Marco Polo in Brighton and Hove

This place definitely needs Gordon Ramsay! The manager is in denial and needs to take on feedback and improve. Bella Italia was full, so we ended up eating at this restaurant. The lady was extremely pleasant and probably saves the business. We got the wrong drink and when we asked for the right drink, we were told we'd have to pay for it. My prawns were not cooked and my food was cold. The pizza was undercooked and when I said I did not want to pay service charge, the manager did not accept that I felt the service was not great. He took it off and was very cold. If you are visiting Brighton, I would try somewhere else so you can enjoy your stay.

We had pizza and it was great. Staff were a bit disorganised and needed several reminders. But we enjoyed ourselves

We came to the restaurant without looking at reviews. Ordered starters and mains but hadn’t received anything after an hour and a half. Chased our starters but once received realised the mains wouldn’t be worth waiting for. Clearly under-staffed and not capable of providing an acceptable service but kept accepting new tables who also ended up leaving before any food received.

Good restaurant, fantastic service. We wanted to order penne with a Carbonara sauce without bacon, and the waiter offered to exchange the bacon with mushrooms for free. Also, he proposed that if we didn’t like the spicy pepper too much, he could leave it out and bring us chillies, also for free. The prices are totally acceptable, we paid less than £15 for a good meal.

The food was poor the atmosphere inside was like an empty cafe. The waiter did not even know what beers they had. My friends and I joked that they need Gordon Ramsey to visit them. Sorry to the staff.

Saturday 15th July 23 A celebration of our daughters 40th birthday. If you want undercooked food ( namely fish ) Dirty restaurant, non flushing toilet. Only one female, one male, & no running water in the sink. Overpriced ‘ naff cheap ‘ wine from a no wine list menu. Then this is the place for you…….. Agree with other reviews that the staff were comically friendly, until we complained. Paid for our overpriced drinks before leaving, to be told ‘ this is Brighton you know ‘ Have to say it really spoiled our evening as two of our family were children. No stars for me. Zoë Smeeton.

Pizza was very undercooked, mussels in the pasta were the smallest I’ve ever seen and overcooked, garlic bread was burnt. All in all, a very bland, overpriced disappointing meal. We made a bad choice, should have read the reviews!

Echo other reviews really - avoid at all costs and I would be very surprised if they are still open in 6 months anyway. Main issue was food, not as described on the menu and almost humorously bad and unappetizing. There was no wine list but we ordered a bottle of house red, which was almost undrinkable as well as £25. We ordered chips, which they had sold out of (chips?) but was still charged on the bill. Not a problem, we politely reminded them that they had run out of chips... but they still came over to inspect our plates to make sure we hadn't eaten any!

Very mediocre! Waitresses were excellent but pizza was bland - couldn't really tell what it was just a big gloupy mess and burnt base.

Food was bland and overpriced, staff all dressed badly and filthy looking, not professional at all and I was overcharged but not boddered to go back...avoid this place, sadly I found better options while walking away, will try them another night.....so disappointed.

Really bad food, carbonara is just cream and pasta. Ruined our day.

Arguably the worst restaurant I’ve ever been to! cold and bland food (all 4 different dishes tasting exactly the same) clueless staff who were constantly smoking outside, no drinks menu, missed dishes from our order and to top things off the card machine didn’t work so had to bank transfer to a random account. Please don’t go here! I am amazed how this place is still running.

ı think the stuffs are realy mean they yeald us when we wanted the separate the bills and food taste quality is realy bad

Service, taste and hygiene all ZERO. Owner is very rude. Waiters are indifferent.

Worst service avoid at all costs

We ordered Mussels spaghetti the mussels were the tasiest ive had in a long time, the sauce was also delicious, good portion sizes too . The owner and staff were helpful and friendly

Too bad Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares is no longer running! Uncooked pizzas (one of them had even a raw egg on it!), slow service, rude staff, repeatedly sending the wrong dishes out. Avoid at all costs.

Worst restaurant I've ever been to. Not an exaggeration. Slow service, hair in food, raw dough, poor ingredients, repeatedly brought out the wrong dish and had the cheek to ask for a service charge. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

Absolutely awful — avoid at all costs. We waited well over an hour for a couple of underdone, lacklustre pizzas. My friend ordered a fiorentina, and the egg was completely raw. Staff were so aggressive, rude and intimidating that we completely lost our appetite. And multiple cases of them sending the wrong food to our table. Atrocious.

Not good. The staff were friendly, but the food was undercooked. My friend said her pasta was good, but my calamari were like plastic and the pizza was not cooked. The calamari, I would say, were frozen and not cooked enough. I would not recommend this place as the food was expensive for the quality: Coke/sprite £3 Calamari £8,75 (even though the manu said £7,75) Pizza £8 Pasta £11,95 We were brought in by a guy outside giving pamphlets, he told us everything was £5,95, but once you read the paper it only refers to 6 items. The place looks clean.

Went here today (01/05/2022) was welcomed and a very nice friendly man who showed us to the table. He was great and couldn't do enough for us and engaged with our children. The food was a massive let down, probably the worst pizza I have ever had, my partner's pasta was bland, there was just no taste to any of the food.

We went there with our baby and our toddler. Our toddler is allergic to gluten and dairy so we asked if they have gluten free and dairy free food. They told us that they have. Well, we ordered gluten free pasta with something and topping supposed to be cheese but they said that they have vegan and gluten free version of that. Well, it's turned out that they lied and our little girl had really bad allergic reaction on the way back home (on the bus).. So for people with allergies I really don't recommend this.

Very good food, staff are very friendly, shared a starter then had a main each, both of us were full after, I’ve seen other reviews regarding the price, it may be above some other restaurants but it is an individual business which offers a good meal and friendly service from staff, would definitely recommend it.

Massively overpriced for some not great food. My pizza didn't even have cheese on it. Authentic looking but not tasting.

We visited a few nights ago after walking past and thinking it looked very cosy and traditional. The mojito was the best I've had in a long time and I thoroughly enjoyed the mushroom pizza and chips. Was surprised to see the bad reviews when coming to post this as my experience was the opposite, staff were friendly, we were served quickly and the food came out quickly and was very warm and fresh. The waitress I think was new, but she was lovely and did a great job, there was a mix up with a drink we ordered but it was rectified immediately and with no fuss. Would definitely recommend and would absolutely return based on our experience!

Shocking. The food was average, my mushroom pizza was essentially a margarita with four slices of mushroom. The older guy who I can only presume was the manager was the grumpiest person I’ve ever come across in customer service and overheard him be quite rude to a customer at another table, and he was generally just unpleasant with a sour face. The young boy who served us was friendly and frankly felt he didn’t belong there. The lady who brought our food didn’t even ask whose was whose and just plonked plates down in random places and walked off, so we had to resign them all around. She didn’t even flinch! That place doesn’t deserve to be in business.

Staff very friendly, nice location, but ruined by the food. I did like the South African cider though. The tricolore salad was so over priced. I got one tomato sliced into 4, a quarter of a over ripe avocado that had more brown than green, and 3 slices of mozzarella with a teaspoon of olive oil for £12. I thought they got the wrong dish and this was a starter! My wife’s seafood linguini had 2 pea sized pieces of salmon, and tasted of nothing. I will never go there again, please review chefs.

Shocking, avoid at all costs, uncooked pizza which they admitted. Then wanted payment because we ate some, how else are you to find out its uncooked. Its only 1 star because you can't give 0

The Next Kitchen Nightmares Episode. My pizza was undercooked and I was told "There's nothing we can do as you've eaten most of it" I'd eaten the cooked parts. It was so loaded with cheese and sauce that it was just vile. Steer clear of this place. The McDonald's down the road could cook better Italian food than this chef.

Hugely overpriced for the very below average food. Sticky tables and rude manager/owner.

This place is just terrible, I don't understand how they're still on business. I have nothing positive to say, the staff was a bit embarrassed by what was being put in front of us. Even the coffee was awful.

Sad to read the reviews only after our visit. This place has zero of an Italian restaurant. All critics can be confirmed, prices way out of scope. And mind the service charge.

Pizza was decent however water was brought out warm with no ice. A few of the workers were friendly however others were not so. Got food before drinks etc.

Not good food! Very basic., over priced

Such a bad restaurante, the food it's terrible, the service as well, one off the worst restaurante I try in all my life.

Terrible food, terrible service and completely ripped off!! Avoid at all costs!!

We was greeted by a young guy at first who helped us to a table and gave us menus, once seated a lovely chatty guy came to take our drinks order, when ready a young lady came to take our food order again really friendly, the food was so nice, we ordered a pizza, garlic bread and a lasagna to share and all of it was super tasty, we finished off with a biscoff cheesecake which again was lovely, all round lovely food and brilliant staff and service.

Avoid this place, a complete rip off and very poor quality. £49 for "lunch" for two.....the sprite was flat, £4.95 included for stale bread that we didn't order, the wrong dish given to us from woefully untrained staff.

We waited for 40 Minutes to order our dinner, then we waited for half an hour to get our food, which didn't have any flavour. It wasn't worth the prize. The waiters were disinterested and were doing nothing even with full capacity of customers. The service was unacceptable. They brought our food to the wrong table. When our table got wet because we accidently spilled sum water the waiters didn't care about it. They charged extra money for service even though the service was unsatisfying. It isn't a true Italian restaurant because they couldn't even pronunce Italian dish names. Very upsetting overall.

Just don't eat here. It's for ripping tourists off and the service is terrible. We sat at the table for 20 minutes and then had to go to the bar to get someone to take our order. The head waiter (who had food on his face which was pretty off-putting to start with) then lied about the price of a bottle of wine when we asked (the menu we were given had the price scrubbed out) and we ended up paying £10 more than we were told it would cost. When I questioned the price of the wine the waiter he was really rude and lied about what he had said. So I just got the service charge refunded which had been automatically added. They were unprofessional at best. A complete rip off and a terrible experience.

TERRIBLE!! I don't usually write reviews but wanted to warn people how bad this place is.....the staff were disinterested / inattentive; my food was cold & my husband's pizza was like an inedible biscuit. Even the coffee for my Affogato was cold! Wish we had gone to Pizza Express! :(

-Plates not clean -Water had a pasta/starchy taste -£3 for store brand coke/ Fanta which were both flat and not fizzy -Lack of flavour within salad, dry halloumi -Lack of salad in tricolore salad -Tap in toilet barely working -Pizza subpar Multiple Italian restaurants nearby, Bella Italia being 10 steps away. If you choose to trust local restaurants, avoid Marco Polo as service is not amazing. One waiter was unbothered and spoke crudely and acted as if he wasn’t a waiter but was acting as if he was there to push us away from the restaurant. Would leave 0 stars if possible and not worth almost £125

Wanted to go to a local business rathwr than a chain. This place reminds me of all the rip off restaurants in european capitals that dont rely on repeat business. We had a tricolore salad and a pizza. The pizza was ok but the salad cost £10.95 for three slices of mozzarella, 4 slices of tomato and a quarter of an avocado. They also automatically add 10% service charge to the bill. A disappointment and they should be ashamed of themselves for ripping off customers.

Stopped for lunch. Had the tricolour salad. Seriously reevaluating how they can even call that a salad! I paid £12 for literally a sliced tomato, quarter avocado and some mozzarella, with a drizzle of oil on top. No leaves, no other veges, felt like robbery. My friend ordered the other salad, which was more expensive but no better. Tiny bowl for over £14. On top of all this, we had to wait about half an hour for our cold minimal prep order! Don't order salad here unless you want an empty plate (and pocket!).

My go-to restaurant in Brighton - always find the staff friendly and helpful. Yes, it's not 'cheap' but then a pizza or pasta in a big chain is also not cheap. Love the fact that there's always a shady corner to sit in, enjoy SEVERAL espresso and one or two small cigars. Love it here.

The service is really nice and the food came quickly and tasted great. We ordered pizza and sea food pasta.

Very polite and welcoming, flexible with the menu. We had seafood pasta and fungi pizza, was delicious 😋 also they have homemade Italian dessert 🍨

Shockingly Bad. We though we would go somewhere other than a chain to support local businesses. Big mistake. Olives came in miniscule 'bowl' and just tasted of salt 'Artisan' bread - 2 slices roasted and some sort of broken roll toasted, no oil, no balsamic, all completely tasteless. Penne Arrabiata - essence of tomato with loads of sliced and partially cooked chillies. It was the worst dish I have ever tasted. We were going to a show so I just had to eat the pasta and pick out the chillies. I presume the 'restaurant' gets passing trade in Brighton. The place is a disgrace and an embarrassment to Brighton

Untasty food, slow and unkind service, and high prices. AVOID! Worst Italian place I've ever been to All pasta was basically the same:toamto sauce with black pepper (a lot!). I ordered taglliatelle affumicatto(with cream and salmon) and it came 45 minutes later with tomato and black pepper instead. 13 pounds wasted. When I complained they tried to convince me that the recipe had tomato sauce (which doesn't, and wasn't in the menu).

AVOID!! The staff was incredibly rude and not very engaging at all! The food was tasteless and way over priced for what you get!

Would actually put 0 stars if possible, as in the famous game of Marco polo my food was not to be seen for an hour the service was also not to be seen and when it did arrive it was not as described shocking quality. Had half a mind to run to Bella Italia order the exact same thing and eat probably would have been served faster. I saw others coming near the place and wanted to ward them off. Grateful to have even been fed but the service and quality left something to be desired. I feel like shouting Marco but Polo would not come back.

American hot pizza, with no chillis on? Triamiso was a dollop of cream and a small piece of sponge, Not very good, Nice man in suit showed us to table from the street .

avoid like the plague! over priced food, really unwelcoming vibe and staff. the food was tasteless, dry and cold. the staff have clearly no service skills (common sense) one of the staff argued with me in front of other customers when we made them aware of the poor quality of food and wanted to return it. he insisted we paid and when the bill came they tried to add additional drinks plus a service charge after arguing with a customer? honestly the worst service we have ever received and in the heart of brighton! surprised the place hasn’t closed down - 0 STARS!!!!

Had a lovely experience here today, staff was nice and the food was delicious. The price may be a little high for the portion size. Def worth a visit to judge for yourself.