East Side Mario's — Restaurant in Ottawa

Food was fair but the things that went on as I watch were shocking. I am reporting them to the health board. I watched a total of 5 female workers wash off tables all of them used the same cloth to wash the tables. First they would wash off the seats where people park their butts then they would wash off the table with the same cloth. Once done they would throw down the cloth by the cash register not wash their hands and then grab small plates forks & knifes and napkins then go set the tables after handling dirty tables and a dirty cloth. Not one of them ever washed their hands. so the plates and cutlery they touched and put onto the the tables were cross contaminated. I was so disgusted with what I saw that i could not even finish eating my meal. I spoke to the manager on duty tonight and he he did nothing about it. I pointed to one table that was just set after handling a dirty cloth he did not even remove the items on the table he just left them there. People next time you go there watch the workers for hand washing watch what they do. The manager even tried to cover up the dirty cloth when he got to the cashier station. I watched him place it in the little wash bin when the whole time that cloth was sitting in the open flat on the table at the cash not once was it placed in the solution bin to soak and even if they had done that part right not once did anyone wash their hands before picking up dishes that went onto the tables 5 people all used the same dirty cloth ( with A spray bottle of solution)to wash tables and never washed their hands before resetting a new table. I sat and watched plates etc being handled by the workers who just handled a dirty cloth wiping many tables. I plan on calling head office tomorrow also. I will never eat or go there again. No one seemed to give a dam about it or who they could get sick or ill from this. People beware it is not a good practice what they are doing. It was very dirty and bad practice. Where is the common sense to grab plates etc set a table after your hands have been all over a dirty cloth used over and over on different tables. Then the manger thinks I am stupid when I am not looking he places the cloth into a bin with solution. I confronted him on his actions also told him I saw him try to cover up that dirty cloth sitting there. He knew ahead of time what was wrong because I told our waitress and she went and got the manger for me to speak with so he knew and tried to cover it up by placing the dirty cloth into a small bin of cleaning solution. Every worker that used that same dirty cloth each one of them threw the dirty cloth to the side of the cash register not once did any of them place it to soak in bin cleaning solution. How gross this was to be watching!! People don't pay much attention to this stuff and...

I was attending this location with my partner and 2 of my friends (1 of which we were celebrating her birthday). We had been planning this day filled with tons of activities for weeks and specifically decided on this restaurant and location due to how much the group loves pasta and it's location to all our other activities. The issue is i had gastric bypass surgery and have a very hard time eating pasta as it sits heavy in my body and I feel nauseous if I eat too much (usually only takes 4-5 bites). So I usually just share with my partner a bite or 2 and am satisfied. We have been to East Side Marios plenty of times since my surgery with no issue (never this location) with no issue. After everyone had placed their order (all of which included the all you can eat soup, salad, bread) and she came to me i said I would just have a bit or 2 of my partners pasta where she says if I do my partner could only have 1 bowl of his soup (which we weren't sure about salad and such as she didn't quite explain and walked away). As everyone sat there and ate their soup and bread i waited and drank my water. She came by and grabbed my partners soup bowl when it was empty but didn't say anything and he was confused whether he's allowed a salad or not. When we could finally get her attention again he asked and she said she would have to charge him for a salad even though it's all you can eat. That's when I asked to speak to the manager. When he came over I showed him the card I received when I had gastric bypass surgery that asks restaurants to allow me to eat kids meals (smaller portions), but I was just showing it to show i had the surgery and explained everything i said here as to why I don't order my own and just have a bite or 2 of his entree. He said that because I'm having a bite of my partners entree (which is limited) he was not allowed to have the part that is unlimited as unlimited. He said the price of the meal includes it all and is grouped together therefore even though the entree is limited and I planned to have a bite of that, my partner could not actually enjoy the unlimited part. He offered to get me their lunch size but any size of pasta is too much for me and I honestly don't ever eat it anymore and only came to East Side Marios because of the other 3 I was attending with. At that moment I decided to leave as my options were to watch everyone else eat while I had nothing, or subject my partner to pay the same price but receive less. As everyone else paid for their drinks I excused myself to the parking lot and started to cry as I had never been confronted by something like this since my surgery. My life since the surgery is hard as is, and to take a day that everyone was looking forward to and again we were celebrating a birthday to turn it into this put such a sour taste...

BAD SERVICE!

We were in a group of 20 people going out to eat before a play. We assumed making a reservation at 5:45 pm would give us enough time to eat, pay and be across the street for the play that started at 8. We were wrong! We sat there for 45 minutes with just our drinks waiting for the waitress to come over. She finally did but it took ANOTHER half hour before we got our salads/apps. And when we told them we were in a rush to get to the play, they wanted us to pay BEFORE eating. I was the only one in our group who seemed mad about this because with paying comes tip. Finally, our main course comes and we have 15 minutes to eat them before we have to leave, not to mention the portions were small and my food came 10 minutes after everyone else's and it was COLD.

That was just the food. At the start of the meal when we waited with our drinks for 45 minutes, one of my friends who is allergic to soy, egg, milk and more pulled out a snack from his bag. He didn't order food but he did buy a drink so he was a paying customer. Our waitress who is apparently stalking us at a distance gets the manager who comes out and starts scolding my friend for bringing outside food into the restaurant. My friend gets this all the time because he usually can't eat anything on the menu but after he explained about his allergies the manager was still threatening to kick him out! He ended up bringing him a plate to put his food on. I would understand if my friend was here with one other person, and hadn't ordered a drink. But he was sitting with 19 other paying customers who all got meals. He just wanted to sit with his friends and he got grief for it.

Finally when we were paying (BEFORE EATING) a different friend gave a tip that wasn't very generous and our waitress had the audacity to say "Is this your first time using a machine" in the snarkiest tone. You have to earn a tip. It isn't something that is required. But to receive a tip and be rude toward the customer's face because it wasn't enough, that's awful.

My experience at East Side Mario's was not at all pleasant and I will not be returning EVER again. From rude manager's to snarky waitresses and awful service overall, I strongly urge no one else goes...