Trattoria Dario — Restaurant in Vero Beach

Lovely restaurant located on ocean drive. Clean, Nice ambiance, servers in semi formal wear, white tablecloths. Two negatives right away. The 2 hostesses at the front were not welcoming at all…. And for such an upscale restaurant, one of them was dressed super casually in jeans. It was off putting to start our experience greeted this way. Both gave us a look that we were disturbing them . This is not a welcoming greeting to customers who come to spend a good deal of money. The other immediate bad thing was a horrible smell in the building. After being seated, the bus boy was filling our water glasses. When asked about the smell, we were told they were doing roof repairs and we immediately recognized that smell of burning TAR. We asked our server about it and he also offered no apology. We should have left the restaurant then. The smell was all permeating. Cocktails were good but we had to ask specifically if there was a full bar. It was then our server asked if we would like a menu for cocktails. My ITALIAN MARGARITA was served in a scotch glass! Mediocre wine list arrives with the food menu. Bread arrives with a small ramekin of an infused oil. Although we left the basket open when we had finished the bread with our drinks and appetizer, no refill on the bread was offered for the remainder of the courses. We both had the grilled octopus appetizer. Nice presentation, but small portions of the octopus. Caesar salad was not cold and crisp and mildly soggy from the dressing. The homemade gnochhi were not pillow soft and was served with too much of the red sauce. My husband had the cioppino. The mussels were “off” ( bad? Not fresh?) which also affected the cioppino broth. We told our server, but all he said was that he would tell the kitchen. My husband was offered no alternative even though he left the remainder of the meal untouched. Lastly, we had booked reservations online where you are asked if this is for an occasion and to leave remark on what the occasion is. Ours was clearly articulated that it was a birthday and our anniversary (yes, same day). Not one staff made any acknowledgment to our celebration. Dario did not stop by our table to offer greetings although he was stopping by many tables to chat ….. No dessert offered, neither a liquor. People that come here are spending a good amount of money…..to have a good total experience. Neither the owner, the staff, or the food project anything to give you a feeling that you have been well appreciated. I chose to point this out to Dario. He actually went to check our reservation online to check if we had indeed made these notations. I will take my money elsewhere and I will not recommend this...

I just want to give a huge shout out to Trattoria Dario. We got married this weekend and chose this venue to host our family dinner to celebrate with everyone. From start to finish, everything was so incredibly organized and stress free. Derek the manager I talked too originally to book the reservation for 25-30 was so helpful and kind. He personally messaged me menu's and worked with me on ordering. He even came and hugged us at the end of our dinner which was so personal. Deedee Maiorca and Joe were our servers... and I have to say, not only were they incredibly patient with allowing our party time to mix and mingle with each other, they were so organized with getting drinks out so promptly to everyone and not one person had an empty glass.... THE ENTIRE TIME. Their service is what you search for in vero and what we really needed to make the night even better.

Now to the food. You would think that having a limited menu would mean the kitchen just pushes it out easily with no thought or love. THIS IS NOT THAT KIND OF PLACE. Every plate of food had so much love and passion cooked into it that we were floored every course. We had caprese salad and malaria for apps... phenomenal. The calamari was so perfectly cooked and the caprese was so fresh we had to go back for seconds. My 19 month old even had seconds lol. Now for the entrees. Not one steak was cooked wrong, the chicken piccatta chefs kiss but the star of the show.... the Salmon Crudo ... Good lord was that heaven on a plate. Everyone that ordered it was floored. I even stole a sample from my mom and instantly regretted not getting it.

Everything was perfectly timed, beautifully presented and we just want to give the biggest of thanks to everyone person (Foh and boh) that took part into finishing out what has to be one of the most perfect weekends of our lives. Thank you Deedee, Joe, Derek and Dario. You all are masters of hospitality and will forever be our go to when it comes to celebrating...

I came to Trattoria Dario for a nice evening dinner with friends while visiting. I immediately loved the ambiance and interior design when I entered the restaurant. Our hostess let us know that the wait was going to be about 15-20 minutes and mentioned that we could wait at the bar. After we enjoyed our drink for about 10 minutes, our table was ready. Upon sitting down, we had waters served right away as well as a basket of bread and olive oil. The menu all looked fabulous and it was difficult to pin down one item to select for my main course. We decided to try the Calamari Fritti and Artichoke Hearts Francese for our appetizers which did not disappoint. Both dishes were fried to perfection and had the perfect amount of flavor and texture. As for the wine, we went with the Rosé, Pico Maccario "Lavignone", Piedmont, Italy. It had the perfect flavor and was my first time trying a dry Rosé which I really enjoyed. I finally decided on a main course which was on the daily ‘special’ menu and I do not remember the full name of the dish. What I do remember was that it was a main lobster, shrimp, scallop, etc ravioli dish. The sauce was very similar (if not the same) as vodka sauce with great flavor and bits of garlic. The portion size was perfect and I left feeling satisfied but not overwhelmed. Our server, Donnie K was extremely pleasant, friendly, and attentive. I really enjoyed dining here and will definitely be returning when I visit...