East Side Mario's
Reviews and Complaints

We had dinner tonight(Dec. 31, 2015) at the East Side Mario's on Gateway Drive in Kitchener, ON with some of our family, and when both my husband and I used the washroom facilities, we were disgusted by how dirty and disgusting the washrooms were. My husband also had complaints about the LACK of beer available. We also were told that because they didn't have time to prep for tonight's dinner service that the promo that they were having where you ordered a meal and took a meal home for free was not available. The waitress said that they thought they had removed all of the advertisements in their menus but they didn't and that was the whole reason for us to go there for supper. We will never go to that restaurant again...they need to get their act together, and make sure they have the beer and food available that the customer orders. Also the cleanliness of their washroom facilities...I would not take a child into those washrooms. A resolution would be for us to receive coupons for the East Side Marios in Cambridge, ON...much cleaner restaurant

While walking in to be seated I slipped and fell on a wet spot. I am not sure if it was melted ice that had fallen or water from dripping cups but my bag (laptop and cellphone inside) fell with me. I sprained my ankle and bruised my knee. The waitress was very concerned and asked me if I was alright. Considering the fall itself has already drawn enough attention I sat still for a few moments until I could get up and walked over to the table we were being led to. My ankle immediately swelled. Our server came to take our beverage order and we told him we needed some time. I took the time to check my laptop and cellphone, seemed fine. More than 20 had passed and still no sign of a manager. I found that odd. A customer just slipped and fell in your restaurant and no sign of a manager present? I asked our server if I could please have a copy of the incident report, as I knew legally they are responsible for reporting such situations. The manager finally made his way over with a blank incident report, asked me to fill it out myself and told me I could hand it in when it was complete. He asked if I needed first aid, which clearly I didn't but he never asked if I was hurt or injured. I filled out the form and asked for a copy. He brought me back a copy of an imcomplete incident report, no signature and nothing filled out from their end. Basically, I got a photocopy of the information I had filled out on the incident report. When I asked him if I could have a copy of the completed incident report he told me that it was private property and because of confidentiality I would not be able to attain a copy of the complete report. A restaurant on private property? Confidentiality with my own incident report? Needless to say, I cannot imagine that a restaurant of that reputation would allow such unprofessional conduct and poor management in regards to policies and procedures. If I hadn't worked as a policy and procedure revision coordinator for the Canadian government maybe I could have accepted such behaviour but this was by far the worse service I had EVER received. He told me the general manager would contact me the following day, so let's see how that turns out.

I'm not the type of person who usually writes into restaurants and complains, but I just had the worst restaurant experience ever.

Today, my family decided to go to East Side Mario's located in Waterloo, off of Weber Street. We arrived at 5:50 p.m. and were seated immediately. Once seated, we ordered our meals and entrees, and waited. Soon after, we received our salad's, soups, and complimentary bread around 6:10 (which I considered a reasonable wait), we were told that our meals were on the way.

We spent the next hour seeing tables around us fill with other customers while the restaurant started getting busy. Several customers around us arrived, were seated, and received their appetizers, entrees, then paid their bills and left, yet still we didn't receive anything, not even a bread refill.

I complained to a number of servers, and eventually the manager came up and apologized, mentioning that they had two large parties seated before we ordered; she then noted that our meals would be out in five minutes and she would give us a 25 per cent discount for the inconvenience.

Twenty minutes later, we still hadn't received our meals, it was 7:25, my child hadn't eaten yet and was crabby as it was past her bedtime. I asked the manager to make our meal to go because my child needed to get to bed ... it didn't arrive for another ten minutes!

To make us feel somewhat better, our server, Jackie, apologized profusely, mentioning that she was very sorry. As a former server, I was calm and understood that she was unlikely the reason for our very-much delayed meal, but she didn't do anything to ensure that our meal arrived either.

The manager then noted the lack of service, which was obviously only focused on our table (as I mentioned, we witnessed several other tables---with more people seated at them---arrive after us, then be served, and pay their bill), the manager said she would give me 50 per cent off.

Our three entrees, and two children's meals came to a total of $40.25, which I feel was way too much to pay for the worst meal of my life. I've worked in hospitality, and I understand that there are problems, but over 90 minutes for a simple meal is ridiculous.

I'm very upset by my East Side Mario's experience, and hope that no one else has had this happen to them, although due to the nonchalant behaviour I'm assuming it has happened before.

***To make it worse, when I got home with the food I ordered (that I had to wait over 90minutes for), was not even worth the discounted price I paid for it, let alone the wait. I opened the bag to see the takeout container with the butternut squash pasta I ordered (please see attached photo). As you can see, it looked disgusting ... the squash was even hard and uncooked.

Luckily, after that evening's fiasco at your restaurant, I had lost my appetite.

If this is the standard for East Side Mario meals, service, and general attitude, I don't understand how you can build a loyal customer base.

Please take this email as constructive, because I don't believe any restaurant can have this level of service and remain successful.

so iv been working at eastside marios for two years. and i have a complaint i want to address. it came to my attention when i went to get stock out of the walk in fridge, water was dripping from the ceiling all over the food. i asked my manager what it was. she said the toilet was clogged. it was the toilet water dripping onto all the food and the owner said " oh its clean water its ok to use" i..had no choice. i greatly regret using that food but that stupid washroom is right above the walkin fridge and it happens alot. also the owner is really rude to his employees he calls them stupid right to there faces. when i walked out when i got sick of his ### he threatened to kill me if i caused a scene. i have proof he said it to. i have one witness and a recording when we calmed down to tak.
this is the eastsides on westmount and highland by the way.

A friend who I've known for years now got me a job at East Side Mario's in Ontario, Canada which I started at on June 16th 2010. During the first week as hostess, I absolutely loved my job. I thought the environment was great, I got along with my co-workers and I loved head management. After the first week I started to notice some things, employee's were stealing food in the bathrooms on their break, some employee's came to work with hangovers and some even under the influence of alcohol or illegal marijuana drugs. They seemed to be constantly hiring, I noticed kitchen and the "back room" staff started to disappear (either quitting or being fired) and same with servers. The kitchen staff did NOT do their work, the dishes were being half- ###'ed washed and not completely clean and the cutlery/side plates had left-over salad gunk on them (such as soaking wet lettuce, cheese and even meat) I told my Manager (Melissa) and she said she would take care of it, which she did not. There was a 360 protocall that was sent to all employees of East Side Mario's (I did not know what that was at the time) however, the managers said after our shifts we were "NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE BULDING, OR RECIEVE OUR PAY-CHEQUES" that we had worked for previously, which is illegal. Since I am under 18 and I didn't want to sign anything, I called my older step sister who is in HR and she told me to wait. My manager (Jenny) told me I was not allowed to show anybody this (including my own mother) because "we didn't hire your Mother, your Mother doesn't know your job" and I was offended. It said "are you a black sheep? if so this will be the beggining of the end for many of you" I could not believe my eyes. All the servers stopped their jobs including the hostess' and the building turned to chaos. My step sister told me not to sign anything because it was unethical and definitely illegal to withhold pay that I have worked for, and not letting me leave. She spoke directly to Jenny the manager and litterally a WEEK before my 3 month "probation" as they like to call it, they decided to "let me go" because they no longer needed my services. I was humilated but happy as hell to get out of there. Considering all the constant visitations from the Health Department and other inspection offices, I would NOT reccomend working at the East Side Mario's Milton location. They were however, kind enough to renew cheques that had not been cashed into my bank account...

My 3 year old daughter, mother and I wanted to catch a "quick bite" after shopping one afternoon. After working all day I really didn't want to cook and East Side Mario's is in the mall!
WELL! We waited almost an hour before we were served, and when we were my daughter received a kids meal that consisted of ONE chicken strip! i had oredered the Mariboli Wrap- as always, only to get a different wrap. It was not a sundried tomatoe wrap and wrong fillers. When I returned the wrap for the proper one, to my disgust I got nack the same wrap! The 1/2 I took a bite out of was place under the other and heated. The mayo/letuce ingredients were lovely re-heated, not to mention the soggy wrap. It looked as though my warp was sitting in a dish of soup.
I wish I could have troubled our waiter to stop waiting on everyone else and ask how we were. I wish that our "quick meal" hadn't wasted over 2 hours of my precious time. I wish I didn't have to walk away hungry with $40 less bucks in my pocket.

Went there on Valentine's Day as we waited at the bar we noticed that must have a manager, as she was not wearing a apron. She went behind the salad bar & started making the salads, she has long hair. She did not put on a hair net. Then as we were brought to our table and sat down, there was 2 salad plates his looked rinsed off as there was food still on it. We stopped a waitress and asked for a new one, she then apologized and took the plate. it was brought to cash behind us, the woman there whether she just wiped it and brought it back i did not see. the waitress that took our plate brought a new one realizing we already got it, looked very puzzled.
I just can't believe after what they just went through, they would not follow proper health regulations. If we would have said something lord knows what would've ended up in our food. It used to be a awesome place to go, you didn't have to worry about these things. Now it's like well when there busy screw the rule and regulations..
I don't know if we will go back there. I believe a curtain was put up when the were so called retrained in proper food handling.
I am not impressed.

Recently I visited the new East Side Mario’s in Prince George.

I was so disgusted with not only the lack of superior customer service, but the melted cheese whiz on the pasta was enough to make a 3 year old gag.

I eventually approached the manager once it was time to pay the bill that I didn't really want to pay, and he had nothing to say. I explained to him how disgusted I was with everything in general, and he told me "Well, I hope you give us another try". I told him "Not a chance would I waist my money" I was expecting to get some sort of gift certificate and I would have considered coming back, but he didn't do a thing to compensate me. Not even a 10% discount, I was even more disgusted with his not wanting to satisfy me as a customer.

I am a regular consumer and I frequently visit restaurant, so sure enough, I will NOT be going back there, and he'll NEVER get my business again, and I want everyone else to know not to go there. And if you choose to disregard my review, best of luck to you, and don't spend too much money, you will regret it.