We love the friendly and comfortable atmosphere of Mario's in Palm Desert. Last night I just wanted a Salad. I had never tried their Asian Chicken Salad. The Salad was fresh and huge with a lot of chicken. The dressing was not a sweet Thai dressing. More like a soy dressing with some heat. Delicious!!! I ate about what I could and took more than half home. Today I finished the Salad and it was still crisp. My husband had the ribs and also enjoyed his dinner. Mario the owner and his Staff always greet you and make sure that everyone is having a good time. Sure it can get a bit noisy with people laughing and enjoying the biggest glass in the Valley, but that adds to the charm of every good Italian Family Restaurant that I have been to. Grazie Mario! read more

Good place for Italian food. Clean, well staffed and the food is very very good! Highly recommended

I am so sorry that I did not take photos The food plentiful, delicious i had meat sauce and angel hair noodles. - my wife had Alfredo and Rigatoni noodles again plentiful and delicious I also got a cannoli - - we are taking a very large portion of left overs. Also a very healthy glass of wine. The service fast, friendly, knowledgeable awesome The murals very traditional, clean, engaging A must go Service read more

Mario's Italian Cafe - Left overs of my meat sauce fyi even better the next day - Italian Near Me - Palm Desert, California

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the food was terrible not the marios i used to go to and loved it for many years the pizza was the margerita it was HORRID . THE PASTA WAS THE ONLY OK THING .we spent 109 take out and given no cheese no sauces nothing and the girl was an idiot and not nice . will not be going back and ive been going there for many many years at the bermuda dunes location no more even the soup isnt the same dont waste your money read more

Pros: Fair prices, all the pasta choices one could want, large interior, considerate staff and the biggest wine pours of all time! Cons: tight parking lot. We typically frequent the Mario's in Palm Springs but switched it up to Palm Desert to meet some relatives. We had a reservation, sat at a giant booth and had a great conversation. I didn't get any pictures of the pasta or oysters because we were all indulging way too fast. Certainly recommend! read more

Mario's Italian Cafe - March 2025 - Italian Near Me - Palm Desert, California

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Great service! Great food! Good selection. Mardy & the the staff always take great care of me! The food is always consistent, very good! I go at least twice a week, mostly for the great lunch specials! The restaurant & restrooms are always clean. read more

Huge portions! Food was good. Will be back. The server was nice. First time here and would say it is a place I would eat at again. I had the chicken primavera with Alfredo sauce. read more

The food was delicious and the service exceptional. The atmosphere is old days Italian like in the movie Moonstruck" with Cher. I had the Chicken Marsala and my mom had Shrimp Scampi, we both had a cup of clam chowder and all dishes did not disappoint. For dessert Carrot cake and Cannoli. Since we got there a little after 4 our server suggested the early bird special that included a main dish, salad and dessert for a very reasonable price. We both ordered iced tea and it was a very reasonable serving. Our server Vito was so welcoming and kind. I highly recommend this wonderful little gem of a restaurant that I will definitely be returning to when I return in the future. read more

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Mario's was absolutely amazing from start to finish. The food was authentic, fresh, and full of incredible flavor -- easily some of the best Italian food I've had in a long time. Every dish came out perfectly and you can tell they truly care about quality. I had the Cioppino and I definitely recommend getting it! What made our experience even better was the staff and especially our waitress, Marty. She was friendly, attentive, and made us feel so welcomed the entire time. Her great personality and outstanding service made our meal even more enjoyable. Kayla was also awesome. If you're looking for delicious Italian food and excellent service, Mario's is definitely the place to go. We will absolutely be coming back! read more

Have been ordering Pepperoni Pizzas there almost weekly for a year now including for functions. Yesterday ordered a large pepperoni pizza and cheese bread. Got home they substituted cheese sticks and the pizza was thin crust. This is the third time in two months they have skimped on the crust size and ingredients plus the wrong order item. We will be going to Pizza Hut for a better quality better consistency pizza. read more

The food was really good I had a young girl that sat me down. She's the one that took my order. Everything went good so far. And then the older lady came towards the table. Where I'm sitting with my two kids, four and five with autism, and tells them lower your phones. It's too loud. She didn't even say. Can you please lower your phone or mom can you tell your son to lower the phone? Nothing that was so unprofessional and disrespectful. The phone was not even loud. There's a big croud of people right in the corner that I could keep hearing their voices but it's not like I'm gonna get up and tell him can you shut up? It's basically what she almost did. It's so unprofessional. I didn't come to get free food. I came here because I loved this place and kids wanted pizza its sad how she treated us i didnt say anything to her since its not ok to be rude and so unprofessional it would be nice if a manager talks to her its the older lady maybe on her late 50s has a long braid its 5:17pm read more

Their food was delicious. Their sauce is really good. The pizza was done just as we like it. Our friends had eggplant parm sandwich and loved it. The waitress was very attentive. Service was great read more

Arrived around 4:45. By 5:15 most tables were filled. A little noisy; but could visit ok. Very good service. Happy hour from 3-5; We ordered drinks and salads. The salads were huge during happy hour. All the drinks were excellent. Wonderful wine and margaritas. Garlic bread Sooooo many options for main courses. Suggestion would be to study the menu ahead of time. Even others food; ALL looked delicious. No room for dessert. Great experience. Will return! read more

My wife and I enjoy the palm springs area. We live in orange county. We visit palm springs every other month on average. We were there in May and went to Mario"s in palm desert, it was very good, reasonably priced and the service and ambiance was awesome. So we returned to the area a couple of days ago to relax and have great meals. We visited Marios this past Tuesday, 7/7. We arrived around 6pm, noticed they had a happy hour from 3-5 with great food specials. So my wife ordered the meat ravioli dinner it came with 8 large raviolis in a great meat sauce, it come with garlic bread. We did have an appetizer of the fried mozzarella, hand breaded with a nice cheese pull, 5 came in the order very good. I got a pizza pepperoni, garlic , and sausage with thick crust. Everthing was perfect, but what made the experience was our server, Hailey. She walked us thru the menu, made suggestions, took her time and gave us tremendous service. We had our meal, pizza was perfect, nice thick crust plenty of toppings . My wife only ate 3 of her ravioli's so we had plent of left overs, half of a pizza as well. So the next night would be the last meal before heading home. We already had plans. But we decide to go back for the happy our specials. And or server from the previous night Hailey was there. We told her the food and her great service is why we retuned so soon. So the hot tip is the happy hours deals. We had 2 orders of the fried mozzarella $5.00 ea , basically half the normal price, and order of the cheesy garlic bread, $6.00 normally around $9.00 , and a large garden salad $14.95. And 2 ice teas to drink, once again impeccable service. Total for this meal $36.00. Excellent value awesome service , and delicious food. This is definetly a locals place, the have multiple locations. If your visiting the palm desert area check out Mario"s and ask for Hailey, she"s a great employee and should be recognized for excellent service. read more

Not good, it's the Big Mac of Italian food. Tasteless, no flavor. The help was nice though. I'm sorry they have to serve such bad food.

Great little Italian cafe. Large menu with lots of choices. I had the lasagna and it was great. Came with garlic toast that was great. Good size portions and decent prices! Definitely will go again. read more

Food was wonderful! We picked up twice ! And each time not disappointed. Recommend without reservation

Lots of great food and wonderful glass of Chianti .. efficient service and clean surroundings

hello! we came here expecting food and thats what we got! the salad was a little watered down somehow but the chicken alfrdo was really delicious! the service was amazing, all so sweet and willing to take time for us! read more

For no particular reason they don't allow dogs even though they have a large patio facing the parking lot. Again the patio view is of a parking lot, not the island of Capri! It's not a Five Star environment or anything. They have a ridiculous policy of only allowing "service dogs." I have news for them: They HAVE to allow service dogs... That's not a "policy " it's a federal legal requirement!! Ridiculous policy for no good reason. read more

Why do I go to Mario's? The reason is pretty simple. +Outstanding, always. On March 6th about 5:15 pm, I arrived to a packed restaurant with people waiting. I was friendly greeted by the young woman working the desk, and I let her know it was a To Go order. She took my order with a smile, and she clearly knew the menu. She told me 20 minutes. She delivered my perfectly packed dinner for 4 at 15 minutes and another amazing smile. +Excellent food. Every item in our order was cooked to perfection and nicely presented in To Go containers. The food was still hot when we got home 20 minutes later. +Prices. The prices are very reasonable given the quality and size of the meals and the attentive service. +If eating in and not driving, the house wine is poured deeply and is excellent. read more

Mario's Italian Cafe - Medjool Date Napolitano Pasta. AMAZING and UNIQUE! - Italian Near Me - Palm Desert, California

Recommended by our hotel and it was a good choice. We each got dinner specials - hubs got linguine with red clam sauce and I got veal parm which came with spaghetti with marinara. Each came with a piece of garlic bread. The dinner specials are the "small" version but we both had leftovers. Hubs got tiramisu which was excellent. Service was great as well. If we were staying longer we would definitely go again. read more

We recently moved to Sun City in Palm Desert and were attending a district meeting and party last night at the Lakeview clubhouse. About 70 seniors attended and thoroughly enjoyed the dinner which was catered by Mario's. I have friends exclaiming they would call the restaurant to thank them for the very nice meal. While I did not eat meat, there was a beautifully seasoned chicken which got lots of attention from many. I generally don't veer toward Italian restaurants, having had so much Italian food in my youth in Massachusetts, but the rigatoni with very fresh vegetables and a tangy sauce with a salad gave me such pleasure that I must congratulate Mario's. They had me at mushrooms and broccoli. Those are my favorite healthy additions to any meal and they were not overcooked. The garlic bread was on point and the presentation made a lot of seniors very happy. Right now we are having some new solar construction hogging the already challenged parking lot and with all these seniors chowing down for seconds, we skedaddled early to avoid the red wine sippers & white-haired golf cart drivers who can be sketchy even when zooming about during the day. Thank you, Mario's, for all your work and for being just around the corner in our new home! See you soon! read more

Still sitting here, waiting. My wait person came back and asked me if I needed a box so I said "sure." What I wanted was another wine and Spumoni. Not cool. Won't be back. Now I'm sad. I told her, she said "I'm too busy." read more

Mario's Italian Cafe - My leftovers, empty glass and empty plate. - Italian Near Me - Palm Desert, California

I was looking for a sit down restaurant that was around the area. My initial thought was how pretty the murals were on the wall, the aroma of italian cuisine being served and the nice waitress seating us down. Food took rather long but expected for a busy sit down restaurant. We came here during happy our so, there was discounted appetizers As for the food, calamari was disappointing, with the baked dish shining the brightest. Price was fairly expensive sitting around 16 dollars a dish like pasta. I left full but needing more, overall good experience but would try something else next time. read more

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Front advertised special BUT tried to order it i was told you can't..... quite frustrating.

This is without a doubt my favorite place to come when I stay in the Coachella valley. If you really want an authentic down home Italian experience come here and forget all the other glitz and glamor jive overpriced places of which there are many in the area. read more

The chinese chicken salad its always amazing 100% recommend the salad and the place I usually go every other week for me and my caretaker in suncity read more

We came and put our name on their list. We were NOT informed of how long the wait would be. Waited 20 minutes and others who came in after us were seated before us. They refused to seat us in a booth with 2 small children! We were informed that we had to wait until a larger table was available. One child would have sat in a high chair. We had 3 adults & 2 children who could have sat in a regular booth. One waiter asked another waiter, "Didn't you let them know the wait time." He responded with "Yes" Which was a lie! I asked how long for a larger booth or table. He said it will be maybe an additional 15-20 minutes. We left! Mario's is good but not worth the wait with two hungry children. Please hire more knowledgeable staff. read more

This is my favorite Mario's in the Valley. They have the best happy hour, a friendly staff, consistent quality of food, generous portions and very good value. It's hard to find restaurants that tick off so many boxes anymore which is probably why we eat at this Mario's at least 1-2 times a week. Someday, I may just quit cooking altogether and go to Mario's every day :) Thank you Joe and staff! You're all amazing and my family appreciates your service. read more

Very reasonable price Lots of menu Service is excellent So many order customers because next sun city community Big glass wine Kind remained used be go to Italian restaurant strings east bay Food's pretty good Definitely we'll be back here We live Rancho Mirage super More casual More comfortable here read more

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Extra star for full bar service! Pizza is good as always. My pasta was overcooked to within an inch of its life. I don't understand how you can continually overcook pasta like this? Nevertheless, their pizza and sandwiches are the bomb! read more

Mario's Italian Cafe - Italian Near Me - Palm Desert, California

Very good all around! Go there often! Fast service! Waiter is excellent and so is. The food and prices!

Great lunch specials I've tried all of them good prices I go to the one by stater bros

I revisited Mario's today because I love good Italian. I wanted to update my review to Five stars. But, after arriving home and checking my order I did not receive an extra order of 2 pieces of garlic bread that I paid extra for. I did receive the pieces that came with the two dinners . The staff was polite and helpful l, attentive and the place was packed on Sunday night at 5:00. Just check your order before leaving. read more

Food is great, service is good. I didn't expect the lunch special to be this good! Thank you.

I love love love this place I lived on the west coast for long time and searched for a good Italian restaurant Well I am here to say I found it there are more than one place all the same menu and delicious food the service spectacular come one come all enjoy a night in Italy See you there or just have a great night out read more

Everything is great at Mario's. We eat there often. Great menu. You can always find something to eat. Prices are very fair, especially for the amount of food one gets. read more

Meh. Quite expensive for sub par quality. My dad bought a house 8 months ago in Desert Palms and hasn't been to any of the local eateries since it's just him. So he wanted to give this place a try. His friend handed him a disposable menu and told him the place was pretty good. Must be an old folks thing, because I wasn't the least impressed. We ordered for pickup and the wait time was 15-20 minutes. Pulled up to the restaurant and there was a line of people for pickup. My dad ordered penne with meatballs and meat sauce. I forgot to ask his opinion on it, but it didn't have much cheese and looked way to saucy in my opinion. The lid was also not properly shut, so some of the pasta sauce came out of the container on the way home. I ordered the Antipasto lunch salad special with a slice of garlic bread. Wasn't the best salad I have ever had. In fact it was just blah in comparison to most I've had. The garlic bread was so hard, you could barely bite into it! It tasted like cardboard. I couldn't even taste butter or garlic. Highly disappointed. I ordered some French fries for my 3yo. Upon opening the container they looked awful. They were obviously frozen prior and overly cooked based on the dark brown coloring on the fry. I will say there were a handful of good ones in the container. But you know they aren't good fries if a 3yo refuses to eat them. Our total for these 3 items only was $30! In my personal opinion it didn't look or taste authentic so I can't say I'd want to go back again after it opens. read more

Mario's Italian Cafe - the entrance to the restaurant - Italian Near Me - Palm Desert, California

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My go to place for catering my kids birthday parties or get together at my house and always so yummy for a quick dinner inside. Family friendly, great food, affordable and attentive staff. Can't beat that. read more