What a pleasant surprise!
We were walking the St. Clair strip on Labour Day and found most things closed. Heads hung low, we were about to give up when Marcellos came into our view. It was like the universe read our minds and produced exactly the kind of restaurant we were looking for.
Marcellos is laid back, warm and hopping. We were seated quickly, and the service continued all evening to be just right - attentive but not over eager and fast.
I started with the grilled calamari, which was cooked perfectly - not a rubbery tentacle in sight. Just slightly charred, tender flesh on a bed of greens with a nice balsamic reduction to complement.
For our mains, we had the primavera pizza and the penne arrabiatta. The pizza had luscious whole sun-dried tomatoes that were quite sweet, unlike the salty bits you sometimes find on pizza. The salty green olives were a great combo. Pizza crust was thin and chewy - really great.
Pasta was a little less interesting. The sauce was quite spicy, but pretty one-note. No depth of flavour or roundness that a little butter might offer. The pasta was also a bit over-cooked and clearly of the dried, rather than home-made, variety. But we didn't care. Marcellos doesn't pretend to be fine dining, it's a family restaurant and an excellent one at that.
We will definitely be coming back often.
Vegetarian Score: 7.5/10. Some interesting options and lots to choose from. Vegans will have less (as usual) but veggies have good variety.