Daniela’s Restaurant

A truly wonderful experience. This is a gem of a place. A small place in North Naples that you have to experience. This is not a corporate restaurant run for the shareholders. This is real food prepared by real people who actually care about what they serve.

Very very very good Romanian food. I’m in love with the salata de vinete. I hate to say it but it’s way better than my mother-​in-​laws version (she’s from Romania). The mititei were also delicious and cooked perfectly (not overdone like I’ve normally had them). I just regret not trying the sarmales. I wasn’t a huge fan of my stuffed peppers but there wasn’t anything wrong with them either. But none-​the-​less it was the best Romanian food I’ve had outside the home-​cooked stuff I get from my family. I will try again if I visit Naples!

Good local option for dinner. Although there are Itslian items on the menu, it would be a shame to miss out on the other cuisines. The stuffed cabbage was simple and delicious as was the spatetzle. The tzatziki is s nice touch served with the bread. We were too full for dessert but apple strudel was on offer as a special. There was a violinist playing which was a tad loud, but he was an excellent musician.
We sat inside but there is a charming covered patio which we will try next time. We will be back. For sure.

Average at best. Good flavor for the stew but excessive potatoes. Extremely slow service. Two wait staff for 15 – 20 tables

Disappointing. Stuffed cabbage rolls were undercooked, the rice almost raw. Cook/​owner was rude when we complained. Appetizer portions were tiny and pricey for what they offer. The Romanian and Hungarian choices on the menu seem to be disappearing, replaced by cookie-​cutter Italian, which is truly disappointing, as I like having the more unique options available. Will not go back.

It was our first visit to Daniela’s but it will not be our last! We had an excellent meal and service experience from start to finish. The chef and owners, two sisters, were both in the front of the house attending to customers and making all feel welcome. The food was delicious, and just what you want when you order traditional entrees like paprikash and stuffed cabbage (our choices). The cucumber salad starter was tasty too. Service was attentive but not overbearing, the perfect balance. Highly recommend.

A great local gem. The food is amazing. Family owned and family run. Those who have found this place keep coming back. The place is small, so be sure to make a reservation.

The food here is fine, and the atmosphere is cozy. However, if you are interested in Psychic Monday’s, be aware that the supposed Medium, Candyce, I hate to say it, is a fake. I’ve been to 2 genuine mediums and knew right away. She mumbled about new job opportunities and muffled voices she couldn’t quite make out, a lot of eye squinting and, thankfully the 15 mins was over and I forked over the $ 20. Daniela’s, know your customers are going to leave feeling very disappointed.

A great family restaurant that is run by mostly family. Cori and Daniela always come out to say «Hi» to us and our little girls. The Transylvania Platter is definitely a winner as well as the Schnitzel and Spaetzle.

Simply enchanting and magical. This is like a dream come true, nothing over the top or too expensive yet creatively elegant and extremely delicious. It will not break your wallet in too many pieces but you will not regret the food and experience. That’s a promise and I don’t make promises easily. Meet Daniela’s crew and experience some Transylvanian magic!

During the slow summer season, the service was great and friendly. However, we were just here during the peak winter season and had a different experience. We sat down for nearly 30 minutes before anyone came to help us, and it was the chef Daniela who came out of the kitchen to take our order. She recommended a pasta dish, Tortelli ai Funghi, which was described in the menu as «spinach ravioli filled with a delicious mixture of mushroom and marscapone in a broccoli sauce». However, what arrived was undercooked, chewy ravioli filled with indiscernible substance covered in a cream sauce, topped with what tasted like blanched frozen broccoli. It was horrible. The other dish we got was vegetarian cabbage rolls, and that was quite good. No one checked on us again after the food arrived. We won’t come back again, and don’t recommend it during the peak season.

Worst meal experience ever.
Warning: be prepared for horrible service.
Empty restaurant on a Friday night says a lot. No host at the door, instead a teenager gets up from her homework at the back table and asks where we want to sit. No manners, felt like I disturbed her work. First words from the teenage server is what do you want to drink? Really? No greeting, no smile, no gracious hospitality.
We order the meatballs for an app… big mistake! Tasted like bagged frozen cocktail meatballs from a grocery store with Ragu tomato sauce and dried oregano as a garnish on top… nothing fresh and appetizing about it.
My daughter orders the lasagna and I ask her opinion between two dishes. She shrugs her shoulders and says I don’t know, let me ask my Mom!!! Then she yells from our table, to her Mother, who is on a laptop at the same table in the back where the kids are doing homework!!! Mom shrugs her shoulders too and says I don’t know… this is comical at this point. Then the other daughter proceeds to yell at her sister for not knowing how to serve and she should know the menu… then Mother scolds daughter for yelling at her sister. I give up and order the Transylvanian sausage with mash and kraut… another mistake which I’ll get to in a moment.
Kid server comes to clear meatballs and takes our forks. She drops our entrees and I ask for forks. She then asks me what did I do with them! Haha! I told her she took them with the meatballs! So when she serves entrees I also ask for more water… no response from server. I asked if she heard me and she says yeah, yeah I got it. Okay — entrees — sausage is WAY over cooked and tastes spoiled. Kraut tastes like it came from a can and is served cold! Never serve cold kraut with a hot
dish…again with the dried herb garnish. Needless to say I eat half the entrée and give up. Kid server goes back to homework and never comes back till check is dropped with zero words… nothing.
BTW — they still have the former Pizzaria sign at the street. Don’t be fooled, it’s not a pizzeria !!
I gave it one star cuz I had to, otherwise I give it a zero.

I wrote the review on the bottom of this page, prior to reading the negative reviews attached. I just want to say that I am appalled that people could be so disrespectful to such a cute little friendly place. maybe they were having a bad day, but we did not have anything close to what was mentioned in some of them. My grandmother was Hungarian, and although the dishes we ordered Goulash and Paprikash, were not her exact recipe, they were flavorful and reminded me of her.
As I say below, we arrived late, and they seated us anyway, and they were clearly tired from a very busy evening, but treated us with respect, friendly service and smiles. I have found that being nice goes along way to getting good service. perhaps those naysayers, should take a course in niceties and their experiences will improve.
«We went at 8:30 pm on Monday and they closed at 9:00 pm but were amazingly hospitable. The food was really good, hot and flavorful and it was fun talking to the 2 sisters that own this cute little place.
We had a great time»

We love to find places that are not chains and in Bonita Springs that isn’t easy. What a disappointment this was. The service was terrible. The waitress never entered our order and 25 minutes later came out to blame a «computer glitch» When the food did arrive it was inedible. Overcooked and soggy pasta was served with fatty undercooked sausage. The waitress when picking up our uneaten meals asked if we liked it. We replied no, we’re ignored and presented with the bill. If I could assign negative stars, I would.

Had their cold antipasto. Sausages were good, mozzarella was blandy and the polenta was just OK. Unremarkable in general and the scant olives and pickles were ordinary jarred type… if they weren’t they were identical to store-​bought. Don’t waste your money. I’ve never been to a Hungarian/​Romanian type restaurant, but I grew up in a place where this food was common. Ordered the Transylvania platter for two and it was interesting. The chicken paprikash was very good. Cabbage rolls tasted like dog food… the meat was unpleasant tasting to my palate. I grew up with the polish variety of these and they are superior in every way. 4The little sausages were tasty… and everything else was unmemorable but achieved the «OK» mark.
The presentation was nice. The service was friendly, fun, but uneven. You’d get different servers and there was some confusion, but they all managed to get the job done.
I like this place’s feel, so I’m going to go back and try it again. They have home-​made pasta and I’m a sucker for that.

I was pleasantly surprised by Daniela’s. My dad found it here on Unilocal so we decided to try it out, and I’m really glad we did. We were seated right away, but I’ll admit it took a little while for the server to come to our table. We weren’t in a hurry though so no harm.
When the server came she was super friendly and funny. She suggested a really good Romanian wine that my step mom ended up ordering as well because she liked mine so much. For an appetizer, they provided delicious homemade bread with cucumber salad. We also ordered the Bruschetta, which our table agreed was alright.
I had never tried Hungarian food before so I was excited to try something new. My dad and I split the Transylvanian Platter. Not knowing what to expect, I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but it turned out really well. Honestly, I don’t know the correct names for the different dishes so I’m not going to try and explain the platter in great detail. There was a chicken/​noodle/​potato dish, something with cabbage rolls and sour cream, and then sausages w/​veggies and mustard on the side. I probably butchered the description, but I know for sure that it tasted amazing. I think my step mom ordered the Tortelli ai Funghi and she really liked her meal as well.
For dessert we had chocolate mousse, tiramisu, and orange crème brûlée. The three of us passed around the desserts, and decided the best was the mousse, though all of them were really good.
The food isn’t made spicy but you can opt for it to be made that way. Also, the history of the restaurant is interesting so I would suggest you ask about it when you visit. It’s pretty neat to hear about. Overall, it was a great experience and I’m looking forward to visiting again the next time we’re in Naples.

Wow! My husband and I were in the area and were intrigued by the sign «Italian, Romanian and Hungarian» food. We went in on a whim not expecting great things but boy were we wrong!
The two sisters that run the place were born in Romania. One of them spent 9 years in Hungary while the other spent 9 years in Italy. Both brought back excellent recipes and a flair for real comfort food.
They brought out some fresh bread with a delicious cucumber salad that was reminiscent of Tzatziki. You could see the flecks of fresh dill in the creamy goodness. Excellent flavour; we sopped up the liquid with our bread. Not a drop was left behind!
I had the spinach ravioli with a mushroom filling served in a broccoli cream sauce. Pasta was handmade and incredibly delicate; perfectly cooked al dente.
My husband had the Transylvanian sausage. Their menu touted the sausage was their mothers recipe and it was truly delicious! The pickled tomato garnish was amazing and, I think homemade. Definitely worth a try.
We will be back! In fact we signed up to their email list to make sure we don’t miss anything fun, like belly dancing!

Service is very. Very. Very slow.
We had reservations and were seated right away but it took a long time for our waitress to come to our table. She was not very pleasant and seemed to be a bit of a snob.
Our food I am sure was cooked to order, but I must admit for what we had to eat it took 45 Min’s for our meal to arrive. The restaurant was not even half full so i cant imagine what it will be like during season.‘
We ordered a soup to try but our server never brought the soup. Our meals were all well prepared and I would give them all 4 ½ stars. The food came out piping hot and that says a lot for the quality of the food.
Ambiance ⁴¹⁄₂ stars (small but clean and well organized)
Service 2 stars (rude waitress, slow to wait on table 20 Min’s just to get a drink
lack of friendliness)
Food Quality 5 stars
Food Quantity 4 ½ stars
The only reason this place did not get 4 ½ stars from us was because the server really had such a negative impact on our first visit here, Not sure if we will bother to go back since there are some many better restaurants.

The ladies of Daniela’s certainly earned their Star Award bestowed by the local paper as 2012 People’s Choice. My visit this time was in fine company, too, thanks to fellow Unilocaler John, who drove a long way with his wonderful wife, just for this evening.
I had Daniela’s schwaben spaetzle, which was thinly layered pork smothered in fragrant mushrooms. This was followed by a really dense, but sweetly delicious pumpkin cake, crowned with marscapone. We couldnt help but share it.
As a bonus, I was served a glass of wine on the house because we added to school supply donations that were stacking up near the bar. Daniela’s supports the Women & Children’s Shelter; It was delicious to help with their cause as well
On Saturdays, the violinist serenades the dining room for hours. Yes, he did play Hungarian Rhapsody. And yes, he played it well. (contented sigh)

MINUNAT!
According to my research, that means «fantastic» in Romanian, and that’s just what this place is. We went out to dinner with our friend Jamie R. and started with the Antipasto Fredo as an appetizer. It had a nice variety of smoked sausages, cheese, olives, meatballs, & pickles with a red sauce. Excellent starter.
For dinner I had the Transylvanian Sausages, which came with mashed potatoes, sauerkraut & pickled tomatoes. The sausages are made by Daniela herself and smoked on the premises. This was a truly special meal.
My wife had the special ravioli stuffed with mushrooms & proscuitto, with a poppy seed sauce. Another excellent choice.
For dessert: the special, a pumpkin cake with marzipan frosting. Superb.
A variation on the mon & pop theme, this place is owned and run by 2 sisters from Romania, Cori & Daniela, both thoroughly delightful and, of course, competent.
Ambiance/​Décor — 5 STARS
Food — 5 STARS
Location — 5 STARS
Value — 5 STARS
Service — 5 STARS
I wish we lived nearer to this gem. It’s a winner.