East Side Marios - Front St, Toronto...how a good place has fallen..

[m4gician]

Hey everyone,

I know what people think of East Side marios, etc. But what I'm writing to talk about here is this SPECIFIC location on front street just west of York/University Ave in Toronto, ON.

I realize this restaurant is in the heart of all the tourist traps and similar things, but when I used to go to this restaurant (this happens with all restaurants, maybe my "palette" has changed), isn't as great as it used to be for me. Everything from quality of food to service.

I won't go into detail, but basically the appetizer that I always order which used to be very well done, served hot, fresh, and great taste, was served to me dull, cold, and bland. After sending it back, instead of makign a new one, I feel that the one I was served was reheated with more seasoning added.

The meal was small, poorly made, and looked to be a tad stale, and tasted slightly bland. Rather then send it back AGAIN, I put up with it and did something which many people should do if they feel it wasn't up to par.

What I'm trying to get at, is the chefs there, and the waiting staff there may be doing their best, but it's certainly not as good as it once was. I didn't tip them a penny, as opposed to talking to the manager and getting my bill reduced.

I know, I know, but I thought the service was lacking as well. I guess the ESM head office has decided to go for quantity over quality... but this same experience and argument can be made for Pizza Pizza 10years ago, etc.

Thanks for reading :)

[stillmatic11]

I've noticed a big difference in food quality in most of the East Side Mario locations recently. It's never been great food, but it was at least decent and not terrible. I still find the garlic bread and Caesar salad to surprisingly be pretty good, but the entrees are just terrible. It's almost as if they know people go there for the All You can Eat Bread and salad/soup and don't bother even trying on the entree anymore.

I had Penne Alfredo with Shrimp and it tasted terrible. It seemed like it was some store bought alfredo sauce mixed in with some shrimp and overcooked pasta. Frozen entrees from the store taste much better.

[fuddleduddle]

My friend used to work in the kitchen. He did the pizzas and has told me lots about east side (at least at the one he worked). Hygiene being one of them. He also said a lot of things are precooked, such as caramelized onions that come in prepackaged bags. Not sure if it's like that anymore.

But what it boils down to is the kitchen itself of course. The management and chef who's running the place not caring for the detail nor putting the customer in mind.

[yeeniee]

that happened to me too except I went to the one on Yonge St. in Richmond Hill. On top of that, service was sloooooooooooooooooooow, we were waiting for our food for almost an hour and a half and it wasn't even busy! I dunno, East Side Mario's isn't that appealing to me anymore, and their pasta isn't all that great either.

[Shiznacka]

Hey everyone,

I know what people think of East Side marios, etc. But what I'm writing to talk about here is this SPECIFIC location on front street just west of York/University Ave in Toronto, ON.

I realize this restaurant is in the heart of all the tourist traps and similar things, but when I used to go to this restaurant (this happens with all restaurants, maybe my "palette" has changed), isn't as great as it used to be for me. Everything from quality of food to service.

I won't go into detail, but basically the appetizer that I always order which used to be very well done, served hot, fresh, and great taste, was served to me dull, cold, and bland. After sending it back, instead of makign a new one, I feel that the one I was served was reheated with more seasoning added.

The meal was small, poorly made, and looked to be a tad stale, and tasted slightly bland. Rather then send it back AGAIN, I put up with it and did something which many people should do if they feel it wasn't up to par.

What I'm trying to get at, is the chefs there, and the waiting staff there may be doing their best, but it's certainly not as good as it once was. I didn't tip them a penny, as opposed to talking to the manager and getting my bill reduced.

I know, I know, but I thought the service was lacking as well. I guess the ESM head office has decided to go for quantity over quality... but this same experience and argument can be made for Pizza Pizza 10years ago, etc.

Thanks for reading :)

that happened to me too except I went to the one on Yonge St. in Richmond Hill. On top of that, service was sloooooooooooooooooooow, we were waiting for our food for almost an hour and a half and it wasn't even busy! I dunno, East Side Mario's isn't that appealing to me anymore, and their pasta isn't all that great either.

Haha you both should read: http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7626775&postcount=9

Spot on as I've had crap experiences at both!

[shadow_cruiser]

East Side Mario's used to be really good but food quality has been diminishing over the years. I went last night and we had a few half-price apps. Two orders of chicken wings and Artichoke Dip.

The honey garlic sauce tasted like Aunt Jemima's table syrup and medium sauce was soooooo gross, couldn't even explain the taste. Its like they mixed tomato sauce, ketchup, bbq sauce, chili powder and tabasco together to make one nasty concoction. The artichoke dip was good but the chips were so stale, it had a somewhat chewy texture.

All of us were pretty disappointed and vouched we wouldn't go to East Side Mario's again. Our evening was spent at the Mississauga Heartland location

[ggs]

we just go there to drink before games.

[Dash]

how a good place has fallen? that place was NEVER good in my opinion. I remember reading about how so many people got food poisoning their or got sick after eating there. I can't believe their still in business. seriously, google it, and I'm sure you'll find the stories in chowhound or something.

[dbx]

that happened to me too except I went to the one on Yonge St. in Richmond Hill. On top of that, service was sloooooooooooooooooooow, we were waiting for our food for almost an hour and a half and it wasn't even busy! I dunno, East Side Mario's isn't that appealing to me anymore, and their pasta isn't all that great either.

Why you would wait an hour and a half is beyond me ..
I've noticed however that ESM isn't what it used to be. Probably has to do with costs.

[matdwyer]

Yup pizza there was TERRIBLE after a leafs game... at least it was 50% off, but still $14 bucks. Sheeeesh.

[ji2o0k]

how a good place has fallen? that place was NEVER good in my opinion. I remember reading about how so many people got food poisoning their or got sick after eating there. I can't believe their still in business. seriously, google it, and I'm sure you'll find the stories in chowhound or something.+2..............I think we had a company lunch there at least 3 years ago and it was terrible.

The food took forever to get to us, when it eventually did for some people, it was cold and not tasty at all. Service was terrible.

It was busy as this was a regular weekday at lunch time, so we knew that we might have to wait for a bit for our food but some people waited a full hour and still didn't get their entree.

They had to leave when it got close to 1 and 1/2 hrs and cancel their order since we had meetings to go to. We had to constantly flag down the server to check on our food, get more drinks etc.

Never went back since.

[bananaman]

I used to work at the Trinity Common's location in Brampton and let me tell my experience.

When I used to work on saute (or anyone) who makes pastas, we never wash our pans properly. We have a bucket full of water and a giant brush. After we finish cooking a dish in the pan, we dump our pans into the bucket, give it a quick scrub, and it gets used again. It doesn't go to the dishwasher because we don't have enough pans and it's too far.

The thing is, 10 minutes into the dinner rush, the bucket of water gets nasty and very dirty. Usually, this bucket doesn't get changed maybe, once or twice a night.

Got so sick of it, I asked to work in pizzas/salads because it's cleaner. Then I quit to work at Casey's next door. Casey's may be overpriced but where I used to work, the place was very clean and the food was clean. It was a great place to cook in. Then I quit again, never going back to the service industry.

[Ix2L]

chain restaurants are horrible.
inexperienced managers, 16 year old cooks, immigrant dishwashers, young pretty women who don't know the menu.
also within chains, location to location food varies because of all those variables.