Pastina Rustic Italian

Very nice place and atmosphere. Great sausage and peppers. Very good wine selection you can’t go wrong.

Been there a few times and this past Saturday we were there for a Birthday party. The place was packed and they handled everything perfectly. Service was above average and all the food came out as expected.
I think and have heard from others that Pastina wants to be a little more upscale than it is. Food is a always good but not exceptional. It serves the community well. To be upscale they need to serve less people (thus the noise level would go down), better wine list, more polish on the servers and upscale the individual rooms they have.

Great food, atmosphere, service!!! Loved it !! But need eggplant dishes, and work on your red sauce.

I was drawn into the idea of «freshly made pasta». Sadly it was overly doughy, the house sausage is way too dense and the sauce is lacking seasoning. It’s just okay. If you want great Italian, go to Little Italy.

I want to like them, I really do!
It’s a beautiful restaurant with an amazing menu (much of the menu is locally sourced which I’m a huge fan of!) but the execution of those menu items leaves much to be desired. I’ve had woefully undercooked steak and pork, and the number of times my pasta has been overcooked and gummy is downright criminal. The name of the restaurant is Pastina! My pasta should be perfect!
It seems the management can’t get properly trained line cooks. No fault on the cooks themselves, the managers and chef (?) should catch it before it gets to the guest!
My other gripe is the bartenders always wearing an earpiece like they’re in the secret service. I’m in the industry, I understand all too well the need for communication, but I never once have had a good interaction with the bartenders. They have always seemed far too concerned about what may or may not be coming through that ear piece, despite it never seeming to be all that busy in the restaurant.
If the food quality improves, if they can make good use of the wonderful local ingredients they’re apparently using, then this would be mentors number one all time best restaurant and the owners could really make a name for themselves! …Maybe they already did with Longos and don’t care? Either way, its a wonderful concept, and a wonderful restaurant that is hampered by sub-​par food despite amazing ingredients!

Visiting friends in the area, I had the opportunity to dine here. OMG! They make their own bread and fresh mozzarella! The salmon chips were heavenly! Everything was so flavorful! Better make a reservation, it was packed on a Tuesday! I wish they had a restaurant like this at home: Carmel, CA.

We had a party of 7 and everyone loved their food and the presentation of their steak and salmon was lovely.

Homemade pasta! Wine! Bread! I’m good!
My only problem was we called for a reservation and specifically asked for a table not near the bar… We got seated at those tables. I lost my husband to watching football on our anniversary. I asked for another table and the hostess told me it would be a 2 hour wait.

Decided to enjoy a «new» local spot, which we have dined at previously. Again, the standards have been met!
7:30 on a Friday night with a packed house, our wait was just under half hour! HINT: Call ahead really helps. Our party of four was seated at a booth in the bar. Since the booth easily seats 6, we had spacious room to drink, chat, eat and eat some more.
The plates were fantastic and the tastes were wonderful. Did have problem with one dinner order. Salad and another side were ordered as a meal and for whatever reason, the salad was late to the table. Without any request by my wife, the server deeply apologize for the delay and comp’ted the salad! Great move by the house.
Finished off our collective meals with the bad pudding. Please note: This dish was enough to share for our party of four! Not going to say much more than, «Don’t be a fool! Save room and order this heavenly dessert!

We lived in Mentor until 5 months ago & always saw the busy parking lot… back in the area for Thanksgiving, we thought we would meet some old friends and enjoy some good, authentic, made from scratch Italian food… well, all 4 of us had different entrees, but all had the same comments… good sauces, meager protein, overpriced entrees with a mass of gummy pasta. My shrimp entrée had 6 medium sized shrimp on a lump of pasta– at $ 20+, an overpriced menu item.
Dinner was preceded with cold slices of commercial bread with some runny marinara sauce… next time, we will head to a favorite in Highland Heights or Little Italy and take a pass here… service was good, though.
With the quality of the food and the menu prices, I can see why there were many empty tables.

If I could give this restaurant 4,312 stars I would. Maybe 4,313.
My family and I are traveling across this great (wide) continent, moving from Seattle to Ithaca, NY, and we are at the tail end of our trip. We were trying to plan our night. dinner for us and the kids, hotel, etc., and we found Pastina on Unilocal.I am thrilled beyond measure that we did. We had a few epic meals many states ago, but for days now we’ve been challenged to find places where the food is made by people who actually give a damn! And, clearly, the folks at Pastina do.
The kids shared a cheese pizza, and it was absolutely delicious. We all shared the arancini and they were sooooooo good. I had the Spring Pea Ravioli and ohmygawd it was totally fabulous. The veggies were cooked perfectly, and the house-​made ravioli was unbelievable. My hubby had the Bolognese and he was super impressed, (and that’s saying a lot because his sauce is totally delicious too). I wish we’d had dessert but just because I bet they’re amazing too.
They went above and beyond for us (we ordered by phone an hour+ ahead of time while going 75 down i80!!), and as a former server and sister to a restaurateur, I know how rare that kind of attention is.
We will certainly be back sometime and they’ve gained a customer for life.

I’m gonna give this restaurant 4 stars because I think it is worth checking out. I would 5 star the delicious texture of their homemade pasta, which I think might have crack in it; i am addicted to it. They have fresh pasta with its delightful soft texture served with meals. (Are all types of pasta homemade — I cannot know) I got the chicken pesto pasta and it was (almost) delicious! I felt it needed juuuuuuust a little moisture, like more pesto, or some olive oil. The sliced chicken in it was just slightly dry, and it needed something. It needed the dipping sauce that came with the bread. I just put that on there and it was good. The bread was good and has like a tomato olive oil dip (a little heavy on the tomato for my tastes) Salad was pretty average honestly… the «house» italian just seemed real tart and bottled. I can’t remember what hubs and father-​in-​law got. My father-​in-​law loved the place!
So it seems like I found it a lot of average… but it really is quite nice inside! and it is kind of hidden away in a shopping center somewhat. I wouldn’t have noticed it but a friend recommended it… and I am pleased that I went and tried it! Inside the décor is well done and the restaurant seems well thought-​out. So I’m giving 4 stars against my food opinion because I was impressed when I walked in and loved the fresh pasta thing, server was nice and I think it is worth a check-​out… and maybe as time goes on some things will improve, like the mediocre salad. So I would recommend you try the place when you have time and see for yourself.

At first glance this restaurant looks like it is no part of the strip mall and currently lives in. The design isn’t done a terrific job of making it look like a completely separate establishment. They did have a front porch that they’ve done a good job of enclosing has a nice fire and comfy couches. Between then and were told the wait was going to be about 15 minutes which we were fine with we planned on going to the bar and waiting at the bar. I would consider this a mid-​range Italian restaurant and the servers all had on a uniform of some sort. What I thought was really odd was that the bartenders were all wearing jeans and some sort of Ohio State Buckeyes top. Are particular bartender was wearing a hoodie and the entire bar staff seemed dressed rather unprofessional compared to the rest of the servers. They were attentive enough but it just struck me as odd like the busboy snuck behind the bar or something and decided to start pouring drinks. It’s not a sports bar, I understand Ohio State was playing, but let’s stick to our reason for being there in a serving and being professional about it. We elected to not have a full on dinner rather experimenting with some appetizers. I had the arancini which was my first experimentation with this and I thought it was actually really good! My friend had a caprese salad and it was very tasty fresh nothing to complain about. Our server was very attentive, we never really had to wait for a refill on a drink and overall I cannot give it 5 stars because I want to wait until I I am able to have a full meal. But easily it’s one of the better Italian restaurants in Mentor and I will be back!

The food is fresh and hot. The service outstanding.
I would recommend this to all my friends. They make the pasta fresh at the time you order. You will like the appearance of the resturant. Enjoy

This restaurant does a good job of hiding the fact it’s in a strip store on both the interior and exterior. The menu selection is nice and it’s great to see the words homemade on the menu. Our bread and sauce arrived promptly. I prefer my Italian bread to have a little chewier crust, but the sauce was nice. My butternut ravioli was tasty… a slight sweetness and an ample portion. I always love having some creative options to choose from and they certainly had them. The side salads with cheese had a flavorful dressing and a nice mix of vegetables. It was great to get darker greens rather than iceberg lettuce. I would give this restaurant a 4, but my husband didn’t really care for his shrimp pasta. The shrimp were overcooked and the sauce had a very strong seafood flavor that almost overpowered the meal. We visited on October 31 and the music was an annoying mix of Halloween songs which was distracting to me. Our servers were polite and did a decent job of checking in with us. I would like to come back and try their stone oven pizzas. I have been looking for a local place that tastes like authentic NYC pizza.

The bar is awesome. Have a seat and enjoy one of their brews. If you happen in on a night when Debbie is tending bar you will have been served by one of the best!
If you are so inclined, grab a bite. Have a Pizzas or some pasta, and make sure to finish with tiramisu!
Enjoy!

Little disappointed. Food was alright, service was horrible. We had to ask for bread multiple times. Our waitress never brought us a refill on water.
Edited star rating after chef responded to my first experience. I hope these guys stick around.

So first let’s start with they say no reservations but they will take them before 6 and after 8. We had a party of 10 and they sat us right away. We told them we were bringing in a cake and they even offered to serve it !
The outside doesn’t look to appealing and hope soon this changes because the inside is amazing. It is so cute inside. The bar is awesome ! The outside patio is amazing and you can still sit outside even if it’s pouring rain like it was the night we were there.
Back where we were sitting I also noticed that there was a private outside area with fireplace. I believe you can have parties there.
Everyone loves the calamari appetizer ! The number one thing at our table offered was the pork shank with mushroom risotto ! So delicious but I actually got the salmon entrée which was cooked perfect.
On a side not we had a newborn and 5 year old with us and is totally kid friendly as well as a great place for date night.
Totally recommend giving this place a try !!!

The service and red bread dipping sauce are the stellar items here!
The pizza was «ok» — I feel like more options as to combination pizzas are needed for this place to shine — don’t get me wrong — the mushroom pizza was good — not very «mushroom-​y» though…
The cavatelli tasted like frozen Chieffos cavatelli that we make at home… only colder & swimming in watery red sauce.
Would I go back — for the take out red bread dipping sauce and maybe a craft beer (they have a good draft selection) — pizza would be only «to go».

I haven’t been back since my last review, but I’m updating to reflect that one of the business managers at Pastina contacted me on Unilocal to let me know he has changed the wing recipe. I’ve not had them yet, so I can’t say if they are better, but that he considered my comments constructively bodes well for this place.
One of my other complaints was about an (apparent) supervisor or manager was rude, and while that wasn’t addressed, the action’s and words of the manager who messaged me tells me she was an exception to the rule (or maybe having a bad day). It soured me down to giving one star, which probably wasn’t fair.
While there were some other issues I had (see my previous review), I’ve added a star back to my rating to reflect what I consider to be improvements. While I never intended on returning, I’m going to give this place one more shot in the near future and will update my review again.