Dora's Restaurant — Restaurant in Clinton

I had one of the worst restaurant experiences I've ever had this weekend and it was largely due to an unprofessional manager. (This may be a long review but I feel the details matter in this situation)... So I went with a friend and our two young children for lunch. It was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday with only 2 tables with other diners. My friend and I ordered salads with grilled chicken and chicken fingers and french fries for the kids. We received our food and then weren't checked on for the duration of our meal (over 30 minutes). Our salads were not very good (and measly) but our main problem was the chicken was inedible. So we pushed our salads to the side and focused on trying to feed our children (while stealing a few french fries from their plate cause we were starving). After waiting for someone to come around we finally were able to grab our waitress to ask for the check and also asked for the manager, because we felt that since our salads were inedible we really shouldn't have to pay for them (especially at over $15 bucks a plate). I'd also like to add that we weren't upset, things happen. Sometimes you get a bad batch of meat. Or a new cook. Whatever. We just felt that it was justified to take it off the bill. (Also since no one ever approached our table to see how we were doing and we were too busy focusing on our kids, we didn't really have time to hunt someone down to fix this during our meal). Now this is where we had the problem. The manager was unbelievably rude. He said that it was our fault for not speaking up and that he did check on us he just "didnt want to come up to the table to disturb us". (Which is the oddest statement ever AND if he was in fact keeping an eye on us, we never saw him near us AND he would've noticed we pushed our plates to the other side of the table OR heard our conversation about the terrible chicken). He then just stared at us for an uncomfortable amount of time and then told us again that it was our fault and that "we should use this as a learning experience and not wait until the end to say something". Then when he, I guess realized we weren't backing down, he very forcefully grabbed the check out of my friend's hand and then proceeded to act like we were trying to get a free meal while taking the salads off the bill saying things like, "so I guess everything was bad then, right?!" ... to which we replied no, the kids meals were fine, as you can see we ate them.. He handed us the bill back (minus the salads now), we paid and hightailed it out of there we were so uncomfortable (plus he made such a scene thank God there were only 2 tables of people there!) So suffice to say we will NEVER return. And I hope the owner reads this and takes a good, hard look at his "manager" because he's probably lost a lot more business...

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” ― Mahatma Gandhi However this is not the case at Dora with lackluster staff and the inability to deliver food or even communicate to waiting customers. The appetizers showed promise, but they came out over an hour after ordering. Our soft drinks were only filled once over the course of two hours. After not seeing our waitress for a half hour, we asked the over worked individual filling water, for refills. Although we all waited patiently and pleasantly, like 90% of the others in Dora around us, staff avoided eye contact and even when trying to get them over, they were reluctant and ignored us. Just after two hours seated, a group that was seated before we came in, was just being served dinner. It was my wife’s birthday dinner out thus to rescue it, I tried getting any of the staffs attention, after being ignored and other people at our table trying to have staff come over, we left $100 on the table more than covering the 2 appetizers/1 salad and 4 sodas (8 with refills). Thankfully, two doors down, Toscana Thin Crust Pizza & Italian Specialties was still opened although closing shortly. We left and went straight there, where we were met with amazing service that was fast, delicious and professional. Thank you Toscana for saving my wife’s birthday with a impromptu Pizza Party. Toscana’s could probably make a ton of money just standing in front of Dora selling slices, as that seems the only promise of receiving a meal at Dora’s is by going...

Went today for lunch. We have lived in the area for over 25 years first time here and will never come back. Any Italian restaurant that does not make their own meatballs and serves frozen rubbery muck does not have the right to call themselves an Italian restaurant. We were first to arrive for lunch only 2 more tables were seated after us, but lunch took over 1 hour 45 minutes for us to get our 3 courses (apps, salads and entrees) for 2 people. Not sure everyone can afford that much time during a lunch break. Caesar salad dressing was thick and tasted of mayo/garlic nothing else. My wife had a beet salad which looked pretty on the plate, she enjoyed it. Another thing which stood out was the bread served, it was definitely stale, appeared to be leftover from yesterday. We should have left when those door stops they served on the table and walked out. Again true Italian Restaurant would not serve stale bread.

Mains were a shrimp panini sandwich and gnocchi with red sauce. The sandwich was average, but the gnocchi had a consistency of gummy bears. They say their pasta is home made, I wonder whose home they are made in definitely not an Italians house.

While sitting in the window seat noticed the source of all our issues, a Frozen food truck (performance food service) pulled up to drop off the days supplies. Guess we got there to early and were being served leftovers from yesterday.

Overall this place is a 1 on a scale of 1-10. Lunch for 2 with tip was $100, not cheap, better options in the area for that...