Mario’s Wine Bar & European Bistro

I have lived in Gainesville for 6 years and had never heard of this restaurant until I was browsing for coupons on
. It has a hidden gem feel as it’s nestled in the shops at Thornebrook Village and is a small intimate café. The cozy outdoor dining and ambiance was one of the best features here.
I was a little worried about how busy it would be on a Saturday night with a football home game, but was pleasantly surprised to be offered our choice of indoor or outdoor seating right away.
The host was also our server and was the only employee I saw. This was unfortunate as he started off polite but then did the bare minimum as it got busier. It was just small things like never refilling our water until we got the check, and when he gave us the bill he just quickly put it on the table and walked away without even saying thanks or have a good night — no acknowledgement. It’s not his fault that they got busier, but I feel that even a small restaurant should have more than one employee on a weekend night.
They have a one page wine menu. I’m not a big wine drinker but we felt like having a bottle with our dinner. I had never heard of most of the vineyards so I asked our server for a recommendation. I know big markups on alcohol is normal so we probably got a pretty cheap wine, but I was surprised to see that our ~$ 20 bottle of wine came with a screw cap, not even a cork.
They have a couple of special of the day entrees to choose from, and their regular menu has tapas, flatbreads, and salads. We ordered bread (everything is a la carte, nothing is automatically served with your meal), the meat and cheese platter, the scallops, and a flatbread (basically a small pizza). The scallops were tender and tasty (we got 5 or 6 medium sized ones for about $ 12) and the bread was good. The cheese platter had a generous amount of salami slices but only 2 slivers of prosciutto, grapes, 2 small wedges of brie, some gouda, mozzarella, and one other type of cheese. Decent, but I remember the cheese platter at Emilano’s as better. For dessert, I got the cheesecake which was served plain. If it’s a good rich cheesecake that’s fine, but this one was kind of bland. Oh well, it’s still cheesecake right?
So overall, we weren’t blown away by our dinner here but were happy with it and will probably give it another try since it’s so close. It was convenient not having to go downtown to eat at a decent local restaurant. If you think of it as a café and appreciate the outdoor seating, that makes up for some of its shortcomings.

This has become one of my favorite places in Gainesville. The new menu includes tapas, flatbreads, salads, and nightly dinner specials. I’ve never had a special that wasn’t delicious; my favorite so far has been a Louisiana barbecue shrimp dish that was spicy, creamy deliciousness served with perfectly cooked almond green beans and moist, cheesy cornbread.
My favorite regular menu items are the rocket salad and the cheese platter. The salad has arugula, sliced granny smith apple, candied pecans, bacon, goat cheese, and tomato… I know, you can get a similar-​sounding salad at tons of other places, but the quality of ingredients makes theirs stand out. They candy the nuts in-​house and always have the freshest greens and perfectly ripe tomato wedges. And their homemade dressings (honey balsamic is my favorite) are very tasty.
The cheese plate includes red grapes, warm crusty bread, and a generous amount of 3−4−5 different cheeses. It’s never exactly the same, but it’s always a great way to start an evening at Mario’s.
The service is hit or miss, and the amount of attention you get seems to have little to do with how busy they are. Most of the time the quality of service ranges from just fine to very good. But other times I’ve seen people actually get up and walk inside to ask for more water, the check, etc. because the servers are MIA.
Overall, it’s a nice, casual place to relax on the patio, sip wine, and enjoy a good meal.

They have made some very positive changes, first and foremost in my mind is that when we went for dinner on a warm evening recently our bottle of red wine was served at a pleasantly cool temperature. Big improvement from the too warm temperature it used to come at all too often.
I continue to be a big fan of their cheese platter — it comes with an assortment of three or four cheeses, grapes, and bread — it’s a wonderful starter.
The rocket salad is delicious: arugula & mixed greens, glazed walnuts, sliced green apples, bacon and goat cheese.
I like the look of their tapas menu, but I haven’t had a chance to try most of the things on it yet. I keep going back to my favorites.
I really like their location in Thornebrook Village. It’s one of the few places in town where you can eat outdoors without being next to a parking lot or street.

Mario’s is located next to the women’s Gainesville Health and Fitness in Thornebrook Village. There are four or five tables inside and around seven or eight outside on the patio.
I feel that Mario’s is misnamed. It is neither a wine bar nor a European bistro. It is more like a diner masquerading as both.
The wine selection, while obscure, is mediocre at best. Don’t go looking for anything remotely high-​end. When I hear «wine-​bar», I want the opportunity to experience wines that are from small production vineyards, not just cheap enough to offer for $ 4 per glass.
I went with a girlfriend of mine on Friday evening around 8:00 p.m. It was beautiful outside and we were pleased to have taken the last table on the patio. We were greeted by a man wearing his Adidas gym shorts and shirt. Wow, perhaps Adidas is German, right?
So we ordered a bottle of red wine. Then we watched humorously as the server pulled out the cork at the bar then brought it to our table. She presented the label to my guest saying reluctantly that she wanted to do it the «proper way». The bottle was one of their more expensive selections and pretty good, though it was served at outdoor temperature which on Friday night was about 80 degrees.
The menu used European names for basic dishes, but the menu is extremely limited. They offered salads and paninis. However, they only really offered two true entrees. One was a pan seared flounder for $ 18 and the other was a pork chop for $ 16. They also have bread with olives on the menu — $ 5, bread with cheese — $ 4, or just plain bread — $ 3. Who charges for bread? Oh, a European Bistro, of course.
The meat and cheese was very good. The atmosphere was very nice. The service was untrained at best. But to truly be a bistro or a wine bar, the menu needs a complete overhaul. We have a European Bistro in Gainesville. It’s called Mildred’s.