Daniela Pasta and Pastries — Restaurant in Baltimore

As a born and raised Italian NYer, I take my reviews of Italian restaurants incredibly seriously. I am not a professional food critic nor a Michelin star chef, but this is the food I grew up with and I have been surrounded by both world class famous restaurants and to-die for mom and pop shops for 30 years.

That being said, I give this restaurant a fairly decent four star review. I will start by saying the service was excellent and the ambience was clean, simple, and not pretentious. For the food itself, the insalata caprese was not my preferred traditional longitudinal cuts of fresh tomato and mozzarella, but half cuts of cherry tomatoes and small cheese balls in an otherwise nice olive oil dressing. The focaccia for the table wasn't the best, but again, was alright. For the pastas, my table split the recommended traditional Sardinian culurgiones and fregula. The former was a pasta that was beautifully made in-house but was a bit too thick and undercooked for my taste with an otherwise delicious filling. The fregula was certainly unique (which was the point of me trying it, since I'm far more accustomed to Tuscan and other northern Italian culinary styles). All it needed was a little more salt and then it otherwise would have been a quite delightful and flavorful dish. For my entree, I will say the veal scallopini was unbelievable. The sauce was to die for and you could cut the veal with a fork (as you're supposed to be able to with this dish). The wine we selected was a local Sardinian white which was light and crisp...not as sharp or full of as much citrus as I like in a drier white, but everyone's palate is different and I will say it was very reasonably priced. For desert, the cappuccino tiramisu (although not as good as my mamma's ofc) was actually very soft, rich, and refreshing on a hot summer day. The waitress was also able to bring a shot of sambuca for our espressos for the table (which is the way it should be done in my humble opinion).

So overall, 4 stars for this delightful small mom and pop shop. Would I drive the hour from DC to come here again? I'd honestly drive the 4hrs back to NY for definitively better Italian cuisine, BUT if I lived in Baltimore I'd certainly come back again once or twice. So overall, I commend you for delivering very decent and reasonably-priced Italian food in what is otherwise an entire DMV area deprived of good, reliable Italian eateries aside from a few places such as this! ...

As soon as you walk into Daniela Restaurant, you feel as if you've been transported to a small village in Italy. The place feels like a true trattoria: small tables, people drinking wine, and the glorious aroma of garlic in the air. We ate there last Saturday night: December 10th. Naturally the place was bustling, since Daniela's is very close to 34th Street in Hamden, and 34th Street was in full swing. The Staff could not have been nicer or more attentive. Our wine arrived quickly, as did our menus. We shared the Caprese Salad to start (good) and munched on our bread. A table to the right of me ordered some chicken dish with risotto that looked divine. (The patron was mopping the sauce up with this bread: always a good sign.) My companion ordered ravioli stuffed with crabmeat and enjoyed it very much. My Lasagna Bolognese was a bit overcooked but in fairness to the restaurant: the kitchen WAS busy. All in all, a very good meal. If you do dine at Daniela's (and I recommend that you try it), please keep two things in mind;

1. Portion sizes are European. In Europe, portions are smaller because people there typically order an appetizer (antipasto) a first course (Primo Piatto), and an entree (Secondo Piatto). Unlike American restaurants where the entree comes with a vegetable and a starch.
2. Once the lights are all lit up on 34th Street, everyone and their uncle descends upon Hamden. It's crowded and the restaurants are beyond full. I recommend that you visit this establishment on a night that is NOT a Saturday - ideally a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. You'll have better service and they will thank you for...

To start this off, I don't write reviews often so when I do I only aim to be constructive. First off, the food here is great, as authentic as it gets! Second, the restaurant is small inside but feels super cozy and enhances the "fresh hand made, at home" feel. With that said, I was disappointed with my experience here. My family was visiting from out of state and I chose to eat here as it looked so cute and the reviews were great! When we arrived it was very warm and stuffy inside...not comfortable to eat. After we were sat we were not served or given water for at minium 10 minutes. Every time we tried to flag a server, they just looked down at the floor and ignored us haha. Finally a woman asked if we had water, we said no and she disappeared. She came back with waters and walked away again so we weren't sure who was even serving us (it was her). We asked if we could move outside since it was hot and stuffy in the restaurant...after 15-20 minutes she came back and plainly said no. Thats fine but jesus what a wait to find out. Our service was very much a "what do you want" feel and nothing less. Outside of the wait times to be served and fairly impatient attitude, we had a nice dinner. The experience ultimately was tainted by our lack of service and poor demeanor. I get everyone has a bad day but we felt like from start to finish we weren't wanted there. Kinda dampened my family's first night visiting Baltimore. I hope maybe this reaches the staff so the next time I try out Daniela its a better dining experience. I love Hampden! Also, the bread...