Donato Enoteca

I was really looking forward to my time here… but as you can see I ended up giving it a lower rating than I expected.
But first, here’s what was awesome about Donato Enoteca–
— The pork belly had a nice crispy skin, and was also caramelized with some sugar on it, along some nice sour notes from the pickled chanterelles (never thought to pickle mushrooms!)
— Duck was pretty awesome. nicely done with a red wine sauce.
— The lamb shank was massive, also a nice rich red sauce.
— The cod dish was like artichoke dip for adults. Rich, cheesy, and nice big chunks of fish. And nice that it was in a cast iron, the burnt cheese pieces were sinfully awesome.
Had a couple minor nitpicky problems though–
— I think I like my risotto a little more al dente. Felt a little bit mushy to me, which wasn’t fun in such a rich creamy sauce.
— I think they use the reverse sear method for the steak in the prix-​fixe. In this method, you sousvide the steak to perfect doneness and then sear it afterwards to get the caramelization and flavor of the crust. So, internally perfect done-​ness. However, I wish it was seared a little more; sometimes with sous-​vide, the meat can come out a little wet and gray without a good sear… and this was the case. However, this is me being a meat nerd and micro-​critiquing the technique. The actual meat quality… I could taste the quality of the aged beef. It was a rich and beefy flavor of the meat itself. So really, a minor note.
Major problem–
— Service. I feel bad for this– it seems our waiter was just having a bad day. But nonetheless, it has to go on my review. Our waiter was rather flustered the whole night. He was dropping things everywhere… and I actually have empathy for waiters and waitresses on their bad day, so we tried to joke with our waiter to lighten the mood. The waiter either didn’t hear the joke or completely didn’t want to be consoled. His face was stone cold and left us feeling stupid for trying to humor him in his brief times at our table (he was running back and forth a lot, hard to get his attention). Finally, before our meal was over (we had the 3 course prix fixe, so before the 3^rd course came), he dropped off our bill. We had to wait several minutes before we could flag him down and inquire what happened… (he had forgotten it). Anyways, I hate to dock it on this. But hoping to give the restaurant another try on a better night!

Donatos just gets better and better. Truly deserving of 5 stars! Read older review below to hear why.
Get the bigoli or the agnolotti, my new go-​to — you won’t be disappointed.
Our absolute favorite restaurant in the Bay Area. Thank you Chef Donato and team for taking such great care of us!

The food was absolutely superb. Giuseppe was the most professional and attentive server. Will recommend this restaurant to my friends!

Maybe my standards are set against the North End in Boston but this was not on par for
The Cheese Cake Factory. I am sorry but there was so much salt in my rice and so many bones in my sole I thought I was being punked. Sorry I had high hopes.

After spending 4 months in Bologna, Italy, I am very choosy about my Italian food. However, I can say with certainty that Donato’s is my absolute favorite Italian place in the Bay Area. The food is truly authentic and the menu offers simple and classic Italian food, while also adding more unique options. There is something for everyone to love. The atmosphere is upscale, but the prices are very fair. The service is excellent; the waiters are attentive and often remember my family. The manager always is sure to check in on tables, and always comes over and says hi to my family. We do not go anywhere else for Italian!

This review is for their annual food and wine tasting only, which I have attended twice. Over one hundred wines to taste, alongside scrumptious appetizers and a roasted whole hog. I always leave happy and satiated. This year they even had the Warriors game on for a little while which was a crowd pleaser. I’ll be back again for this wonderful event.

This is for happy hour only:
BUT, my husband and I will be back to try the regular menu! We like to try the happy hour first before going back for the regular menu. Great happy hour! 50% off of wine, cocktails, and appetizers. We sat at the bar, which was beautifully decorated and clean and also, had a small TV (that made my husband happy). We ordered four appetizers and wine and cocktails. The food was delicious and came out quickly. Beautifully presented, FRESH, and very flavorful. The bartender, Rich, was so friendly and gave tastes of each wine and recommended his favorites, which were top notch. Something to note was the high amount of Italian speaking customers, so it must be rated high with the Italian community. We will definitely be coming back soon!

Went for lunch today and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food here.
First off, the table bread was warm and fluffy. There goes my carb count for the day. Started off with the fried octopus farro salad. I would’ve preferred the octopus not be fried, but the rest of the salad was perfect. Just the right amount of dressing and the farro was cooked just enough to retain the chewy texture.
My coworker and I split the Margherita pizza and it was deeeelicious. Dare I say it was almost as good as pizzeria delfina’s signature Margherita pizza?! The sauce was just enough tangy and sweet, and the crust had the perfect texture.
We finished our meal with the server’s recommended tiramisu. OMG this was among the best tiramisus I’ve ever had. Real mascarpone, moist, not too sweet. It was heaven in my mouth!
The service pace was at times too slow and we got a dirty cup when we first sat down. Pay a little more attention to details and it could easily turn into one of my favorite Italian restaurants!

Disclaimer: this review is ONLY for the Panna cotta that I had from there!
So last evening i was really craving for a Panna Cotta and of course turned to Unilocal for help! And voila Donato pops up as one of the best places to have a panna cotta! but sadly my experience was a bad one! not sure if I can blame it as a one off experience (I hope so) coz I want to try the restaurant for sure!
So coming back to my panna cotta which i To-​Go-​ed was really really bad. it wasn’t as soft or moist it should be! Neither the consistency was even close to perfect! It was a lemon flavored and sour to the core! Extra tangy and did not live up to my expectations at all and def not worth the 8 $!

I am not sure if the menu was pre-​fixed or not since I was here for a celebration party (Lunch meal). I do not know if their menu will be different with the food we have on the table. But anyway,
It’s my first time eating at Donato Enoteca, there are many waiters who works here are Italian and they are fun to talk to. For our pre-​fixed menu, we only have a garden salad and have a choice for an entrée. The entrée was separated into Ravioli filled with Potato, Ravioli filled with Veal and sausage topped of by ground-​pork red sauce, and a chicken sandwich.
I’ve ordered the Ravioli filled with Veal and topped of sausage sauce. The entrée itself it’s great, but the portion is a bit small to fill you up. The Ravioli I had, the ravioli itself, I feel the dough portion is a bit too thick and it covered the flavor of Veal and Sausage. Or may be the veal & sausage was seasoned lightly to preserved the nature flavor? But the red sauce was seasoned well and it blend in all the ingredients together. Overall the entrée was pretty good.
We also have the Chicken sandwich, which was a grilled chicken breast with asparagus topped off by their home-​made bread. I couldn’t really identified what type of sauce they used for the seasoning, but the sandwich was pretty good. Only concern about this entrée was too salty. But the salad on the side can help to remove the saltiness for a bit.
As for the garden salad, it’s just like any other garden salad. But the vinaigrette was the key for the salad. The Italian restaurant i been to, their vinaigrette are usually too sour in my opinion. But Donato their vinaigrette was well balanced and the balsamic was not over powering the salad.
Overall I will recommend this place for lunch. The place is clean, waiters were friendly and the food itself was pretty good.
P. S. They also do have a bar, so if you want, you can sit at the bar to drink & eat.

Great service. Great atmosphere. But the CFO must have taken control from the Chef. Noticeably stingier portions of costly ingredients. The menu touted the «lumps of Blue Crab meat» in the pasta. I’d say maybe 1.5 oz at most. Just tiny tiny bits. An insufficient amount for sure. The blood orange day boat scallop salad had two very small scallops and four tiny orange wedges. In the past you felt that Donato Inoteca was generous. Now they seem dominated by portion control and profit margin concerns. I’ll give it one more try but if this happens again I’m
done with a long time favorite restaurant.

Donato Enoteca has great food in an elegant environment. The staff is friendly and professional. It’s in a busy area so parking can be challenging, but it’s worth the effort. I look forward to going back!

They revised the menu for Fall. Here’s the run-​down:
⁵⁄₅: The risotto with duck leg is great. It has a reduced duck demi-​glacé, almost like a duck sugo; super flavorful.
4.5÷5: The El Diablo cocktail is very good: tequila and crème de cassis.
4.5÷5: The pork belly appetizer is very good. great crispy fried top, nice combination of lean and fat inside. Large chunk. Maybe too lean.
³⁄₅: The Pimms cup is respectable. could be a little more pungent or sweet, but it works.
³⁄₅: The Rum buck is a good rum-​based Moscow Mule. Rum, lime, ginger beer.
³⁄₅: The Ravioli banzi is OK. On the plus side, it’s perfectly al dente. The walnut cream sauce is good, but not as addictive as a really good Beurre-​blanc sauce. The cheese ravioli stuffing is a little too gritty/​pasty.
³⁄₅: The fried octopus and faro salad is OK. The fried octopus is pretty good. The faro is a little bland /​not-​so-​interesting.
³⁄₅: The new Gorgonzola and porchetta pizza is OK. It shows off the crust: it’s light on the toppings.
²⁄₅: The gnocchi gratin is meh; the heavy cheese doesn’t work with the gnocchi, and it’s bland.
²⁄₅: the sliced poached octopus is meh. It’s basically a very thinly sliced terrine. It has no flavor, and if there were any flavor, it’s obliterated by the vinaigrette/​lemon sauce.

One of the best Italian restaurants in the bay area; including San Francisco. Everything was top notch; including ambience, bar, wine list, cuisine, service and dessert. The restaurant is more spacious than it appears and has an elegant but accessible atmosphere, bordered by wine storage. Started with the Stuzzichini anitipasto. Loved the bomba bread and rich first press olive oil with pickled beans, rice fritters, salami and proscuitto. The Bruschetta di Cinghiale, braised wild boar with onion and chianti vinegar on grilled ciabatta was the bomb! We shared the agnolotti del plin home made small ravioli. Cooked perfectly al dente with a wonderful sauce. Thoroughly enjoyed the unique foiade di funghi; buck wheat pasta with wild mushrooms, garlic, and padano cheese. Also tried a sample of the bigoli e coda; pasta with oxtail and asparagus which was average. Not enough meat or vegetables and somewhat bland. For dessert, we shared a wonderful panna cotta with house made orange sauce. Thick, rich and creamy with a sweet citrus bite. Outstanding. Service very attentive and efficient. Strong wine list. Parking nearby across the street next to the library.

This is a great Italian restaurant. I would recommend this to everyone. The food is excellent.
The restaurant has a very upscale feel. Nice Wines and great food.
if you like high quality italian food, this is the place to go.

We came on a Monday evening. The place was pretty empty but then again, it was almost 9pm and this ain’t NYC folks! This town isn’t exactly known to liven it up at all hours of the night! That said, the food was quite good.
I started with octopus carpaccio. It was delectable and reasonably priced at $ 11. This is a must order Trust me.
The Moscow mule is quite a drink and worth the $ 10. It’s a blend of vodka and ginger beer but you can hardly taste the liquor as you drink it. Then later, it hits you! Wham! I’m what they call «weak sauce» so when the alcohol hits me, I get that warm, fuzzy feeling that makes my cheeks turn red. But this drink is yummy! Definitely one of my favorites.
For my main course, I had the veal loin chop. The portion size was good and it was cooked well. The herb and trebbiano sauce kept me wanting more. It really elevated the flavor of the meat.
For dessert, I was so tired that I just went with the old fashion tiramisu. You can’t go wrong there! It was not the best I’ve ever had but not the worse either. It was a decent tiramisu. I didn’t finish it all but I was stuffed.
Service is attentive but not overbearing. Again, it was not a busy night so it’s really hard to judge. However, if you are in the neighborhood, Donato Enoteca is a great option.

Wow what a fun place with a wide range of pastas and also a very nice setting for private parties. The wine list is also good. The pasta are out standing.
The sauce s are terrific and the winner selection is also great. We’ve been here for both lunch and dinner and private parties and they are super considerate.
The location is in downtown Redmond so parking is tough but it is worth it fort the fresh pasta!

I took my family here for Father’s Day, and it was an incredibly pleasant experience. Our table was avoiding carbs, which felt like it defeated the purpose of going to an Italian restaurant, but we still had a lovely meal.
Highlights of the meal included:
+WILD BOARD BRUSCHETTA (slightly tangier than I expected)
+TERRA COTTA ROASTED CHICKEN (a little heavy though)
+DRY AGED NY STEAK
And of course, we ended with dessert:
+CIOCCOLATO FONDENTE E NOCCIOLE (like a chocolate lava cake, but better)
Service was fantastic, and all in all it was a lovely meal. Definitely recommend!

Sadly, my return visit to Donato Enoteca recently was super disappointing! We came on a Sunday night for an early Mother’s Day dinner (and my mom’s early birthday dinner), and it was like a different chef cooked for us. Service was also super slow since our server had the ENTIRE back area with over 10 tables– our entrees took at least 20 minutes to arrive after we finished our appetizers, which was ridiculous since the restaurant was only half full. At least they were accommodating with allowing us to move our table since they initially had us sitting right by the door/​entrance and we didn’t want to sit in such a heavy foot traffic area. This time around I tried:
–Complimentary Bread & Dip: The bread was good, but didn’t seem as good as I remembered. We realized why after we got a bread refill since we got warm bread that time, and it was 10x better! Make sure you request for warm bread since it really does make a huge difference.
–Bruschetta Di Cinghiale (Hand Pulled Braised Wild Boar, Onion, Chianti Vinegar on Grilled Ciabatta, $ 11,
): Eh, just ok– I thought the bruschetta was too plain with just the wild boar, and the flavor was also just ok. I wouldn’t order this again.
–Polpette Di Agnello (Oven Baked Lamb Sausage Polpette w/​Provolone Cheese, Spicy Tomato Sauce, Focaccia Bread, $ 11,
): I loved the melty cheese on top, and the meatballs were good when you eat them hot. However, the lamb definitely had a gamey taste, which was more pungent the next day when we ate the leftovers. I probably wouldn’t get this again.
–Agnolotti Del Plin (Housemade Small Ravioli «Del Plin» w/​Three Meats [Sausage, Veal], Tomato, Onion Sauce, $ 18,
): I’m not a huge fan of ravioli, so have really high standards. Their version wasn’t very good in my opinion, and the sauce was bland– skip!
–Spaghetti Al Nero Di Seppia E Bottarga (Fresh Spaghetti w/​Squid Ink Sauce, Calamari, Spicy Calabria Peppers, Bottarga, $ 18,
): This was my favorite dish of the night, and I’m glad at least the dish I came back to try was good. I liked the sweetness of the squid ink sauce, although the spaghetti was a little overcooked. The only negative about this dish is that your lips and teeth will be black while you are eating it.
–Pescatrice, Fregola E Finocchi (Baked Monkfish Ossobuco, Fregola, Fennel, Cherry Tomatoes, Wine Sauce, $ 24,
): Eh, bland and boring, and the monkfish was overcooked– skip!
–Pizza Salsiccia E Funghi (Homemade Spicy Sausage, Mixed Mushrooms, Tomato, Fresh Mozzarella, $ 15,
): Meh. The pizza dough was not cooked well at all– the sides were soft instead of crisp, and the crust in the middle was soggy. The sausage and mushroom combination was bland and didn’t work well together– skip!
–Cavolfiori (Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower w/​Grana Padano, $ 4,
): Not so great– the cauliflower pieces were still super hard and crunchy, and there was no flavor aside from the saltiness of the grana padano– skip!
–Cioccolato Fondente Enocciole (Warm Chocolate Hazelnut Cake Served w/​Vanilla Bean Gelato, $ 9): & Panna Cotta (Lemon Panna Cotta w/​Homemade Orange Sauce, $ 8) [
: I actually liked the chocolate hazelnut cake more, since the molten center was nice and gooey, and it wasn’t too sweet. The panna cotta was really disappointing this time around since they added too much gelatin, so it was really firm and bland.
Overall, based on this last experience, I doubt I will return to Donato Enoteca again in the near future. If I do, i will definitely avoid coming on a Sunday night, since that is obviously when the head chef has the day off and the food quality is much worse. Sadly, Sunday is the one day that parking in Redwood City is free!

Many reasons to LOVE this restaurant:
1) Perfect for date night
2) Incredibly delicious food and fairly reasonable price.
3) Great decoration and location.
Must get the ink pasta, but be careful when eating it. Might stain your shirts.