Donna's — Restaurant in Los Angeles

PHENOMENAL. Donna’s is more than worth the hype! To be completely honest this review is surreal to me as I normally don’t leave reviews AND I typically don’t like Italian food, but here I am proven wrong by the universe once again.

Atmosphere: suuuuper tiny, very few tables in an exceptionally dim, moody, intimate setting. The interior looks and feels like an Italian grandma’s kitchen (down to the decor and floral wallpaper befitting a Mediterranean octogenarian), but not in a kitschy way. You almost forget that’s the theme since you’re already in the Brooklyn of Los Angeles: Echo Park.

Food: honestly, it’s life-changing. Transcendent. We ordered the:

• stuffed peppers (perfect balance of cheese and heat) • the meatballs (you can taste the veal and the herbs and spices and sauce…one of the best things I’ve ever had) • bruschetta (sweet with raisins, grapes, apples, etc; it was bright and fresh but after a couple bites I realized it’s one of those menu items that’s like half of the Star Wars movies: it’s simply there to move the plot along) • lasagna rollatini (full of flavor and texture, but the portion was comparatively small and not super memorable) • pork ragu (If this had been my last meal ever, I would’ve died happy. Extremely flavorful, tender, silky…all around incredible. There was more pork than rigatoni, which was unexpected for the quality of the pork. I could eat this and only this for every meal for the rest of my life and you would still be jealous every time you smelled it) • broccolini (cooked PERFECTLY and seasoned/spiced just as well. Splash of lemon to brighten it up for a well-rounded side dish) • fagioli (white beans with pepper, spice, bacon, and all the other flavors that make life worth living. Incredible side dish that could be easily overlooked) • carrot cake (never had this style carrot cake before but WOW…it seems like it was cooked in a skillet like cornbread to achieve a flavorful caramelized crust with soft, fluffy orange carrot cake that was perfectly flavored and not too sweet. The main sweetness and flavor kick came from a dollop of citrus mascarpone served alongside to really kick it up) • tiramisu (the most tiramisu-y tiramisu you’ll ever have, rich and delicate at the same time. For the true tiramisu fan, might not be as widely enjoyed as the carrot cake)

Service: good, warm, somewhat attentive. You could tell they were very busy and the staff seemed happy and somewhat engaged, but clearly a little tired from the constant torrent of customers and orders. After a while it became clear all interactions were on autopilot; while not a negative experience, it would be helpful for owners to know for awareness’ sake. Get ready for a somewhat long wait for your food; but the quality more than makes up for any service shortcomings.

In all, Donna’s knocks it out of the park and is worth far beyond the highest hype you have heard of this place. Thank you, Donna’s, for finally showing me how to love simple and flavorful...

I’ve been eager to try Donna’s for quite some time. Every time reservations opened up, they filled quickly, and I was never able to secure one. So, for my birthday today (9/27), I decided to finally visit Donna’s in Echo Park with a close friend. We arrived at around 6:05 pm. The location is small, and when we walked in, there was no line or crowd, aside from a small group leaving after checking in.

We were greeted by a blonde woman with short hair and glasses. We asked to be added to the walk-in waitlist for a table of two. She inquired if we preferred the bar or a table, and when we asked about the wait times, she informed us that it would be 2–2.5 hours for the bar and 3 hours for a table. Although the wait time seemed excessive, I’ve always heard how difficult it is to get a spot, so we decided to wait the two hours for the bar. She took my first name and phone number, and we left to explore the area while waiting.

One thing I found odd right away was that I didn’t receive a text confirming we were on the waitlist, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt. After an hour, we waited in our car, and once the two-hour mark passed, we returned to check in with the host (the same person who had initially helped us). She seemed surprised to see us and mentioned it would only be a few more minutes. Unfortunately, those “few minutes” turned into an additional hour of waiting.

After waiting for nearly three hours total, we checked in with the host again, only to be told that they were no longer adding people to the waitlist. I was shocked. If they knew they wouldn’t be able to seat us, why weren’t we told sooner? This felt incredibly disrespectful and disorganized. To make matters worse, it seemed like we were being brushed off from the moment we walked in, while other groups (who were not people of color) appeared to be seated with less hassle.

I can’t help but feel that we were treated unfairly, and I truly suspect that our ethnicity played a part in how we were handled. We were given an outrageous wait time and then dismissed altogether. It was a deeply disappointing experience—especially on what was supposed to be a special occasion.

I won’t be returning to Donna’s, nor will I recommend it to anyone. There are plenty of other great places to dine in L.A. without being subjected to this kind...

There is a buzz about this spot, so I decided to brave the walk-in waitlist. Spoiler alert: the wait was real. Ninety minutes for a table, even though I arrived a few minutes after the dinner service began. But hey, that's the price you pay for the 'grammable aesthetic.’

My first impression is Donna's is all chill vibes – exposed brick, low lighting, skylights. Service was friendly and attentive, props for that. Now, onto the food.

The seasonal giardiniera was...fine. Like a pickle jar raided by someone with a heavy hand on the serrano peppers. I get the whole fermented thing is trendy, but this needed more veggie variety. It was a middle-of-the-road starter.

The tonnato caesar salad was alright, once I removed the parmesan avalanche on top. Like, shovel-worthy. Dial it back a notch.

The fusilli alla vodka itself had potential – creamy, spicy, a flavor party in my mouth. But the fusilli was a tad overcooked, losing its delightful al dente bite. And the sauce, while tasty, was a bit heavy-handed, drowning out the delicate pasta. Had the right idea, but the execution fell flat.

The veal piccata was the biggest letdown. Look, I love a good piccata – the tangy lemon, the briny capers, the tender veal. Here the veal was decent, but lacked the vibrant zing of a true piccata. Barely any capers, a whisper of lemon, the whole thing tasted like a piece of veal that got sprinkled with piccata seasoning in passing.

To drink, I tried a Negroni Bianco on the waitress's recommendation. It lacked the complexity and depth of a classic Negroni.

Look, Donna's wasn't bad. But for the hype and the wait, the food misses the mark. The ambiance is cool, the service is good, but the food itself didn't quite live up to the internet's roar. In the grand scheme of LA's top notch pasta scene, this one was, sadly, the most forgettable so far. Would I wait another 90 minutes for a table at Donna's? Nah,...