East Side Mario's — Restaurant in Red Deer

At the start of the visit, the host mentioned it was a 20 min wait and we were happy to wait. While waiting, I got a really bad cough and we asked for water and the host said she cannot provide water since we technically didn’t order at the restaurant. Upon multiple requests, she said she’ll have to check with her manager to provide me a glass of water! Insane.. that’s basic human courtesy. She got me a glass of water eventually. Then the server at our table seemed nice initially but boy were we in for a surprise! Brought us one set of cutlery even though we were 3 (2 adults and 1 toddler). Firstly, the new menu has vegetarian options indicator removed in the menu. We gave our first round of order for appetizers with her not writing anything and then after about 5 mins she asked us to repeat it because she didn’t remember. We had ordered a flat bread and saw it didn’t have enough balsmic dressing nor enough cheese… only saw tomatoes and arugula leaves. Tomato garlic soup had no flavour and the quantity has been reduced down to a small bowl. When we ordered our entree (Spaghetti Primavera with Pesto sauce) .. to our surprise, there was no taste of pesto.. we could only taste oregano and pasta stock. It was so bad, we raised it to the server and she said this is a standard recipe and no changes have been made even though the last time we had the same dish it tasted way better. After some discussions, she offered for a replacement. We didn’t have any further vegetarian options to choose from so decided not to order anything else and while explaining that to the server, she left midway through my explanation and went to get the bill. Didn’t even ask for water refills. While we were paying our bill she was talking to customers on other table loudly that your food will be here shortly bla bla bla. She doesn’t even had basic courtesy to wait.Overall just very bad experience. We use to love ESM but...

We dropped by East Side Mario's for dinner on Sunday night while travelling through Red Deer. It was already past the dinner rush so we were promptly seated upon arrival.

Service seemed a little slower than what we've experienced at other ESM locations across Alberta. Following our drink order, our server brought us two warm loaves of their delicious garlic bread. It definitely helped fill the void while our meals were prepared, especially for the kids. My wife and I both enjoyed our salads that were included with our meals, and as always, freshly grated cheese was plentiful throughout our meal. I opted for the chicken Tetrazzini with rose sauce, while my wife went with the cheese cappelletti, which were both delicious. Our children chose the build your own pasta and pizza, which they both devoured. Unfortunately they were out of the goldfish crackers, and the kids weren't really interested in the gelatos, so they were a little disappointed.

The one thing that my wife and I were a little disappointed about is that all the TV's were showing the news of the day on repeat, and unfortunately it wasn't a very great news day (lots of talk of deaths, fatal accidents, wildfires, etc.). My eldest was reading the captions and mentioned how the news seemed quite disturbing. I asked the bartender if they could change the channel to the same one that was showing the "funniest animals" show, the answer was an unfortunate no as that was the only TV out of the 5 that apparently had access to that channel. She mentioned that she'd try to change the channel on the other 4 that were all linked together when she got a minute, but it never happened. I'd highly suggest that a family restaurant like ESM should have appropriate shows on their TV's that...

I hadn’t been to East Side Mario’s in years after a negative and bizarre experience that had our waitress start taking our food away while we were still eating amongst other problems. But I had just driven over 6 hours from Grand Prairie and I was craving pasta, so the wife and I thought about burying the hatchet with the Red Deer East Side Mario’s, and give it the first chance in over 5 years.

HUGE mistake. We get there at 9pm. A quick google search before we left the house revealed they close at 10pm. So we get there at 9pm, and proceeded to wait nearly 10 minutes for someone to acknowledge our existence. The girl that did come to the door was super nice, but when she asked her boss if she could sit us the boss who was wiping down the bar was rude. Yelling from the bar they were closed.

Closed…. At 9:10pm when their hours say 10pm. I’ve worked in the restaurant business, and people showing up an hr before close is not uncommon. Totally unprofessional. So as I look around I see a couple tables waiting for their food.

So our simple party of 2,that would have been in and out in an hour left. Just wanted a quick tetrazzini and beer. So we went to Tiffany’s where I got pasta. Lobster linguine, lobster bisque, salt and pepper squid, racks of lamb and some killer drinks.

Thank you East Side Mario’s Red Deer. For reminding me why I don’t go to your establishment any more. There once was a time I went there up to 3x a week. Now I have been in there once in years and you didn’t want me or my business.

You may as well pull the plug on your business when you treat people that way. It’s not going to be...