Conveniently located at 1st and Quebec, Mario's is a few steps away from the false creek boardwalk. That's probably the best thing I can say about it.
Unfortunately, this is such a disappointing establishment. The store experience was awful and I cannot recommend it. I've had 2 bad experiences and I don't think I'll come back.
The first time I came here (instead of going to Earnest like I usually do), I was curious to see what flavors they had. They had a decent amount of flavours available but I couldn't see all of them before deciding to buy a scoop here because as soon as you walk in, you're queued up and expected to pay before being allowed to see all the flavours. I understand that on a busy day, Mario's wants to make their operations more smoothly but making your customers pay before even being able to BROWSE the flavours is a bit ridiculous. If they really wanted to fix it, change the way the line up works so customers have to line up next to the gelato cases before making it to the till.
The second time I went in, it was in October. It was not busy and I was the only one there. I went in to check out their 'factory seconds' (discounted mini scoops) and the staff were so unpleasant. They seemed annoyed that I was there and it wasn't very welcoming. I quickly grabbed whatever flavor and left because it was just such a bad vibe.
This place serves mid gelato at best. Go to literally any other ice cream shop. They do not prioritize people or try to provide good service. read more