Donatelli’s Bistro

Food is ok. The service was terrible. I found the owners to be rude to the patrons. I couldn’t get my bill fast enough. I will not be returning or recommending.

Terrible! We have only gotten to-​go, so dining in may be better. The pasta is definitely not worth the money! The salad is ok, not a fan of the clumpy dressing. The to– go portion is very skimpy. The pizza was good, my son liked it. Overall, we are not big fans of this restaurant, which is a shame because we love to support small, locally owned businesses!

I don’t typically write negative comments however I am appalled by the owner at Donatelli’s. We waited approx 50 mins for our food while the owner and his «golf buddies» (roughy 30 people) had a catered dinner outside. We ask our waiter when the food was going to be ready and she said «we had to place your order on hold so we could get the owners ordered done. After speaking to the owner, it was clear, he didn’t care about his customers but rather making sure he could cut the conversation short to get back to the party! Needless to say, I will NEVER go back!

So.Many.Things.Wrong.Here.
Admittedly, this is not a place I’d typically choose to eat, but my husband and I were brought here by a family member that lives nearby. The vibe is the typical old-​school Italian restaurant — the type that maybe made everything fresh with family recipes when they started, but now serves up frozen food service goods and still charges a premium.
Because we had someone with us who has special dietary needs, we asked if chicken or salmon could be prepared very simply, without salt or butter. They were very accommodating on this, so I was hopeful. Then, everything went downhill fast.
We were a table of four on a Monday night. I ordered the Chop Salad and Mushroom Risotto, everyone else ordered entrée salads as their main course as well. We also started with the mussels, which were overcooked, chewy and drowning in oil and butter. The kitchen is obviously completely disorganized. When main courses arrived, only two people were served their salad entrees and the waiter disappeared without a word about the other orders. So, we waited. And waited. Finally, my Chop Salad arrived via a runner, but my husband still had no food. Three of us sat there with our food for almost 30 minutes before my husband’s salad came out along with my risotto. Is no one back there communicating with anyone to be able to send 4 salads out at the same time?
Then, there’s the food. The house salads were extremely overdressed; a pile of iceberg lettuce and cheese, heavy and soggy with oil. The Chop Salad was presented like a cobb salad, and was not chopped. And then, I found a VERY LONG HAIR spun around my risotto. Ugh. I handed it back to the waiter and he said, «Ok» and dashed away. No one asked if I wanted a replacement or a different meal, and no apology was offered. Nada. I was too disgusted to eat the salad at this point.
Finally, after everyone else finished eating, the owner (?), manager (?) approached with a smile on her face and offered the most insincere, smug apology I’ve ever received and said she had removed the risotto from the bill. Ok, yeah, but now I’ve sat here for 2 hours and not been able to eat and I also had to go back and ask them to remove the chop salad from the bill as well.
Bottom line, don’t waste your time or your money. There are way too many good restaurants out there with owners who care about their business and about their customers. Restaurants with passionate owners who get to work at the crack of dawn and make their pasta from scratch, who serve fresh food and source from local farmers. Give your money to them. They are worth the $ 20 mushroom risotto.

I had the pleasure of having dinner here on a double date last weekend and cant think of one negative thing to say. For starters, the ambiance was great and they had live music playing in the bar area. It was nice too, because the music volume was not overbearing and though pleasant, it still allowed for our conversation. We ordered a couple appetizers to share, and all were delish, but the one for sure to write home about were their crab cakes. They were thick, meaty crab cakes which were cooked perfectly to a golden brown with a nice crispy outer shell. Our server described them as being served with a house made aioli. I would describe it as a roasted red pepper aioli and it was amazing. Honestly, some of the best crab cakes I have ever had. Next came our salads, which all our entrees came with a salad and side dish. Salads were great and the server brought over fresh cracked pepper and grated cheese. And then there were the entrees, oh the entrees. Our friends ordered veal picatta and tortellini alfredo. Both were huge portions and our friends loved them. The veal looked like it was cooked perfectly and the tortellini had plenty of creamy thick sauce. My boyfriend ordered the chicken spedini which smelled super good and I ordered chicken modiga and both of ours came with a side dish, we both ordered a creamy white pasta. Everything was delicious. I was beyond impressed and I consider myself a foodie who usually has at least one complaint. But not at this restaurant. Something else that I want to make note of is that I really appreciated the presence of the owner in the building. The restaurant was packed at 730 on a Saturday evening but I watched a woman touch each table and talk with the guests. I later found out, when she visited our table that she was the owner. She was so kind and happy to have us in her restaurant and took a second to tell us about this awesome wine and dinner pairing they host from time to time. I was honestly so happy to leave with out one single complaint and we will surely return soon. Do yourself a favor and google the menu if you have never been. A friend of mine had recommended the place but once I saw the menu, that sealed the deal.

There are several reasons that I am rating so low. After living in Italy for several years I can honestly say that this is not Italian food. This is a very American version. First, rarely will you find marinara sauce, nor is it on or in the food. Second, the sauce was too spicy. I enjoy spice, but I could not finish my meal. Third, it was too cold inside. Myself and my family had to try and cover up before the meal arrived. Spaghetti Ragu has a subtle amount of meat in it and not spice. Pomadoro it just plain tomato sauce and not from a can.
I promise I came with an open mind and was still very disappointed. Even without comparing the menu to true Italian food, I was let down. Try to actually be original and don’t make what everyone else does.

This was our first time going to this restaurant. Love the atmosphere! The low lighting is ideal for future date nights with the wife. There is also some live music as well playing some nice tunes.
I ordered the tortellini in white sauce with a salad. Delicious! I would highly recommend this place to anyone. Great place to take the family.

Great food, great service — the only thing that matters at a restaurant and this place has both!!!

I made reservations at least 2 weeks in advance to have special thank you dinner with friends for helping us out. We requested a table in the back away from the front entrance where it would be quiet. When we got there we were informed by the hostess that only the front would be utilized because a «company» was occupying the back area. If we hadn’t invited friends and they were on the way, we would have walked. We have eaten here many times with fairly decent food and service. My husband expressed our unhappiness. We ended up eating, the food was good. The waitress was great, although the kitchen didn’t seem to be keeping up with the evening, it took longer to get our food than usual (and we like to have a «relaxed» meal). Also Barb (co-​owner) came in during the dinner and spoke with the hostess, I saw her look at our table but didn’t come over to apologize for the table situation. I guess it really shows who is more interested in money than service. We will now go to Charlie Gitto’s at Hollywood Casino.

My Absolute FAVORITE place to EAT! Incredible food great drink, cozy atmosphere, great bartenders, awesome entertainment! Been going there since they opened years ago and visit 1 to 3 times a week. The chicken spiedini rocks!

Let me start by saying this place has a great little bar with great live entertainment on some evenings. But, service is only so so, and food is much the same. So if average is what you expect this place will deliver.

Been a fan of Donatelli ‘s for years. Good food but prices are pretty steep. Purchased many pizzas and salads as carry out. This week will be the last time I get a pizza there. Had frozen pizzas with thicker toppings. The carry out box weighed more then the pizza! The real crime is they charge $ 20 for an avg size pizza. Feel bad about the poor review but they need to provide a premium pizza for a decent price and they are not doing.

Expect long wait times — to be seated/​get acknowledged by wait staff/​get served. Poor and uncaring management. I could write a really lengthy review; but why bother, this establishment has already taken up too much of my time. Basically, don’t eat here… it’s not the food that is bad; it is the service (the hostesses are nice; but don’t expect them to lend a hand to their own — there were three of them at one point).
Waiter was too busy to be apologetic, he was very stressed by the busy evening, red faced. I commented to the Manager, give the guy a hand… geesh. Bar service also lousy, most likely dying back there as well.
Make the drive to The Hill or heck, go to Olive Garden, at least they have systems in place.
Oh, did I mention that is was my birthday. Yeah, nothing for that either. We were asked if we would like any dessert. We declined… didn’t have another 45 minutes.
I will not be back, what a shame, it’s in my neighborhood.
P. S. — Y’all on Unilocal are too nice… go check out their reviews on Urbanspoon.

My wife and dined here on Monday. We ordered Mussels which were over cooked and had hardly any broth. She ordered a chicken dish for one of their specials and I ordered a strip steak medium rare. The Chicken dish was 3 grilled chicken strips over a vegetable medley for $ 25 (WOW)! My strip had market price on the menu, so I thought to myself no problem $ 24-​$ 25 for strip is normal. The Strip was Over cooked to Medium well and dry and when I received the bill they charged me $ 38!!! Are you kidding me? Never again! Way over priced for the service and the quality of food. Definitely will not return based on the prices… Don’t want to chance paying that much for the quality of food we received.

We ate there last night as a group to 12. We we were there last year and the experience was wonderful. However, last night was entirely different. The service was not welcoming and the food was fair. The waitress screwed up several of our orders. It seems as if we were interrupting her plans by being
wasn’t especially busy time. We asked for simple things and a few things to be omitted from some of the meals. She text on gratuity that was expected to include everything including the tax. we were less of customers and more of an inconvenience. I don’t feel good about going back.

Wonderful food and fantastic service. I’m a waitress at a pretty high-​class restaurant, so I’m always excited when I find new restaurants that live up to my standards. I’ve worked at terrible restaurants and awesome restaurants, so I have a pretty good idea of what to look for, and this place is excellent! The place was very clean, the bartender (Judy) was friendly and personable (and made a fantastic drink!) and the menu is great! The only downsides I noticed were that it is perhaps just a tad overpriced, and as a vegetarian I wish there were one or two more vegetarian options. I had the mushroom linguine marinara and it was delicious. I highly recommend this place!

We ordered out from Donatelli’s Restaurant. I was raised on italian food. My mother is Italian and knows how to cook Italian food. I can honestly say it was terrible. The
Fettuccine tasted like flour with a hint of cheese. We tried it twice just to see if the first day might have been an off day. It was the same the second time around.
My dad had mentioned to the owner the food wasn’t that great and his attitude
was then don’t come around, as if they are so good, they didn’t need our patronage.
We haven’t been back.
If you want great Italian food go to the Hill. You can’t go wrong. We live in walking distance of Donatelli’s, but we’ll drive out of our way anyday, to a place with better food.

Overpriced for what I would consider average Italian food. It has all the pretentiousness of a 5 star restaurant, but the food falls flat. The most stand out feature is the service, which is nothing short of awesome… and probably some of the best table service in the Lake St. Louis/O’Fallon area. However, the focal should be the food, and though it’s a step above fazolis, I would say its on par with the olive garden. Save your money for Tony’s, Giovannis, LaRussos, or even Charlie Gittos at Hollywood Casino.

Great bar and food. Food was prepared quickly and served piping hot. Do yourself a favor and get the salad with your entrée– it’s great! Pricing is about right for moderately upper scale Italian dining. Neat unique cocktails available. Kind of in a strange location but a great place to hang after an event at the NEC. Lots of parking available.

A little old school as far as ingredients and presentation, but hearty and tasty. The steak was tender and delicious. There was live music in the bar, which was nice. The tables in the restaurant were a bit too close together in my opinion.

Don’t bother. What I am told used to be a great place, has gone so far down it is probably out of reach for even Robert Irvine and Restaurant Impossible. Had beef Marsala that was so dry thin and tough that I was hard to chew. Pasta was mushy and salad was nothing but iceberg lettuce and a sprinkle of cheese. Husband has chicken Parmesan and it was just as bad! We will NEVER go back.

Erica was our server and she was very good. My wife had the Beef s
Soto with a salad and a side of pasta which she said was decent. I tried a bite of it and also thought is was good. I just ordered a large house salad and it wasn’t your typical Italian salad. It was pretty much just dressing and lettuce. I thought the dressing was extremely heavy almost like mayo. The salad was disappointing. Don’t over anticipate the food here.