Donte’s Restaurant & Pizza Shop

Rude, Rude Rude we never tried this place before. We walked in and the lady said there was a wait. I looked around to see 5 tables open. She said that they couldn’t seat us because those tables are for 3 or more people. So we sit for about 5 min. She comes back to ask for our names. I was like really there is no one waiting but us. She said in case she’s going to get a rush. I felt almost like she was being a smart***. So we went across the street to tap house bar and grill. The menu was so much better then the items on Dontes.

Really? The 2^nd Bloody Mary is watery and weak, yes you’ll replace it but it is free? Horrible bar, food was fairly good. Penny the server felt very bad about the Bloody Mary but it was not her fault. It was like the bartender ran out of tomato juice and just added some melted ice to it and threw in some horseradish it was really horrible. And then to tell me if I wanted a new one I would have to pay for one I don’t think so won’t be coming back here again

So, I was a little sketchy about this place based on the previous reviews. Yes the atmosphere is dated. Yes, the décor could use a pretty big upgrade. Service was good but not amazing. My beer tasted a little… off. But it was ice cold. We got the appetizer sampler, it was fairly generic. High spots include the barbecue sauce and the chicken wings had a good crust. House salads were crisp and fresh, the house Italian dressing was pretty good. My girlfriend had the lasagna, excellent overall but could have used some more meat in our opinion. I had the veal parmesan, it was good and bordering on very good. For desert she had pumpkin pie, seemed to be generic if not warmed from frozen. I had an apple pie with a crumb topping, ice cream wasn’t available. Overall very good but not excellent, definitely not exceptional.

We ate here for the first time tonight and I wasn’t as pleased with the food as I’ve been told. The service was wonderful and they weren’t very busy so that was probably a plus for us. We had pizza and the bacon was awful. Tasted like pork rinds and there was something off about the pizza. It sat weird in mine and my husbands stomach. We will be sticking to our usual pizza joint; A Slice Above. Sorry Dontes. Maybe another time.

Please read the review from Janet S. It’s like they were sitting at our table, but we had a little more to go with it. We DID finally get to put our order in and there was nothing but Lack of Service, Confusion and chaos after that. I’m not going to put all the details in here, I would only get all flustered again myself.
While waiting for our order to be taken and waiting for the food, no-​one came for refills. After Everyone’s drinks were empty, we managed to get someone’s attention and asked if we could get refills for everyone. I had no idea that getting refills for 5 people was a four set operation that would take almost 15 minutes, and still forget 1 of them.
If you read this and decide to go anyway, DO NOT ask for mayo! Wanting to eat before my food was cold, I finally got up and looked in the waitress station that was close to us. No luck. If you needed horseradish sauce or hot sauce, you’d be in luck, but no mayo. So, I asked the first person that I could find, after saying excuse me twice, a girl stopped and said, «Hi». I asked, «Hi, Do you have any mayo»? She gave me a look like I was speaking Chinese and almost looked terrified, so I said, «Mayonnaise, Mayo, Mayonnaise»… With NO exaggeration, in the same terrified and really really confused look, she says, «I have no idea». The story goes on about that and gets even More confusing, if you can believe that, but that’s enough on that…
But the never ending wait for the bill and watching all the unorganized, no communication chaos was simply aggravating. From the time we finally ordered until we got our bill, there were only 2 times anyone even acknowledged that we were there, and that was to bring our 20 minutes refills and to finally bring some MAYO. We could have gotten up and very simply walked out being in no rush at all, but we waited …
I could go on, but I think between the review from Janet S and what I have here, you’ll get the picture.
So, if you like slightly over priced food (but good), don’t need any service and can wait a while for your bill, have at it. If you desire a little friendly service and don’t have all day to wait, Move along, nothing to see here and that’s the facts ma’am, just the facts.

Walking in the place was emptying out at around 10pm. Still plenty of severs around and we were seated in a timely fashion. The thing I noticed right away was the floors were absolutely atrocious. Food bits and garbage all over (straw wrappers and napkins). Server was friendly and fairly attentive. My father ordered a 9 inch veggie pizza and I had a 9 inch peperoni and sausage. The pizza came in good time and was fresh and hot. Taste was just about average maybe just maybe a bit above average. After eating we were walking out and I noted that on the bar top near the end were lemons in a plastic container with the plastic wrap off and it was next to dirty dishes and cups… pretty gross if you ask me. This is probably all in all a 2.5 star place. To me a dirty restaurant is simply unacceptable.

Let’s call it more like 3 ½ stars. The food here is absolutely wonderful. The service well, not so much. The last three times I’ve been here the service was really quite slow. So obviously this is the kind of place you want to avoid if you’re in a hurry. But the food is authentic homemade and delicious. So, if you have some time to kill and want some really, really good pizza then stop in. The pizza is super cheesy! Even the regular olé’ rigatoni is good, they have a thick sauce.

Horrible service!!! My boyfriend and I came here for lunch and after 10 minutes of waiting to be seated we decided to leave. Food smelled good but service was absolutely horrible

Well, we came back to try this place again, because our first experience sitting at the bar was good. Unfortunately this time it was a complete and total disaster. So this review is not about the food. It is about the service, or the lack off service that we did not receive in their restaurant area. We tried to sit at the bar but it was full. Maybe all those people knew something we were soon to find out!
There is only one way I can explain it… Watching the confusion of the whole scene was like watching an old Keystone Cops movie. The wait staff was very inefficient with their workflow and had little to no communication with the costumers. They had tunnel vision and could only do one thing at a time. They could not walk and talk at the same time. If you tried to talk to someone walking they would just hold their finger up indicating «Just a minute» and then never get back to you. We were given the «Just a minute» finger 4 times. We saw a party of five, another party of four and our party of four all leaving without ever getting served. Other customers just shook their heads in sympathy and said it happens often here. Why they would know that and keep going back… Who knows!
So we may try them again. I believe in the «Three Times Up to Bat» Rule. I will try a place three times before I give up on them (everyone can have one bad day). They have one more chance to get my steady business. So far they have one run and one strike. We will see what the next time brings. If you go there, I hope you get them on a homerun day. But whatever your experience, please write a review and let people know. It is important we get a feel for how consistent they are with their food and service. Their ongoing tale is of interest to all food consumers who eat out on a daily basis.

I did not get food so this is not about food. They refused to seat us, refused to let me sit at an empty table and look at menu, then seated a man with 3 kds at that table. Finally a waitress passed and I asked if we could sit down. We sat down and waited. No one came. Finally, after 30 minutes went to hostess station (elderly red haired waitress-​rudest person I ever met ever anywhere) was there and told me to wait. I told her no need to talk to me just want a manager. Cute blonde waitress walks up, asked whats wrong and says shed be happy to seat us and serve our table. We thanked her but our baby was getting fussy so we left. Three customers shook their heads in sympathy-​one lady even said you have to fight here – waitresses seat their own customers according to what they think their tip will be. Well, I am decent tipper 20percent or better. My daughter adds more to my tip because shes a restaurant manager. Told her she should manage dontes and she said shed never work for such a screwed up place. Guess I never will get to taste the food and undoubtedly will not miss it!

My husband has always raved about this place and I finally got to go… it is as great as he said it was

live in san fran, want to move this place to california, pizza is amazing!

I can only comment on the pizza and it is great. The quality is reliable time and time again. You can also order various small personal size pies to your liking. I enjoy adding the roasted red peppers especially!

We came with a large group for a dinner on a Friday night. The pizza was in the 3 – 4 stars range, but the service was lacking. Our servers were nice, but the order got put in wrong so there was a lot of waiting. The website could use some work. A couple people got a carafe (or maybe it was a half carafe) of wine, which was a much better value than buying by the glass.

Not impressed. They screwed up my pizza order TWICE. How hard is it to put tomatoes, spinach and green peppers on a pizza. Come on people. Plus, we waited 20 mins for drinks. Ridiculous. Wouldn’t come back.
Update: I finally got my pizza. It’s horrible. I’d rather eat the plate it came on. Ew.
Seriously, save the 6 bucks for a 4 slice pizza and go to Pizza Hut. Or hell, a frozen pizza would be better.
I wish I could give this 0 stars. So unimpressed and will never return. Not going to recommend either.
I need to go throw up the nasty taste now. Ick.

I went to Dante’s tonight and their pizza is fantastic! I got the white pizza with spinach and tomatoes and it was awesome. Our waitress was also very friendly and helpful. They have a pretty large drink selection and make most of their food from scratch. I will definitely be back!

The pizza here is fantastic! I highly recommend pepperoni, mushrooms, green pepper, and sausage. I recently discovered the amazing pairing of Bud Light Lime and pizza here, as well. The servers are beyond friendly and their atmosphere is a dark, underground bar that feels very comfortable.

Very nice little dive style restruant. The italian food is speciality here. The lasanga looks to die for and is maybe best thing here. But Im here for pizza. Nice ctust not quite thick, definitely not thin. Crust is not hard and has favor from the sauce in it. The topping include roasted red pepper, they actually put more on pizza than pepperoni! Nice sauce — good sauce flavorful but not a zesty sauce by any means. The cheese even at extra cheese could be thicker.
Okay other than that get the munchie basket. Everything not healthy but good. This includes mozzerela sticks, chicken wings, chicken tender, jalopena popper, and onion rings plus a couple sauces. Very tasty and beats a salad anyday!

My friend lives a minute from here and we decided to order some pizza delivery. Growing up in BP I have been to Dante’s, it’s been so long I honestly didn’t remember anything other than the fact they were good.
Pizza came quick and it really was piping hot, which was excellent. There was a bunch of us, so we ordered two pizzas and a large salad. The cheese pizza was good. The crust was regular thickness, possibly a little thinner. Maybe a little bland, but that doesn’t bother me too much. I bite my pie so I can get a little crust and a little of the cheese and sauce — flavor located, problem solved (so stop whining).
They are heavy handed with the cheese, perfect. I def like my pie cheesy, but when you ask for extra cheese, it always seems to be too much. Dante’s hit the nail on the head. And the other pizza (pep and banana peppers) was proportioned perfectly. I don’t like too much toppings (personally), I always end up picking a lot of it off. That was a good combination (good idea Dez).
They didn’t put too much sauce and I didn’t even have to ask for light sauce, now I’m really happy. The sauce itself, could have had a little more oomph. However, I get so annoyed in pizza reviews when people bitch about one aspect of the pie. You either liked it or didn’t. Team Dante’s.
Why only 3 stars (I swear I planned to give them 4 for those pies)… salad. We ordered the large tossed salad. It was like $ 5 or $ 6 I want to say. Let me start by saying, I’m not cheap. However, I was annoyed I paid that for what was basically all lettuce (and not even the green, leafy kind us girls like).
Yeah, it had one slice of green pepper, very little cheese, one tomato, 2 little bags of croutons (not worth mentioning, at all) and very few slices of cucumber. I have never seen such a stingy salad from a pizza place, ever. WTH. IF I ever order another salad from there I will definitely mention that I was displeased with the amount of goodies in my salad and let them know I expect this one to be better. Ha!

We stumbled upon this eating establishment while looking for a place to grab a quick bite near the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
At around 2:30pm on a Saturday, this large restaurant and bar was almost empty. There was nobody at the front counter so we seated ourselves and it was close to 5 minutes before our server came to acknowledge us.
Their menu was diverse, with some daily specials written on a whiteboard facing the entry door. Our party of 3 ordered their fried scallops dinner, fried chicken dinner and a bowl of chili. The coleslaw that came with the dinners were below average, kind of bland. The french fries were hot and crispy but probably frozen and not fresh cut. The fried scallops were tasty but the fried chicken was overdone and dry. Their prices were average and the server was pleasant enough, although she did forget a drink order in the beginning.
I’ve had better but might return to give them another try if it’s convenient.