Discussions

I used to love going to east side Mario’s in Ontario. I’ll wait though, until the bugs are worked out and the craziness dies down. It exciting to get new restaurants!!

With the size of east side Mario's.. there will be hiccups for sure. I probably will wait 2-3 weeks until the dust has settled to have dinner there.  
 
As for the franchise itself.. best decision ever to open up in Brandon, and it will do extremely well! The food is pretty good itself, at least the ones in Ontario that I have tried. I'm sure people will love the unlimited breadsticks and salad.

Looks like they’re ready to go in a few days as OP has mentioned. Added a few snaps of the inside taken this afternoon while they train staff.

just what Brandon needs , another pizza shop . We need a good seafood restaurant more...

PG13 said "just what Brandon needs , another pizza shop . We need a good seafood restaurant more... "

You're absolutely right, Brandon does not need another Pizza restaurant. However, Brandon is seriously lacking in the pastas options. There are a handful of restaurants whose menu offers a few pasta options, and those options seem to be pretty much the same everywhere. I don't know East Side Mario's menu, but I've been told they have a lot of different pastas. So that could be nice.  
 
That said, you're absolutely right about seafood as well.  
 
I also think that Brandon could benefit from a quality Vietnamese place, but I'm told most of the locals tend to shy away from anything that isn't classic Chinese when it comes to Asian foods. Which is really too bad because Vietnamese is excellent.

They have hired 100 employees and pictures of the inside.  
 
https://bdnmb.ca/east-side-marios-opens-this-monday-photo-gallery-inside/

I went with some friends and it was ok. Thought they might have some specials on grand opening day, but nothing. We had three menus to go through which took us a long time since it was our first time. The restaurant itself looks nice, and they were around lots to check in and see what people thought. I would give the food 7/10.

happytee said "I went with some friends and it was ok. Thought they might have some specials on grand opening day, but nothing. We had three menus to go through which took us a long time since it was our first time. The restaurant itself looks nice, and they were around lots to check in and see what people thought. I would give the food 7/10. "

They had a huge special. If you ordered off the special menu (think there was 6-8 dishes to choose from) you got a 2nd meal completely free to take home (the 2 free choices were spaghetti and meatballs or fettuccine Alfredo).  
 
We went last night and really enjoyed it. I love having the choice of the all you can eat bread, salad and soup with your meal. I wish I had asked if you can just order that on it’s own, as it was more than enough to fill me up. Couldn’t even eat my meal.

But that’s on at other locations too - I meant something just for opening day.

You took 2 free meals home then...

So far everything is good! They are out of calamari and stuffed mushrooms  
 
Only thing that ruined it for me was the lady who let her kid colour on the windows with crayon. I have a toddler: instead of playing on your phone maybe watch the kid?

Pawprints said "    1984FadedStar said "So far everything is good! They are out of calamari and stuffed mushrooms     Only thing that ruined it for me was the lady who let her kid colour on the windows with crayon. I have a toddler: instead of playing on your phone maybe watch the kid? " That ruined it for the waitress/waiter/cleaning staff too!     I'm confused. Another poster said they got a free meal to take home? Is that the norm if you order off the special menu? "

I believe it's buy one, take one home special. The special ends Aug 26th.  
 
Specials are posted on the east side Mario's website.  
 
Tuesday's kids eat for $2.00.  
 
Wednesday's are all you can eat pasta for spaghetti and meatballs.  
 
If you have CAA you get 10% off.

Experience at East Side...my main thing when ordering food is it has to be hot & our food arrived hot & delicious....we didn’t have to wait long for our food & the atmosphere was awesome. I loved the fact that you get lots of those fresh hot mini loaves, refills on soups or salads & drinks if it’s i:ncluded with your meal....the prices on the menu were also reasonable & affordable....the only tiny complaint would be that they put way to much of their dressing on the Caesar salad....other than that I most definitely be going back....awesome job East Side Mario’s.

Getty said "    Pawprints said "    1984FadedStar said "So far everything is good! They are out of calamari and stuffed mushrooms     Only thing that ruined it for me was the lady who let her kid colour on the windows with crayon. I have a toddler: instead of playing on your phone maybe watch the kid? " That ruined it for the waitress/waiter/cleaning staff too!     I'm confused. Another poster said they got a free meal to take home? Is that the norm if you order off the special menu? " I believe it's buy one, take one home special. The special ends Aug 26th.     Specials are posted on the east side Mario's website.     Tuesday's kids eat for $2.00.     Wednesday's are all you can eat pasta for spaghetti and meatballs.     If you have CAA you get 10% off. "

Went last night. Was told that buy one take one special was over. Now I see it on their site. Overall food was good. Server was excellent with a little one that was giving us trouble at our table lol.

Fishin Guy said "    Getty said "    Pawprints said "    1984FadedStar said "So far everything is good! They are out of calamari and stuffed mushrooms     Only thing that ruined it for me was the lady who let her kid colour on the windows with crayon. I have a toddler: instead of playing on your phone maybe watch the kid? " That ruined it for the waitress/waiter/cleaning staff too!     I'm confused. Another poster said they got a free meal to take home? Is that the norm if you order off the special menu? " I believe it's buy one, take one home special. The special ends Aug 26th.     Specials are posted on the east side Mario's website.     Tuesday's kids eat for $2.00.     Wednesday's are all you can eat pasta for spaghetti and meatballs.     If you have CAA you get 10% off. " Went last night. Was told that buy one take one special was over. Now I see it on their site. Overall food was good. Server was excellent with a little one that was giving us trouble at our table lol. "

Could be true it's over. I was looking at their website, and noticed there are Ontario menu and outside Ontario menus.

My son works there & we got to go for a friends & family meal before it opened. The staff & service was amazing the food was even more amazing. I think they will do quite well.

Hubby and I went last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Got the BOGO special they had on...service was great. Lots of variety on the menu to choose from. Definitely will be our new go to place.

One thing we did notice was when busy the noise level can be quite loud. In Regina I don't recall it being that noisy but if my memory is correct there was more walls and booths that had half walls to block sound from traveling.

Fishin Guy said "    Getty said "    Pawprints said "    1984FadedStar said "So far everything is good! They are out of calamari and stuffed mushrooms     Only thing that ruined it for me was the lady who let her kid colour on the windows with crayon. I have a toddler: instead of playing on your phone maybe watch the kid? " That ruined it for the waitress/waiter/cleaning staff too!     I'm confused. Another poster said they got a free meal to take home? Is that the norm if you order off the special menu? " I believe it's buy one, take one home special. The special ends Aug 26th.     Specials are posted on the east side Mario's website.     Tuesday's kids eat for $2.00.     Wednesday's are all you can eat pasta for spaghetti and meatballs.     If you have CAA you get 10% off. " Went last night. Was told that buy one take one special was over. Now I see it on their site. Overall food was good. Server was excellent with a little one that was giving us trouble at our table lol. "

Yeah thats weird, as I got a flyer/brochure in the mail this week saying it's valid until Aug 26th.  
 
I doubt east side can make up their own rules, and must follow what head office specials are.

They still have the buy one take one....we just asked if they had it and she brought us the menu. That was Monday.

JoBeth said "They still have the buy one take one....we just asked if they had it and she brought us the menu. That was Monday. "

Went there Monday for lunch - got just the regular menu , had to ask for the buy one take one . Ordered my food and wanted the spaghetti meatballs as take home ( a choice on the menu ) and by the time we paid and wanted to leave I got informed that this item is not available for the take home - maybe it's because it's new maybe they have new staff but was bit disappointed in that - food was good tough

Reston said "    JoBeth said "They still have the buy one take one....we just asked if they had it and she brought us the menu. That was Monday. " Went there Monday for lunch - got just the regular menu , had to ask for the buy one take one . Ordered my food and wanted the spaghetti meatballs as take home ( a choice on the menu ) and by the time we paid and wanted to leave I got informed that this item is not available for the take home - maybe it's because it's new maybe they have new staff but was bit disappointed in that - food was good tough "

We were there Monday and got our boto. .but didn't want the meatballs. Maybe they ran out

Tried it tonight. It was really good food. It was very loud in there though.  
 
We will definitely be back

-is Ok but the sound level is high, ear protection next time.

How long is the BOGO running till?

grandmaB said "Experience at East Side...my main thing when ordering food is it has to be hot & our food arrived hot & delicious....we didn’t have to wait long for our food & the atmosphere was awesome. I loved the fact that you get lots of those fresh hot mini loaves, refills on soups or salads & drinks if it’s i:ncluded with your meal....the prices on the menu were also reasonable & affordable....the only tiny complaint would be that they put way to much of their dressing on the Caesar salad....other than that I most definitely be going back....awesome job East Side Mario’s. "

maybe we should have tried dine in.  
 
We went in and ordered a pizza, was told that it would take 20 mins. Five minutes later there was our pizza! I guess we got one that had already been made and was sitting there. I don't appreciate that as I like my food to be freshly made and hot!  
 
Although the pizza was tasty, toppings were few and far between, sauce almost non existent, and hardly any cheese.

What I wonder Do the people who rave about the excellent food have much for cooking skills, because if you had high standards in regard to taste the food is edible but mediocre. A home dish could be created quite easily much cheaper, tastier and healthier at home! Really liked the bread and salad though

Who are you to criticize people that think the food was excellent....if you are a chef....then maybe you shouldn’t be going into mediocre restaurants & eat their mediocre food...I for one like to go out once in awhile to eat as I get sick of cooking day in & day out....there is nothing wrong with my cooking & there was certainly nothing wrong with East Side Mario’s cooking either....

Sorry if You must have misinterpreted my post it was more written with constructive criticism as I had said it was mediocre but edible this by no means implied it was slop! Of course every cook enjoys the night off and ESM and all of the other chain restaurants serve that purpose and are obviously making a good go at it with all of the recent expansions in town! Everyone has different standards and palettes and what is delicious to one is perhaps not another’s cup of tea.