Mario’s

I recently visited the restaurant to celebrate my friends’ birthday. After making a reservation, we were seated after ten/​fifteen minutes. Despite our prompt ordering, we waited for 1 hour and 20 minutes before receiving our dinner. As a very busy restaurant, it can be expected that the chefs must handle a large number of orders at a time, so many in fact that popular items like lasagna will run out quickly. A party of six people, my friends and I were sorting through the check when our waiter approached us, asking if we needed help interpreting the bill. After denying the assistance, we were approached again, loudly, by the hostess who offered a calculator, which we had open on our cellphones. Unnecessarily pressured, we ended up splitting the bill using a combination of credit cards and cash. After dividing the bills, our waiter wrote in a large tip on the bill, demanding we pay the amount written. We left a tip in cash (15%) and tips on each of the credit cards (20%), signed the receipts, and left. As we were nearing the street corner, a waiter came running down the street yelling that we had not provided a tip. Appalled at the disrespect shown, we explained the two tips left on the cards and tip left in cash. Claiming it was against the law to pay less than twenty percent, the waiter insisted we pay the additional $ 7 in the middle of the sidewalk outside. (In below-​freezing weather, might I add). I gave him the additional money and apologized to my poor friend whose birthday was tainted by an overly aggressive waiter. We understood the reasoning behind a larger party requiring a larger tip, but the law cannot enforce a rule that was not clearly stated to the patrons. The confrontation could have been avoided completely had the receipt included a note informing these large parties of the automatic 20% gratuity. As a fun birthday celebration, we were disappointed that the staff had treated us so harshly, and hope that in the future, more of an effort will be made to make patrons aware of restaurant policies.

So we were in NY to tour Fordham University and wanted to have dinner before heading home. We walked down Arthur Ave. and decided on Mario’s.
It had such a cool old-​school vibe and charm. I went with my daughter and her friend and we absolutely loved our meal. We had Chicken Parmigiana, Eggplant Parmigiana and Margherita Pizza and everything was served hot and super delicious.
Loved this place!

Good food in a wonderful, old-​New-​York vibe.

Overpriced and sub par food. The service was rude and the food was not what I would expect of a top little Italy restaurant

Solid Italian food on Arthur Ave, not sure if it lives up to the hype, but how could it? 100 yrs of operation and history. Unilocal gave us a coupon for a free glass of house chardonnay which was great, thanks Unilocal and Mario’s, service was great, and we enjoyed learning about the history. Check out the photos, everyone in NY has eaten here it seems.
Oh, the food portions are enormous. It’s really family sharing plate size, we could have ordered 2 plates and shared for the 5 of us and not finished it. So if quantity and leftovers are important (value for $ paid) this is easily 4 or 5 star rating.

Authentic Italian American food. Atmosphere brought me back to my childhood in the Bronx. The people who run this place are wonderful.

Came to this restaurant after enjoying a lovely evening at the botanical garden’s train show. Our evening was shortly ruined after waiting almost 2 hours for our entrees to arrive. The waiter provided us with warm bread that was delicious. The waiter did not refill our drinks until our entrees arrived. After waiting close to two hours for our entrees the food was average. None of the food was out of the ordinary.

Came here with family,(first-time ever) food was unbelievable! Service was great! Little Italy is alive and well in the Bronx! Huge portions, the appetizer could be an entrée. Couldn’t finish the meal. Gave us the bottle of aniset for our espressos like old school. Would highly recommend this restaurant! Thanks Marios!

What a great atmosphere to have a fabulous meal. The food — veal saltimbocca — was absolutely amazing! This restaurant on Authur Ave. in the Bronx is very special.

Very good service by colorful persons loaded with wit charm and interest in hitting on your appetite’s true «G» spot. Chef is very Italian sticking to quality ingredients. Clam sauce over linguine best in universe.

I’ll start off with the good since that is what the 2 stars are for; the bread was great and the waiter was pleasant.
The bad;
So i work off Arthur Ave and have the opportunity to try other restaurants on the block. We came in a group of 12 for lunch and wound up having to wait an hour for our food. Mind you, only 2 – 5 other tables were occupied. The appetizers were ok, Some folks complained that some items were cold, i just didn’t like the taste of the Eggplant Rotini in the Antipast platter, which scared me a bit cause i ordered the Eggplant Parm as a lunch special. I’m not going to judge on dishes i didn’t eat, just my own.
The Eggplant Parm is ok, underwhelming if anything. I felt i could have had a better dish at a local pizzeria. I ate about half the dish. Sauce was not that tasty and it didn’t wow me. I’m not big on the wow factor, if it tastes good all is forgiven but it tasted decent. Like someone attempting for the first time.
The place is outdated yes but i don’t let that bother me, especially with all the accolades all around the restaurant but in this case the outdated style goes hand in hand with the food, which was disappointing. The soda was flat, type you’d get from an old soda fountain. There were a ton of accolades all throughout the restaurant so i’m sure at one point this place was grand but there are others on the block that can best it.
Bathroom was clean, but thing that stuck was that one of the members of the party asked for angel hair spaghetti as a side and the waiter said they ran out. Now here is my thing, your on Arthur Ave, there’s about 20 restaurants and about 12 Italian food stores and wholesalers; you couldn’t just 1) get it on the fly and say you have it or 2) better prepare your inventory.
I will be back in 6mo and will try again. Hate to knock a place without a second chance unless i personally saw something unsanitary. I hope they get better.

Four of us had dinner there after visiting the New York Botanical Garden. Our expectations were not high for what we expected to be an old fashioned Italian restaurant, which is not what we usually eat.
But the food was great. Mussels as a main were huge, chicken giambotta and veal sorrentina were both delicious, well seasoned and large portions too. Veal Marsala was delicious as well. The service was great and our waiter took great care of is.
We plan to be back.

We left. The service is slower than an octogenarian with ankle weights.
Went there for lunch on a Sat. It was around noon. There were 5 waiters and 5 of the 30 or so tables were occupied. We were seated 2 tables from the wait station in front and asked to move to a more cozy romantic table (since the place was virtually empty). The owner (hostess) agreed, but wasn’t particularly welcoming.
Ok, the bus boy brings nice warm bread and 15 minutes go by – no sign of a waiter.
Finally we flag down a busboy and ask him to send over the waiter. He comes back and says «the waiter is busy, can I take your drink order?» WTF? The waiter is busy?! There is no one in the joint! OK, we order drinks and 10 minutes later the waiter finally wanders over. No apologies, nothing.
We say «eff it», pay for the drinks and go across the street for lunch.
This place is lame.
P. S. Half the restaurants on Arthur Ave have a «B» in the window from the Board of Health?! I don’t get it, that’s a well connected street (allegedly). All I can think of is that the owners of some of those establishments haven’t been making payments on time (allegedly).

While visiting, from Maryland, my aunt, cousin and I decided to eat at Mario’s we started with bread and carrots, blanched and seasoned with olive oil, red wine vinegar and garlic, oregano and red pepper. Out of this world. Then we ordered real escargot, served in the shell. Prepared the way I remember them when I lived in NYC. I ate the lobster manicotti, prepared in a light white sauce. My aunt ordered the salmon with red sauce and a spinach side. She said it was very tender. My cousin had the linguine with clam sauce, served very hot. I had a coupon for a free wine with an entrée which they honored by giving us two free wines. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Joseph our waiter was great. Just drop the calling us Girls” and he’d be perfect.

I can’t say enough about this restaurant. To be honest I do know the owner Joe and I am always treated like I am part of his family. However when it comes to Italian dishes I tend to be finicky and I must say that Mario’s delivers. With this is mind, the lasagna is the best in the City and their meatballs are exceptional as well. The eggplant does the trick and their antipasto presentation makes the entrees even more delectable. Did not try the desserts and will have to come by and taste the goodies when dieting is not an issue. A must go for those in the know. JT

This place was horrible. Not only were the plates, OVER PRICED, but the portions were pathetic and the food was just simply flavorless and gross. I felt sick when I left, and was out $ 50. What a waste of money! The sauce is terrible and the pasta was old and hard. I was so angry when I left. Don’t waste your money here. $ 22 for one piece of chicken that had NO seasoning on it. There is nothing authentic about Mario’s sorry.

I do not recommend eating in this place. The place is very outdated, and not in a good way. I seen a guy who is either the owner or manager do something extremely inappropriate to a customer who was turned around and he stuck out his arm as if he was going to grab her behind and also down talking some of his employees complete dirtbag. I ordered the lobster tail and it had to be one of the worst dishes I ever tasted half of the lobster tail was not cooked properly and really chewy with some kind of moldy taste to it so I didn’t finish it. The waiter was good and so was a lady who worked there. I will never walk in this place ever again!

I took my wife and my best friend and his wife to Mario’s on Arthur Ave in the Bronx for Valentines Day 2÷14÷15. I’ve never been there before although it got good reviews but my review is not good it’s GREAT that’s right Great, I’m not the only one who thinks so all four of us agree. We started with the hot Antipasto for four which was absolutely amazing it had a little bit of everything followed by Veal Rollitini Again Amazing everyone’s dish the same review, I would highly recommend Mario’s to everyone some of the best Italianblood I’ve ever had RUN don’t walk there.

Great food sadly Arthur ave is dwindling down to a stretch of just a few genuine authentic Italian restaurants. Come here, enjoy the food and the lunch specials for $ 13.95 are a great deal. Come and enjoy the bronx authenticity at its finest here at Mario’s. Let’s support these restaurants!

It was a dark and rainy night during Fordham University’s family weekend. My parents and I made the trek down Arthur Avenue to our dinner reservations at Mario’s. We were taken about 10 minutes later than our reservation but that was to be expected on Arthur on family weekend. All the restaurants were packed with parents and their children. Despite the crowd, once we were seated, the wait staff was very attentive and gave us very good service. The water was friendly, although maybe a bit too pushy for ordering an appetizer. I didn’t mind much since it was family weekend and my parents were paying. The food was fantastic. I ordered the veal marsala for my entire and was very satisfied. The cannoli cake I had for desert was not the best I’ve ever had, but still pretty good.
I would gladly return to Mario’s again in the future. The food was great, the people were great, and I loved the overall ambience of the restaurant. It is a must-​visit staple in the restaurant scene on Arthur Avenue.