Donna's — Restaurant in Seattle

Beware this place is COMPLETELY SELF SERVICE. The only thing they will do is bring your pasta to you. You even have to carry your own drinks, your own silverware, you have to traverse down the steps to order your food — a waiter doesn’t come to you — you have to find your own seating. I mean it’s literally less service than chipotle.

It’s truly just a bar that happened to have food. I find that so strange because their default tip is 25% but the service is the most minimal effort possible. The waiters don’t even check in on you that your food is okay. So strange. Like I want to tip but if you literally have me doing 10x more than the waiters or bartenders really then I can’t justify an even 20% tip.

The pasta is good according to my group and I did enjoy the drink I got. But man even having to carry your own cups of water up the stairs is so wild. Also they didn’t inform us of how things work when we arrived at all, all they said was its self seating I didn’t know I’d be grabbing my food and bussing my own tables basically.

Anyway, it’s wild because there is ONE guy in the kitchen making all the pasta and so if the tip goes to him at least, then I am okay with tipping. But I really think DONNAS should rethink the level of service you give your customers while asking for such high tips.

I think I’ll be back if I’m out late at night maybe ? But at least I’m aware how...

I finally checked out Donna's after a friend's recommendation – they have a $10 pasta happy hour, and I couldn't resist. Let me tell you, getting a seat here is like strategizing for a team mission. When you walk in, it's a bit of a chaotic scene during happy hour (4p-6p)

You have to place your order at the bar – and only at the bar. This is pure counter service, so after you order and grab a number, you and your squad have to battle it out for a table, upstairs or downstairs. Pro tip: bring friends and divide and conquer. One person orders while the others engage in a tactical hunt for seats. It took us forever, and we were even warned by a couple who are regulars that if you’re not there by 4:30 for happy hour, consider it game over. The beats were a little loud, though, which made eating pasta feel like a club night with carbs.

Now for the food: the pastas were tasty but on the salty side. I went for the pesto, and my friends got the malfadine – honestly, I thought theirs was better. The Caesar salad? Salt bomb. But a friendly group next to us said the mixed drinks are a win, especially their favorite, the Maximo. Guess I know what I’m...

I’m not ashamed to admit that I lost my virginity here. In this post-covid topsy-turvy world a lost soul needs a place to air out their artistic expression. In order to do that one needs several elements: disco ball✅, real plants✅, tight hallways✅, photo booth✅, magical bathroom✅, & real people✅. In regard to that inventory list, Donna’s is packing 😳.

Alcohol and meatballs are just a bonus people! Check your egos at the door and be prepared to enter a special zone. Let me quote the great one next to really give you a sense of what this place is…

‘You're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the (Donna) Zone! You unlock this door with the key of imagination.’

And if you show up here with a chip on your shoulder, watch out! Instead of telling you ‘no bad vibes,’ I’ll harken to the great one.

In the immortal words of Danielle Bregoli aka Bhad Bhabie, spoken from the heart on a cold September day in 2016 as she met with her doctor, "Cash me outside, how...