Donatella Ristorante — Restaurant in Harrington Park

TLDR; We booked a party at Donatella for my engagement and there was no staff at the restaurant when the party started and my family had to go behind the bar and start serving wine. Do NOT book a private event at this restaurant - if something like this happened once, it can happen twice, and I'm sure it has happened in the past.

What happened to us at Donatella is frankly unconscionable. So much so, that I understand if people don’t believe my review. We paid for a private party for 65 people at Donatella for my engagement. Paid upfront with cash before the event (big mistake). The event was set for 12-4, and it was to include beer, wine, and a bar tab. They also said we could hook up our iPad to their Bluetooth so we could have our playlist going. 12 pm came, and there was no staff at the restaurant. No one behind the bar, no waitstaff, no one at the front door - zero. My fiance and I eventually went into the kitchen to try and find people. We told them no one was here and asked where everyone was. They had no idea. To no fault of their own, they were confused. Luckily, I had the manager’s number, who helped us plan the event. I called him and asked where everyone was. He told me there was traffic… that’s what I was told, traffic, because “they were coming from the city.” Half of my party came from the city, and they had no problem showing up on time. He said "two minutes" he’ll "fix everything." Ten minutes later, my guests are arriving. Still no restaurant staff. Call the manager again, same story, one minute one minute. This went on for nearly FORTY FIVE MINUTES into my party when the staff finally showed up. My mom, godfather, and cousin went behind the bar and started openning wine bottles and putting bottles on tables. There was no water for people, no bread. The staff did start tricking on at around 1230, but it was only one person, and then two, and as I mentioned, the full staff wasn’t there until about 12:45. 65 people and no wine, food, or water for them. No music playing. My family serving wine. I was absolutely HUMILIATED. How does something like this even happen? Has anyone ever heard of this? The restaurant itself opens at 12. And when 12 pm rolled around, no one was there! They also started charging my guests who were ordering drinks, even though I told them I wanted a bar tab (well, I told them as soon as I could, since, again, there was no one to tell at the start of the party).

The first hour of my engagement I was absolutely panicked, overwhelmed, stressed beyond belief, and was completely helpless. All I could do was continue to call the manager and implore that people show up. It marred my whole experience. They stole a beautiful moment. I can't go back.

They shaved about $200 off and gave us champagne and upgraded the dessert. That can’t even come close to making up for what happened. I can’t get that time of my party back, I can’t tell the guests to go away and come back when we’d be able to serve them with wine as they came in. It’s over, and they shave off 200 bucks and pass around champagne. The reality is, this is a breach of contract, and I’m not sure that I'm done pursuing this. We paid for a service that wasn’t rendered. Plain and simple.

No place like this deserves to be in business. It sickens me that they did what they did and they run away with my money and I come away with embarrassment, humiliation, and anxiety from what should have been a lovely day . All I can say is, how dare they. I implore you, if you are considering Donatella for an event, run far far away - if this could happen once, it could happen twice - and something tells me that if this happened the way it did, it has probably happened before. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. All I can say is, shame on you, Donatella,...

My wife and I randomly chanced upon this place because we saw the beautiful outdoor landscaping and thought we needed to try it out. We went there on a Monday for lunch, admittedly not the busiest of times, but the experience we had sealed the deal for us ensured that we'll certainly be back again and again. The food was good - and I'll get into that in a second - but what really sealed the deal for us was the manager, Alessandro. We go to plenty of places, in the city, abroad and also around Bergen County. We generally know what to expect - so it's very rare that someone just completely exceeds our expectations to the point that they're worth a specific mention in the review, but Alessandro did just that. For starters, he brought out some of his grandma's hot pepper sauce, if only to humor me, as I prefer a little something spicy to complement much of the Italian fare. Not only did it complement, it was so incredibly good that I asked for seconds and thirds. At some point, it became unclear which was the appetizer and which was the complement. I'm still not entirely sure... Though the grilled octopus was definitely exceptional by itself, with or without grandma's help. Alessandro then also tried to get us to order a different wine from the one we were thinking of (we didn't), but it's definitely something that is nice to see, because it means that someone actually cares about your experience, since the wine we were thinking of was one of the pricier ones. Then Alessandro also got me to order off menu (Puttanesca), which was amazing. Not amazing like this squid ink pasta, which was leave-your-wife-and-kids-amazing, but still amazing enough - and to me entirely memorable with a little bit of grandma's help. We topped it all off with a little tiramisu and some amaro, for which Alessandro kindly joined us, which to us was great because by that point we were very much Alessandrians. Point is... If you want a tremendous NYC-caliber place, go there. If you want something with beautiful landscaping - go there. If you like well-thought-out and open-room decor - go there. And, last but not least, if you want to go somewhere that has tremendous management by someone that actually cares - definitely go there. And if you don't go there? Great, because then we can get a reservation more...

Waited an hour for menus ,water refills, and drink orders had to go to the bar to ask for service..... When we finally got served (a party of 8 for a dual bday) they didn't have one of the 3 Pinot noirs by the bottle on the menu.... Waited another half hour for appetizers, another hour after that for entrees. After we got the entrees it was clear they sat under the heat lamp- cold salty inedible with hot plates. Never got checked on, never got water refills. Just horribly disappointing. I understand being understaffed- i work in restaurants as a. Manager but after 2 hours of waiting they only offered us a free drink but after a bottle of wine and other cocktails we were all tipsy - we refused the cocktails but still no food. I asked to see the manager and was told there is no manager in the building and that the service was poor because the bartender called out.,.. Sorry I understand the staffing problem facing restaurants- why isn't the manager in the building if there was call out? But after all of this we were then handed a bill for over 400$ and told that they gave us a 20% discount.... 2 hours after ordering just getting our food. We paid for our drinks and left the staff tried to give the excuse of a call out and blah blah. Again why isn't the manager there? Guests who sat after us had eaten and left before we even got our apps. Worst dining experience I have ever had. Will not be back, will tell all my friends in the restaurant industry to avoid this place like the plague. You think if you had a table with a 100$+ tip potential you would give them some level of attention...