Dante's Pasta & Vino — Restaurant in Barrington

My wife and I hadn't been here in a very long time and decided it was time to go back. We had called for reservations for 5:30. We asked to be seated in the lounge area. That was a mistake.

Upon arriving, the hostess brought us to a table for 2 next to a set of stairs leading to the lower level. We needed a shoehorn to get in to it(no, my wife is not a large woman). When you have to pull the table out just to barely squeeze past the table for 4 already seated, then there probably shouldn't be a table in the space. I noticed a large table for 4 in the lower level to the right of the stairs that would have been a wiser choice for this space. I would recommend switching them out. In hindsight, it would have been better to be seated in the dining area where I'm sure it would have been much quieter.

We ordered the Antipasto d'Italiano to start. The dish was bursting with choices. It could have had more lettuce, but it was still good. My wife was waiting for the bread to come, but it never did. We couldn't understand why, because we noticed other people getting it.

For the main course, my wife ordered the Primavera and I got the Scampi Adriatico. I enjoyed my dish more than my wife enjoyed hers. Mine was very flavorful and hers not so much. She said it was rather bland. The portions were good.

We ordered the Chocolate Lava Cake with Ice Cream for dessert and shared it. It was delicious. Overall, our experience was alright. Everything was overshadowed by our seating and the noise level. We also couldn't understand why there was a dog walking around. While there may not be many choices in Barrington, there are in the Dover area, where it truly is an experience going to dinner. We will most likely try again...

Tonight was a special night.. we were celebrating 20years. I made a reservation for outside and we thought we would have a nice evening. Upon arrival our hostest brings us to a dirty table..she left us waiting in stairs to complain to a busses that she didn't do her job. We sit.. and you can tell the dont have the time. No one asked for drinks till the 3rd waitstaff came.. then our server was pressed to get our orders but the hottest only brought us one menu at the table. Ive never been to a place where you have to share a menu amongst the table. The Italiano antipasta appetizer was awful. The 2 slices of toast had rancid garlic and the cheese while it was blue had extra mold and was wretched. The Waitress could have cares less and just kept leaving faster than she came. The meals have really gone downhill. I ordered the carbonara and my husband the veal parm. We didn't eat.. i would have had another drink but couldnt ever seem to get the wqitress ro stay long enough to ask. The Waitress completely ignored the fact that she knew something was wrong with our experience and the food. We thought maybe dessert to take home would be better.. this place is a disappointment. We've come for years now and its slowly declined but tonight takes the cake. We have owned restaurants and have been in the culinary field for decades and we are truly disappointed with Dante's. Word-of-mouth advise if you dont want a table to reserve a seat at 8pm then dont offer but to offer a reservation and then to give unexceptable service and food and still charge top dollar thats just not ok.. thanks for a great 20th anniversary date. Ill definitely be...

I'm really confused as to why this place has such amazing reviews about the food. The food was mediocre at best. The wait staff were nice and attentive. Just the food wasn't anything special, nor would I consider it authentic. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the bread was the only homemade thing, but even that maybe they buy from a grocery store bakery. My boyfriend commented that it seemed like everything came from Market Basket. The menu said the spaghetti was imported from Italy, most boxed spaghetti is. That doesn't make it fresh or quality. I had chicken parmigiana and it was okay. It was kinda bland, with a small sprinkle of mozzarella cheese(definitely not Parmesan). Cannolis are hard to mess up, but even those weren't great. They had a brown powder sprinkled on. It smelled and tasted like nutmeg, which straight nutmeg is enough to make you gag. Just like cinnamon(Cinnamon challenge anyone?). Looks and smells good, awful to eat straight. Maybe it was just a bad night for the kitchen, but I kinda doubt it and I don't care to try it again. Especially not for how pricey it was for the low quality food. I hope if the owners read this that they can take it constructively. Either lower your prices to match the food quality, or buy more fresh/good ingredients. It...