Mariscos Restaurant

When you want a fine dining experience that is fresh and dressy casual this is the place in Lawrence. Warm, comfy, relaxing bistro atmosphere where you can converse and have a real meal. Consistently excellent service (Thanks Jacob) with Nancy and her staff. Perfect menu of small plates, salads and modern American cuisine. Great price point with quality offerings. Skip the sports bars and have a classy fantastic happy hour. Love their brunch. Best spicy Bloody Mary in Lawrence. Boursin cheese with tomatoes on toast and crab cakes are our favorites. Paparadelle with brisket bolognese, airline roast chicken or tagliatelle with chicken are my comforts, but you can’t beat their fish tacos.

High quality service and delicious food. Nice and relaxing atmosphere. The waitress bought a dessert for my birthday, which was so considerate. We brought our own wine and the corkage fee wasn’t too bad.

Nice higher end bar and grill. Good atmosphere and good service. I had the bacon cheeseburger and fries and enjoyed my meal. Breakfast is also served in the mornings and is a good option.

We pulled off i70 east to grab a bite to eat, & refresh. I had checked an app to find nearby restaurant, Marisco’s popped up. We got nailed immediately with. $ 7.50 toll charge. We asked if we could turn around & go back, but toll lady wouldn’t let us. Now we had to get another toll ticket half an hour later… geeze Kansas… Anyway the restaurant manger new we were pretty upset, as the bowl of chicken noodle soup I wanted just got very expensive. They did not have chicken noodle soup but my hubby had tomato bisque & I had a couple crab cakes. The manager brought us a lobster dish on the house to take with us to make up for it… stellar for them boo for Kansas for being so kind to those just traveling thru.

My experience here was very underwhelming. It took about 10 minutes for a server to seat us, even though there were only two other tables in the restaurant. I was not impressed by the interior of this place. It is very strange and outdated. I ordered a dr pepper and it had a terrible after taste. I got the lobster mac and cheese and my mom ordered the crab cakes. I am a huge crab cake fan and was very disappointed with mariscos crab cakes. They came out cold and were not what a traditional crab cake should taste like. The lobster mac and cheese was very good, but the overwhelming amount of bread crumbs on it ruined the dish. I would recommend getting the lobster mac and cheese, without breadcrumbs or asking for them to go light on the breadcrumbs. Our server was fine, but I was very disappointed that I chose this place for my birthday brunch. We will not be back.

I haven’t been here for almost a year and that is my mistake. I forgot how wonderful this place is. Everything from the appetizers to the final coffee was fantastic.

We think this restaurant is going out of business fairly soon because service has gone downhill.
We’ve been coming here 4 years… it WAS our favorite Sunday Brunch restaurant! Today we waited 45 minutes for our food which has happened frequently (we are afraid to bring guests because of the poor service we’ve experienced since September). Waiters & hosts very nice… Seems to be a kitchen problem… Food arrives cold with parts of order missing.
Sorry to say we won’t be back… it’s not worth the risk to guests we often bring.
PS no manager in sight and coffee cold AGAIN. Restaurant not busy today… many empty tables & still slow, poor service.

We were there about a week ago and found everything to be delightful. The food was quality and well-​prepared. I had the pappardelle and my husband had the lobster mac and cheese. Our waiter was very good… attentive without being hovering, knowledgeable, friendly, and efficient.

To start with the first thing we noticed is that this local restaurant buys from local suppliers. This being know made our choice of eating the KC Strip easy. Our first visit was not a disappointment at all. To start with, Michael our waiter was exceptional. He knew the menu well and was great in recommending drinks and food choices. Then we met Lisa, who was so polite in delivering our meal and making sure everything was the way we wanted it. Before leaving we were greeted by the owner Nancy who was so pleasant and wanted to make sure everything was as we expected it. Look very forward to returning.

My wife and I visited this restaurant for dinner, and it was just
excellent…the TROUT was as good as any I have eaten any place,
and it came with cheese grits! Service was attentive but not
intrusive. We eat out 4 – 5 times a week counting some lunches,
so we have lots of varied experiences.

Food was not special. You can see pretty similar menu (with better taste) in any other local Italian restaurants. Sitting in booths would be uncomfortable.

Marisco’s is a pretty modern, classy restaurant. Grilled cheese sliders are a favorite of mine. (The tomato bisque is super yummy!) My family visits quite frequently – it’s certainly a decent place in my opinion, but it’s not quite my thing. I really wish they’d have a little more selection without meat or seafood. (Since my family likes it so much, but I’m on the middle ground, I’m somewhere in between 3 and 4 stars.)
They have a breakfast menu, too. Those pancakes, man. They’re something else. REALLY good, but also really big. («Plate size» means just that!) Definitely give them a try in the morning.
The majority of the staff is great – a few forget to check in on you and refill drinks. The managers are very personable and treat you like life-​long friends. The décor confuses me a little bit, and it’s a tad dark inside, but it’s a nice place to try if you’re in the area.

I end up eating here a lot due to its proximity to my parents’ house. It’s easy and they are child friendly.
I wish they would revamp their breakfast menu. Why not add eggs Benedict Florentine? Or quiche? How about French Toast?
The service has been quite spotty the past few times. I think they could do a better job training servers to check on beverages and the like. Also if lunch is going to take an hour and a half, please bring some bread out.

We’ve been here for dinner once. Jeremy’s burger was ok and I don’t even remember what I had so it wasn’t memerable. What I do remember was those excellent fries on the small plates menu. They were shoestring with carrots and sweet potato too. They came with a delicious garlic aoli.
The price is a little higher than most and we learned today that their breakfast prices online are $ 1.50 more for biscuits and gravy.
We each had a half order of biscuits and gravy. I had a side of home fries which were good and crispy. Jeremy had a side of bacon. We love our B&G and try them everywhere. Instead of being pure white gravy like most this was colored with sausage drippings so I thought it would be flavorful. It was so band though. There was no spice to the gravy or the sausage. The sausage tasted like unseasoned ground pork instead. The biscuits were just ok.
For good flavorful B&G visit Wheatfields or The Burger Stand (only serves breakfast on Sundays) Even two doors down is better B&G at Big Biscuit.
For some reason I’m waiting for my check while I write this. Our waitress has been to our table to take our order, check our food arrival and take our plates only.

My first experience at Marisco’s was for lunch on Friday. Four friends in less than a week had recommended this restaurant for the good food and service, so decided we should give it a try.
For Friday lunch, we both ordered the Marisco’s Burger with sautéed mushrooms and Swiss cheese. The burgers were grilled to our tastes and served with French fries that are very thin and crispy on the outside. The lunch service was prompt, courteous and friendly. Beverages were refilled promptly. We had time to chat briefly with our server and very much appreciated the attention that we received. The restaurant was almost to capacity when we arrived at 12:30pm, but there was plenty of booths and tables available after 1:00pm.
Our second visit was for dinner on Saturday. I ordered the Lobster Mac & Cheese served in a creamy cheese sauce with lobster tail and scallops. Because I don’t like scallops, our server suggested that crab meat be substituted for the scallops. My husband ordered Roast Chicken with potatoes and carrots, sautéed spinach and shallot. We also ordered the House Caesar Salad. Warm sweet potato rolls were served with apricot jelly. The salad was crisp romaine lettuce with a roasted tomatoes and small cube of cheddar. We asked for the Caesar dressing on the side. Very tasty. Our entrées were very good. I would definitely order the Lobster Mac & Cheese again.
We arrived at 5:30pm, so just beat the evening diners. We did not have reservations, but were seated promptly. I recommend reservations for dinner. People arriving after us without reservations had to wait a few minutes to be seated. If you don’t have reservations, then better arrive before 5:30pm to be seated quickly. The bar area was almost full by 5:30pm. Happy Hour specials for both food and beverages are from 4pm to 6pm. It is a small, but adequate bar area. There is a TV above the bar, tables and booths.
The interior of the restaurant is very modern. There are lots of comfortable booths and a few tables. Several tables for larger groups (8 to 10) in alcoves. The booth that we had was large enough for 6 people to be seated comfortably.
My only criticisms is that the restaurant was very noisy when we dined for dinner. Music from the bar could be heard at our booth which was furthest away from the bar. I don’t recall the noise volume for lunch on Friday, so it must not have been so noticeable.
I know that we will return because of the good food, great service and comfortable dining. The restrooms are very clean. The whole restaurant had a nice ambience.

I stopped in with two of my closest on the way home from a celebratory occasion and was tickled with the treatment we received. The food was fun and fresh, the service was attentive and friendly, the amarone on the wine list was was inspired. Thank you for celebrating with us.

We went to celebrate a birthday, since Pachamamas was closed. Reading through the reviews on Unilocal,I thought this would be a restaurant along the same lines. I should have gone with my instincts and turned around at the door. As you walk in there is a large white board with bright markers announcing the happy hour specials. Tv’s were up on the walls. There was loud rock music blaring from the speakers. Not the fine dining restaurant I was hoping for. We asked the waiter to turn down the music, which they did. The food was okay, but nothing more than I would expect at a mid-​level restaurant. The selection was not as big as I’d hoped. The calamari and scallops were tender but greasy. The steak my son ordered was fine, but the vegetable of the day, roasted Brussels sprouts, were prepared with bacon, which made them a bit greasy as well. The fried fish my husband had was also greasy. I realize that a fried food is going to have a certain amount of grease, but my husband said that his dish was overly greasy (he eats fish and chips whenever he can, and he knows that fried fish can be done well). It was a disappointing meal, since we were looking for something special to celebrate.
Overall, we wished we had gone to Freestate. If we were going someplace with noise and drink specials, and a somewhat average menu, we rather pay Freestate prices. It’s not that Mariscos is bad, it’s just not as good as it should be for the price ($ 130 for three, with two glasses of wine).

I was really excited to stop again and try the much-​raved about ricotta pancakes. I came in a couple of weeks ago, and ordered the blueberry pancakes, side of bacon, and coffee. I have to rate the pancakes as pretty good, but not exceptional. Maybe there’s a difference in quality according to who cooks on a certain day. The bacon was yummy, as well as the coffee, but it all was a little more expensive than I would want to shell out for a «pretty good» breakfast. Don’t get me wrong, I loved that it was kinda healthy and the two pancakes themselves weren’t that expensive (~$ 6), but the overall experience fell a little short.

Serendipity brought us to Mariscos for our first visit. Our intended brunch spot and our back-​up plan had a power outage. So we decided to veer from Mass St in search of brunch… My mom suggested we head to West Lawrence, so we did. As we were about to reach the end of the main strip of West 6^th street businesses, she remembered a place she’d gone before and had us turn the car around. «Mariscos,» she said.
I was very confused and started to protest, because (1) all the restaurants in my neighborhood with «mariscos» in the name are Mexican seafood joints, and (2) as a general rule, regional food snob I am, I avoid seafood more than a few hours from the coast and Mexican food outside of the border states (sorry– it’s just my Alaskan/​Texan hang-​up). Fortunately, Mom stood her ground and Gary T. took her side, so in we went…
There was no wait and Tito’s Vodka drinks were highlighted on the chalkboard, so I was suddenly in the game! Menu had lots of tasty choices including «stacks» which sounded a lot like a «scramble» or «skillet», but with the ingredients stacked up. Omelettes with a nice variety of tasty fillings, pancakes (ricotta and gluten free options), cinnamon roll bread pudding, biscuits & gravy, white cheddar grits and granola round out the offerings. The drink menu was large as well.
I finally decided on blueberry ricotta pancakes with a side of bacon (4 strips in an order), and some cheddar grits to share. Gary opted for the granola and a biscuit (he was recovering from the previous night’s surf & turf). Mom also opted for pancakes, but with mixed berries. They even asked if I wanted my bacon crisp when I ordered, which was nice (although truthfully, I’d probably eat any style of bacon as long as it isn’t raw or the pre-​cooked stuff from the store).
The pancakes were moist and fluffy and didn’t need much of the maple syrup they provided. The bacon was thin-​cut, but still very flavorful and crisp. The white cheddar grits were outstanding! You could really taste the white cheddar and they were the right texture — not soupy and undercooked, but not a solid chunk of squishy starch. Gary T. reported that the biscuit was good, but not as good as some of our other favorite brunch spots.
The décor and name really kept us wondering. The overall feel was that of a gastropub, but I kind of wondered if the owners/​interior designers couldn’t decide on their direction. There was a big painting of a longhorn next to the hostess stand (Fort Worth?). A few panels away was a giant violin painting. Other jazz instrument-​inspired artwork on another wall (Gulf Coast?). Modern hotel-​esque non-​representational art on the wall adjacent to our booth (suburban hotel bistro?). The decorative trim topping the partitions between the booths and dining room sections were made of sheet iron with designs cut out, ranging from lobsters and crabs to kokopeli and petroglyph motifs (New England meets New Mexico?). It was sort of a dressed-​up suburban version of the eclectic mash-​ups typical of my beloved Lawrence.
Whatever the case, the food was great, staff friendly and efficient, and we’ll be keeping this on our list of breakfast/​brunch spots when we’re in town!

For years, Mariscos has been a favorite restaurant in Lawrence for my wife and I. We visit there only on special occasions, because it can be a bit pricy. But when we do eat there, we always promise ourselves to come back more often.
This past weekend was no exception. We decided to have Easter brunch there, for something different to do. The prix fixe menu ran $ 27 per person. I had the crab cake appetizer, followed by a large portion of eggs, bacon, and hash browns, with the cinnamon-​roll bread pudding for dessert. Everything was wonderful! And they offer bottomless mimosas (with multiple flavors) for $ 15. Needless to say, we had our fill of food and beverages.
We left promising ourselves to return for brunch again soon. It’s a treat that doesn’t require a special occasion.