East Side Mario's

Reviews

• TH

  Tracey Hunter

  Nov 16, 2025
  1.0
  Made a reservation for 6 people at 7:00 for 2 people celebrating a birthday. Had to wait a few minutes as they were getting the booth ready….not a big deal. Once seated the waitress asked us if there were any special occasions, said it was 2 birthdays but they didn’t have to sing, she said a robot does, so I said yes the robot must sing and we giggled. Came back 10 minutes later for our drink order, 4 cola’s, 2 diet cola’s. Got 3&3. The waitress replaced it sometime later. A table behind us was seated. Then our orders were placed so things appeared to be running smoothly. 4 salads, 2 soups, bread came out. I don’t think we saw our waitress from that point on. Our salads came out, one salad had very little dressing on it, another had absolutely no dressing on it, told soup is coming, then our meal was being served almost immediately by someone else. We were surprised, asked about the soup and they had no idea what we were talking about so we just said we could take it to go. One meal was requested with specific cooking instructions to be cooked longer……it was not. This waitress was great offered to take it back, bring out one the soups and have the meal recooked. So now we’ve been there for about an hour, and the table behind us was getting ready to leave…..because they hadn’t even had a drink order taken. I hope they leave a review. The meal came out for the second time as was still not cooked as requested ( pasta to be cooked really long time). He was told that his meal would then be complemented which it was not. The waitress who took our bill was clearly frustrated and apologized saying short staffed. I don’t think I saw the same waitress each time, yet when we left, my daughter saw our original waitress in another area. When we got there at 7:00, it was very busy, by 8:00 at least half the tables were empty. The robot never came. There’s other poor things that happened during our visit but why mention them as I don’t think I will be going back to this location again.
• JS

  jamie shea

  Nov 11, 2025
  5.0
  While we weren’t previously people who spent a lot of time at chain restaurants, we have spent a lot of time at this East Side Mario’s since having kids. Plenty of food, good service, and a robot (huge draw for our 2.5 yr old). Tonight was no different - I called for a reservation and they offered a large booth since we would have a car seat. Peter served us, and not only did the robot bring our food twice (MUCH to our toddler’s delight), but service was super quick, which every parent appreciates immensely. Best service we’ve had so far! This location will continue to be our go to!
• SS

  Sabina Steen

  Nov 9, 2025
  5.0
  I had such a wonderful experience at East Side Mario’s! The food was fresh, flavorful, and came out quickly. The restaurant had a fun, friendly atmosphere that made our visit even better. What really made the experience stand out was the manager — he is absolutely amazing! He was welcoming, attentive, and genuinely cared about making sure everyone was happy. You can tell he takes great pride in running the place and supporting his team. It’s always nice to see leadership like that — it really shows in the overall service and vibe. I’ll definitely be coming back!
• TL

  Tom Lindsay

  Nov 6, 2025
  5.0
  Needed a quick and filling pasta lunch the day before the Hamilton Marathon so came here for takeout. There seen to be a lot of great local Italian places in Hamilton so I felt kind of guilty going to a chain place for lunch, but it met what I needed and was also really good. I got the spaghetti primavera with goat cheese, a garden salad, extra bread, and a kid's meal penne pasta with tomato sauce -- kids meals are a great way to add a little extra pasta when carb loading without committing to two full meals! The spaghetti was excellent, with mushrooms, peppers, and onions. The salad was nice and fresh, and the bread was great. The kids penne was boring, of course, but did what I needed at a reasonable price. All in all better than I expected and probably my second favorite of the Italian restaurants I tried on the trip.
• CH

  Ciara-Joy Hutchings

  Oct 20, 2025
  1.0
  0/10 would never recommend East Side Mario's on Queenston Road. I booked reservations for my 10 year old son’s birthday dinner for 15 people. We show up just a few minutes before 5:30pm (our reservation time) we waited 10 minutes + at the door with NO acknowledgment. Then finally someone approaches, we tell them we have a reservation and they tell us they only set up for 12 individuals. (Not a big deal, but still the start of the down hill) we waited for them to set up. Great.. now we’re seated, we then waited 30 minutes for DRINK orders to be taken. Then we waited 45 minutes for bread, salads and soups! (Which we recieved bread and 1 small thing of butter for 8+ people on our side) Great.. refills took 20+ minutes for DRINKS.. one person waited 30+ minutes for a DRAFT BEER!! (LETS also add it’s NOT busy, there’s 10+ staff working in the restaurant part) we finally recieved our actual meals 1.5 hours in!! To which one pizza was messed up, the 3 people who got pizza all got paper thin pizzas. The chicken in our pastas were dry!! Requested more butter one person requested dip for their pizza.. this came 30-40 minutes AFTER asking a second time. Bills were requested and took 20-40 minutes between each person who requested (my mom waiting 40 minutes on oxygen). Our server walked right past one person trying to pay and ignored when he said he was trying to pay. We’re all waiting to pay and leave.. which they finally come over and ask what deserts the kids want. Order goes in we ask for the 3rd or 4th time for the bills and than our server says I’ll get them (was allegedly already getting them multiple times) then asks “are we here for anything special” I say yes.. my sons birthday that’s why we’re here and booked reservations. She apologized and gets his “birthday treat”. In total we were their 2++ hours 5 people did all you can eat pasta and wasn’t worth it since after 1 plate we were ignored or waiting around. Finally got our “second portions” to which we were leaving and all took home. The service was disgustingly unprofessional and lack of any “service”. Finally everyone paid and left. No apologies for services provided or lack of.. everyone including the 6 kids were annoyed, complaining about how long everything was taking and how they were waiting for simple refills or a simple drink. Never in my own 10+ years of working in bars/ restaurants etc when I did, did I ever provide such horrible service nor would my previous employers ever accept that kind of service being provided. Absolutely appalling and disgusting. 100% woulda took my $200 elsewhere for me and my kids and will never return to eat or spend a simple penny at East Side Mario’s.

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