Donatello Restaurant

We made a reservation and we arrived we were asked to wait 10 minutes as our table wasn’t ready. Then we realized the prices do not match the prices displayed on their website. Their menu inside the restaurant as 1 $ more expensive. Honesty doesn’t seem important to them.
We waited 40 min before being served.
The only good point is the food that is very good. But we expect more from a restaurant.

Wow amazing! Eggplant appetizer was fantastic and who would have thought citrus (orange zest?) cream sauce compliments butternut squash ravioli. Service is unbelievably fantastic as I love my water, which the glass never went below half glass. Red house wine is amazing for the price and the atmosphere does not rush you to escape regardless if you are by yourself (i.e. me) or with a group of six.

2.5 but rounding down to 2
Restaurant was very nice. We were seated upstairs beside a large party celebrating a birthday. I feel like we were a distant second in terms of priority. Our waiter was not very attentive at all. He decided against writing down our orders and of course, he forgot one of our entrées! After apologizing by saying «my bad» our waiter ran down and had the entrée which came approximately 10 minutes later. This really delayed the dinner as the remainder of the party felt it would be rude to begin eating if everyone didn’t have their food. Also, our waters were nearly always empty and we asked a minimum of 5 times for bread.
The food was good however some aspects were underwhelming. The shrimp cocktail was something I could have picked up from a grocery store. 5 pieces of shrimp and a shot glass full of cocktail sauce does not warrant $ 10. Also, it should be known that the prices on the website are inconsistent with the prices in the restaurant. For example, the site says the chicken entrée is $ 20 whereas in the restaurant it is nearly $ 25.
The entrées are good, however would not return in the basis of service, or lack there of, as well as value.
Chris

This place was GREAT. We had a dinner with the father in law here. The food was authentic and delicious; they accommodated our vegeterian requirements easily and happily. My favorite sparkling Cremant is here as the cheapest sparkling option.
Basically, was a win in every way, up to and including the dessert!
(Also was quite authentic — 2 Catholic Italian priests in full garb spent 2 hours finishing their meal next to us. It was like a snapshot of Rome…)
The atmosphere is lovely, if slightly on the noisy side if there are 2 large groups nearby. Wish it was a tiny bit quieter. That said, this is a good place for groups.

Not the best sea food experience for a restaurant like this. Shrimp for the entrance very small, over cooked and with lots of shell still on. I do way better at home my garlic butter sauce. Very disappointing
For the main, better shrimp size but the scallops … Nothing spectacular. The sauce had a film on, comparable to a gravy with cornstarch that gets cold. And the presentation… Half plate with pasta (that was good) and the other half with the sea food sauce getting in to the pasta… I bet the chef was not in that day !
Not the best experience for me. Perhaps I should have tried anything else but seafood, but no way to have such a poor experience for the price, that I don’t accept.

This place was reccomended to us by the hotel Concierge at the Marriott. It must be a local hidden gem because on a Saturday night it wasn’t overly crowded– despite being excellent. You get bang for your buck and everything was delicious. I had the Caesar salad and penne alla vodka. The penne alla vodka was not even on the menu but I got to talking to the waiter who was extremely knowledgeable on the menu and he made that recommendation/​accommodation for me. The inside is super nice and has a fancy little Italy feel. I would go back in a heart beat both the salad and penne were the best I’ve had and the drinks were even good… not weak like the ones you get at some dining places. Also they give you a huge bread basket! If you are in Toronto and want some dank Italian food this place is without a doubt the way to go.

My girlfriend and I ate at Donatello in August of 2014. This restaurant has stood out in my mind so greatly that I still felt compelled to write a review almost 1 year later.
The atmosphere was romantic. Each staff member was friendly. The food. Oh man, the food was out of this world. I wouldn’t say I am the authority on Italian, but Donatello cooked the best Italian food I have ever had the pleasure of eating. We ate a bruschetta for starters which was delicious. My girlfriend had a pesto pasta that she loved, I had some sort of pasta in a cream sauce with mushrooms, and it was delicious. You can tell that almost everything (if not everything) is homemade from scratch every day.
I ate too much, as I am prone to doing, but everything was sooo good, that I had to have dessert. We went with tiramisu. I have had a number of tiramisus before, and I am often left feeling less than amazed by them. This one ranked in the top 3 tiramisus I have had, so very good.

My wife and I were really looking forward to a great meal. The owner had a huge party that left the staff distracted. My chicken was overcooked and the staff tried but the distractions were overwhelming. Don’t ever go if the owner has a group. No compensation was offered other than to cook my meal again. I was dissatisfied

Tried this place for the first time. Didn’t even know it existed on Elm Street. My friend brought me here before a show nearby. The restaurant is absolutely beautiful and classy. The waiter was super nice and attentive throughout the evening. All of us ordered the butternut squash ravioli. Oh my goodness it was so delicious. I usually hate cream sauce but this did not taste like super creamy at all. It was just perfect. I would definitely recommend this restaurant if you are downtown and want a good butternut squash ravioli! I would come back again and try something different on the menu.

My husband and I are in Toronto on vacation. Our concierge recommended Donatello’s. We shared their Tomato Salad and special of the day if Angel Hair pasta either lobster meat in a creamy tomato/​wine sauce… ah heaven!!! To cap off the delicious meal we ordered tiramisu. I would highly recommend this place! The atmosphere was pleasant and we never felt rushed through our meal… very relaxed atmosphere.

This is a beautiful restaurant. The waiter didn’t write down any of our orders; he listened and then went around the table verifying what we wanted. This happened for dinner and then for dessert, and he made mistakes both times. We fixed them on verification, but still, get a pad, dude.
I had a special salad with basil, bocconcini, and tomato. It was excellent. My dinner was another special, ravioli stuffed with mushroom and ricotta in a pesto sauce. It was pretty bland and I didn’t enjoy it very much.
The waiter asked how everything was. I said it was just okay, but then he never followed up to make sure I was happy. In fact, when he cleared the table he asked someone else how it was, but not me. It gave me the impression that they were not interested in getting me something I wanted or making it up to me in any way. Perhaps they thought I liked it because I finished it.
For dessert I had the mikly way cake, which was fine. It was a very large piece.

My boyfriend and I had the best experience here, the service was excellent, the place was beautiful. Great Italian food. We ordered the Caesar salad and shared it, I ordered the chicken with prosciutto and mozzarella and side of pasta which was delicious. My boyfriend ordered the steak which he said was good but also wasn’t the best steak he had which is the only reason we’re not giving it five stars. We also shared the royal truffle cake for dessert which was amazing, the best cake I’ve ever had. If you’re downtown Toronto we definitely would recommend Donatello’s to you.

I ordered the filet minion special yesterday. It was honestly the best steak I’ve ever bad. Unfortunately, the potatoes it came with were not cooked. Impossible to eat… couldn’t even get a fork through them.
My friends pasta was also undercooked and hard. He had it with chicken which was extremely salty.
On the plus side, the service was fantastic and the restaurant is cute. I think we just had a new chef maybe? Someone in the back obviously was having an off day.

Went there for an anniversary dinner. Really good food with an authentic Italian twist. I loved my veal Marsala., finished it off with the tiramisu which is the most popular dessert on the menu. The place is a bit cramped but well worth a visit.

I don’t understand any of the negative reviews of this place! My boyfriend and I went here for Valentine’s Day and it was absolutely lovely. We were seated upstairs in a quiet and cozy room with candles on each table. A full menu was offered as well as specials. We split the house salad and for entrees I ordered the shrimp and scallops with pasta and he ordered the lamb chops. One or two scallops were a bit tough but otherwise my meal was delicious. The lamb was super tender. We shared the brownie cheesecake for dessert which came with a cute heart design on the plate. I feel that it was reasonably priced but I may have a skewed perception as I’m from the NYC area. Each woman was given a long stem red rose after dinner which was also a nice extra. I would recommend this place for a nice romantic evening.

Salads were good, but entrees were nothing to remember of… especially seafood items… stick to other items for your choice… service is nice, although not that on the high end at all…

My better half and I came here on a whim late late on a Thursday evening because the patio looked very enchanting with all of the fairy lights on the trees. The restaurant is situated across from the Eatons Chelsea, which made the restaurant quite busy with tourists and locals alike looking for a bite of Italian food. We were seated immediately on the patio, but I wanted to be closer to the railing so I can people-​watch and the servers were very accommodating to my diva request (and happily moved all of the glassware, utensils, etc.)
We chose the grilled calamari to share for our starter, and the calamari was perfectly cooked. PERFECTLY. I cannot stand overcooked squid because then it’s stuck in my mouth for ever and I am chewing, and chewing, and all I want to do is quit and spit it out. But this calamari was the perfect amount of tender bounciness (terrible adjectives, I know) and the flavour profile is absolutely fantastic. I’d come back again, just to eat this calamari. The dish is served with a simple small side salad (or it could have been greens decorating the plate, but we ate it anyway).
We also had the ravioli special, goat cheese and crab ravioli with a roasted red pepper sauce. I love anything roasted and red pepper-​y and this dish definitely delivered on taste. I love al dente pasta, but my boyfriend thought it may have been undercooked, so if you like your pasta a little less on the chewy side, maybe ask for it to be cooked a little longer. For me, the pasta was cooked perfectly with a generous amount of sauce. The portion could have been a bit bigger, given the price point, but I was very much satisfied with the dish. The crab tasted fresh, the sauce was so creamy with the perfect amount of light spiciness to add a little kick, and the suggested house red was a nice compliment.
I would love to come back and sample more of their Italian fares, and especially if it means sitting on the patio enjoying the 2 weeks of summer Canada has to offer.

The rooftop patio is an excellent spot to enjoy the amazing food! The food is fresh with real, high quality ingredients! I had the crab ravioli which was absolutely awesome and the raspberry cheesecake has real raspberries not artificial flavour, it even had seeds in it! Friendly and helpful waiters and waitresses.
Definitely worth going to for authentic Italian cuisine.

Dinner: celebration of engagement with 6 ladies
1. The service was very slow — we got to order only 25 minutes after we sit down
2. Food came even slower — another 30 min
3. We were lacking water all the way through the dinner
4. It was +17 degrees outside and when we asked to close the window the servant refused to accommodate and was very rude
5. One lady find a small crab, size of a nail, in her food, which means most likely the sea shells were not washed before they cooked (shell food doesn’t open the shell until you cook it, if it was opened before and crab got in means it was a bad quality, already dead shell). The owner came, did not introduce herself, refused to listen, after we complained, she turned around and walked away on us. No apology, no explanation, no reimbursement.

Four of us met for dinner at this long established restaurant. We arrived at around 7.30pm and the waiting staff were run off their feet… it was so busy.
After being shown to the table we were offered pre dinner drinks and given good time to make our decisions. The nightly specials were explained although the level of noise made for some difficulties in understandings…
We all had starters and the selections were the melon and ham, caprese salad and the calamari… the calamari was tasty and sufficient however the tomato and the melon were a little under ripe. The mozzarella was not good…
The mains were big and variable… the lamb was good, the pastas were enjoyable however the chicken was a little disappointing… certainly too dry.
We made a special request for the wine… open and decant at the time of order… unfortunately in the haste of the night this did not occur and I suppose this oversight sums up the night.
There just was not that sense of making it a special occasion… it felt more like it was a place where it is a business to the turn the ‘covers’ over…