Dolce Vita Italian Restaurant

Made the mistake of returning, my kids wanted to eat there. My pasta was more of a soup than pasta. This place has gone downhill.

Dolce Vita is a small Italian restaurant with a brisk business. Our soccer team comes here for dinner sometimes when we have early games. I love that you can get spaghetti squash instead of pasta if you’re eating low carb.
Today we ordered the Mediterranean Insalata, which has organic mixed greens, kalamata olives, marinated artichoke hearts, sun-​dried tomatoes, pine nuts and feta cheese with balsamic vinaigrette. This is a terrific salad with all of the things I like. I tend more toward salty and pickled foods, so this hit the spot. The one downside is that it’s small for the price.
Calamari Fritti, which is lightly battered and fried squid with marinara. The squid were like rubber bands.
Chicken Dolce Vita… a rigatoni dish with chicken, sun-​dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, capers and asparagus in a lemon butter sauce (think chicken piccata). Also very good. My daughter ate the pasta and, while she skipped the tomatoes and artichokes, she devoured it.
The meal comes with either garlic or plain rolls. We opted for a mix of both.
If you’re in the area, definitely give them a shot. They have a nice menu with a wide selection.

We were seated at a table full of crumbs, then my husband order the pasta fazool taste like it came out of a can the lasagna the sauce tasted like Ragu and my linguini and clam sauce the clams was kinda fishy taste. Won’t come here again.

Unfortunately I have to post a very negative review. In the past we have ordered take out when my family is visiting from out of state so the night before Thanksgiving we placed a large order to go. My daughter is allergic to pine nuts and she and I gave explicit requests to remove them from the salads that we ordered. My husband ordered a meatball Stromboli as well as several other items for my Grandchildren. When we got the order home, both salads were covered with pine nuts and the meatball Stromboli had not one meatball! We will never order from this restaurant again. After calling and speaking to a «manager» about this we were simply told she was sorry.

Well, I must say that it is very rare that I go to a restaurant 5 times in 3 weeks but it has certainly been the case. My father is in the hospital and I did not want to go far away In case of an immediate callback. I have tried so many things on this menu as well as had several glasses of wine and I am yet to be disappointed. The food is always fresh and very flavorful. The service is superb and the wine is very good. Please do not shy away from this restaurant because it is very good. Shane is always on top of the situation and your satisfaction is his goal. Wait staff is awesome!!! They really want you to be satisfied:) Way to go Dolce Vita!

The food is delicious, but the service is really bad. 25 minutes to get salads, 15 minutes to get beer, and entrees that came out 10 minutes apart. Luckily the food was good, but we won’t be back to dine in — carry out maybe. Unfortunate.

We hadn’t been here for a couple of years and things have changed quite a bit. The service was quick and friendly… no problem there. The food… not so much. They used to have spectacular bread rolls. yeasty and tender. This time I got a dried up stale roll… not impressed. The food was very standard… no fresh herbs anywhere to be seen, very plain. Wont be going back

I have been here a handful of times and the food is awesome. The service is VERY hit or miss… Which sucks. We got the mozzarella sticks for an app and the cheese was barely even melted. It was literally like eating a block of cold cheese with some crunchy breading on the outside. The food is great but not consistent .
I will give it a three stars because of the great service I have received in the PAST and the good-​fully cooked food I have received in the PAST. Last night was not a good night for them. I will most likely return though…

It was so very good the first time it opened, I was praising this place and urging everyone to try it. Allow me to insert that I know new places have growing pains. Everyone does. With that being said, Dolce Vita seems to have not been able to shake off their growing pains. As time went by, the tasty dishes became something I didn’t want to order again. Once in a while, they’d get a dish or two right. Unfortunately, I like to have consistency when I pay for my food. This place needs to either revamp or move out because at this rate, nobody’ll come anyway. I’d rather drive the extra 10 minutes and go to Hull or Midlothian where a plethora of good restaurants sit. But the beginning was so good, I had to give it 3 stars.

Pizza was good but a little pricey. Service started out awesome. Everyone was really helpful then everyone disappeared. It was like everyone went on break together. 1 pizza with two toppings and 2 sodas was $ 30.

This is a favorite lunch time spot! My favorite are the stuffed shells in white sauce, so delicious, but pack some mints because you will smell like garlic after you eat them. I have also had there sandwiches which are equally tasty as well as the Classic lunch Stromboli, just make sure that you ask them to cook the stromboli well, sometimes is a little cold in the middle because its so thick. The toasted ravioli and the garlic knots are a must! If you drive down this way you should check it out!

Awesome again! Stromboli, pizza, spaghetti … Delicious. I got the meat lovers with added ricotta, so good.
Not sure of the negative review. We have been long time customers and come about once a month and it has always been great.
They cater special requests without issue.

I came here for a Wedding Rehearsal dinner and everything was amazing. The staff was very attentive to our group of 30+ and all the food came out quickly and was just as amazing.

We thoroughly enjoyed what we had. I had a yummy portobello burger and my son had a crispy chicken florentine calzone, both reasonably priced. The service was quick and friendly and it was all around enjoyable!

I give 2 stars because the service was awesome. The food, however, was not at all awesome. We got the fried ravioli and mozzarella sticks as an appetizer which were both very tasty! I got the chicken parm for my entrée which had a funny consistency and by funny I mean gross. Someone else got the veal parm and said it was cooked to hockey puck consistency. …goal!
The restaurant was very clean and well maintained — and again, I really can’t say enough about how great our service was. I just wish the food matched.

I had a very select experience. So take my review with a grain of salt.
Had a Living Social coupon and called at 3:00 to order a Small Tray of their House Pasta to be picked up at 5:30. The person taking my order on the phone was very nice and polite.
5:30 rolls around and I’m still 30 minutes away. I called again to let them know I’d be late but was still coming. They let me know that they would keep it warm for me. Again, very nice and polite.
When I arrived they carried the pan out to the car for me because it was so hot. I was impressed.
The pan was HUGE. The pasta was rotini in a marinara sauce with italian sausage and meatballs and melted cheese on top. It was FANTASTIC. Everyone in the family loved it! We were embarrassed that we ate so much of it but it was so so good. The next day we reheated it and it was still delicious. I believe it lists that it should feed 8 – 10. We got 9 HUGE servings out of the pan. Definitely worth it!
Thanks Dolce Vita!

The pizzas here look really good and maybe we should have ordered that. Instead my wife and I ordered some pasta dishes and were left wondering «why is this place was so popular»?
The garlic bread was something that you would see at Walmart. It was really bad bread and I would rather have Olive Garden’s bread, and that’s really saying something.
The pasta was bland and mediocre at best. I would go eat here only if forced by my wife. I definitely would not this place recommend for pasta. Take the extra time to drive downtown or to Short Pump for good Italian food. Maybe should I be in a forgiving mood, I’ll go back and try their pizza.

All I’ve eaten here is the pizza, but I thought it was very good!.. Started with a small salad and some yummy house rolls (garlic?) that came out also. Pizza was fresh and hot and way better than any of the «chains» that you can order from for delivery.
I saw a couple of good looking lasagna plates at the table next to me and the place was packed on a Friday night. Wait staff was excellent for my visit.

Ate here early on a Friday night. Service was good, but that was the highlight. Started with the lobster bisque, which seemed to be watered down and didn’t have a lot of taste. My wife had pesto angel hair and I had the gnocchi. We both reached for the salt & pepper after one bite. And then I went for the red pepper flakes and the parmesan. The food was very bland, with very little seasoning. Prices weren’t bad, but I would rather pay a little more and get the taste.

I will keep this short, a typical local Italian restaurant, nice, clean and acceptable food. Nothing to rave about. Rather average, but pleasant. The other reviews are much like mine. It’s OK. And that’s my opinion!