La Dolce Vita — Restaurant in Dover

I’ll start by saying I’ll be as fair as possible. Could not wait for my birthday dinner. We made reservation reservations for 7:30 Last night. We were a bit early, because I did not want to be late. We went to the bar and ordered a drink. My drink was excellent. While sipping my drink, I looked around. I had this feeling like I stepped back in time to maybe some retro restaurant from a Mad men episode. Very retro chic I loved it. Beautiful use of a smaller space. I believe that first drink, and the design of the space were the best part of the evening. It took a bit for a waitress, then it took even longer for an appetizer. We were going to share the meatballs with Burrata and marinara while the flavor combination was exceptional. The quality of the meatballs were very lacking.. To start, they were heated in the microwave The Buurrata was an ice cold rubbery blob . We both ordered the fillet and scallop special only to be told they were out of fillets. I could understand if it was only a special, but you have fillet on the menu as in every day dish. How do you run out? We could not eat the meatballs as much as we tried we had to pack them up. We sat there and sat there and looked around trying to get anybody’s attention without being too obvious and obnoxious just to get a drink. Finally, we get another drink. We did not get our meal, which I was very surprised. I ordered Braised short ribs. I did not Order a chunk of chuck roast. So somewhere in that description, you should put “boneless “short ribs for the people that actually know the difference . Bone in and bone out are two very different cuts of meat. . Disappointing as I prefer my braised chuck roast much better. The potatoes are rotten or lump of cold, coagulated, shaved potatoes, and cheese. Last, but not least the so-called sauted green beans Were actually raw. I feel very let down and disappointed. I had pushed my plate away and was waiting and waiting and waiting for the waitress who stood at the bar on her phone while the host who seated us was sitting there drinking wine eating a meal. You can’t pay attention and read your crowd with your face in the phone., I’ll start by saying I was seated at 7:20 did not get My entrée served until 8:50 . This is not the laid-back land of Italy. Even when I went to Italy my food came a lot faster. Later on, I’ll give it one more shot, But as somebody who truly knows how to cook and appreciates food and worked in a restaurant industry, everybody’s raving reviews have to be from people with nothing else to do and no taste buds. This is all happening on a Saturday night when you should be prepared. Hirer more people , retrain the ones you have. Make them check their phones at the door until...

My new favorite restaurant! We had been wanting to try this place for quite a while and finally made it for our anniversary this year. We were blown away by the amazing experience right in the town next to us.

I had noticed before on the menu that it said you had to call to make a reservation. When we decided to go here it was kind of a last-minute decision. I was looking up the website on my phone and saw the option for Google Reserve, which worked perfectly. I was even able to modify the reservation without issue to a little bit later, when we were running behind schedule.

There is no parking lot; parking is metered on the downtown streets, or in the public parking lot on the next block.

The space is small but so elegant. You could dress up like we did, but we also saw casual families with kids and people of all ages. They had many different types of seating, from high top to banquet to tables of all different sizes and combinations. There is an elegant bar with a large TV with no/low sound showing National Geographic. We were amazed that with all the people in the room it was incredibly quiet and it was easy to have a conversation, which has not been the case it some other nice restaurants we dined at recently.

The wine list is enormous. The sangria on the cocktail menu was a seasonal fall one, but when I asked if they could do a regular red sangria that was not on the menu they happily complied and it was fantastic. My husband also enjoyed his old fashioned with giant ice cube. We were served complimentary bread with olive oil that had yummy garlic, rosemary, and red pepper flakes.

Everything on the menu sounded so good it was hard to decide on an entree. I usually get lobster ravioli but decided to go with the shrimp Florentine instead. It was deliciously tangy with lemon and artichoke. My husband was blown away by the enormous serving of short ribs, with a delicious potato au gratin and crisp green beans. Water, salt and pepper were on the table, and we were offered Parmesan and fresh ground pepper when served. Prices were completely reasonable for the the quality and size of the meals.

We were so full that we weren't able to order dessert. However, when we were leaving we passed several desserts being served and were sad that we had not been able to try them that night!

Every single staff member was pleasant and attentive. The bathroom was beautifully decorated. I'm counting the days until we go back so I can try more items...

Good food but terrible service. We had a 7:30pm reservation, and was left standing in the lobby without as much as a greeting for 30 min while staff continuously came to front podium to do other tasks. It was pretty unwelcoming and we felt like we were interrupting them by wanting to dine at their establishment. Staff was obviously overwhelmed and did not care to be friendly. Then seated at a dirty table- the previous party’s napkins and menus were still there.

Ordered an appetizer- meatballs and burrata was delicious but meatballs were cold. We had ordered our food and appetizer all at once. Our food took over an hour to come out. The 2 tables on either side of us were sat after us and received their dinner without delay- basically came and left before our meal even came. They obviously forgot to put our food into the kitchen. Were not offered drink refills or the option to order more beverages. Then our meals come out and I was served mussels only without the pasta, which is not what was ordered. They tried to make it right by bringing out pasta with red sauce cooked separately from the mussels but not worth $28 and the whole point of mussels and linguine is the flavors melded and cooked together!

Left a bad impression for us. We dine out for the experience and this place (although a beautiful ambiance) was...