Legitimate Italian restaurants are few and far between in Summit and Portage counties. We gave Dontino's a try, and honestly can't wait to return. The restaurant is well maintained, and very clean. Ashley served us, and was knowledgeable, attentive, and very polite. Great job! Cocktails were well made. My wife enjoyed the lasagna. It was slightly spicy, but she thought that added to bringing out the flavors in the dish. I tried the veal parmesan, which was very tasty. Unlike most restaurants, they aren't afraid to season at Dontino's. I could actually taste the garlic. Great blend of spices in the sauce. This is honest to goodness, real Italian home cooking. Again, we can't wait to return.
The food is amazing!! We were visiting from out of town and came back two days in a row! My mother-in-law is Italian and said this was “real” Italian food. Thank you for the great experience!
Excellent Italian food made from scratch.
Excellent place I stopped at on my vacation. 5/5 would eat daily if I was local.
Really great authentic Italian cuisine! The homemade ricotta stuffed ravioli are the best! The marinara sauce tastes very clean like fresh tomatoes. Not overly spiced with garlic. I like the marinara because it's NOT sweet. The salads are good too. The Italian dressing is authentic tasting like vinegar which I prefer. Fair prices too.Shout out to Kathy! She was our waitress who was awesome!
Wow I was really hoping for more. The food was just ok but the service was great. We'll we went back tonight and the steak sandwich was fantastic, thank you Anthony for checking on us...great job.
Great atmosphere. Good service.Mac and cheese disappointing. Mushy.Not made to order.First time I ever have a complaint in 40 years at this restaurant.
Last night my husband and I came in for our first (and last) visit to Dontino’s for a change in our normal rotation of restaurants. The service was great, however, our food was incredibly disappointing. I had the chicken parm and the chicken was not crisp, incredibly dry and hardly warm. My husband had the shrimp Alfredo and the Alfredo sauce was so bland and his noodles weren’t done. We decided to try the pizza after hearing great things (and at the recommendation of our server) but it was nothing special and kind of reminded me of gas station pizza honestly. When it came time for boxes and our check, to save face, we just told our server we were out for a treat and didn’t want to take our leftovers home because we didn’t want to eat against our plan the next day. With our apps (which were the saving grace of our meals) and our meals, our bill was $70. We were baffled. Pretty expensive for disappointing food. We read the reviews, we’d heard about it on the radio, but nothing prepared us for what we were presented with. Thanks for the opportunity, but we will take this one off of our night out rotation.
Dontino’s La Vita GardensCraving the taste of Italy? Stop by this family-owned gem that’s been a part of the Akron area for nearly 100 years! From the place mats and color schemes, to the vintage photographs and decor, Dontino’s La Vita Gardens serves something we think is super important in dining experiences: authenticity. We absolutely loved the style of this restaurant, and want to go back just to sit at the beautifully arranged bar (which we are SO sad we weren’t able to photograph). We didn’t get anything to drink, but were plenty satisfied with our pre-meal bread and salads. The house-made Italian dressing was absolutely wonderful, and the bread was fresh and refilled promptly upon our request! For our main courses, we got the baked manicotti and the spaghetti with mushrooms. The spaghetti dish was very average, and we weren’t too wowed by any uniqueness or flavors. But the manicotti dish was absolutely DELICIOUS, and was probably the freshest we’ve tasted. Additionally, Dontino’s menu is large, diverse, and filled with incredibly reasonably priced items. Overall, it’s likely in the cards for us to visit again and try something new!
Craving the taste of Italy? Stop by this family-owned gem that’s been a part of the Akron area for nearly 100 years! From the place mats and color schemes, to the vintage photographs and decor, Dontino’s La Vita Gardens serves something we think is super important in dining experiences: authenticity. We absolutely loved the style of this restaurant, and want to go back just to sit at the beautifully arranged bar (which we are SO sad we weren’t able to photograph). We didn’t get anything to drink, but were plenty satisfied with our pre-meal bread and salads. The house-made Italian dressing was absolutely wonderful, and the bread was fresh and refilled promptly upon our request! For our main courses, we got the baked manicotti and the spaghetti with mushrooms. The spaghetti dish was very average, and we weren’t too wowed by any uniqueness or flavors. But the manicotti dish was absolutely DELICIOUS, and was probably the freshest we’ve tasted. Additionally, Dontino’s menu is large, diverse, and filled with incredibly reasonably priced items. Overall, it’s likely in the cards for us to visit again and try something new!