Megster11187 "Context & memory play powerful roles in all the truly great me..."

My boyfriend is an Italian food fanatic, so it was no surprise he wanted to take me to Marco’s Ristorante Italiano in his hometown of Lewiston, Maine to celebrate our (dating) anniversary.

Marco’s is a large restaurant with the capacity to seat almost 300 people, though it is located in a very isolated part of town (the original location burned down in a fire in 2004). Case in point: on a previous visit, we arrived at 8:15pm (45 minutes before they close)…and there was not a single person inside, or another car in the parking lot! Needless to say, the atmosphere isn’t the most lively or engaging, but the food overall compensates for the lack of flair.

Decent Italian food, though you can find better, in my opinion, elsewhere in town (such as Espo’s, which is a bit more expensive but worth the cost). Huge menu, with 6-7 different seafood dishes, 8-9 chicken dishes, and practically any pasta dish or combination you’d want, with all the usual suspects (eggplant or chicken parm, seafood marinana, tortellini, lasagna, fettuccine alfredo, etc). The tomato sauce is home-made in the restaurant and is really good – garlicky and well-seasoned, though not the best I’ve ever had.

Appetizers are large enough to share, especially the bruschetta, which tasted fresh and was well seasoned, though I would suggest asking for the garlic toast without the cheese..it’s really overwhelming and overshadows the taste of the tomato! Not a huge fan of this and likely wouldn’t order it again, though I did like the topping by itself without the cheesy bread.

Entrees were more successful even though they were enormous, and I was a huge (ha!) fan of my Jumbo Stuffed Ravioli. Word of warning – they are NOT kidding when they say ‘jumbo.’ The ravioli was really great and overwhelmingly large (see pic for visualization!), but I wasn’t able to even tackle half of it. Extra points for portion size, though I would have preferred one less ravioli if it knocked a little off the bill :) My boyfriend ordered his (ahem…typical…ahem) chicken parm, and made quite an impressive dent in his massive dish (two large chicken fillets and a large serving of pasta)! Massive portion…guess I need to start expanding my stomach to keep up with these Lewiston-ites!

And, of course…dessert! Even though we were quite full, we opted for the strawberry shortcake (gotta sample it all for my fellow foodies), straying a bit from our usual chocolate-based roots. Really fresh strawberries and warm biscuits, definitely big enough to share!

Would likely go back simply for the ravioli, but that being said, I’m partial to other Italian restaurants in Lewiston (espesh Da Vinci’s) though everyone seems to have their own opinion as to which is the best. Guess you’ll have to decide for yourself :)