Café De Marco

Excellent restaurant with great food and service. Has a nice small atmosphere. Definitely recommend the Jumbo Prawns.

For whatever reason, the locals love this place, but out-​of-​towners tend not to. Regardless, don’t let the negative reviews sway you too much. The atmosphere is mixed, and some nights it will be a bit louder and others it will be much more quiet. The building is old, but to me, it lends a bit to the history of Marco Island, which is refreshing since the island is becoming more and more commercialized. The food is almost always good, whether you get the catch of the day or something from the land. Occasionally, the fish might be a bit fishy, but that even happens to the best of restaurants. Service has always been good, but don’t expect to be in and out within 40 minutes, that’s not how the meal is paced. The price is reasonable by my standards. The last time we ate there it was $ 70 for my girlfriend and I, which can hardly be called expensive in this area. In my opinion, this is a bargain for the area and well worth it.

If you look for a nice, family run restaurant with upscale cuisine, this is definitely not the right address. The interior and the ‘alfresco’ dining area are both completely outdated and need to be freshened up. As for the service: H-​O-​R-​R-​I-​B-​L-​E!!! We are foreign and are aware that we have an accent, but the latin waitress didn’t have a clue… we even had to point at the menu for her to understand and note what we wanted! My wife is GLUTEN free… the waiteress goes ‘si si segnorita’… but ‘NO abla ingles’ and ‘no understanda whatta you meana’!!! And last but not least the food: Decent and very classic fare that you can eat in any Florida restaurant, but $ 10 – 15 more per dish. We are from Belgium and we don’t go to a restaurant to eat what we are used to eat at home. We are so dissappointed in the SW-​Florida restaurant scene, that we decided only to frequent corporate chains in order to give my wife a break, but all this ‘french’ and ‘italian’ and even ‘new american’ WANNABE restaurants don’t deliver!!! It’s just an excuse to charge you more!!!

Wonderful restaurant! Best swordfish and lobster bisque. Atmosphere is great! Definitely recommend

The best way I can say this… Stay AWAY!!! The owner is the rudest nastiest woman in existence. Ugly to the core!!! I was charged 47 dollars for a small caesar salad (which was full price) and a full 28 dollar meal that was mediocre at best. We Sat outide in plastic chairs since we had our baby. I got the bill without an itemized and thought 47 was a bit ridiculous for a small salad and entrée. They charged us 10 dollars (which the owner rudely pointed out the menu «stated» THAT) for a spilt meal fee even thou we bought two full priced items off of the menu. I did not see the charge fee on the menu and I think that is something the server should state, 10 dollars is high. The owner was completely rude and pompous. I am beyond floored at the way she treated a paying customer. The food was not worth it at all.

I really pride myself on utilizing Unilocal when I’m eating in unfamiliar territory. Which brings us to Café de Marco. Based on the reviews and location, I figured this restaurant would’ve been a gem. Boy was I wrong.
To set the storyline of the evening, I was dining with 2 guests — my boyfriend and my dad. We sat down right at 6pm with reservations. We each ordered a glass of wine, and were brought a small basket of warm rolls and butter. The rolls were very tasty, we all thought it was a great way to start off the meal! All of a sudden, I noticed there was a bug in my glass of wine. I promptly let our server know, only to have him come back over with a STRAW to «suck up» the bug with. Needless to say my guests and I were in awe. Trying to look past it, my boyfriend and I each had a bowl of the lobster bisque. The «bowl» was more like a very small cup — but it was delicious. Little did we know this would be the highlight of our meal. Next were the entrees… I ordered the fresh catch de Marco (Mahi Mahi) my dad had the stuffed lobster tail, and my boyfriend the Chilean Sea Bass special. My fish was completely dried out, the lobster tail was the toughest tail we had ever tasted, and the sea bass was barely cooked correctly toward the middle of the fish.
We choked down what we could, while our server never even came back to ask how our meal was. $ 150 and 3 very unhappy (and still hungry) guests later, thank goodness we had leftover key lime pie at home.

Had a great meal here. We started with the lobster bisque and really enjoyed it. I had crab cakes and they were good. Everyone enjoyed their meals.

The food and service was excellent! Our server was extremely knowledgeable about gluten free options. The décor is rather dated and the crowd here was noticeably older than all of the other places where we dined during our stay on the island, but the food was worth it.

It may be fantastic but when we arrived on a Sunday, it was closed so we will never know. Most places post what days it’s open or closed!

We vacation in Marco at least once a year, and as our kids have gotten older, we (they) love to dine out. Café De Marco is quickly becoming one of our favorite places. We went there last night with family and friends. The staff couldn’t be nicer and genuinely friendly. Jen is just the nicest waitress, as was the male waiter working with her. The hostess was also really nice and fun. The apps and the entrees are creative, which is refreshing on the island. All the apps we tried were excellent (stuffed mushrooms, frog legs, eggplant rollatini). Like most restaurants, some entrees are great (scampi, filet mignon) and some are so-​so (strip steak). Desserts are excellent. Go with waiter/​waitress recommendation. Very quaint atmosphere. Definitely recommended.

In case anyone is wondering, my picture here on Unilocal is that of my Lobster Bisque from the Café

Great food and service. Classic Marco Island fare. We had dinner with catch of the day covered in macadamia nuts that was wonderful. They took great care in preparing items for my wife who has a wheat allergy.

The worst restaurant on the island. Fish was overcooked. Could have gotten the same thing at any dive bar. Prawns, advertised as their most popular item, were tough and also overcooked. Every one of the Oysters Rockefeller had a nickel sized oyster that was paper thin. The waiter said they received them frozen. FROZEN? On Marco «Island»? Really?! Makes one wonder what else is frozen. Ad in magazine says «fresh». Ad also says 2011 – 14 TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence. Causes one to question who these Advisor’s are. Did they even eat there?

Service was friendly if slow, and the food was enjoyable if not quite worth the price. Good selection of wines by the glass.

First time here, went based on the recommendations of Unilocal and I must say I was rather disappointed. The Sample plate was fair but overly greasy with heavy creams. Visited with my wife and two kids, we had the founder, tilapia, kids pasta and Mussels. The dinner was again very oily and greasy not what we expected, but others may enjoy this type of food. For the price of $ 117 for two adults and two children I felt the food was of poor quality and extremely over priced.

Very friendly staff. The lobster bisque was amazing!!! I got the Diver scallops & Prawns. They were a little over cooked, but still tasted delicious. I recommended this place just for the lobster bisque alone. My Husband had the surf and turf. He enjoyed the prawns, but wasn’t the biggest fan of the steak.

Are you kidding me?! This snobby, over priced, place that offered us «open air seating» in the parking lot was ridiculous. My car had a better spot than my family. We got up and left.

I have to admit right up front that I am a lobster bisque snob. Every restaurant that offers it I try. I was not disappointed this is one of the best I have ever had. My husband had the prawns and he was very happy. I choose a veal bucco that was to die for. Very happy and satisfied worth a visit to try more.

Have walked by this place many times because the sign says «seafood specialties». I love seafood. Wife hates it. So we walk by.
But tonight they showed a pork dish on the specials board. So we checked out the menu and found several options for landlubbers. We ordered spinach-​stuffed chicken breast. It was out of this world!
Will definitely return, and we hope Carol waits on us again.

Ok… the mostest delectable food you’ll ever put in your mouth! Every time! The lobster bisque, blackened sword fish, and filet mignon and scallops were to die for… mmmmmmm.