East Side Mario's — Restaurant in Guelph

Came here to celebrate our children’s birthday’s. We were told we would need to wait 30 min for a seat, Waited at the bar, but got the impression the bar staff were not happy about that as we were relocated and seated quite quickly at a table.

Our server did not seem very happy in general, and the service was not great. It was almost as if the waitress felt we were a hassle and did not want us there. She did not really check in on us, so my children went without drink refills, the server rushed us through our salads ( we only had one bowl) and my daughter who ordered her birthday Fettuchini Alfredo got a meal with very little Alfredo sauce— the pasta looked like there was nothing on it. We waited quite a while for the sauce — and then her pasta was cold.

The server rushed us to desert, at which point my son turned to me and told me he was still hungry and wanted more salad (he did not like the appetizer). But even though it’s supposed to be unlimited salad and bread when I turn to the server just before the dessert came and said my boys are still really loving the salad and bread could we have a little more? She came back with one piece of bread for a table of five, And 1/3 of a salad almost as though she resented us asking for it.

It felt like courses were just being thrown at our table and we could not dine properly to enjoy ourselves. For example dinner came and we had not finished appetizers, and dessert came and we were not done dinner! Leaving you with the feeling of “hurry up and eat and get out”.

I had to ask for takeout containers multiple times. for my plate of food, I couldn’t finish my food because I was trying to deal with the kids while we were being rushed to eat through all our courses. And my kids did not finish their appetizer mostly because they did not like it and were rushed to get to their dinner.

All in all a bad experience — we just did not enjoy the evening. I know it’s a tough job, but it is important to observe the table — we don’t go out much, and this was supposed to be a special evening for us. It really sucked that we were on their timeline, and nobody was paying attention to what our timeline was and it was almost as though we were being rushed to hurry up and leave.

My husband and kids who are usually oblivious to these things — commented that they thought the waitress was upset with us.. my husband said … I don’t understand …we did nothing to upset her, we did not disturb the neighbouring tables, we were polite, we ordered the appropriate amount of food, including appetizers, drinks, dinner and dessert. We spent about $200, to feel like we were unwanted there.

My son whose birthday it was said “ mom.. can we go somewhere else next time I felt like we were a problem and the waitress did not want us there.”

I don’t think we will return. We have been to the one in Burlington And enjoyed...

Upadate on August 14th, 2024.

We were lucky to be assisted by Trish H. She has always been amazing and super caring with my family. She is very helpful and friendly.... simply outstanding!

Trish shows that she cares and shows empathy towards all her customers.

This Eastside Mario's is my family favorite restaurant. My son calls it the "bread restaurant",

My wife has been coming here since she was a teenager.

I bring this up because you can feel the change of vibe and atmosphere since the change or owners and management.

The food is still the same... delicious and well prepared. Although the quality of one of my favorite dishes has changed drastically. You can see it comparing my latest photo of the seafood linguini and precious ones.

To management/owners. Please keep the good standards of the menu and it portions.

Update on June 15th, 2023.

We can say that we come to dine-in regularly.

Yesterday, we had a magnificent dining experience thanks to Jenna W.

She was very polite, friendly, caring, and helpful.

Kudos to her and to the person who hired her.

The service was amazing, and the food was even better this time... it has to be because of the amazing service provided by Jenna.

Fully recommended 😉😎🤟🏻🍁🇨🇦

Although my wife and I had a bad experience at the bar area that I don't want to bring up details... we moved to the dining area, and it was great.

We had an awesome waitress named Sarah, who, with her professionalism and friendliness,helped us change our experience!!!

We decided to put 5 stars just because of...

This was our second time eating at Eastside Mario’s in Guelph. The first was six weeks prior. The most recent time the hostess took us to the first booth inside the door, it was freezing from the constant flow of people coming and going. I asked if we could have a table in a different location, as the last time we were there we were seated in the same spot and froze the entire time we were there, even wearing our coats. She said “it should not be that bad because of the double doors.” She stated there was limited seating as they had a group coming in soon. Despite that there were 2 booths available that she could have seated us in, instead she placed the people after us in one (they also did not have a reservation). The hostess was annoyed that I asked for a different and she was not allowing us to sit elsewhere.

Again, we froze sitting in at the table. Our food arrived my son’s pizza was good. My husband and I both ordered pasta dishes, there was no sauce, the meat was dry and flavourless! I have always been a fan of Eastside, Mario’s, this was a poor experience. Dry pasta and dry meat is difficult to eat. I understand that everyone is trying to cut costs, this is not fair. Do not charge customers 23.00 a plate for meal that is not worth 5.00. Very disappointed!

The waitress was pleasant and attentive. We should have complained when the meal was served, but just wanted to get out of there. It was freezing, there were people waiting to be seated and the hostess staff were scanning tables for tables to...