Super Mario's Bar and Lounge is the most recent incarnation of this little nook hidden in plain sight in Willow Point B.C. , about 15 minutes south of Campbell River.
Last week when Chef D and I were scratching our brains trying to decide where to eat we lit upon the idea to check out Super Mario's again as the first time was a really good vibe.
This little lounge is tucked between a liquor store and the entrance to a drive through with a supermarket on the other side in the middle of a busy strip mall.
It does not look like much from the outside but when you walk in the atmosphere is that of a lazy supper lounge. On this day particularly they had a Rod Steward concert playing on the TVs and we were the only people in the lounge.
Round booths lined the outside perimeter of the room in a semi circle all facing the small stage which local bands play on the weekend. The whimsical ambiance was topped off by the stone pizza over behind the bar, long since retired of its original function, now filled with stuffed animals and figurines of this and that seeminly just for fun.
We sat at one of the round booths while I sheepishly hummed along to the very loud Rod Stewart concert on the TV and began to look at the menu. The drink menu was fabulous, everything you could think of in the way of creative bar drinks
In the end I settled on a glass of USA "screw it" Shiraz to ponder over the menu with. D and I decided that since the last time we ate here we had sushi ( Mario is noted for having excellent if nontraditional sushi) that this time we would try a cross section of appies to give the rest of the menu a whirl.
We started with the Gyoza which is a personal favorite dish of mine. It was pan fried to a perfect darkish crust and served with a typical Gyoza sauce. The highlight of these particular little dumplings was that inside the pork stuff were hidden bits of fresh ginger. I was delighted at this unexpected pop of flavor! At first we had thought they were water chestnuts but then the aromatic ginger hit my senses! Wonderful!
We also ordered the Bacon wrapped Dates to start. I really can not say a bad thing about them except that there were only four and I could have eaten double that with the Gyoza and been happy. The dates were extremely hot when they came out which made it a torture to smell them for the 5-10 minutes it took for them to be edible. Mouth burn be damned, they were salty and sweet and perfect. But seriously, how can you go wrong with that??
Lastly we decided on the Beef Nachos and Calamari. Rod Steward still crooning in the back ground and the idle chatter of another group of diners was making me feel pleasantly relaxed in this place, like I could sit here and enjoy drinks and good friends, food nonwithstanding.
I ordered this time a Pinot Grigio. Seemed a good pairing with my upcoming Nachos and Calamari. It was about 26 degrees outside still and the cold white wine sounded just about perfect. It was very good in fact.
Sadly, I can not say the same about the Calamari. The squid itself was cut into thick uniform strips that offered far too much meat in each bite. The squid was slightly overdone, which is easy to do with that protein but sadly a little is enough to turn it into a chewy rendition of what it could be. The batter did not stick well and it was served with a chipotle Mayo instead of the classic tzatziki . I am possibly a traditionalist when it comes to this , that said, it put me off from an already less than stellar dish.
The Nachos were fine, we had asked for jalapenos which were forgotten and I felt that they could have used more Beef on them. This again I realize is a preference thing, I just like my Nachos loaded. No guacamole was offered as an option but they did serve with a really nice Mango salsa. I do not think it was made in house but realize this is really more of a Lounge than restaurant so I was ok with that.
I would like to go back to Super Marios and try more of the amazing looking drinks on the menu and some of the interesting looking sushi rolls again
I do not think I would be too eager to try more of the foods that did not have the asian background. I feel that the strength in this place is the fun spin on the asain cusine and the playful drinks that adorn the menu.
I give 7/10 ( points lost for Calamari and bathroom that needed attention)
Cheers and Bon appetit
Whiskey G
I love the atmosphere at Super Mario's Bar and Lounge, on a weekend night you can often find a packed house with a live local band or an open mic jam. This was not the case when we came in on a early Tuesday evening, but we were there to eat, and that was perfectly fine. Mario's is a lounge through and through, exactly as you would expect, well used rounded benches with scratched glass topped tables lined the periphery with an abundance of high topped tables and stool chairs spaced closely in the smallish lounge area.
The menu is half pub grub, half Asian treats with emphasis on sushi. Today we deiced to eat off the bar appy menu. The daily special at Super Mario's on Tuesdays is burger and a beer, and while I was leaning away from this selection in favour of finger food, when our server came over to bring us menus (Mario himself, in fact, as no other staff was visible so early in the evening), he informed us that they were out of burgers, so that decision was made for me. I still opted for a beer though, a glass of Innis & Gunn original draft, while studying the menu.
After some consideration Whiskey and I chose five items from the starters menu: pork gyoza, bacon wrapped dates, Shanghai rolls, nachos, and calamari. The gyoza were fantastic. While usually not my favourite dish in world these gyoza were cooked on the crispy side, bordering on burned, but in my books this is a plus, not a minus. It's soggy dumpling dough that usually turns me off of gyoza. Accented with bright fresh ginger chunks mixed in, they were quite delicious. The dates were delectable as well, but how could dates stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon be anything but?
Shanghai rolls were pretty good as well, a generous portion of thin, crispy rolls densely stuffed with pork and carrot served with sweet chilli sauce. I ordered up another beer and we conversed about Rod Stewart songs as we waited for the second round of food to arrive.
We feared we may have ordered more food than we could possibly eat, but the price of the nachos indicated it wouldn't be a very large portion, and we were correct. The nachos were a good size, but not the size you could share with a whole table of bar revellers. They were, as a good nacho should be, layered evenly. The flavour of the beef and toppings were good, but nothing special. Bar nachos as one would expect, not disappointing, not arousing. They arrived without the optional jalapeno slices I had specified I desired. The calamari is a different story however. This might have been the worst calamari I have ever had, and I have endured some bad squid. Giant thick chunks of tube hacked into shapes indiscernible as calamari, with a tasteless batter that was mostly crumbling off of the pieces. Overcooked and chewy, we didn't finish the dish. This was served with sriracha mayo, I don't have any issue with that particularly, but notable if one was expecting tzatziki.
Despite some food that was not awesome, I enjoyed sipping beer and eating bar food in the quiet lounge. Mario's hospitality was warm and friendly, like being invited into someone's home. I would visit Super Mario's again without hesitation, although next time I think I'll be ordering from the well-received sushi menu.
Cheers and bon appetit,
-D
7/10
(Hospitality and chill atmosphere rescued the rating from a solid 6)
Last week when Chef D and I were scratching our brains trying to decide where to eat we lit upon the idea to check out Super Mario's again as the first time was a really good vibe.
This little lounge is tucked between a liquor store and the entrance to a drive through with a supermarket on the other side in the middle of a busy strip mall.
It does not look like much from the outside but when you walk in the atmosphere is that of a lazy supper lounge. On this day particularly they had a Rod Steward concert playing on the TVs and we were the only people in the lounge.
Round booths lined the outside perimeter of the room in a semi circle all facing the small stage which local bands play on the weekend. The whimsical ambiance was topped off by the stone pizza over behind the bar, long since retired of its original function, now filled with stuffed animals and figurines of this and that seeminly just for fun.
We sat at one of the round booths while I sheepishly hummed along to the very loud Rod Stewart concert on the TV and began to look at the menu. The drink menu was fabulous, everything you could think of in the way of creative bar drinks
We started with the Gyoza which is a personal favorite dish of mine. It was pan fried to a perfect darkish crust and served with a typical Gyoza sauce. The highlight of these particular little dumplings was that inside the pork stuff were hidden bits of fresh ginger. I was delighted at this unexpected pop of flavor! At first we had thought they were water chestnuts but then the aromatic ginger hit my senses! Wonderful!
 |
| PORK GYOZA |
 |
| BACON WRAPPED DATES |
Lastly we decided on the Beef Nachos and Calamari. Rod Steward still crooning in the back ground and the idle chatter of another group of diners was making me feel pleasantly relaxed in this place, like I could sit here and enjoy drinks and good friends, food nonwithstanding.
I ordered this time a Pinot Grigio. Seemed a good pairing with my upcoming Nachos and Calamari. It was about 26 degrees outside still and the cold white wine sounded just about perfect. It was very good in fact.
Sadly, I can not say the same about the Calamari. The squid itself was cut into thick uniform strips that offered far too much meat in each bite. The squid was slightly overdone, which is easy to do with that protein but sadly a little is enough to turn it into a chewy rendition of what it could be. The batter did not stick well and it was served with a chipotle Mayo instead of the classic tzatziki . I am possibly a traditionalist when it comes to this , that said, it put me off from an already less than stellar dish.
 |
| CALAMARI |
I would like to go back to Super Marios and try more of the amazing looking drinks on the menu and some of the interesting looking sushi rolls again
 |
| BEEF NACHOS |
I do not think I would be too eager to try more of the foods that did not have the asian background. I feel that the strength in this place is the fun spin on the asain cusine and the playful drinks that adorn the menu.
I give 7/10 ( points lost for Calamari and bathroom that needed attention)
Cheers and Bon appetit
Whiskey G
I love the atmosphere at Super Mario's Bar and Lounge, on a weekend night you can often find a packed house with a live local band or an open mic jam. This was not the case when we came in on a early Tuesday evening, but we were there to eat, and that was perfectly fine. Mario's is a lounge through and through, exactly as you would expect, well used rounded benches with scratched glass topped tables lined the periphery with an abundance of high topped tables and stool chairs spaced closely in the smallish lounge area.
The menu is half pub grub, half Asian treats with emphasis on sushi. Today we deiced to eat off the bar appy menu. The daily special at Super Mario's on Tuesdays is burger and a beer, and while I was leaning away from this selection in favour of finger food, when our server came over to bring us menus (Mario himself, in fact, as no other staff was visible so early in the evening), he informed us that they were out of burgers, so that decision was made for me. I still opted for a beer though, a glass of Innis & Gunn original draft, while studying the menu.
After some consideration Whiskey and I chose five items from the starters menu: pork gyoza, bacon wrapped dates, Shanghai rolls, nachos, and calamari. The gyoza were fantastic. While usually not my favourite dish in world these gyoza were cooked on the crispy side, bordering on burned, but in my books this is a plus, not a minus. It's soggy dumpling dough that usually turns me off of gyoza. Accented with bright fresh ginger chunks mixed in, they were quite delicious. The dates were delectable as well, but how could dates stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon be anything but?
Shanghai rolls were pretty good as well, a generous portion of thin, crispy rolls densely stuffed with pork and carrot served with sweet chilli sauce. I ordered up another beer and we conversed about Rod Stewart songs as we waited for the second round of food to arrive.
We feared we may have ordered more food than we could possibly eat, but the price of the nachos indicated it wouldn't be a very large portion, and we were correct. The nachos were a good size, but not the size you could share with a whole table of bar revellers. They were, as a good nacho should be, layered evenly. The flavour of the beef and toppings were good, but nothing special. Bar nachos as one would expect, not disappointing, not arousing. They arrived without the optional jalapeno slices I had specified I desired. The calamari is a different story however. This might have been the worst calamari I have ever had, and I have endured some bad squid. Giant thick chunks of tube hacked into shapes indiscernible as calamari, with a tasteless batter that was mostly crumbling off of the pieces. Overcooked and chewy, we didn't finish the dish. This was served with sriracha mayo, I don't have any issue with that particularly, but notable if one was expecting tzatziki.
Despite some food that was not awesome, I enjoyed sipping beer and eating bar food in the quiet lounge. Mario's hospitality was warm and friendly, like being invited into someone's home. I would visit Super Mario's again without hesitation, although next time I think I'll be ordering from the well-received sushi menu.
Cheers and bon appetit,
-D
7/10
(Hospitality and chill atmosphere rescued the rating from a solid 6)
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