I always found salad and bread to be a great way to jump start my meal. It is always consistent at Eastside Mario's and just what you expect, the only problem is just like at Olive Garden I always fill up on these tasty starters before my meal comes... and in this case we got the salad and bread before the appy we ordered which was a spinach dip. (it was thick and cheesy)
I ordered the Cheese Cappelletti for my meal which I could hardly eat because I was filled up on bread and salad/dip but regardless it was exactly what I thought it would be like - not to fancy, no nonsense pasta. It was good but not something I would rave about. The food came out really fast and at one point we had an appy, the bread and salad and our mains all on the table at once, I think it would have been nicer to have it a bit more spaced out but I was under the impression they were more about pumping out the orders to make the tables available since this location was very busy.
I wasn't particularly fond of where we were sat (right beside the kitchen) It was loud and the table was kind of tiny but our service was great. The manager even came over to ask us how our meal was which was nice considering it was a Saturday night at 6PM.
Overall it was a tasty experience that I wouldn't mind repeating in the future - but I think we'll try the lounge.