Donatello Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Tampa

My wife and I brought the kids to Busch Gardens for 4th of July weekend and we wanted to splurge a little bit for the kids by taking them to some good restaurants and then to wrap it up with one of the crown jewels of the Tampa food scene and experience authentic Italian at Donatello. Ironically we ate at Carabbas the first night we arrived and it was VERY good, then we ate at Coopers Hawk on Friday night - COOPER'S HAWK and it was AMAZING - seriously, we all agreed that it was one of the best steaks/meals we ever had. We were really looking forward to Donatello's given the great meals we'd had at chains and especially given Donatello's pedigree, reputation and reviews. We made our reservation at 5:45pm because that's the only time Open Table said was available. We took it.

When we arrived, the first thing we noticed was how dim and dated the restaurant felt. My wife said she felt like she was in a basement. Everything was dark and just looked and felt old. We were the first patrons to arrive, which came as a surprise given that again, Open Table showed there was only 5:45pm available. The waiter arrived, and brought us the prerequisite water and bread. We ordered the calamari for the table as an appetizer. The calamari was tender and cooked perfectly, the marinara sauce was a bit watery, but was still flavorful, overall a hit with the table. For the entrees, the kids both ordered filet mignon (14oz. Filetto Gioacchino Rossini Filet of beef with Madeira sauce $50) which we agreed to let them have and my wife and I ordered the crab linguini (Linguini Al Granchio - $39), my wife had the white wine sauce, I had the red sauce and subbed the linguini with penne - just a personal preference.

The kids steaks were HUGE, and they both really loved them, my wife described her linguini as bland without a lot of flavor. Mine was good, not great, but good. I ate all of it. We each had a glass of wine, she had the Swanson Merlot ($14) and I had the waiters suggested Amarone ($17.50) - both of the wines were good.

Service was overall, excellent. The waiter was attentive and courteous.

So why only 3 stars? Well;, considering the atmosphere and that my wife thought her meal was bland, and then when the bill arrived - $266 - before tip - and we didn't order desert - I felt like I had been a bit cheated - bordering on being ripped off.

We had much better food the previous 2 nights for literally half the price.at chain restaurants. It's not that it was bad, it's just the price/value relationship is just poor - at least based on the food we ordered. Perhaps Donatello is known for a specialty, we wouldn't know, the waiter didn't go into any detail he just gave us a sheet with the specials on them in addition to the menu. Maybe it was a let down as one person described Donatello as the "Bern's of Italian" in Tampa. Bern's, though also very expensive, has a better price/value relationship.

SCORES;

Atmosphere: 2/10 Service: 9/10 Quality of Food: 7/10 (Steak awesome, pasta bland to good) Price/Value: 4/10

OVERALL: 22/40

Maybe there are better options on the menu we didn't explore but given the price point of Donatello, I was expecting a masterpiece. But based on this experience, my wife and I agreed, we would be...

We went to this restaurant for a double birthday celebration. The two friends had not been in years and raved about how wonderful the place was. I was not impressed in the slightest and suggest to anyone looking for authentic homemade Italian food to look elsewhere. Keep reading because they don't even make their own pasta.

To start, the inside is so dark I had to use my cellphone flashlight to see the menu. I'm 43 and can see just fine everywhere else. It was so loud that you had to shout at each other. One of the birthday girls had a sore throat and couldn't yell at the levels required to hear her across the table.

The food was subpar, lukewarm, and not worth 1/3 of what they were charging. My fish was dry, the scallops were undercooked, and the shrimp were overcooked. The only thing hot on the plate was the vegetables. I asked around the table and this was how everyone's food was served.

When ordering, I asked if that pasta was homemade. I was told that the only home made pasta was the fettuccini. I figured that I would add that to my dinner since I was at an Italian place. That was the worst pasta ever. I wish I ordered the box stuff for $14.

The desserts were underwhelming and to be frank gross. The tiramisu tasted like raw egg and looked like vomit on the plate. I ordered the chocolate mouse cake. It was literally just whipped cream with chocolate sprinkles on the top. Someone else ordered the Neapolitan Cake. It only had two layers..of the same color.

Going out to a nice restaurant on a Friday after a long week is a treat and great thing to do. I would just suggest going somewhere else if you are looking for authentic Italian or homemade pasta. I'm not going to name the other restaurant on this review over on Clearwater Beach that makes their pasta fresh daily. However, their food is hot when presented. Their service is impeccable. The desserts are to die for. Also the prices are the same but you actually get a view of the ocean.

I end up going to the beach place about once a month for some reason or another and they put this place to shame. I would recommend that the owners of Donatello look up Italian restaurants on Clearwater Beach and go there for dinner to see what they can bring back to their establishment.

I am not sure how this place stayed opened for 40+ years offering this quality. To each their own and if people like lukewarm non homemade pasta then I love it for them. That isn't me though. However, I do reserve the right to be wrong about this place and for it to have just been a bad night regarding the temp of the food (since that is the only variable I was disappointed in that could be modified). Yet, I will not be trying it again to make sure...

First time coming here and to be honest we weren’t really planning on dining here. We had an appointment nearby, felt like eating Italian and this place had reservations available. My sister and I came here, our food was great. The server was also good, nothing bad to say about the server and food. I appreciate the nice environment.

My issue came to the valet, one of the valet men was very aggressive and felt entitled to be so. If you have “complimentary valet”, but your valet men act hostile when not getting a tip, might as well avoid ruining the customer’s night by just charging a fee for valet. As I said, I wasn’t even planning on dining outside. I made the reservation last minute, and that’s enough to guess I didn’t even know they had valet for which I should prepare cash for. Because obviously, like any decent human, I do tip. When the valet worker handed me my car, he left the door wide open and kept staring at me and I was very uncomfortable. I asked if everything was okay and he gave me a sarcastic “yup”, and then I got the message and apologized that I didn’t have any cash on me, I paid my bill with a card. He was so rude and felt it was fine to slam my car door on me.

If you were a tiny bit less aggressive, I would’ve asked my sister next to me if she had any cash on her so that I can sort this situation out. But because you were so aggressive, I drove off feeling humiliated as if I hadn’t just paid 200 dollars for a dinner for 2 at some restaurant I don’t even know to be frank. I come from Dubai, so I am just trying restaurants as of now.

Would I come here again? Probably not but the food was good, I’m going to try other restaurants. The hostility and sense of entitlement by your staff is enough for me to skip your restaurant unless no other Italian place has reservation available at the time I want. You lost a customer that would come here for dining regularly. As a woman, I felt unsafe and literally attacked by a random man with anger issues. My advice to you is just charge all customers $5 for valet or something because what happened to me was ridiculous, staff acting as if I had just dined at a McDonald’s...