I went to the West End, Hamilton at University plaza location. The staff are very pleasant and served with a smile. Unfortunately, the food has gone down hill 100%. I bit into my chicken parmesan and I was completely disgusted! The chicken was obviously fake or something's wrong with the texture, very rubbery. I tried to take another bite but I couldn't, it was nasty!! The pasta sauce was awful too. Sad to say but $70 worth of food was thrown away! Eastside Mario has really has changed for the worst. I understand it's not the staff's fault. The business is purchasing cheaper quality of food, (if you call it food). In my opinion, the chicken wasn't real chicken. Very disappointed. I will never eat there again. read more

Can with family friends. Service was great - they were friendly and accommodating! They attended well to our needs - refilling drinks and even taking group picture! It's always a plus for me. Food were good and not that expensive. They offer eat-all-you-can soup, pasta and/or drinks. Got some fancy colorful fun drinks too! Tiramisu was the best among 3 desserts, I thought the choco was too sweet. Would reco for group gatherings! Nice indoor space and deco btw. read more

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I honestly don't know what's wrong with this place. I guess the manager doesn't know how to run a business. THEY HAVE THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER!! I would not advise going to the upper James location. While there, a woman who works there threatened to call the cops on myself and my fiancee for literally no reason. We were having a conversation... Either way, that threat was a HUGE over reaction and certainly not needed. Then when I spoke to the manager on the phone later, he mentioned something about us not giving them a tip... OF COURSE THERE'S NO TIP FOR THAT KIND OF BEHAVIOUR AND LACK OF CUSTOMER SERVICE!! WILL NEVER BE GOING BACK THERE AGAIN... don't wanna go to any east side Mario's anymore... It used to be my favourite restaurant and I've been a regular customer there. But it's seriously gone down hill. I've never experienced such horrible service at any restaurant before! read more

I ordered through Uber from Steeles location. I paid $45 for a meal for 2. Came with 2 pastas, 2 soups, 2 garlic bread and 2 bottled pop. This meal should have been 25.99 at the most. Pasta portions were really small and tasted absolutely disgusting. Even Chef Boyardee is better than this. I have been to ESM in the past, and the quality has gone down significantly. They should lower their prices to match their quality. I don't care about paying more, ​as long as the quality is there, but this was a joke. Will not be ordering from here again. read more

I seen a cockroach on the seat but the food was amazing I would definitely go back to this place!

East Side Mario's was seriously underwhelming. The place was packed but I'm unsure why, as the food & service were mediocre at best. The server was fine but a bit socially awkward. The food was bland and felt sick once I left. I definitely won't be back anytime soon. I'd rather hit up a drive thru than ever return here. read more

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There's some 50 year old short creepy looking guy who I'm guessing is the manager of this place or something because he wears same blue jeans and outfit every time I've come in here. He's possibly one of the rudest individuals I've ever met and witnessed. I've seen him power trip over employees and be rude to multiple people picking up orders. We order takeout sometimes and the foods average at best but the other employees are really nice except this one guy. I feel bad for anyone working for this guy, he gives me creepy vibes every time im in here waiting. You guys lost a customer and I've seen other reviews on here mention managers/staff as well and I'm willing to bet it's this punk theyre talking about. I'll be forwarding an email to HR/East side Mario's as I've seen this happen multiple times. Insane he works there still. read more

spaghetti and meatballs were horrible not homemade meatballs they we're disgusting never will go back .nasty

After quite some time away, we decided to come back here for lunch. We ordered lunch pasta dishes and they were both excellent. My Double Bacon Carbonara was very tasty, lots of bacon & cheese. My wife's Chicken Tetrazini was also very good. Both lunch portions were generous and my wife took 1/2 of hers home. The accompanying bread and butter was very fresh. Our waitress, Jessica, was a real gem - very attentive and friendly. We'll certainly come back. read more

The interior has had quite the reno! It went from a warm Italian family restaurant to a cold modern environment. The menu has also had one heck of a transformation! Easy Side Mario's has definitely cheapened with their now very high prices and small portions. Anyways, so I've had better Italian food at non-Italian restaurants. If you're going to run an Italian franchise, be sure that the food is authentic enough to put the Italian label on it. I gave y'all two stars because of the kind staff and the manger introduced herself to us...and the delicious Caesar salad. Also, one of the waitresses forgot to bring my straw! However, Eric from this location was wonderful! read more

East Side Mario's - Italian Near Me - Hamilton, Ontario

Went tonight to give a retry to see if food is any better it was better the sandwich than last time but still was very thrown together potatoes were plain no flavour salad was nothing like it use to be thank to the new owner he was very helpful give gift card and tried his best i wish u all the best and hopefully the food can get some love n care read more

East Side Mario's - Italian Near Me - Hamilton, Ontario

Food was much better than the old restaurant. Service improved as well since renovations. Still on the pricy side for what you get but a big improvement since new owners took over. read more

East Side Mario's - Prosciutto wrapped mozzarella - Italian Near Me - Hamilton, Ontario

Love this place. How can you go wrong with all you can eat soup. And you can switch between kinds. Omg amazing. Love this place.

Don't know what happened to East Side Mario's but will no longer be ordering take out from them and when the Covid virus is under control with restaurants being allowed to serve patrons, they will not be serving me as I will never be dining there. Ordered takeout - 5 meals for the family. Of the 5 meals, 3 where marginally acceptable, 2 were thrown in the garbage. Salad was brown, pasta was cold - what a waste of money and time. read more

Was craving Italian food and decided to give East Side Mario's a try. The service was very slow. It was not that busy when we went in, waited more than an hour to get our food... definitely not worth the wait for mediocre pasta. read more

The last time I came here years ago I had the worst capellini pasta EVER. It was pre cooked and had been sitting in water for quite some time so by the time it was used for my meal it just dissolved.when picked up with a fork. The reviews indicating that service is slow are not an exaggeration. It took forever to get our drink order, another wait for our orders to be taken, and a long wait for the salads or soups to arrive. They give you bread to buy time and that gets devoured quickly by our hungry group. The food is good when you eventually get it. The service is definitely friendly and our server was good with the kids. It was very busy on a Saturday night so it seems like a popular spot. If they can fix the service issues it would improve the experience. read more

Won't be back. We went for the special where you order a meal and take one home. We thought that this would be a good date night for me and my husband and we'd take dinner home for the kids. You'd better like pasta if you do this, my one son hates pasta. Strike one. The all you can eat salad arrived and my plate was filthy, not just a little dirty but filthy. Strike two. My meal came and the spoon for my pasta looked like someone licked it. Strike three. Not to mention the fact that they were out of some of their draft beers, but that's okay considering that you can't even order a pitcher there. For what you get the meals are overpriced and they don't even use the money to hire a dishwasher. Save yourself the frustration and spend your money somewhere else. read more

The new East Side Mario's at University Plaza, Dundas, Ontario, Canada. First time there since it opened up here. Very busy, and extremely noisy. WE didn't have to wait too long to get seated. We both ordered the same chicken dish. Everything else had red sauce on it, and we don't eat red sauce.The wedding soup was good. The bread was good. My husband enjoyed the salad which comes with your meal. My chicken dish with vegetables and cheese was okay.Some of it was too well done, or cooked too long. The noise was very annoying, in one large room with a lot going on. Two tv screens, and a lot of people talking. I would not return, again as i don't like a noisy atmosphere when i am trying to enjoy my dinner. read more

DO NOT GO HERE!! From beginning to end it was the worst restaurant experience I've ever had. I could literally go on and on about how everything that was wrong with our meal. EVERYTHING about our dining experience ; even down to the simplest task of having cutlery to eat with was deplorable. IF I COULD GIVE IT 0 STARS I WOULD! Honestly it was so bad I wouldn't be surprised if one of our party gets food poisoning later.. just can't express enough how bad it was. read more

I always read the reviews, but never leave my own. Even when I see a low rating, I still like to give the establishment an opportunity to come through. We really lost out on that decision on our visit to ESM's. While the food was good, the service was deplorable. From the moment we stepped in and no one was there to greet us. It was a Friday night and the restaurant was busy, there is no excuse not to have 2 members of staff working the front and always ensuring someone is there to greet the guests. Then we went to the bar to wait while a table became available. This was a fun game of "guess how long it will take before one of the bartenders even acknowledges you, much less takes your drink order". After about 10 minutes we were acknowledged and asked what we wanted to drink. The drinks came quite quickly, along with our bill. Although the bill was brought to us with our drinks, we then proceeded to deal with that awkward moment when 10-15 minutes later a table was ready and no one asked for us to settle up. We had to wait another 5 minutes to pay. When we were seated our server came over and seemed quite happy to take our drink order and advise us of the special 12 for 12$ deal. His demeanor was such that we thought our experience would be saved by this ray of light. We were mistaken. We still don't know this man's name. Isn't it standard to always introduce yourself to your guests? We were then continuously promised that salad and bread was coming and as we watched him leave the kitchen to give to his other tables we were continuously passed over. When we did get bread and salad and our meals all was great. Just unfortunate that this restaurant management needs to either invest in members of staff who actually care, or better staff training. The issues listed above are certainly not the end of the world. But when you are walking into a place of business whose sole purpose is to serve customers and they prove they are incapable of common practice it really is a turn off. We will not be venturing back to this location again. read more

My favourite restaurant hands down. The prices are amazing, the food is so good, and the staff is so nice. I've been going here with friends and family for years and I definitely recommend read more

We arrived on a Saturday so it was definitely crowded. We were told it would be a 45 min wait and it was. While there was an empty table at which we were eventually seated, the table sat empty for 20 minutes before we were seated. I don't understand why we couldn't just sit down. Anyway, we were seated with menus and after waiting another 15 minutes for someone to show up to get us drinks or take our order, we finally got up and left as it was obvious that we weren't going to be helped any time soon. There were other tables all around us, and no one was getting service, so at least we weren't singled out! Doubt I'll give them a second chance. read more

The restaurant is ok. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to a friend. The booths are all cracked and extremely uncomfortable to sit on if you are wearing shorts. Staff is very nice. The best part about this restaurant is the garlic bread. When you go there you get endless garlic bread and salad. The endless garlic bread is amazing. Better than any other garlic bread that I've tasted, and I'm Italian. Just don't tell my family that I said that. The restaurant is extremely overpriced for what you're getting. It is not the cleanest facility. The food isn't anything special so I wouldn't spend that much money at east side marios again. read more

Don't go to this location. We went their twice and were discussed both times. The first time my BF got the 16 layer lasagna and I ordered a chicken Parmesan Sandwich. The lasagna came out slide in a piled mess and was cold. Even tasting it was a waste because it had 0 flavours. He couldn't eat it. My sandwich was burnt and was more bun than chicken. Both our meals were unimpressive. I complained on their website so they sent us a 'eat on us' gift card. So we tried it again. We ordered a Linguine Chicken Amatriciana and Matt got the Baked Penne Bolognese. Neither was anything worth singing about, as before the sauce had 0 flavour and was over cooked. We also got a starter, one of favourites at any restaurant, the Spinach Cheese Dip. The chips were burnt and the dip tasted like Elmers White Glue and as before we couldn't eat it. The pasta was at least palatable. The service was shotty too. Both times we waited over 5 minutes to be seated and even loner for the waitress to show up. They were polite when they were there. We sat in the bar the second round and the bartender was also our waitress. She was so over run most of tables were not clean and it took her a long time to get things done. I'm not sure if other locations are better but I know we won't be eating at one for a long time if ever again. read more

Absolutely terrible service, waited 30min before walking out and going to another restaurant. Will not be returning to this establishment.

Don't order take-out from here. Placed order, arrived 20 minutes later when food was quoted. Waited an additional 30 minutes with vauge excuses offered before I gave up and left. The wait was on 1 item of the 2 orders and 1 appetizer. The rest of the order was ready and going soggy and still they could not tell me how much longer. They didn't acknowledge, or perhaps even understand, that the quality of the half hour old food was going to be equally as bad as the wait itself for the late item. This, after swearing off eating-in there almost two months ago. read more

Food was alright. Service was terrible. Restaurant had mid traffic and we saw our waitress a total of 3 times before we finished eating. She made sure to check into our table a few times minutes before our bill was to be paid. I had dinner with my friend who's a server herself, and she was appalled at how bad the service was. read more

No complaints about my meal, cheap beer special, and unlimited salad and bread. Only thing I found very strange was the bartender making a white russian with about 12 milkers for coffee??? Very odd..... read more

Stopped in for a meal by myself and sat at the bar, the bartender was quick to drop off a menu and take my drink order but then choose to scocialize with other staff stiiing at the bar. After finishing my drink and waiting 48 min I was asked if I wanted to order. I declinded and left. The service was terrible. read more

Food is typical of the chain. However the service at this location is lousy. Very long to have anyone come to the table. Long wait for the food & forgetful of the drinks. If you want E.S.M's food, than go to the location in the lower part of town. read more

I'm only giving East Side Mario's 2 stars because the service was good and the bread was decent. The overall food experience is terrible when it comes to this restaurant! It's over seasoned and processed. I ordered a the new stuffed pizza and the thing was so tiny I needed to ask for more salad as I was still hungry. The worse part is the pizza that was no bigger than the size of my hand was $14.99. I always say I'll never go back as most times I don't enjoy my experience there but my niece and nephew like the bread so next time I go back I'll have a glass of water and eat at home. It's so gross and now I lay here with an upset stomach after eating over processed garbage! read more

The food is ok, but the service is terrible. We waited over an hour to get our food, and the place was nearly empty. The only good thing is the unlimited soup and salad, but they don't come around to ask you if you want more. read more

Went into the restaurant at about 10:15 pm and got seated at a booth in the bar. 20 minutes went by and no one came up to introduce themselves or ask if we wanted a drink or meal. There were two people walking around the whole time cleaning tables and chatting with other tables and the only thing said to us was see you guys as we decided to leave the menus at the bar and leave. On the door of the restaurant it said open til 12 but looking afterwards on the internet it said open til 11. Either way someone could have came up to us to let us know what was going on and if they were only open til 11, they should fix the sign on the door. Don't think I'll have anything good to say about this place ever again! read more

What a let down! We have ordered the family pasta deal quite a few times but last night we got the worse food ever! Upper James Mario's no longer delivers (even though the web page says they do). We had no idea and were very surprised to get a call 45 minutes after ordering off the web page to come and pick up our food.(We had paid the $5.oo fee for delivery) Why would they wait 45 mintues to tell us they no longer delivered? Scammy practice!!! The pastas were good but the ceaser salad was awful, the container was only half full the lettuce was rather limp and there was no containers of cheese and I have no idea what happened to the bacon! There was hardly enough for four people. We ordered chicken fingers and fries for my grand daughter and there were literally only 8 french fries in her meal. We will never get food from this restaurant again, to go or eat in. We wasted our money and the fact they did not call us right away to tell us they no longer deliver is very shabby business tactics. To add we had to ask for our five dollar delivery fee back! read more

We were so pleased that thus location was opened back up, the renovations looked beautiful. However the service sucked!!! We were seated quickly and given menus and then waited 10 mins for someone to ask us had our waitress taken our orders, then we waited 30 mins for our salad & soup to arrive. And it wasnt even that busy. When our chicken parmesan came i had to ask for more sauce for our pasta as there was next to no sauce on it. Both orders of chicken parmesan varied greatly in their size and both were over cooked around the edges. We order this dish almost everytime we have been at this location and this time it failed miserably. We didnt complain because we were hungry and honestly didnt want to wait any longer. When we were finishing our dinner the line up to be seated was insane and i couldnt help but think if we waited this long for service when it wasnt overly busy, i can only imagine what the service will be like for these customers. read more

Ask for Lindsay if you go here as she is the best. We visit here often and always try and get Lindsay if she is on that day. Never had an issue with her and the food is always great. Will definitely be back. read more

No more free birthday cake...long waiting service. The food is warm not hot. It is used to one of our favourite birthday celebration restaurants but sadly not any more...and the food was okay nothing special. Won't probably come back anymore! read more

I really wish I could give this East Sides a better rating. The last time we were in with my family we were totally turned off. The food was flavourless and the place was dirty. PEOPLE, if you own a resto, keep the walls of your booths clean! Nothing worse then sitting beside a gross, dirty wall in an eatery... totally takes your appetite away. Same goes for the menu's, wipe them down! read more

By far one of the worst meals i have had. They were out of 3 different draft beers, and their house wine. There were five of us an they crammed us into a small booth. After we ordered she forgot to put one of our pizzas in and wouldnt even give us a discount. We ordered dessert and it wasnt bad except for the fact that we ordered coffee and she forgot about it, and never brought it. read more

We had a visitor staying with us for the weekend from New York state. When we were trying to decide where to eat for dinner he said he would really like a nice Italian meal. We thought that we would try the Eastside Mario's close to our home. It didn't go well at all. The first thing that happened was when we arrived, there was no hostess at the front of the restaurant. We waited about 10 minutes and even honked the horn that they have at the front but no one came by. Several waitresses looked at us but no one came to seat us. Finally we were seated in a booth and the waitress took our drink order. After 15 minutes of waiting for our drinks we asked a girl that was clearing the table behind us to see if she could find out what had happened. Our waitress came to the table with an attitude and said that the bartender was extremely busy and that we would get our drinks as soon as possible. Not apologetic at all. Finally she arrived with the drinks and took our dinner order. We ordered the salad and our guest ordered the all-you-can eat soup with our meals. No one came by to ask if we wanted a refill on either and then our dinners arrived. Our guest did want to try another bowl of soup so the soup was brought after the dinners arrived. After she left we all looked down and realized we had no cutlery. We then had to track her down again and get our cutlery. I had ordered the chicken Parm and it was burnt. I didn't want to put a complaint in because we really just wanted to eat our dinners and get out of there. The waitress never once checked on us. The manager came by and asked how our dinners were. I relayed all of the difficulties that we had experienced and I also said that my chicken Parmesan was burnt he looked down at it and said yes it was and it should've never been served that way. He very nicely offered to replace it but I decided not to as we were very tired and really just wanted to eat and got home. He then said that he would not charge me for my dinner and that he would take off 50% of the rest of the bill. Once we receive the bill we noticed that he did take 50% off but he did not take my dinner off at all. We just decided to pay it and go home. It was very disappointing dinner and and we were very embarrassed that we took our guest there. read more