Review of East Side Mario’s – Pickering

It’s hard to review a restaurant objectively when you’ve been to it so many times.  From their All You Can Eat Pasta nights to their Kids Eat Free nights, ESM has been a frequent stop for the Incredible Dad household.

Here’s what all Incredible Dads need to know!

Ambience:  Now that we’ve been to the real Little Italy, their decor makes more sense; New York meets Italy meets Franchise Styling!  Kids are a fixture at ESM’s all across the GTA.

Kids Stuff: Sealed activity and coloring booklet, new crayons each time, dessert with each kids meal, treasure chest with prize at end… a plethora of cheap items to keep the kids (and parents) coming back for more!

Kids Food:  Great selection, decent taste at satisfactory price point ($5.99).  Won’t be hard to find something your kid will like (pasta, pizza, etc.)

Coolest Thing About Restaurant:  Bling for the kids makes you feel like you’re getting good bang for your buck.  All you can eat salad and bread doesn’t hurt either…

Worst Thing About Restaurant:  Service can vary from visit to visit depending on level of business (can slow down service) and wait staff service level can be good or not-so-good (lots of younger wait staff at this family restaurant chain).

Tips to consider: Choose the whole-wheat linguine for the kids pasta meals to add a bit of nutrition to the meal.  Monday’s (I believe) are still ‘Kids Eat Free’ with an adult entrée (which adds up to $13 + tax for two kids!).  Legitimate complaints are typically handled well by managers on duty (with gift certificates sometimes given as compensation).

Overall Experience:  For a chain restaurant, the overall meal and experience is good and we continue to frequent East Side Mario’s with our meal dollars, hey badda bing badda boom!

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Details: East Side Mario’s, 1355 Kingston Rd, Pickering, 905-839-5811, www.eastsidemarios.com.

Nov17, 2009 Update – We just came back from a birthday party dinner at the Pickering location.  Food was as expected.  We ordered a dessert off the menu for the birthday boy and was very pleased to see that the restaurant didn’t charge us for the dessert.  It’s the small things that keep you coming back.  One other point, don’t know if they changed the recipe but the garlic loaf was especially delicious!  ID

Dec16, 2009 Update – Another good experience.  This time, we ordered one pasta plate for Book Boy but there was barely any food on the plate so they immediately brought another plate free of charge.  Nice touch.

Feb06, 2010 Update – Wow… maybe we’ve just gotten used to their ‘Kids Eat Free’ promotions but our recent trip’s bill came to $53 (tax and tip included)… for ESM?  Ouch.  Rating downgraded from 3.5 to 3 stars due to value.

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1. Review of Pickering Markets – Pickering
2. Review of Milos Greek Restaurant – Pickering
3. Review of Massey’s Restaurant – Pickering