East Side Mario's — Restaurant in Owen Sound

Although we dropped by before the dinner rush (restaurant was nearly empty) we were seated very near the door - the table located to the right of the entranceway if you are walking into the establishment, next to the wood divider.

There was one customer seated at a bench reading a book.

Service was slow, and it was noisy and drafty where we were seated (possibly due to the acoustics of our location?).

The Caesar salad was drowning in dressing when it arrived and so, I tried to toss the lettuce and move it around to try to more evenly distribute the dressing which though I like it, was just too much and was quite overpowering.

We finished the bread and salad but we're not offered anymore (it is advertised as all you can eat) until some time later (quite some time) when our main course was just about to arrive.

Because hubby and I are retired and live on a fixed income, when we dine out, we seldom order beverages because this allows us to give a good tip of 20%.

We are of the mind that because we have to watch our money, we do not dine out (like some folks do) who do not tip in order to save money.

At $ 3.99 for a non-alcoholic beverage x 2 plus tax, that makes up a good portion of the tip we plan to leave the server.

So, we order wateras our beveragevof choice and it is a healthy option too. However, perhaps we are judged for not ordering anything but our meal because we did not even receive an offer for water top up.

Added to our dilemma is the fact that hubby is immuno-compromised, so we choose to dine out infrequently and at less busy times if possible.

Therefore, we try to really enjoy our meals when we dine out because it happens so infrequently. And we do not live in Owen Sound, so dining at East Side Mario's was to be a real treat for us.

I had an emergency ophthalmology appointment in Owen Sound, and it took several hours, so we were quite hungry when we decided to dine out.

I have fond memories of East Side Mario's and had not tried the Owen Sound location so when considering where to dine, I suggested East Side Mario's

Paint me disappointed on all accounts.

The double whammy? It is our 48th wedding anniversary this month, so I told hubby that we would count this as our wedding anniversary dining out experience and celebration (as we cannot budget for two dining out experiences in a single month).

So, to be met with an inferior dining experience was a tremendous disappointment on so many levels, not least of which I had expected better from East Side Mario's.

We still tipped the full 20% because in my mind's eye, I have no idea what is going on in the kitchen or in the server's life and workplace - too often there are circumstances about which we have no knowledge and which we do not need to know but staff have lives outside of work that might negatively impact their performance so I am not going to deprive them.of a decent tip and maybe if they did judge us for keeping our purchase to a minimum so left us to our own devices having judged us and found us lacking, maybe the next person will be treated with a little more dignity and not judged.

As for hubby and I - it is doubtful we will return to this location to dine again as we cannot afford to spend money on dining experiences that are less than desirable because they are such a rare treat for us.

PS

We dined...

We have been to this location many times and normally it has been a great experience. Tuesday Aug 20 we brought my wife to celebrate her birthday and the bad service started before we got in. The wait to get in was quite long and the 3 families ahead of us said they had been waiting at least 15 minutes and even though staff kept passing by not one person stopped to acknowledge them at all. There were plenty of empty tables so it wasn't because they were busy. 2 groups including us almost left. We should have went to Suisse Chalet. Once seated we placed our orders for drinks, mine came with out ice. We placed our order and had to ask about the bread, then for plates, and then for cutlery. We also had to ask 3 times for extra napkins. The food itself was very good, we ordered 2 soups and 4 salads. The soups came and we had to wait for almost 10 minutes for the salads which were sitting at the pass. 2 of the salads had chunks of lettuce that weren't cut small enough which we ended up cutting ourselves. The rest of the food was excellent. My wife has worked in the food industry for over 35 years and said there should have been a manager going around. Not once did we see one. We understand you have new staff but there should be someone looking over them and guiding them. CHK number was 2335 on Aug...

Had a fairly good late lunch here, but there was just a few things that felt different. It's been quite a while that I've been to east sides but, sadly, I have to comment that the foods pretty average. This could be due to what youre ordering as I haven't tried everything off the menu. I ordered 2 appetizers and shared a main that came with a free take home pasta, which is a great idea. Everything tasted ok and arrived quickly to the table but none of it really got me excited. I will say the salad was more tasty than anything else. I also felt service wasnt as proffesional as it could of been and it felt quite rushed even though the restaurant was not busy. I also found other tables were constantly checked on, looked to be regulers or off shift staff, while mine was being overlooked. I'm not complaining to harshly though as the server did eventually get our order in and it came promptly. I had to go with 3/5 due to the food being mediocre and service was a bit weird on how it was being approached. I might try other items off the menu if I'm in the area again. Thanks...