180 Portugal Cove Road, St. John’s
722-6900
East Side Mario’s
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18 Reader Reviews of East Side Mario’s
(2 positive, 11 negative)
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© 2009 The Scope.
June 11th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Calimari Friti Very oiley(cold)
Chicken Parmesean (Cold)
Service(cold)augued with me to tell me “oil” was white wine…
service surley,cold,left standing at door long evought we almost left.
Wow very surpised not that busy of a night will not be returning
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July 22nd, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I don’t know what it is about the St. John’s East Side Marios, but the food is just not great. Twice I have been there and the food served to me was cold and bland. The salad and bread served before the meal is delicious, but don’t hold out hope for the main course. My friend ordered a pasta with bacon in it, the bacon was in large, fatty chunks – not too appetizing! I have heard good things from friends who’ve gone to ESM in other cities, but the St. John’s one doesn’t seem to measure up.
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July 23rd, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Food is very bad, Calimari starter is deceiving you would think it is hot and ymmy but you will be shocked how cold and taste bad
As for the pizza I don’t know how on earth they call what they serving is Italian pizza, no way if the Italian knew about EastSide Mario’s believe me they will be very upset
I’ll never eat in EastSide Mario’s St. John’s NL again
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August 28th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Weekday/daytime bartender MUCH to concerned with the vlt’s there at East Side Marios in St. John’s Newfoundland instead of customer service! If he was as concerned with customer service as much as who’s playing and betting what amounts on the vlt’s then the customer service would be #1 in this country and out of this world! ..makes me sick!! His nic name should be VLT or two arm bandit or slot jockey! He also makes you wait forever and skips by you if you’re not spending a lot of money or tipping, quite rude – you can feel the coldness emanating, unless you bet high on the vlt’s – ridiculous. Makes the other great staff there at ESM’s look terrible. I would NEVER want to be served by this person, nor will i EVER spend a dime of my money there at East Side Marios in St. John’s Newfoundland because of this rude and uncouth bartender, neither will my friends or family, ever!! – no matter how good the food is. Often, the food in many places is only as good as who’s taking your order and the person serving you – and in this case its downright rotten!! Tending bar or anything to do with customer service is not this mans disposition….
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September 8th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
East Side Mario’s is fabulous for late night appetizers and nice cold beer!
Always half price 9-close… Super cheap, and super delicious!
Overall, not a huge fan of the pizzas and pastas… But if it’s mushroom stuffed mushrooms or nachos… Yum!
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September 22nd, 2009 at 9:32 am
Went there with the whole family-10 in total. Not one liked their meal, a first for sure. The bread is great, thank God,as we needed something to fill up on. I’ve never seen my son push food away, but he did this with his lasagna. My husband’s pizza was a joke and everthing else we ordered was pretty well untouched, except for the soup and salads.
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September 23rd, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Terrible service, average food, overpriced. My meatballs were cold, my server never asked if I wanted more bread or soup, and it took forever to get my meal. I’ll never eat there again.
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January 18th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
The Liberty Bar just over a year ago, had a great special. 1/2 price apps with beverage purchase… until they cut their apps in half. Nachos went from a large plate and lots of toppings to barely any cheese and veggies on a small plate. Friends and i would go there at least once a week and order a few jugs of beer. It was nice, and the service was great. But since the app portions and quality died, we stopped going.
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January 28th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Myself and my wife used to love this place, and when I read all these reviews I couldn’t understand what everyone was talking about, we always had a great experience at East Side. That was until Sunday night past. I can now see what everyone is complaining about. Basically in this industry “you get what you pay for”, unfortunately for East Side MARIO’S, their staff is not worth much. We waited almost an hour — im not kidding, almost an hour to get an order of Wings and a Spaghetti. Our waitress was crooked as sin, and never ever came back to the table once she took our order. We had to flag down another waiter to get drink refills we were waiting that long to get our meals. To make it worse, all the staff (approx 12 in total) were hanging out laughing and joking in a corner booth by the kitchen. I was amazed on how unprofessional this place has become, just kids working and not giving a damn. There are so many choices in this city to dine, and it is a shame to see such a place go downhill as much as East Side MArio’s has gone. It will be a long time before they get another $40 from me — too bad because I really did enjoy this restaurant. I suggest they take a long hard look at who is running this place, because I’m sure their problems begin at the top and filter down. At the end of the day, we left unsatisfied and upset, knowing that we wouldnt be coming back to a former favourite spots. Good Luck in the Future East Side — you are going to need it.
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March 20th, 2010 at 4:11 am
I was so surprised to see all negative reviews on this restaurant. I make sure to go there at least once a month and the only thing I agree with is that sometimes, the servers could be better. That being said, I’ve never had a BAD server, just not as friendly as I would prefer. This is actually the only reason why I didn’t give the full 5 stars.
Anytime and everytime I’ve gone here I’ve been completely satisfied with the food. The bread and salad is delicious, the unlimited refills on everything is seriously the best thing in the world [even though I never need one, it's just comforting to know it's there]…the pasta’s I’ve ever gotten have been delicious and all times except one the pizza has been really, really great.
They’re also the only place in town that I know of that serves funnel cake for a dessert, which is my favourite thing in the world.
The prices are very reasonable to me and considering I can never leave there still hungry, I’d definitely be willing to pay more if I had to.
So sad that people seem to feel negatively towards ESM :(
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May 12th, 2010 at 1:31 am
Great food, cool atmosphere, excellent prices. This is a good place if you like to have an upscale-ish meal but cant always afford to eat at an upscale restaurant. They have all kinds of great deals and specials. The service isnt the best, but it’s a fair trade-off when you’re getting food of this quality at these prices.
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December 8th, 2010 at 11:25 am
WORST SERVICE EVER!!! The people who manage this place should be fired along with all the rest of the unhelpfull employees! I will nerver eat there again, and I tell everyone how bad this place is. I cant believe how bad they treat their customers.
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June 13th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
I went here with my family, it would not ordinarily be my first choice, and after this experience I will never go back there again.
I scanned the menu for the little green tomato’s which indicate vegetarian. One would think this means no meat products…. according to my server, the minestrone soup is made with a Chicken broth. The following conversation ensued:
Me: “haha, yeah I don’t eat meat, so I’m glad to see you have a veggie soup on the menu! I’ll take that”
Him: “No problem!”
Me: “Most places make their soups with a Chicken or Beef broth! Glad to see you actually offer an alternative!”
Him: “Oh, there is chicken broth used for the soup, because, you see it is not Vegan, it’s only vegetarian!”
Me: “Ummmm…. boiled chicken fat in soup makes it NOT vegetarian, nor vegan… vegan means no animal products, such as cheese eggs etc… vegetarian means no MEAT, no fat…. your soup is not either of those but it states on the menu it is. That is misleading. You should mention it to your manager…and of course cancel the order for the soup.”
From there I was not directed to the manger, nor was this even mentioned to the manger. He recommended I write an email to the main office on the mainland. I did, and I have yet to hear back from them.
Aside from all this hassle, the food was mediocre, the portion size was inadequate and it was overpriced. Overall it was a bad experience.
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August 5th, 2011 at 11:30 am
I have been trying to track down a contact email because I have a few comments to make about a recent experience at East Side Mario’s in St. John’s Newfoundland. When we entered, there was an older gentleman taking names for tables because there was a wait. First off, he seemed annoyed to see us and when we asked for a table for two, he replied “Well, it’s going to be at least 20 minutes, but if you want I can take your names” saying it as if he wanted us to leave, and he did this with everyone. When he was ready to seat us at our table, we inquired about an adjacent booth, which was empty and he actually got mad at us. His comments went something like this “No. You have to take this table, there are other people who are waiting too you know. This is how it goes. All I can say is… NO.” My fiance almost started to cry. We turned right around and left. No paying customer should EVER have to deal with that type of rudeness and I will never be going back there again
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September 6th, 2011 at 11:41 am
Poor service for sure! I don’t like this place either.Had a few similar bad experiences there.Will never go back.
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January 6th, 2012 at 10:16 am
$15.95 for a pound of wings, $16.95 for Chicken fingers ??
Can you say BRUTALLY OVERPRICED !!
Went there last night, saw the prices, and left.
No thanks, you can get the same food anywhere in the city for a fraction of their prices. Never will go back
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April 24th, 2012 at 11:56 am
We’ve eaten here as a family several times now and last night we needed something for us and our 9 year old twins between basketball and dance. We’ve had a couple of mediocre meals here before but decided to give it once last chance. Unfortunately the best things about the meal was the bread and caesar salad served at the beginning of the meal. The brocolli served with the salmon was so old that the flowers were turning yellow. I sent it back and eventually was told that all the brocolli appeared to be the same so they were cooking me some fresh. When the new plate of veg eventually turned up, it had been stir fried in a LOT of oil which made it pretty unpalatable. Both my children had pasta, one with tomato sauce, the other with alfredo. Their were hot(ish) at the centre and cold around the oustide – I understand that in some cases microwaving might be necessary but at least stir the dishes after heating so that the heat is throughout the dish and it looks fresher when it arrives on the plate. I paid $21.99 for my salmon dish. I think the entrees are overpriced and you can get much better value and much better food elsewhere in the city.
To call it an ‘Italian’ restuarant is a little bit of a stretch of the imagination! Very disappointing and we will not be eating there again.
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April 24th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
food, price, service: TERRIBLE
I would give zero stars if it was possible
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