Mario's of Arthur Avenue — Restaurant in New York

This was undeniably the worst dining experience I have ever had! We were 7 women friends looking forward to a visit to the Botanical Gardens and a delicious “Arthur Avenue” dinner. Once seated, our waiter greeted us with a question about where our husbands were. For various reasons, we were all taken aback by this inappropriate question. Having been widowed a few years ago, I was stunned. As friends who often dine together, we are okay with splitting the check, but obviously separate checks make it easier. Our waiter said he would give us separate checks but that our meals would not arrive at the same time. Although we were confused as to why that would be, given that there were only 10 other people in the restaurant and at least 4 already had their meals, it did not seem like this would be a problem. But it was! Despite the fact that only 1 other couple arrived at the restaurant while we were there, our 7 meals arrived at our table over a span of at least 20 minutes. About those meals…Chicken Franchese, Veal Parmesan and a shrimp dish all were satisfactory. Two women ordered the salmon which on arrival was so overcooked as to be barely edible. I ordered the filet of sole. It arrived 20 minutes after the first of us had been served and it was not completely cooked. When I pointed this out to the waiter, rather than apologizing, he said “no problem.” I replied that, indeed, it was a problem since several others in our party had already finished their meals. More than 10 minutes passed before the same piece of fish was returned to the table. I could only assume that it had been sitting in the kitchen growing bacteria while it waited for the chef (Was there one???) to finish cooking it. Of course I refused to eat it. The waiter still offered no apology. By then everyone else was finished eating and asked for checks. Despite the fact that I had had no dinner and received no apology, he had the nerve to hand me a check for the drink I had while everyone else ate. Small wonder that the restaurant across the street was full, yet Mario’s had only 10 diners other than us at 6:00 on a Friday night. Do yourself a favor and avoid this place! P. S. No, I did not pay that bill!

Follow up to management's response:

How disingenuous of you to suggest that I did not seek to have the problem resolved that very night! I sent the undercooked fish back, requesting that it be cooked further. I would have been satisfied if it had been returned to the table in a reasonable amount to time so that I could eat it before everyone else in my party was ready to leave. It was not. Furthermore, you were right there in the restaurant when I expressed my displeasure with the long wait for my dinner and with the meal as served. The restaurant was far from busy, yet you chose to ignore me. If you were somehow unaware of my displeasure, shouldn't your wait staff have alerted you to the problem? It seems to me that that would be the prudent policy. And in case you choose to claim that you were not in the dining room at the time, then you would have to have been in the kitchen. When a customer sends a meal back, it should be obvious that there is a problem. Why then would you not have come out to talk to me. Wouldn't you have wanted to apologize and seek to make it right? You and your staff had ample opportunity to rectify this. My experience at Mario's that night was horrible and my review was honest, fair...

A Classic staple of the orignal Arthur Ave restaurants. This treasure opened in 1919 and has been serving large portioned meals with warm traditional hospitable service on the block for what feels like forever. A reservation is recommended to get a table in the classically decorated old school dining room . With cozy tables nestled next to each other you'll feel taken back as to what family style dining was, is, and should be. They have great staff that will make recommendations and tell you what they truely think. For our appetizers I ordered a burrata plate which was soft moist and simply over flowing with taste. To go with that we also had a shrimp cocktail and a salad for 2. The fresh super light bread which was amazing was used to sop up anything left on the plate. Then we ordered for the 2 of us a A plate of Noki Sorrentina. Soften potato noodles with red sauce, ricotta, and mozzarella. Bursting with flavor. My wife ordered the chicken scarpiello which was tasty, well rounded and beautifully done. Chicken was soft tender, and not drowing in sauce. The peppers were so tasty. I had the real sorrentina which was wonderful. Fresh eggplant , and prosciutto and. a light crispy breading that flakes when I ate it. Wow. For desert we had traditional coffee paired with a strawberry covered cheese cake tart, also added a rainbow cake which was epic as well as a chocolate whipped cream cake. My meal was amazing naturally with left overs. All the foods we tasted were freshly made and had material from the neighborhood. Great staff and a chef that walks around and greets people so he show his passion for cooking. Bring your appetite ,and doggie bag for left overs. A great place where food is made with love and has been for 100 years strong....

I came here with a friend for the first time and decided to try out their lasagna. It was awful. Had no flavor whatsoever, not even the taste of salt, just tasteless noodle. There was barely any sauce and the meat was not what I expected. I asked for meat sauce lasagna and was given beef chunks. To me ground beef and beef chunks are not the same thing. Meat sauce is one thing and these things were basically sausages.

This incredibly lackluster lasagna was almost 30 dollars. The real problem for me comes when I basically give 90% of the plate back and am about to leave with my friend. My friend goes into the bathroom and during these 3-5 minutes the waiter who served us (all i remember is a man with his hair tied in a pony tail and probably was of some hispanic decent, one of the waiters who stands outside to greet) asked me if i enjoyed my food. I said it was ok to not make him feel bad, but as i stood waiting he then started to ask if i enjoyed my food why didn’t i leave him a tip.

I told him its not my job to compensate him for his low earnings. If he or any other service associate want to be properly compensated go get a job that entails a livable wage. This man spent the next 2 minutes badgering me for a tip and lecturing me on good practice and the right thing to do and bla bla bla.

I should have just told him the lasagna tasted like trash, maybe then he would have left me alone. I will NEVER come back here let alone recommend anyone to try this nasty A.s $ food. PS, my friend did not enjoy his food either, same issue very bland super expensive. He got some sort of seafood...