Donato Ristorante Pizzeria — Restaurant in The Hague

Donatos has been my favorite Italian restaurant in The Hague for many years. The quality of their dishes, especially the tomato sauce, reflected the authenticity of a traditional Italian recipe, worthy of an Italian grandmother. Additionally, their pizzas, tiramisu and service always stood out for their excellence.

However, sadly I need to say that the quality has significantly decreased. Maintaining quality and knowing which elements should preserve is one of the greatest challenges for a restaurant, and in this case, Donatos has failed.

While the service remains attentive, tonight’s dinner was a major disappointment. My favorite dish, the Parmigiana di Melanzane, was very bland, with a scant amount of cheese and a portion too small for its price. We then ordered the Spaghetti Frutti di Mare, expecting a quality pasta dish with good seafood and a proper tomato or seafood sauce. But no, what we received was a plate of uninspired pasta, lacking any care or love in its preparation. The spaghetti was the same as one that you might boil at home, served in an excessive quantity and without any sauce (neither tomato, nor garlic, nor olive oil and parsley). The seafood pieces were really tiny, randomly scattered and very bad looking (octopus, shrimps and mussels)

It is incomprehensible that a restaurant known for its quality would serve something so disrespectful to Italian cuisine. I have recommended this restaurant to many people in the past, and I write this review with regret, as a woman born in the Mediterranean, the lack of authenticity and quality in my recent visit was deeply disappointing.

I need to say that their pizzas are one of the best in the Netherlands, and I'm happy that it's still being like this way. If I were them, I would focus on what truly works: their pizzas, desserts, and perhaps a few high-quality pasta dishes off the menu. Better quality over quantity should be the priority in their offerings.

Unfortunately, this experience marks a definitive farewell for me. It is...

Good: pizza was delicious & restaurant looks nice Bad: service & ravioli First of all, I noticed at other tables that the waiter would explain the menu and make conversation. Our waiter very nicely threw the menus on the table and left us to decide. Of course, the menu had mistakes in it (see picture). In terms of food, I asked for the mushroom ravioli with truffle, which was horrible. Besides the 3 shavings of truffle that were placed on the ravioli, there was no truffle taste. Only mushroom. The ravioli was well cooked, but the inside just had a very bland taste. Not what you expect given the price for 5 ravioli on the plate. Furthermore, no sauce or anything, just mushroom water covered the ravioli (see picture). There were some mushrooms on the ravioli that were not cooked for long enough, in my opinion, I even think they were canned mushrooms. I ate one ravioli and after I sent the dish back. I told them that I just did not like it, and I thought that was that. But after we were ignored for the rest of the night and our waiter stopped being our waiter. He just kept shooting ugly glances when he passed us. I ordered a pizza after, which was nice, but of course, we had to stop another waiter (as ours simply disappeared) and really insist on being served. Afterwards, we asked for some more drinks which never came. We had to ask another waiter, which finally brought them to us. When we asked to pay, we were brought the bill and told to pay at the bar. We noticed that the rest of the clients could pay at the table by card and were brought some complementary candy (not for us, tho, only the printed bill). Even the person at the bar was confused by why we were asked to pay there. Btw, the tiramisu was super dry, no coffee infusion on the ladyfingers, and the cream was not set, so it was a mess as well (see picture of the dry ladyfinger). Horrible experience, especially on my...

This is one of the most repulsive places I've ever visited. At the entrance, there was a tattered carpet and a heap of orange delivery backpacks. We were seated at a table where sugar was scattered, and there were sticky spots. It was highly surprising to observe the waitress cleaning tables after other visitors were seated. She sprayed cleaning solution and wiped the table while people were sitting there. I have never seen anything like it before. Right from the beginning, we were informed that they didn't have a drinks menu. How is that even possible? The fork they brought had food remnants between its prongs. Instead of my daughter's apple juice, they brought a dirty bottle with a torn label, containing a metal straw. I wonder, how do they clean it after other customers? It's even frightening to think about what might be inside. Instead of the ordered apple juice, the bottle contained a green murky liquid (apparently, they add colorings to juice?). For my beer, they brought a 200ml glass with fingerprints on the walls and water at the bottom. The pizza dough they served was raw, and the filling simply slid off. Despite hardly touching anything, the waiter brought the full bill without any questions. Unfortunately, this place left only negative...