East Side Mario’s

A passable faux-​Italian restaurant in the same range as The Olive Garden, but Olive Garden does it better. It’s not bad for a quick lunch when you’re craving Italian food, but isn’t «authentic» so set your expectations accordingly.

This place is hit or miss. I have ordered take out here a few times, right after having a baby it was hard to go anywhere with my colicky newborn and what new mom has time to cook. The pasta from takeout was terrible, tasted like water kind of soapy I called to complain and nothing was done. So decided to dine in now that my son is over a year old. The first waitress named Cassandra I think, was amazing. She brought a toy for my son to keep him occupied so I could enjoy a much needed lunch date with a friend. However the second time I came on Mother’s Day and it was super busy of course but when we were finally seated the waitress was running around like a chicken with no head. She brought only one water when we asked for 2. Then she forgot some of our items. As we were eating our pasta we asked for 2 more garlic breads. It’s supposed to be unlimited… Of course she forgot them. Then she brought the bill and we reminded her of the bread and she said since we were finished our meal she couldn’t give us any. We had asked earlier it was her fault she forgot and she did nothing to make it to right. Terrible service most of the time would not recommend.

East Side bounces back. My previous experience was not a good one, however, I have not given up. ESM is the kind of organization that cares about customer experience, and tonight they proved it. Alex T. was my server, we were five people. His service was fantastic, the food was excellent and the kitchen service was very quick. The manager, not sure what her name is, was making sure all was in order. GREAT JOB ESM at Trinity-​Commons. Keep it up! We will be back! (visit was Jan 24^th at 6pm)

I went for a nice lunch with my mother. We walked in and went straight to the bar section. We sat down and then we were asked to go back to the front to wait to get seated. I didn’t know we had to be sat on the bar section?! After waiting 10 mins in the front because there were large parties, we got sat in the exact same spot we sat in before being asked to leave.
Once we were sat, we waited 9 mins before ANYONE came. Though and behold it is the server who asked us to go back to the front, her name was Tiffany. We asked for a bottle of wine and 5 mins later she arrived with the bottle and placed our bottle and 2 glasses on the table and walked away… She did not open the bottle, did not pour us our first glass. It was horrible service. I did not know we were at a all you can eat buffet and we had to serve ourselves.
I will never return back to this location.

Couples BEWARE: I brought a very special guest & we selected 1 of the larger & more expensive main dishes stating clearly –in writing on the menu– that diners are entitled to UNLIMITED salad, (or soup) and garlic bread. The server brought the entrée divided into 2 bowls (even though that was neither offered, nor requested) & after ONE round of salad, and ONE garlic bread, we were IMMEDIATELY AND COMPLETELY CUT OFF. When I politely asked why we were forced to forfeit the unlimited aspect of the meal deal, the server tried to hastily squash the issue with some sort of well-​rehearsed rebuttal comparing our visit to Mandarin all you can eat buffet. A pathetic and insulting attempt at employing some kind of ‘fair usage’ clause. She brought out ONE more lousy garlic bread as a consolation, and then the bill. Nevertheless, I left a good tip, but walked out feeling annoyed, embarrassed, and very bitter about the whole experience. Unfortunately, these folks chose short-​term gain over long-​term gain, as this location is close to our home & we would have been happy to make it a regular habit. Now, we’ll never go back & I’ll be sure to squash the suggestion if any of my friends consider it.

My husband and I were very impressed with this experience.
Our waitress was Shanice. She was fast, personable, smiling and friendly. We let her know we had tickets to a movie and she made sure we didn’t have to wait for the bill so we wouldn’t be late. My husband ordered fish and chips and got the biggest order we’d ever seen! I ordered Chicken Parmigiana and again the portion size was huge. The all you can eat bread and salad was done perfectly. The drinks we ordered, I had strawberry dacquiri, he had a rye and coke, were perfect as well.
It was very busy, quite a few people waiting as we were because we arrived without reservations. The wait wasn’t long at all though as we were seated within 7 minutes.
Even though it was very busy, all the staff were smiling and genuinely friendly. Kudos go out to the manager of this location for making sure that customer service is paramount.
The washrooms were very clean as was the entire restaurant.
It was a very nice dining experience. The only drawback would have been that it was a trifle noisy. But it was busy, there were several birthday celebrations going on in a family style restaurant so it’s part of it and we didn’t feel it detracted from what we were expecting.
We will definitely return again.

One of my fav go-​to resturants!
Great prices and portions and steps away from silvercity and many different stores. Fast service too (especially if you let them know you have a movie to catch in advance) and good drinks

east side marios just isn’t what it used to be. huge disappointment.
the salad and the bread are still amazing … but that is about it.
pastas are bland and dry, potatoes are awful

I love East Side Mario’s as a guilty pleasure. AYCE bread is right up my alley. I popped in here around 7 PM on a sunny Saturday night and it only took 10 mins to get seated. The food was standard fare. Being a major chain it doesn’t vary much coast to coast. Our server was hilarious. I like witty staff, adds to the experience. The only really odd thing I noticed was that I received my pasta entrée before my salad. I’m the sort that likes to eat them together anyway so not a big deal. I’d go back. One of the better experiences I’ve had with the chain.

When out for a movie at Silvercity in Brampton, you have your choice of many chain eateries in Trinity Commons. This time around, I popped into East Side Mario’s, with about 45 minutes before my movie was to start. Cutting it a little close, but danger is my middle name.
The interior was nice and clean, and the server was very friendly. He also was compliant with my request to receive the bill along with my meal, to save time so I’m not late for my movie.
I’ve always liked the all-​you-​can-​eat garlic bread feature with ESM, and definitely took advantage of it this time. My fettuccine alfredo also came with a ceasar salad.
While the salad was perfectly fine, I found that something seemed a little off with the bacon (words I thought I would never utter), but it didn’t really stop me from enjoying it otherwise. The pasta was also perfectly cooked and delicious.
There were 2 things that prevented this place from getting 4 stars. One was that I wasn’t given utensils when I was seated. I wasn’t given utensils when the garlic bread arrived. I wasn’t given utensils when the salad arrived. And had I not snatched utensils and a napkin from one of the empty tables a few feet away, I probably wouldn’t have been given utensils when my pasta was served. Minor complaint, but I still think that’s kind of lame.
The other was that when my pasta was served, it was on a dirty plate. Nearest I could tell, it looked like grease smeared in a few spots. Upon closer inspection, it only seemed to be on the outer edges of the plate, and not anywhere near the food, so I sucked it up and ate it. Besides, I didn’t have time to send it back. It only takes about 2 seconds to wipe the plate before serving it. Pretty weak, even if you’re trying to save the customer some time.
All in all, a decent experience, and I would return. Can’t go wrong with unlimited garlic bread, a decent salad, and a plate of delicious pasta for only 12 bucks.

Horrible experience!
I went there today and ordered hells kitchen chicken and found beef meat balls in it. When I complained the waiter and management had nothing to say. Manager indeed admitted that stuff does fall into food once in a while. I wonder what else falls in food. I will lodge a formal complaint to health department to inspect their kitchen.

This East Side Mario’s fails to deliver and every time I eat here, I am always hungry. To start off, the food is dry. The food tastes like it was cooked in huge portions before service and warmed up when needed in dinner service. The portion sizes are very small and they really over price items on the menu. The service is friendly and helpful. The restaurant décor is nice. I would recommend this to anyone who is hanging out with friends who is looking for dinner to eat.