Mario's — Restaurant in Town of Aurora

So glad I stopped by :) my mom has been recommending this place for the past three months and since I was in town for a visit we stopped in. This is a 10/10 recommend and if we lived here we’d be regulars for sure.

Location: It’s right at the end of Davis road so if you’re coming from that road it is a bit of an awkward direct shot into the lot, but if you’re coming from the left or right it’s extremely easy to get into. It’s also got tons of parking and is wheel chair accessible.

Staff: Mario was actually in person when we went which was super nice. The entire staff was super friendly, chatty, and helpful. It was our first time so we asked for recommendations on what to get and they knocked it out of the park, recommending the most popular items, La Mortadella and the Bronx.

Food: We went for lunch and got the La Mortadella and a half of the Bronx. La Mortadella was literally to die for, I cannot recommend it enough. The Bronx was a super good size for a half portion (as big as the mortadella). Only item of note was it had tapenade on it which I did not realize ahead of time, which is 100% my personal bad since I don’t love olives. Either way we still ate both in their entirety and if we were staying in the area longer we’d definitely go again to try other items.

Pricing: Reasonable, $22 for two sandwiches which were good portions and filled us up. Same price as Panera or subway at this point with inflation, but much higher quality and fresh ingredients. Great bang...

This place is not far from the secret lair of an arch rival. I’ve often wished there was a place like this for a nice sandwich after vanquishing the evil, because saving the world takes considerable energy and by the time I’m done filling out the reports, I’m usually hangry.

I stopped in today and ordered the chicken club to go. I got the whole sub, for reasons made obvious above, and I have to tell you it was FANTASTIC. The bread was fresh and perfect for the charbroiled chicken done perfectly, the toppings were not drowned out by the perfect amount of mayo. It was huge and despite my worthy hunger, I did not finish it.

Mario was behind the counter warmly greeting his guests, and patiently guiding them through their choices. He seems like a nice guy, knowledgeable in his craft.

The space needs to decide what it wants to be, and i get the sense they will get around to that. I get the sense they’ve decided to focus on the food first and let the rest fall in line as they create a customer base. I could see an outdoor seating area doing well in the summer if they invested in a cool design, but the makeshift set up on the front porch is serviceable for now. T

So for now its just a great place for take out at lunch time. I bet they do great trays for group gatherings, but that’s...

Order the lasagna. It had zero meat but had a lot of spinach.. it definitely not what the description said. As again had zero meat in it and I did not want a vegetarian type of Lasagna or looking for it. No bread at all included. Only good part of it was the sauce. And even though the sauce had zero meat. I try a place one time and look at it like this if they can't get it right the first time why would I ever order from there again. The sad part is if it had been good they would have had me and my wife business regularly as we order out every day. So looks like the search is still on for a place that has good lasagna, the other foods.. i have had better Italian food back down in the south then I have had...