Marina

Marina offers an array of fresh interpretations of classic Italian dishes in a beautifully designed location in Pasadena, California

All of a sudden, it had been way too long since I’d seen Johann. Per usual, we had a decent amount of items to catch up on. He’d recently returned from a brief visit to China. Likewise, I’d returned from my recent visit to Western Europe.  We’d both missed each other’s company and conversations over food about photography. As I needed to go to Samy’s Camera later in the day, meeting up at Marina’s in Pasadena was a perfect to catch up and connect.

I chose the THREE COURSE PRIX FIXE menu, consisting of:

THREE COURSE PRIX FIXE

24 month Prosciutto San Daniele with bread
House Italian Pizza (sausage, tomato sauce, mozzarella, caramelized onions, peppers)
House-made tiramisu

The prosciutto on crusty bread was a solid choice. However, Marina suffers the same WTH nature regarding what a lot of places do –  give generous servings of prosciutto and not enough bread. When my plate arrived and I only received two pieces of bread – I rolled my eyes. It simply wasn’t enough.

In my opinion, three pieces of bread would have been more sufficient for the serving of prosciutto. Never the less, I still enjoyed the quality of the prosciutto and the dish overall. Just – giving out more bread for such an item would be extremely helpful.

On the other hand, Johann greatly enjoyed his octopus dish.

 

The pizza was exactly what I wanted, without complaints. Just easy to fold and eat, delicious goodness. As I’d been craving pizza for a few days, it truly hit the spot.

The third part of the three course meal – the tiramisu – served as a decent ending for an easy to order mid day meal.

I appreciated how beautifully designed the restaurant was as well. All of our needs were met with punctuality, from various servers.

As for parking, convenient parking is located on the street and downstairs, in a underground parking garage. Unfortunately, Marina doesn’t validate.

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