Donato's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Florida

January 2025 Every winter season we make sure to dine at Donatos. Always have had excellent food and service. We were celebrating our 50th anniversary Saturday and was going to be our first time dining out in months because I’ve had been ill. And being on medication, I was not going to be able to drink any alcohol. We didn’t have any family here to celebrate with us so I was really looking forward to going out to dinner. My husband and I were Extremely disappointed in our waitress. She was Unpleasant from the very beginning, She was so short with us. I asked her to take our picture (I wanted the food in the photo) and tried to tell her it was our 50th anniversary but she cut me off and said she didn’t have time and would do it later as she had extra tables. I almost started crying being treated like a child interrupting an adult. At the very end of our meal she said she could take the photo and was all smiley but I had already asked a customer to take it. The worst was that our food came out cold. I asked to have mine warmed up in the microwave and then it took so long to get it back my husband had eaten 1/2 his meal. I watched her go in and out of the kitchen 4 times with other diners food. When I stopped the waitress and asked for my food, she snapped: it’s coming. Never asked if my husband wanted another glass of wine. When my food came back it looked like they removed some of the serving and still wasn’t hot. I just took it as it was. I noticed the table next to us had a different waitress who took her time every time she went to their table. I worked food service most my life and owned 2 restaurants and know how to treat customers with kindness and show them they matter. I expect at least some courtesy as a customer. I expect a $27 plate of pasta be served hot. The bread and salad were good. I wasn’t able to drink alcohol, which means our bill wasn’t going to be as high as other tables the waitress was serving. Maybe that determined her attitude? Cheap table? With being sick the past 3 months I was looking forward to a lovely evening out with my husband but ended up very disappointed in choosing Donatos to celebrate our 50th. Future celebrations will be at The Grill at 51 as at least we never felt like we...

This has always been a reliable place to take guests for a nice, fine dining experience. We have been there numerous times and recommended Donato's to many. Unfortunately, this was not the case last night. We went at about 7:30pm and the restaurant was NOT busy. My husband and I had 6 quests for dinner - a total of 8 people (4 teens) and spent over $360. We were seated quickly but then waited and waited and finally after 15 min had to ask a busser if she could get a waiter. 5 min later, the waiter appeared. - No "welcome, no sorry it took so long" - no pleasantries - just "what do you want to drink". I had a bad feeling of how it might go. After receiving the drinks we ordered he then took orders - we told him we would like appetizers, he took the order for appetizers, then took our meal order at the same time. We asked if there were any specials - we have NEVER been there when they did not have specials and he said - "no - no specials - do you know what you want to order?" Again - just absolutely NO customer service. Our salads came - they were overdosed with dressing, mostly just lettuce and the Caesar dressing was heavy and overpowering. Our meals came. We have been there several times previously, so have seen most of their dishes and we couldn't believe how different the same dishes appeared to us. For every pasta dish - the pasta was undercooked and very chewy. My husband had the linguini & clams in white sauce, but it was so heavily dosed with garlic that it was not enjoyable - he picked at it. I ordered the eggplant parmesan, 4 pieces of overdried breaded eggplant with sauce over the top. I was not offered a choice of accompanying pasta so I received fussilli drowning in tomato sauce. Never once were we offered additional grated cheese for any of our dishes-isn't that a given at an Italian Restaurant? All in all - it was not the fine dining experience we have previously had there and we left feeling that was the worst meal we have ever had that cost us $360. Suffice to say, until I hear of some more positive changes and feedback - we won't be returning or recommending! BTW we still left the waiter a 20% tip. Save your money or spend it at Carraba'...

We've been loyal Donato's customers for well over fifteen years and it's sad for us to see how much the service and quality of the food has declined. My wife and I had dinner there on Saturday March 9th and we're completely disappointed with both. First our server, Maddie, had a horrible attitude. She acted as of she would rather be anywhere else but there and it was reflected by her behavior. My wife loves the chicken soup but doesn't care for the tortellini pasta in it. She normally asks for the pasta to be substituted with garganelli. We are aware of the upcharge for this, though don't completely understand the rationale. On this visit when my wife ordered the soup Maddie told her that the soup had already been made and the pasta had already been put in it. We knew this was not the case, as I said, we've been here many times. She went back to the kitchen, came out and told us ''the kitchen said they couldn't do it because the restaurant was too busy.'' She brought us a loaf of cold bread and when I asked for a warm one she rolled her eyes and brought us another cold loaf. When the Vodka Rigatoni we ordered arrived it was bland and tasteless, the pasta was extremely aldente but at least it was hot. She barely came by the table to check on us and when I ordered a refill of my Coke she brought me diet. I brought that to her attention and again she rolled her eyes and said sorry. If this had been an isolated incident we would have shrugged it off, but as I stated previously, we've been coming here for a long time and have noticed the food and service is simply not the same as it used to be. This will be, however, our last time. There are plenty of Italian restaurants in town, including Carmelo's in Punta Gorda, which I believe will be our new go to when we want good Italian because we just can't get that here. Would definitely recommend you go somewhere else if you want an enjoyable...