Overall rating: FAIR (0 of 5 stars)
Food: seafood-heavy Mexican
Service: inexperienced
Best dishes: watermelon salad, queso fundido
Vegetarian selections: cheese and veggie quesadillas and burritos
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Price range: $$
Credit cards: all major credit cards
Hours: noon-9:30 p.m. Sundays, 4-10 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 4-11 p.m. Fridays, noon-11 p.m. Saturdays
Children: fine
Parking: street parking and some shared lot space
Reservations: no
Wheelchair access: yes
Smoking: no
Noise level: moderate
Patio: yes
Takeout: yes
Address, phone: 314 E. Howard Ave., Decatur. 404-373-2725.
Website: www.marcoastal.com
Marbar’s casual beachside-cantina flair could be a home run with families in Decatur.
Seafood-heavy Mexican fare with good pricing on great drinks could carve a successful niche in most any neighborhood.
With its beautifully relaxed decor and expansive selection of tequilas and mezcals, Marbar should be a place customers want to linger over margaritas and platters of carne asada tacos.
Unfortunately the “shoulds” and “coulds” here don’t translate into “dos.” Mediocre cocktails and unskilled execution in the kitchen prevent this Decatur spot from achieving its aim to become a neighborhood haunt.
Both the housemade corn tortillas filled with unseasoned beef and chihuahua cheese and the carnitas with bland guacamole fall flat. The best of the bunch is the slow-roasted pork with axiote salsa that oozes red grease.
Your best bets at Marbar include the mahi mahi tostada. Yes, the cold tostada was too thick, but it was just the neutral backdrop for the bright mixture of lime-cilantro-marinated fish paired with sweet mango and creamy avocado.
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