Martinelli’s Little Italy

We ate here based on other reviews in route from Breckenridge to Dallas. The food, atmosphere and service were all fantastic! We loved our server, Kirk! This place can compete favorably with any Italian restaurant in Dallas.

I don’t know what happened on the night we were there (a Wednesday) but this place certainly didn’t live up to the reviews.
We reserved ahead of time, arrived at 6:00, and were promptly seated. It was all downhill from there. From the time we sat down until the food actually arrived at our table was 50 minutes. That’s right, it took ten minutes short of an hour to get our dinner. The server was a friendly but distracted scatterbrain, who promised «I’ll be right back with that» (more bread, a cup and straw for our three-​year-​old, etc) but never was.
The food, when it finally arrived, was a disappointment. My wife’s fettuccine was just below room temperature. Her chicken Parmesan was dry and smothered in way too much marinara. You have to work really hard to get that combination. And the taste was a odd combination of bland and unpleasantly processed: like over-​preserved food from the freezer section.
The tortellini I ordered arrived cold (like, just out of the fridge cold) and the «cream sauce» was apparently just milk and flour. The pasta served to my kids was warm, but apparently «pasta with butter» means ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ pasta and butter. There was literally half an inch of melted butter in the bottom of each dish.
I don’t consider myself an Italian food snob. Although I spent almost three years living in Italy, that was a long time ago and I’ve grown re-​accustomed to the Americanized Italian you get at Olive Garden and similar places. But this food was worse than something an American housewife would prepare from a box bought at Walmart – bland, cold, and almost inedible. From someone who once subsisted on MREs for several months, that’s saying something.
Again, there are a lot of glowing reviews here on Unilocal,so perhaps we we picked a bad night (or were assigned a bad server) for getting good service. An hour seems inexcusable, but maybe there was something going on that we don’t know about. I’ve been places where the food was so good the bad service was just something you put up with… this is not that kind of place. We won’t be back, because the chances that the three things we ordered just happened to be the three things this place can’t get right seems remote.
Avoid.

Disclaimer: Ate here as part of a larger group for a wedding rehearsal dinner and am not 100% sure the food we got would be exactly the same on the normal menu; so I am only judging the food we were served and more precisely, what I was able to consume.
So a group of about 20 – 25 of us were here for a post wedding rehearsal dinner and I’d heard some really good things about this place. Boy was I disappointed as all get out. The best part of the meal happened first as italian sausage stuffed mushrooms topped with melted cheese hit the table along with a tiny loafette of bread and butter. This alone was 4 star worthy. Things went downhill from there. I couldn’t eat the salad, because it was inundated with onions (sad times, I like salad). I was assured by most that it was decent to good though. The main course was 2 large pans being heated by Sterno candles (acceptable for the buffet type setup going on in the room). The first was supposed to be mostaccioli… but it was basically just mostaccioli noodles with bland basic red sauce. The second was the most flavorless brocolli fettuccine alfredo I’ve ever had. Seriously, I could throw a box of noodles in water, boil, drain, and add a jar of any type of alfredo sauce from the store and it would’ve been infinitely better. Even though we had 2 or 3 different waiters bringing drinks, the service seemed pretty slow as well. Super, super disappointed. :(
Again, take it with a grain of salt as this wasn’t a standard dining menu affair. It’s entirely feasible that eating from the normal menu is a completely different (and better) experience.

This is really good Italian food and you will not go away hungry. I am not a big fan of eating out for pasta but this is one place that I will make an exception for.

I booked my rehearsal dinner with Martinelli’s for my wedding in April. we wanted my fiancé’s parents to try Martinelli’s while they were in town. Vinny was our server and was excellent making sure we were well taken care of! We split several courses and everything was delicious with plenty to bring home for the next day. We look forward to returning in April with our wedding party for dinner and drinks!

Was really good. Ive been here many times but this time was even better. All the food was fresh and awesome

Great staff, great food, and great atmosphere. Matt took good care of us, good experience.

Love the food, excellent prices. Great portion sizes. We have always had great service. My wife and I will split a «half» order and both leave full. Great atmosphere right downtown!

I love supporting local businesses but I don’t see how this place is so highly rated. If you know real Italian, than you know this place is terrible. A frozen dinner from the store of Fettuccine Alfredo is better than this. Everything from here seems like it’s from a box possibly and just heated up. If not, then they have to be clueless. It is like cafeteria food, no flavor and bland. I also have never had much luck with that staff myself. I think for the price here I would rather go down to Olive Garden or just do Italian at home because this place is a ripoff for what it is. I was also back for a catered event and it was ridiculous for how it was setup and planned by their staff. It was disrespectful for the type of event we were back for and how the food and staff was. At least they don’t make their own beer, so at least that was good.

Food is nummie here! Love everything! Even the salad is good!

Amazing amazing place. The balance of ambiance and family style atmosphere was just right, and the food is amazing! I would feel comfortable eating here with my family, date night with my husband, to a business meeting. that’s how versatile the restaurant is. Our host was Shane, very kind and genuine, service was amazing and fast and portions are plenty, I could not breath I was so full! Can’t tell you everything by name what I ate, but I did have the calamari and OMG! No other way to describe it, a must have! I have had calamari caught fresh and cooked and that does even touch this calamari. We also had a chicken apple salad?, this was not a tossed together salad, it was done with skill.
I will be back very soon, and if my experience is this good every time then they will have a regular!

We stopped here while visiting Salina and had a great dinner. The waiter was friendly and attentive. The menu had a variety of offerings. We ordered the tomato and mozzarella appetizer. The tomatoes were excellent. For dinner we had the fettuccine alfredo and chicken marsala. The quarter sizes were more than enough for one person and reasonably priced. I would say the fettuccine was average. However, the Marsala and the marinara pasta were very good. The marinara sauce was truly excellent! We would definitely come back here again, because we haven’t found a lot of truly good Italian places in Kansas. All and all, we had a good dinner and the price was very reasonable.

Ordered take out from this restaurant on our way from St. Louis to Denver. We relied on the other positive reviews and were optimistic. We love to support local restaurants while we travel and we had found this place on Unilocal.I ordered mozzarella sticks. They were cold, not even warm and soft. Clearly they had been frozen, then microwaved, even though the menu suggested they were house made. They were also $ 7.50, for about 8 lousy, cold, squishy mozzarella sticks. My husband ordered the chopped salad, per a suggestion from another reviewer on Unilocal.The chopped salad fell far short of expectations. The salad was $ 8 for a fairly small salad, not at all a portion for a dinner. The ingredients used were mediocre at best and not at all crisp or fresh. The salad contained very little quantity of the ingredients that make it a chopped salad. Minimal amounts of bacon or chicken and what was on the salad was not quality. The bacon was very tough. One chunk of browning avocado was on the salad. The ONE piece of bread we got with our meal was cold, dry, and had no flavor. The restaurant is located in the downtown area which takes you at least 10 – 15 minutes off of I-​70. Not at all worth the 30 minute detour.
Overall, it was an awful experience. Maybe they would be better if you eat in house, but with the quality of our food, I imagine not much better than ours. If you are passing through, I’d say this place is not worth the stop.

We had an overnight stop in Salina, and were looking for a local place to have dinner. This was in a little downtown area across from a theater — plenty of street parking on a Sunday evening. Our waiter was a young fellow but very professional: reeled off specials and explained the menu portions (family size, half-​size for two, quarter-​size for one).
I ended up sharing a lettuce + tomato salad and ordering a quarter size tilapia and linguine. The tilapia was nicely prepared, and the linguine was not too oily (which often happens with butter based sauces). I also got to try a piece of the St. Louis style pizza, which was cracker crisp. It’s a good thing our motel had a small fridge, because we definitely had leftovers.
It’s an easy drive off the main highway, and definitely worth trying if you’re traveling through the area.

We are irresistibly drawn to Martinelli’s like moths to the flame every trip across country for the casual yet classic Italian ambiance and excellent food and service. It all begins with the flax-​flecked hearty bread dipped in olive oil. We crave the Martnelli’s chopped salad, a tangy-​sweet mix of crispy prosciutto, tender chicken chunks, bits of blue cheese and avocado. And then there’s the heavenly pasta, but we’ll save that for next time.

My first visit here. The waitress was the best ever, hands down. She professionally quoted us the dinner specials with prices. She knew the menu and gave educated and professional opinion when asked. She explained how the food portions worked.
The portions are huge. The food was homemade and delicious. We took home two togo boxes.
Waitress recommended a delicious dessert. They are made daily. Our was like a lava cake topped off with cappuccino gelato (cannot remember the official name). 3 of us shared that huge dessert.
The ambiance was probably my favorite with an excellent music selection which completed the experience. I look forward to my next visit.

After an epic bike ride at Switchgrass Trail, we were hankering for an equally epic lunch. Salina wasn’t far away, and we went out of our way to come here based on Unilocal reviews.
There’s a reason some of the reviews mention Scott. He was a fantastic server who knew his way around the menu as well as local events. The service from him was very attentive.
My boyfriend and I are mostly vegetarian, and I had the shrimp and pesto sauce pasta sans shrimp. Scott brought out an assortment of veggies to make the pasta extra delicious. The pesto cream sauce is very good. I sopped up all the remnants with the bread.
The chopped salad was delicious and was quite fresh. I didn’t find it soggy at all. The dressing is slightly sweet, but the savory cheese balanced it out.
We finished with crème brûlée, which they flambéd. Very lovely touch.
We will be coming back next time we are near! Thanks, Scott!

If I were only rating the spaghetti marinara, I’d definitely give Martinelli’s 5 solid stars
BUT…and that’s one BIG BUT… Everything else we’ve ordered has proved disappointing. We most recently ordered take out of 2 pizzas, hummus, and salad for a grand total of $ 50+ The pizzas looked like something my children used to make with a tortilla and sliced American cheese (and what appeared to be diced canned tomatoes) and I am not exaggerating! The hummus… I’ve had better at the gas station in the little cup with pretzel chips… and the salad, «iceberg lettuce,» need I say more???
We’ve had many of the other pastas but the only one worth mentioning is the spaghetti marinara, it is wonderful. I hope I’ve saved somebody’s time and dime with this bitter sweet review.
One last thought… the service is very good.

Found this place via Unilocal of course because another place was closed. Drove a few miles out of the way to get here and WOW.
Best Italian food I’ve ever had. The place was packed, mainly because the local high school had homecoming or something. Even with the packed house, they managed to get everyone in, seated, and food on the table in an amazing amount of time.
The price was very affordable and the portions were large, so we shared a few dishes between the three of us.
Whenever I go back to McPherson to visit my family, I will make the trip to Salina to eat at Martinelli’s.

Do yourself a favor and get off the highway. Take time to roll through this cute town, a slice of Americana like you don’t often see anymore. Once you’ve poked around a bit, check out this delight of a find.
I had a Caesar salad, a delicious Peroni and the Vodka Shrimp and Shells. So good! It needed a bit of red pepper flake for me, but that was easily remedied. Trust me when I say the quarter portion is plenty, even if you and your dining partner want to try bites of each other’s food! I think we could have split one entrée, especially with the salad.
The service was great, the space was nice, and it was such fun to drag main street! Why on earth would you stop at a chain place along the highway when you can add some local flair to your road trip? Isn’t that the point of a road trip?