Mario’s
“With this is mind, the lasagna is the best in the City and their meatballs are exceptional as well.”
“Veal Marsala was delicious as well.”
“I ate the lobster manicotti, prepared in a light white sauce.”
Mario’s
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Came here for dinner prior to visiting the Orchid Show. This restaurant is definitely a family owned restaurant as it seemed like everyone in the family was working here, real Italians. Inside, the restaurant doesn't look like it's been updated since it opened. You have your greek columns, nude statuettes, and some old family photos. Inside the restaurant is dark, almost too dark as it was difficult to read the menu. The menu, like the restaurant looks completely unchanged since it was opened.
To start off, we were brought a nice half loaf Italian bread with sesame. Included was olive oil and butter. The bread was awesome, a nice light crunch but the olive oil included was not the best, probably the stuff they use to cook with since it lacked any distinguishing characteristics.
We ordered the hot antipasti, I had the lobster ravioli and the gf had the broccoli rabe with rigatoni. The hot antipasti was a rip off for $8.50/person. It came with two shrimp, two mussels, two clams, one strip of eggplant, a button mushroom, and two strips of stuffed peppers, everything was drowned in marinara sauce nothing of which was noteworthy other than the marinara sauce. The lobster ravioli was equally flat and boring only slightly accentuated by a better vodka sauce, equally disappointing was the rigatoni broccoli rabe. Honestly, I've had much better lobster ravioli from Agata & Valentina.
With the lack luster (and sticky) menu, this place is probably a small step above an olive garden. I love that this place is family owned, but I've been to family owned Italian restaurants that would blow this place out of the water. On the positive side, service was good (waitstaff and the kitchen). I would say given the neighborhood and the food, this place is a bit overpriced.
With all of the "new Italian" places in this city, like Eataly and the Neapolitan pizza places, it is nice to go back in time to something familiar and nostalgic to those of us with NYC/Bronx-Italian heritage.
Mario's is the definition of old-school Italian-American: somewhat dimly lit, off-white walls, Dean Martin and Sinatra playing softly in the background. Wonderful. Our waiter brought us bread and sliced carrots in white vinegar with garlic – very tasty. We ordered the calamari casuola and the chicken parm with a side of pasta. The food was delicious. We tore through our plates of food. The service was fine, no complaints at all.
We had a fantastic experience at Mario's. It brought back me back to when I was a kid and would go to places like this with my family – all the memories of spending time with family. Time moves so fast these days, it is nice to step back a bit, slow down, step off the beaten path and have a good meal.
Ahhhhh still delicious! For an appitizer we had the octopus salad, this was even more tender than in Italy! Perfect! For the main course, I had fresh Braciolla with pasta. Sooooo good! Love this place! And its very casual!
Overpriced and sub par food. The service was rude and the food was not what I would expect of a top little Italy restaurant
My friend and I came in here with high expectations and left pretty disappointed. We got our order to go.
I got the fettucini which was very plain. I've had more tasteful pasta at Olive Garden. She got the salad which was pretty flavorful, but they also forgot to include her pasta (and we didn't have the energy to drive back and pick it up!). They gave us a good amount of sesame seed bread which was tasty-probably the best thing out of our food order!
I've been to Mario's a bunch of times over the years, and happened to go back last week when we had family in town.
Mario's vibe is a trip. They definitely haven't updated the look since the early 1980s, which is oddly awesome. It reminds me of the typical "nice" Italian joint from back in the day; classic Italian-America menu, heavy white tablecloths, dark decor, and staff full of old timers who seem to have worked there for 50 years.
While I liked Mario's a lot in the past, I have to say that this time my impression was not as favorable. First, the service was terrible. It wasn't even a peak time (there were maybe 10 people in the room) and they had plenty of waiters milling around, but it took forever to place and get our orders. They were even slow to bring out drinks and bread.
When the food finally arrived, it was generally OK. Some people loved their dishes (the gorgonzola topped gnocci was a big favorite) but others were not that remarkable, (like the veal scallopini pizzaiolo). It's hard to complain all that much though, since the $13.95 lunch special is a pretty good deal considering how much chow you get. Each dish was easily 2 portions.
In the end, Mario's is a respectable place to grab a meal. But I'd definitely recommend going for the cheaper lunch or dinner specials, so you're not on the hook for that much if the meal turns into a disappointment.
Today someone named Mario sent me a note that I was drunk during my visit to this restaurant. This is untrue. He was very rude and has poor diction, spelling and grammar. I have posted the note to my profile for all to see, in my "compliments" section. Please consider that the restaurant ownership treats it customers this way in response to negative comments before visiting Marios on Arthur Ave.
I really have no idea how this place compares to a lot of the other Italian restaurants on Arthur Ave., but I had a good time. My family did too. And that's saying something.
A few things I can add… They make a Gibson, which is unfortunately a rarity. I had two. They also make spiedini, which I'd never had, nor heard about before. Much like my not being able to compare it to other spiedinis, just against the food that I've had in my lifetime, I can confidently say that it was really good. A total gut bomb, but really good.
On the downside, one of my party's steak was really overdone and tough, despite being ordered medium. The pasta that they served was also mediocre. Tasted like a decent boxed pasta you'd find at a grocery store. Not that there's anything wrong with those, I eat them just fine, but if I'm going out to a nice restaurant, I want a bit more.
But these are small nits. Mario's is fun. A total blast from the past, and worth checking out.