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    Mario's Ristorante

    3.6 (274 reviews)
    ModerateItalian, Pizza
    Open 11:00 am - 9:00 pm
    Updated 2 months ago

    Mario's Ristorante Photos

    Business Info

    MARIO'S RISTORANTE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Good for groups
    Good for kids

    Recommended Reviews - Mario's Ristorante

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    Reviews With Photos

    Lauri B.

    11/28/2025: For a restaurant with "ristorante" in the title, I expected it to have a little bit more of an Italian decor. They could've done more with the space. They have regular tables and booths available. A small bar is also available for seating. Upon entering, I used the restroom and washed my hands. No paper towels available and the hand dryer was not working. So far, we were not off to a good start. We ordered a glass of wine while we looked over the menu. We settled on the calamari for an appetizer. It was very chewy and served lukewarm. Even the marinara sauce was lukewarm warm. We ordered a second marinara sauce and it was a good temperature. The batter on the calamari was good, but the calamari itself was very chewy. It is large enough to split. We ordered the Mario's Special. We wanted to substitute two of the toppings, but they told us it would be $2.25 extra for each. I don't understand why it would be extra if we're taking something off and just exchanging it, but they do have a disclaimer on the menu that states they do not substitute. Just one more way customer service is lacking these days. The only reason I'm giving them four stars is because the pizza was absolutely wonderful, even though we couldn't get the "extra" toppings. I would describe the crust as hand tossed on the thin side. It was flavorful, crispy, and flaky. The toppings were fresh and the marinara sauce was perfect. The pizza saved the day! Wyatt was our server and I know he was just doing his job, but I also know he could have at least compromised with our requests. Maybe give us one "extra" topping? We still tipped him 20%. Our total bill was $60.59 before tip. I would go back for the pizza or even better, get delivery to the condo. If they want to spruce up the establishment, I would suggest giving it a more Italian feel. At least fix the bulbs on the "M" and the "a" for the exterior sign. We dined at "rio's" last night.

    Susana C.

    You know how nothing hits quite like a slice of pizza after a long day at the beach? That was us in vaca mode on a Monday night in April, totally wiped out from sun and fun. We were staying out on the West End, where restaurant options are kinda limited. The closer Mario's location was closed, so we drove out to this one and it was worth it. We rolled in about an hour before closing, the staff was super sweet and welcoming. No rush, no weird vibes, just great service. We ordered a large cheese, pizza, well done (we like ours on the toasty side). It could have stayed in the oven just a tiny bit longer for us, but honestly, it was really tasty. Nice crust, solid sauce to cheese ratio, and the leftovers crisp up perfectly in the air fryer later that night. This place has clearly been around a while for a reason. Definitely recommend if you're in the area.

    Glorious meatball sub!!
    Charles B.

    I had a meatball sub for lunch today and had forgotten how good Mario's is!! Some places you go for atmosphere -- others you go to for food. As a foodie -- this is one of the latter. They are 3rd generation Italians serving their specialties in Galveston for over 50 years. The food quality and ingredients they use is always superb -- especially their olives and cheeses! You can almost taste the love in every dish! My meatball sub was enough for two meals, but if you're travelling and have hungry teenagers, be sure to check out their LUNCH BUFFET. They don't publicize it -- so mostly only Island residents know. But it's daily from 11am to 2pm and Wednesday nights from 5pm to 9pm. It includes a full salad bar, numerous hot dishes daily, and 5 or 6 types of pizza -- all you can eat for $14.25. If you haven't been in a long time -- or are just passing through -- it's "molto bene!"

    Eddie S.

    Parking lot is ample for what it is inside it seems like. We got here June 8th on a Saturday and there weren't that many people here at that time at 6:00 but then it seemed like everybody followed us in here. The atmosphere is kind of like not much enthusiastic except for our waiter which shown through and deserves his credit. We had Andrew is what the ticket showed. Everybody else seemed to be in a frumpy mood.. If you could block out the ceiling tiles, the interior is really nice decorated but oh my God there are black ridden tiles everywhere especially near the vents mold city? I don't know if this is a common thing in Galveston but it really takes away from what you're looking at other than that the walls are nicely decorated.. The house wine whatever it was was outstanding for what it was! $15 and I would have felt that it would have been a 15 dollar a glass cabernet.. The bathrooms were a decent clean no complaints there especially when we were almost the first customers before the rush. Remember they were not separate any checks more than a table of six or more starting May 5. We have the appetizer mushrooms and the medium meat lovers pizza. The mushrooms are outstanding I mean they were the main part of the meal it's seen because it wasn't too salty and not bland, also Health we had ranch dressing and we peppered it a lot with some Parmesan cheese but we want to order that again. The pizza we've had a lot better I mean it was not bad at all but far from what seems like the other reviewers complimented on. The prices are kind of decent mediocre, $44 for a medium meat lovers Pizza and a half carafe of cabernet. This could be a three and a half star but for Pete's sake do something with those ceiling tiles! Gross

    Cannoli

    Authentic Italian Food. My dad lived in Italy for two years and said it was just like being back there. Everything was made from scratch and it was amazing. We got there at 7 pm. The service was great. The restraunt was very busy and they still made sure to check on us and we got our food quickly. All the staff was great. The food was amazing. We tried multiple dishes and loved them all especially the Alfredo. The atmosphere was great. We had our 4 year old and 7 month old with us and they both loved the food and the staff was very kind to them. We sampled the gelato and it was delicious. Would recommend this to anyone wanting good Italian food. We will absolutely come back.

    Largest pizza they have w/sausage, green peppers, mushrooms and extra sauce
    Shanda D.

    This is our favorite pizza place on the island. They have dine-in but we always place our order for pizza to go. It takes about 20/25 minutes to prepare so we phone ahead. We have dined inside but it has been a while and to my recollection, it is a typical Galveston older restaurant We always order the largest pizza they have with sausage, green pepper, mushrooms and extra sauce. It is really really good and never disappoints. They have a sister restaurant on the west end, but it is not nearly as good as this one.

    Sicilian Crust!

    Ordered the Sicilian Crust / Hawaiian Pizza....It was good, very good! Definitely will order again!

    Chicken Marsala.
    Sheena A.

    We came here on a Thursday night. This is where you eat when you're extra hungry and want to be FULL. We ordered buttery garlic bread, which had a tasty Italian seasoning. Our entrees were cheese pizza, Mario's special pizza, beef ravioli, lasagna, and chicken Marsala. The pizza was the best, with a crust both soft and crispy. The lasagna and beef ravioli were good, but lacked salt and flavor. The chicken Marsala was tender, nicely cooked, and the sauce was good but not great. The ambiance is spacious. It's a big restaurant with plenty of seating and parking and friendly servers.

    Garden Salad was so good (or I was so hungry) that I ate it before the pic.
    Robert M.

    Came here after a bird watching trip with a bunch of friends. It was a full day and I was hungry! This place absolutely hit the spot. Started with a glass of their Merlot which definitely put me in the right place. I then ordered a Garden Salad which was very tasty, but I forgot to take a picture first because I was so hungry. It was really pretty fresh and a nice medium size. For an entre I had the "Shrimp Fra Diavolo". When it said "spicy" I was thinking Texas heat. It's really spicy in the Italian sense of the term which I kind of take as a sharp marinara. It was absolutely amazing! That Italian sharp spiciness with a sweet, chunky tomato bases was the perfect companion to wonderfully cooked shrimp. This was absolutely my favorite meal of the week.

    Lasagna - Meat Sauce, and Mozzarella. Four Slices Of Bread.

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    1 month ago

    Never received our food and left fret an hour. The Host had to take our order and we never saw the waiter.

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    Went for the lunch buffet and it was amazing! Fresh hot pizza and the salad bar was awesome!! Would definitely return.

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    2 years ago

    Food was great. The pasta was really good! Will go there again. This is my Galveston go to spot.

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    1 year ago

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    2 years ago

    Pizza is delicious and delivery is fast. We love that it's always still hot!!! Thanks Mario's!

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    2 years ago

    Great food, service is wonderful. Awesome Italian ambiance Soup good, friend mushrooms my favorite

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    2 years ago

    First pizza after two weeks of cafeteria college food. You can imagine the taste. Also just super good.

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    Page 1 of 7

    Ask the Community - Mario's Ristorante

    Mama Teresa's Flying Pizza & Italian Restaurant

    Mama Teresa's Flying Pizza & Italian Restaurant

    4.5
    (871 reviews)
    3.1 mi
    $$

    It was the start of a holiday weekend, so we anticipated having to wait to get in. It was great…read morethat they take your phone number and text you when your table is ready, as we were able to stroll around the neighborhood while we were waiting. The interior of the restaurant is small, but interesting. The pizza making portion of their kitchen is visible from the tables, so you can watch them as they make the pizzas. Our waiter was super friendly, and the service was excellent. We started off our meal with the fried mushroom appetizer. Usually, when you order fried mushrooms, you get an entire mushroom dipped in breading and fried. Here the mushrooms are chopped into chunks before breading and frying. It came with both marinara and ranch for dipping sauces. We loved having the smaller chunks, because if you've ever eaten fried mushrooms, you know that when you bite into them , the juice can sear your mouth. By using smaller chunks, it was much easier to eat, especially when piping hot. We were surprised that they didn't carry banana peppers as a topping for pizzas, but other than that, our pizza was fabulous! We deliberately bought a larger pizza than we needed, because we were looking for leftovers. The pizza heated up well the next day! We would highly recommend visiting Mama Teresa's!

    Why 4 stars? Because there was a uniqueness to the pizza that I didn't expect…read more --- --- --- When I see a 4.5 rating, I'm pretty intrigued. But as I was looking at the photos of the pizza, I was trying to understand why the rating was so high. It honestly just looked like pretty standard pizza, so I couldn't quite figure out the angle. But then our meat lovers pie came to the table and I understood. I can't quite describe to you what made this pizza unique, but there was something different about it. I think it might simply be that the crust was airy. Whatever it was, I really enjoyed it. Granted, that magic flavor tended to dissipate as the pizza sat and got a bit soggier, but I still really enjoyed it. My wife ordered chicken parm and she really loved it, but I thought the sauce was a bit on the watery side. Either way, I'm happy we finally got the chance to visit, as we've had Mama Teresa's bookmarked for a while now.

    Photos
    Inside of the Restaurant
    Inside of the Restaurant
    16" Cattleman Pizza
    16" Cattleman Pizza
    The owner was very nice.

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    The owner was very nice.
    Mario's Seawall Italian & Pizzeria

    Mario's Seawall Italian & Pizzeria

    4.0
    (950 reviews)
    3.9 mi
    $$

    Came for the gellato and stayed for the Cioppino. I saw a video of the chef making his gellato so…read moreI knew we had to try it. At first I thought this place was a romantic intimate restaurant but it was very casual. Not a tablecloth in sight. We decided to take a table for our gelato because it was too hot to eat it outside. Once inside we were captivated by the smell of the food. Mind you we just had lunch less than an hour ago. So just for the plot we ordered an appetizer so we can get a sense of they type of food here. Being disappointed by so many places on the seawall, we had little hope. Little hope is all we needed honestly. Our server was truly italian and was welcoming in a quiet way. Very gentle. Also ask for the Cioppino. We were handed four menus and none had it on their menu except it was pictured in the cover of one of the menus. So we just pointed to it. This one, it had no name it was just the menu cover. Soon the Cioppino arrived pipping hot in a deep bowl a tomato and seafood base stew topped with clams, mussels, shrimp, squid, fish and served with toasted Italian bread. You could tell this was no premade Cisco slop, this was spoon to pot, flavors so real you could taste the freshness of the seafood and veggies. It was truly a delight. Only thing I feel it should come with more bread. We like to sop it up. Okay now for the gelato, oh I need a moment. First I accidentally ordered the wrong flavor. Sometimes the universe gives you what you don't even know you want. I'm not big on sweets a small treat suffices for me so when I tell you I want a Home Depot bucket size all to my self I mean it. Look at the picture you'll never guess the flavor. It was Salted Caramel Butter Popcorn. The gelato so perfect and smooth with the thinnest paper thin slivers of what I believe are chocolate shavings. Don't worry the chocolate does not affect the flavors of the salted caramel, in fact, it enhances those flavors and completes the entire flavor profile. I might need to drive five hours to have it again and I am really considering doing so. Do not pass up the chance to try their gelato, it will change your life.

    It has been said, "the best things in life are simple." Absolutely! My grandkids laughter, my…read moredaughter's love, and the gaze from my beautiful wife. I got to enjoy all of those things last night in the company of our new friends at Mario's! Dishes we enjoyed were the Rigatoni in vodka sauce, pasta and Alfredo sauce but the pinnacle of the servings was the daily special of a freshly caught redfish, lightly breaded and sautéed in butter paired with green beans, served over linguine in a light creamed lemon sauce. Fantastic!!! The service was great and to top it off we indulged with their homemade gelato! Chocolate Hazelnut and Almond for me, a Grapefruit sorbet along with many other options we just had to sample. The staff is well trained and it was a pleasure to share our evening with them. Mario's is a must when in Galveston. Oh, and the seaside views are also hard to beat which adds a nice atmosphere to enjoy in the company of great people.

    Photos
    Newly Renovated Private Dining Space
    Newly Renovated Private Dining Space
    Caprese Salad
    Caprese Salad
    FETTUCCINE CHICKEN ALFREDO

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    FETTUCCINE CHICKEN ALFREDO
    Trattoria La Vigna

    Trattoria La Vigna

    4.4
    (332 reviews)
    3.1 mi
    $$

    It is a romantic and beautifully authentic Italian restaurant in the heart of the historic area of…read moreGalveston. The food was incredible! All homemade pasta. Delicious sauces. Authentic preparation. And a simple menu, not pages and pages of dishes like other places. The wait staff were friendly, professional, accommodating, helpful, and made the dining experience that much more pleasant. We will definitely be returning!

    Excellent. Easy five stars. The best way to ensure high quality and consistency is to have the…read moreowner and head chef present in the restaurant. Chef Pina came to our table to make sure everything was up to her very high standards. We had white bean soup, which was phenomenal, the recipe is vegan, only four ingredients according to Chef Pina but tastes so rich and delicious you would think it was based on a hearty bone broth. Crisp Caesar salad lightly dressed, eggplant Parmesan, tender and delicious, and the veal osso bucco, which to me is always a measure of how a less expensive cut of meat can be (and was) transformed into something utterly delectable. A light and creamy panna cotta with a tart mixed berry topping for desert, very delicate and not too sweet. We chose a crisp sparkling Prosecco from the extensive wine list to accompany a truly memorable meal. The restaurant is attractively decorated despite a slightly awkward layout due to the historic nature of the building it is housed in. Prices are in line with the stellar quality of the food, and our service was excellent. Oh yeah, the bread and oil are as good as everyone says. Special occasion or midweek lunch your dining dollars will be very well spent at Trattoria La Vigna.

    Photos
    Inside the restaurant has a nice vibe
    Inside the restaurant has a nice vibe
    Freshest seafood there
    Freshest seafood there
    A simple salad yet lovely.

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    A simple salad yet lovely.
    Grotto Ristorante

    Grotto Ristorante

    4.2
    (198 reviews)
    0.8 mi
    $$

    We have tried in past to visit Grotto in other sites but due to limited hours (many are closed…read moreMonday, tues, weds) and finally found what we have been missing. Do yourself a favor and find one open next time you have the opportunity. This one is located inside San Luis Resort. Valet parking is free with a stamp they will place on your valet ticket. The restaurant is small and cozy. Sitting next to the Cove pool at twilight was very nice. We had the antipasto (italian charcuterie board) it was loaded with meats and cheeses and shared with bread on our table of 7. A little on the spicy side. We had our 3 older teen/young adult boys who came with us to the beach. 5 boys between 17-24 and they all got some bites in. For drinks the older had peach Bellini (which is frozen) and the martini. For seconds we had espresso martini and the sour. I personally liked the drinks not too sweet and the martini was dry with the espresso martini heavy on the coffee side. For entrees boys did some pizza the boglonase, Alfredo sauce with crab (they can customize a dish) and the chicken Luis was mine and delicious 10/10. Husbands had the shrimp Rocco a newer dish which was 11/10 for flavor and style Our server was super attentive and perfect. Now dessert. They have a large cart overflowing with deliciousness. Please ask to see the cart. We ended up with 5 items shared (there were more to choose but everyone has their limits) the triple chocolate was one of the most moist and chocolatey cake ive tasted. And a huge oversized slice. My foodie son could not eat it all! Key lime pie, brownie and tiramisu (also a huge serving taken for a midnight snack) Overall we definitely found out what we've been missing and will be back sooner rather than later.

    You walk into Grotto and immediately understand the assignment: this place wants to look like a…read morepolished, upscale hotel restaurant more than a traditional Italian spot. The large windows bring in loads of daylight, and the modern, clean design gives the room a bright, contemporary feel. It's stylish without being dramatic, and everything feels curated to suggest you're in for something special. The menu leans into classic Italian‑American comfort with a high‑end gloss -- pastas, seafood, veal, steaks -- all presented with the confidence of a restaurant that knows it photographs well. And the food is good. Not great, not transportive, not "I must tell everyone about this," just solidly competent. You can tell the kitchen knows how to execute, but you also get the sense that nothing here is trying to surprise you. And then there's the pizza -- priced like it's been flown in from a Michelin‑starred pizzeria on the Amalfi Coast. It's fine, but the bill will make you blink twice. The whole experience feels intentionally elevated, which makes it even more noticeable when the flavors don't quite match the visual promise. Grotto is a great place when you want a night out that feels upscale: a nice dinner, a celebratory vibe, a setting that makes everything seem a little more important. Just know you're paying premium prices for an experience that's more about atmosphere and execution than culinary revelation -- especially if you order the pizza.

    Photos
    Grotto Ristorante
    Grotto Ristorante
    Grotto Ristorante

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    Maceo Spice & Import Company

    Maceo Spice & Import Company

    4.5
    (270 reviews)
    2.7 mi
    $$

    Authentic muffulettas and a true taste of history! The Maceo…read morefamily's history and recipes are unique and well worth experiencing. We traveled to Galveston to visit the store and restaurant firsthand. For years, we followed Ronnie Maceo's story and were saddened by his passing. Thankfully, his daughter, Concetta, has continued the family legacy. We were fortunate to meet her during our visit. She was incredibly gracious, and spending time with her made the experience even more memorable. The food was absolutely delicious, and we couldn't leave without stocking up on spices and sauces. It's amazing how much history, culture, and tradition are packed into this one place. The gumbo roux is the perfect rich, dark color, and the flavor is everything you hope for--authentic, hearty, and reminiscent of New Orleans. Concetta also shared the weekly specials, giving us even more reasons to return. Needless to say, every future trip to Galveston will include a stop at Maceo's. I highly recommend adding Maceo's to your bucket list. See you there!

    I don't get down to Galveston very often, but as soon as I heard about Maceo Spice & Import…read moreCompany, I knew I'd be making a trip. My wife and I ordered a muffuletta and a turkey sandwich along with small cups of gumbo and red beans and rice. All were excellent. The service was a bit slow, but we arrived about the same time as the Sunday church crowd, so I think that's to be expected. The restaurant is also a store, and they have a good variety of products, despite being rather small. Definitely worth a trip if you're in the Galveston area!

    Photos
    Counter
    Counter
    I wait for their made to order canoli
    I wait for their made to order canoli
    Entrance

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    Entrance

    Mario's Ristorante - italian - Updated July 2026

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