East Side Mario's — Restaurant in Ontario

My wife and I love love love this restaurant! Best East Side we have ever been to arguebly. The times we have gone, I have talked to the manager to inform him of the pleasant service we received, because we always appreciate it! My wife is Gluten Intolerant, so their gluten free menu makes a word of difference. They have always been so accommodating! They always keep us topped up on drinks, salad and bread for me. The last time We were there with my brother and his wife, we were sat near the front, and we felt almost forgotten about. We waited forever to get asked about drinks. When we got food ordered we got a salad and bread and for the 20mins we waited nothing else. When we needed drink refills we had to walk up to the bar and ask... Our food arrived and that was all good. But after eating, still hungry, we had to ask for more salad since we hardly had enough the first time for four people. Also not a big deal, but the lasagna on the menu changed. Not a fan of the change as the old one was better and I always got lasagna. Lots of other options at least.

We will go back again because after 6 or so times of amazing service, I don’t believe the one time of awful service was a game changer! Just sucked since we recommended this restaurant to them and we got that kind of service, oh well. We just hope the good service is...

I booked my reservation on April 21 for May 12. I asked for a table in a quieter area because my father in law is very hard of hearing. They told me no problem and they made a note. We had eaten there before, with the same request, without issue and had a nice time. We meet halfway to see them and come in from Guelph. This time, we got seating in the middle.of the restaurant - dead center. Right away my father in law had to remove a hearing aid due to the volume around us. He couldn't hear us speaking even when we were looking at him. I quickly got up and explained the note on our reservation and that we had booked more than 3 weeks ahead. We got told " we don't pick the seating plan' and "this is a restaurant so it's loud'. Last time we had been seated along the back wall and there were tables open there .... Reserved by others before we did? Not sure about that. We traveled a long way and my father in law was completely left out of the conversation. I asked for a manager. We got moved to the back wall but even the manager acted like it was a huge imposition. Then the food came. Terrible. We love East Sides but this time the food was over cooked, dry and warm at best. Only my son's pizza which was clearly fresh from the oven was good. Will not be back! Unaccommodating, rude and food...

Long story short, I received my bill and my server put the total in the terminal, I pressed the 15% tip then the tip came up again right after (so I assumed it didn’t catch the 15% from the first time I pressed it) so I pressed the 15% again. It said to tap my card so I did-that’s when I saw the total and did a double take with my bill and the total. It charged me the 15% twice. I clicked cancel several times before it went through, but the payment still went through anyways. I told my server I was charged twice for the tip and that it asked me for the tip twice-she did not seem at all surprised making me believe that this is something that happens often there (probably hoping no one notices). She said I will refund you and asked me how much I tipped so I said 15%. My back was to her for a second as I was trying to get my three kids’ coats on. I turned back and there was $15 on the table. I thought I was getting the money out back onto my credit card-also I was still owed another $20. I looked around for our server but couldn’t find her. By this time my kids (they are young) were running out the door. My husband told me to let it go, so I left but I am still upset about it. I feel very ripped off. I will not be going back, and I will be telling people about...