpaper, carpets a little fresher; maybe even a non-Hispanic waiter or two (rare to see an Italian waiter in a Mexican restaurant isn't it?) who had a little more charm than the guy who towels off your tire rims at the car wash.... I could have overlooked the final bill that was easily 150% over what I had expected to spend after many years of enjoying... the real 'five stars'. read more

One star is misleading because unfortunately we will not be eating at Da Marco. Sure, the fault is with us, but read and decide where this falls out with your sensibilities. Just got off the phone with Da Marco's representative regarding a $100 gift certificate stumbled upon recently. Our daughter and son-in-law gave it to us as a Christmas gift prior to 2015. At the bottom it states "Valid for one year after issue date". Since we are now well past one year, she said it was no longer good because "there are specific requirements". I said that they were obviously specifically happy keeping the $100 and that I was specifically unhappy. To me it's unacceptable to take the money and offer no middle ground. Does this represent Da Marco's values? read more

Da Marco doesn't need another 5 star rating, but I will give them one anyways and tell you why. This is our go-to restaurant in Houston for when we want to indulge our bellies and our wallets. Truffle pasta - no sharing...my dreams are made of this and a bottle of Barolo. Branzino carpaccio with foie gras - yes and yes. And most surprising of all, their bone-in ribeye special and the porterhouse (minus truffle oil) is THE most properly seasoned and cooked steak I have ever had in any restaurant. As a born-and-raised Houstonian, steak is my other food group, but we stopped going to all the high end steak restaurants because it was always under-seasoned and our "rare-plus" steaks always came out a sad color and the fat never rendered properly (ribeye lovers know what I'm talking about!). Our steak here was aggressively seasoned with only salt and pepper and came out with a nice crust and just the right amount of fat was left on the steak to make sure it was at its maximum juiciness. I. Love. This. Restaurant. read more

Arrived at Da Marco for our reservation five minutes early. We were told to wait in our car because the restaurant wasn't open yet. Then several groups arrived after us and walked to the front door but were left to wait outside. They included some elderly folks needing walking assistance that I would not have asked to wait outside in the heat if I were managing a restaurant. I would always be ready to seat patrons at their reserved time, not sitting with the doors locked five minutes late. After the doors were unlocked and groups were allowed to go inside I was informed that although the website says no shorts, hats, or t-shirts, I would not be allowed inside with my linen slacks and button down shirt because I was wearing sandals. Bravo to this fine establishment for refusing to accept changing social norms. They taught me a valuable lesson about the weaknesses in technology and the use of the internet as a source of information. Ask not what your restaurants can do for you, but what you can do for your restaurants. read more

We had been to Da Marco once before for a special birthday and thought the food and service was fantastic. So, when my in-laws were in town for their once-a-year visit, we thought this would be an excellent place to go. I called and made a reservation well in advance and specifically asked for the side room as my father in law is hard of hearing and that room is smaller and quieter than the main room. On the night before, I called to confirm the reservation and the requested location. We arrived the night of our reservation and waited almost 40 minutes after our reservation time to be sat. Then, we were sat in the absolute worst table in the entire restaurant , in the middle of the main room in the main path of all the guest and wait staff traffic. When I asked what had happened to our table in side room I got a bunch of excuses and the hostess tried to convince me that the side room wasn't 'really very quiet' anyway. Needless to say, my father-in-law could hear nothing and, frankly, neither could the rest of us. We spent half the night being elbowed by passing staff and guests and I finally had to demand they move us to another table. All in all, the food was excellent, but I was incredibly disappointed in the service and the way the staff/maitre d' handled the whole affair given the reputation and price of the restaurant. It will be a long while before we return to Da Marco............... read more

Made a reservation a month in advance for a friend's anniversary for 8 PM last night. We hire a car we have a great suite at Hotel Za Za. Our table was 45 minutes late but we treated to stand in the world's smallest bar with all of the waitstaff busing trays over our head. Finally we are seated in a room off to the side of the main room only to find a table of 20 seated at a long table assuring that he only way to communicate in the hot room is to shout at each other. I ask the waiter if this is as good as it gets, as it is now 9PM so where else are we supposed to go? My seat is at a very small table next to an interior window, crowding me and further making what was to be a great evening a real disappointment. The waiter was great and gave great service and the food was good. We recently ate at the French Laundry where obviously they understand that great food, great wine and great service must be delivered in a setting that,at $700 a table should be sophisticated, relatively quiet and not thrust upon anothe'rs reception. The experience was really poor despite the efforts of a very professional waiter. The manager obviously has more business that he needs from me and our table. This place will certainly not miss me or my wife, we live elsewhere part of the year. Our friend's whose anniversary it was were disappointed. He had recently sold his energy company and were expecting a fine dining experience and we got something considerably less. We could have gone anywhere in the states that evening for the special occasion however we made the mistake of choosing DeMarcos. The Manager failed us greatly, the ability to mange placing us in what appears to be a large loud group that should have required a dedicated room with it's own fee not to ruin all other guests experience would have been obvious to any manger at Chilli's but not here, not this night. After the seventh toast with glasses clinging, to get every one's attention, it was obvious that we had made a mistake. Great food is simply not worth what the manger had us endure. So after this poor experience, did he offer us a complimentary glass of water, anything, a personal appearance at the table? No, nothing. Truly the height of ignorant, rude and sophomoric management. We were treated to being told that the offending group had one of the great wine collections in Texas. Wow that made me feel so much better. I shall contact my Centurion advisor and forward our experience. This place just was really poor and I could not recommend it. read more

My mom and I decided to stop after a long day of post holiday shopping. We had driven by a couple of times and wanted to check it out. We showed up without reservations and underdressed (shopping clothes) and were seated immediately. But I do recommend always having a reservation. We were seated at a table served by Edward, who took excellent care of us the entire evening. We decided to do a mix of the menu and the specials. My mom ordered the prosciutto special served with a well balanced fried cheese and a frisée salad as the app and the salmon with crab special for her main. According to her, both were delectable. I ordered the arugula salad as the app and the the uber pricey and rare ($115...and not a typo) alba white truffle risotto. It was AMAZING! They shaved and mixed the truffle table side into the risotto. Every bite was worth every penny. I savored each morsel. We finished the evening sharing the spice cake with figs and buttermilk and raspberry sorbet. The dessert was surprisingly good. Da Marco does serve very good modern Italian cuisine, but I would not call it authentic Italian. ( I live in Chicago where there truly is authentic Italian). This restaurant is ideal for power lunches and date nights that want to impress. If you can get a table with Edward, I highly recommend it, as he is knowledgeable, friendly and very accommodating. read more

We had reservations made for 6:30 to celebrate my birthday. My 5 year old son forgets his iPad mini at a store and we had to turn around to get it back; I called the restaurant to let them know we'll be late and explained the situation. The hostess on the phone explained that they can hold the table for 20 mins and I told her we would hurry and please don't give away our table. We hustled over and arrived at 6:55 to be turned away by the rude and unsympathetic hostess and host. That restaurant was completely booked and they don't have walk-ins and I'm suppose to believe there was nothing they could have done especially after I called explaining the situation. My 5 year old son, husband and I left and we will never dine there again. My company and I dine there pretty often and will NEVER dine there again. I don't care how great the food at a restaurant is, it doesn't excuse or is a trade off for a lack of customer service. There are plenty of great restaurants that have great food with great service. read more

wife and i ate at da marco on april 02 2016.although the food was good our waiter was less than attentive. when it came to ordering we wanted to eat a couple of pasta dishes before ordering the main course in case we were full from the pasta .the waiter stated we had to order everything at the same time because the chef stated he cold not do that.never heard of such a thing and we have eaten at some of the best restaurants in the world.never the less we did order something to go.the experience would have been perfect if not for our waiter.maybe he was new.once we ordered he was no where to be found when we needed him read more