A few years back, it seems everyone in Saskatoon talked about the city landing an Ikea and an Olive Garden. At one point, rumours circled of an Olive Garden being built in Saskatoon. At the end of the day, it was East Side Mario’s.
As I once worked as a server at an Olive Garden, I will still keep an open mind to Saskatoon’s replacement version of an Olive Garden, East Side Mario’s.
There is no question about what you get at East Side Mario’s, it is a pasta place. The decor tries to give a sense of an Italian place, but it falls a bit short. If you remember Poverino’s in the good days (before they moved into the old Pizza Hut), East Side Mario’s would fall below their atmosphere.
As far as pasta goes, East Side does O.K. I enjoyed my spaghetti and meatballs. Not the best ever, but enough flavour that I felt like I was eating something worth while. Most pasta places charge more than they are worth, but I made the most by eating two plates of salad from all you can eat salad option.
Our server did a good job of keeping drinks filled, getting our food to us in an appropriate amount of time and pretended to like the kids just enough to be polite.
Overall, it was a good place to eat, but would not make it a regular place to visit every week.
TAPS – 13
Taste – 3.5
Atmosphere – 3
Price – 3
Service 3.5
