Dominick's Real Italian — Restaurant in Arizona

Dissapointing, If you are looking for a Fast Food Restaurant, with a time limited meal, this is for you! Oh did we ever have an embarrassing evening dinner with friends. Will never invite anyone with us again here and will probably never go back to Dominick’s. To have spent the money to have alcoholic drinks, meals and desserts only to be ask to leave NOW in the middle of our dessert. WOW just WOW. Me who is never at a loss for words, was left speechless. This is a restaurant that we frequent, a lot. We have our favorite bartender (Brody) We have our favorite waitress… OMGoodness, I still can’t believe we were asked to leave early. So apparently Dominick’s has a rule on entertainment nights that you can’t be seated more than 1hr 45 min. We had never seen nor heard of this rule that they initiated according to a manager; 2 years ago. We never visited Dominick’s for their subpar entertainment. We have always come for their Italian dishes, cannoli and gluten free chocolate cake. Tonight started off, not on par; I ordered an Italian margarita only for them to make it with tequila minus the amaretto. I asked the new waitress from Charlotte NC for some Amaretto to put in the Italian margarita and she said she would have to charge extra for the amaretto, even though I explained to her that an Italian Margarita comes with Amaretto. She ended up having my drink remade. It turned out great. We waited a long time to get our orders taken for both drinks and food. So perhaps that’s where extra time was spent; waiting for someone to take our order, by the way we never complained. At no time, did we just sit around and talk. From the time we received our meal we ate, then ordered dessert right away and ate. We never just sat around waiting for time to pass. For the manager, who recognized us from being patrons many, many times…over, I still cannot believe we were asked to leave. I hadn’t even finished my meal, nor my one drink,nor my one glass of water, nor my dessert. We also were not asked if wanted refills, perhaps; because that would have taken up more time. All 4 of us had to get ‘to go’ boxes because we were asked to leave. We are not obnoxious people, we are all over 60+, we spent above average money for the food. DON’T MAKE RESERVATIONS 5 days in advance, don’t go with the intention of just relaxing knowing you don’t have to cook. Perhaps if you are looking for a ‘fast food’ environment this is the place for you. We were great customers who left terrific reviews in the past. Oh well! I did ask to speak with the Owner, I can’t remember her name; even though I have always left compliments with her. Tonight, I spoke with a “GM”, he even recognized us as being frequent patrons. To the sweet wonderful owner; I’m sorry we missed you and your smile tonight. Just FYI when we walked out, there were 4 empty tables. Also 4 customers sitting at the bar; 2 on one side and 2 on the other. No one was standing waiting...

I order from Dominick’s regularly; I would say perhaps on average once a month. I have seen some bad recent reviews so felt I should review as well. I ordered from them with the express intent to review them afterwards and so here we are.

I was saddened to learn that they no longer deliver beer which was quite the blow for me to learn on a Friday evening but that may have to do with policies beyond their control. I did get my beer though from Amazon/whole foods.

First up is of course our star the Dominick's Special 12" $17.99. Mine arrived warm, as you see in the picture it does have the toppings piled up in the center. This does mean when I pull out a slice that the end of it will be extra heavy and by the time, I nibble to the end there will be mostly bread. The toppings could be spread out a bit more evenly. I have always found the pizza to be a bit more on the greasy side then other pizzas however, the taste is always on point.

Next is the Garlic Knots Parmigiana $7.49. I have done a close-up shot because when I opened the lid and grabbed the container of marinara sauce, I had not realized it was upside down and the lid was stuck in the cheese so when I pulled it up off came the lid and the sauce went everywhere. I take partial responsibility for not paying attention but why was it upside down? I did feel like there was something different and I wish I had pictures of past orders because I think that these garlic knots were noticeably smaller? They are always a joy to eat though and messy in a fun way.

Finally, we have the Dominick's Tiramisu $7.49. It was my one true disappointment. I have used Grubhub and ordered Tiramisu from other places. I have gotten more Tiramisu for my money. This one also came a lot more melted. I think they put it on top of the hot garlic knots. Usually, Tiramisu I have gotten are in squares this one looks like it started out a square but owed someone money and got slapped around as a warning to pay up by Tuesday.

All in all, I give it four stars. Obviously, it was not a perfect order. I wish it had been. But there does seem to be something different. I do not know, new machines, new workers? But something does seem changed. Can’t quite place my finger on it? Everything about this order though tells me very clearly it was rushed. The Marinara was tossed in upside down on the hot cheese. The dessert that should say cold was put on the hot appetizer. The pizza toppings were piled in the center and not spread out. Lack of attention to detail. This maybe is what has changed.

But I will continue to order from them as they are tasty, except their...

We drove from south east Tucson looking for some good Italian food. We had another restaurant in mind bit thankfully for us it was closed. We arrived at an odd hour between Lunch and Dinner. The feel and ambiance smacked of Home ( The Northeast,) Connecticut to be precise) and the food had the same effect. I went with my parents and we had the fried Zucchini for starters and it was the best we've ever had. I had the Lasagna which was excellent, Dad had chicken parm and didn't say a word once his plate was in front of him lol and Ma had a cup of the homemade Minestrone and a dinner salad. Everything was delicious and as it should be, For anyone who isn't from that Area. New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island where Mom Pop Italian restaurants are plentiful and most have excellent food and service. To touch on service for a Moment I just want to say that TIMING IS EVERYTHING. Back East if you go to a Mom and Pop Italian restaurant you usually aren't in a hurry. It's wonderful to go to a restaurant that has excellent food, and a great atmosphere with reasonable prices where you are not rushed. I expect to linger over a good meal and I'm annoyed when I have a check shoved in my face before I am even finished with my meal. That being said I will say this. To those who loved the food but thought the service was slow please consider that good Italian restaurants offen deliberately give you more time to savor your food and chat with family. Old School Italian folks are extremely family oriented which is connected with eating and these folks never hurry over a food laden table. I don't EXPECT super speedy service when I dine Italian. So if you are looking for super speedy service perhaps a fast food restaurant may be a better choice for you, However if you want excellent Italian cuisine served fresh with a smile and NOT be RUSHED then Dominic's Real Italian is the REAL DEAL. We will be back and my advice is Slow down and enjoy your food. Take time to connect with your family and friends. Thanks for a...