Doma On Main — Restaurant in Branford

So, apparently Doma has been here for a whole while and my parents and I missed it. But! I only recently got them onboard with my #1 hobby: trying out restaurants. I visit from Vermont every other week and now we choose a new spot pretty much every visit. I mean a “new spot” for us. Doma was last week’s spot. The location is SUPER convenient: right on Main St in Branford. Although not next to The Green, a few blocks past that. There is no off street parking and there didn’t appear to be any handicapped spots close to the corner entrance? Which I did think was weird and which we could have really used…

Doma’s interior is super nice. Although definitely in a throw back kind of way. It’s kind of a theme in Shoreline Italian spots IMO: They’re trying to relive the “Glory Days” of Italian restaurants here in the US. You know, back in the 80s when Italian food made it to “fine dining” status. Dad made a reservation for 4 and, for some inexplicable reason, they sat us directly next to the kitchen door? We were across from the bar. Turns out there is a whole second dining room on the “other side” of the bar/pizza oven. I do feel like that would have been a better seating area for us. But! It is clear that Doma is also operating on the old school/traditional “model” of restaurant management: i.e., the strict hierarchy of staff -there’s one guy seating everyone and just watching the staff - the person who fills your water glass cannot take your order - the waitpersons have strictly defined/assigned tables.

This model is terrible for the industry, for the workers and for the diners (I own a restaurant, I’m the cook, I know what I’m talking about). The restaurant industry REALLY needs to wrap their collective minds around moving past this. Believe me, it will greatly improve working conditions and dining experience and help with the ongoing so-called “hiring crisis”…

Anyhoo, they were BLARING Frank Sinatra. Like in a weird way. I mean it was INSANELY loud and I myself am a blarer of music. This was so incredibly loud we really couldn’t even have conversation. I was laughing at the volume. Which leads me to wonder wth was that manager dude doing? He didn’t notice people were YELLING AT EACH OTHER? Dad actually asked them to lower the music and I SUPPORT the request.

Dad lectured me about including the bread a restaurant brings to the table in my reviews. I do not. I think serving bread to the table is stupid. I don’t eat the bread. I am here for THE FOOD. IMO it’s a whole holdover from the ‘80s, as referred to above. The 80s came to an end (Thank God!). Let’s all move on. Shall we?

We started with a cheese pizza. It was an excellent cheese pizza for a restaurant. I mean I would not order pizza to go from Doma, this is The Land of Apizza and there are many other spots with better, amazing even, pizza. But for a nice dining spot this was a really, really good pizza!

Buffalo Shrimp Appetizer: Weirdly, this was the best thing I had. It was EXCELLENT. Shaved, fried celery strips were delightful. Shrimp cooked perfectly, delicious Buffalo Sauce and Blue Cheese Dressing.

Caesar Salad was a solid: MEH. Not bad. Not great. I added A LOT of red pepper flake to give it some flavor.

Side of Broccoli Rabe: PERFECTION. In the way it was cooked, seasoned and the fact that they cut the Rabe so you could just eat it with your fork without the big struggle.

Then I got my “test pasta” for restaurants: Penne alla Vodka. The Penne was cooked perfectly al dente. But Doma’s Vodka Sauce is not Vodka Sauce. It was a sweet tomato sauce. I added A LOT of red pepper flake (which was super fresh and actually spicy - so SNAPS to that!) and kept eating because that Penne was lovely.

I tasted the other entrees at the table that were fish and veggies (I don’t eat beef, pork or poultry) and they were VERY, VERY good. So I am giving 4 stars because I’m pretty sure I could order something a lot better than the Vodka Sauce… But I do have to deduct a star for that sauce and the weirdo seating and cray cray music...

We had suuuuuch a bad experience. We made a reservation for 8:30 on New Years Eve. If you're going to rush tables out at that time, don't take the reservation. We were sat in the bar area, not the dining room. We waited until our apps came out to order entrees to ensure we could pace our courses. Before our app plates were cleared our entrees arrived. My boyfriend had the carbonara and we did not see any bacon in it. I got the flounder and it was very soggy. Halfway through our entrees they were already asking to clear our entree plates and box up our order. We sat down no more than 30 minutes prior. Neither of us were done eating so we continued. No more than 5 minutes later someone else was at our table asking to clear our entrees when we were still clearly eating. My boyfriend, feeling awkward, had them box his dinner up. I continued eating. While I'm still eating my meal, they come and drop a dessert menu. I continued eating my entree. Once I finished, we ordered dessert cocktails and a tiramisu. As soon as the dessert was delivered the check arrived. We felt rushed and awkward but tried to enjoy our dessert. That was when a group of men propped the front door open and began smoking cigs right outside ensuring all the second hand smoke came directly to our table behind the hostess stand. They clearly wanted to rush us out all night but that's what did it. We quickly signed our check and left our half drunk cocktails. On our way out I made sure to tell the men that we left our drinks and had to leave because of the smoke and all they said was "You could smell that?" with no apologies. The restaurant was still 3/4 full. If this wasn't enough the owners drunk girlfriend was screaming while making pizzas all night. After spending a lot of money, then being rushed out and forced to inhale cigs, it's safe to say we won't be going back. We don't get out much and our one date night was wasted on subpar food and a horrible experience at an...

Doma was a great experience. The portions were more than reasonable for the price, and all the food was excellent. In particular, our party found that the chicken cutlets were juicy and not too heavily breaded nor too heavy, and the pasta tasted very fresh. The staff was courteous and extremely helpful! I would recommend a reservation on the weekends, but I had no trouble making one. The restaurant is bright and clean, the menu is expansive without being overwhelming, and the selection of wine and cocktails is top-notch. We were able to linger over dinner without feeling pressured to leave straight away after the meal, which was a nice touch given that other restaurants in the area specified a maximum time available for the use of a table when I enquired about reservations! The only drawback I experienced was that in the dining room with the exposed brick walls, it got fairly loud as the room filled up; but even that was a pretty good trade for the ambiance. My spouse and the visitors we brought unanimously agreed that it would be well worth a return trip- Which is high praise, given that the restaurant is nearly...