Retiring owners bid Mario’s adieu

By Tim Kalinowski on February 10, 2018.

tkalinowski@medicinehatnews.com @MHNTimKal

Beautiful music, fabulous entertainers, great food and a strong feeling of community — these elements have been hallmarks of Mario’s story in Medicine Hat for the past 40 years.

On Feb. 24, this perennial favourite restaurant and local institution will close its doors for the final time as owners Sharon and Kevin Pudwell head off into a well-deserved retirement.

“It’s hard to let go,” admits Sharon. “We have personal contact with everything here. When we go home at night, it’s hard. Every table you talk to has a story and a memory. You never really realized you had such an impact on peoples’ lives. So we are humbled by it.”

“Everywhere we look has memories,” agrees Kevin. “The walls, the tables … The memories are going to be so ingrained, that they are going to be with us the rest of our lives.”

Mario’s was originally started by then owner Mario Dal Collo in 1981. Kevin and Sharon worked for him in those years as the restaurant’s manager and bartender respectively. The Pudwells purchased a 50-per-cent interest in Mario’s in 1986, and eventually bought Dal Collo out entirely in 1990. While much has changed over the years, says Sharon, their dedication to the core of Mario’s vision has never wavered.

“Our signature dishes never went away,” she says. “Our meat sauce, bolognese sauce, alfredo sauce have been our signature from day one, and we have never changed them. We have never changed our house dressing, our caesar dressing and our cherries jubilee. The core of Mario’s, the stuff that Mario Dal Collo brought in here, his recipes, have never changed.”

Taking from the European tradition of hospitality, the restaurant was never just another eating establishment.

“We have always had some kind of show to go with dinner,” explains Sharon. “People remember that. We’d say come for dinner, and stay for the evening. That has always been our slogan, because once we get you in here we are going to make sure you have a marvelous time.”

“Live music created the mood,” says Kevin. “You don’t see that very much at all anymore. The restaurant had to be different somehow from the next place. We always wanted to offer our diners an immersive experience.”

While the new owner of the building will open a restaurant at the same location, the name Mario’s will be retiring alongside the Pudwells. Sharon and Kevin say they will always be eternally grateful to the community and their family for helping make the past 37 years the best of their lives.

“You don’t become as successful in business as we have been if you don’t have a very strong family,” says Sharon. “Our family has been absolutely unbelievable through our run. Family support and community support; those are the two pillars which have held up everything we have built at Mario’s.

“We have been surrounded by a wonderful community that has embraced every part of our business. We have been so lucky, and we are so thankful.”

“When I first started here I knew from day one I would own this place some day,” adds Kevin. “We did that, and our goal was to let the restaurant continue on … I hope people remember the good times they had here, and all the friends they made.”

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