Donatello

I'd rather listen to the sound of my toes being broken than eat at Donatello again. I went with my boyfriend and best friend a few weeks ago, and can safely say that it was the worst dining experience I've ever had. The bar was so full (right behind our table) that people were leaning on my chair. Hen and stag parties were coming in and the noise was unbelievable. It was like trying to eat in the middle of a packed train. The waitress was rude, we asked to be moved downstairs (we asked nicely) and I specifically said, 'As we've been here an hour already, the next table which comes up, can we please have it?' I was given a 'yes', but it never happened. The prawn cocktail was hideous, like something from an Iceland 'starter for one' packet. Hard avocado, crappy little frozen prawns. The pasta was overcooked, and we got up and left without paying. Seriously. Nobody even noticed. We'd asked to be moved, we'd had to tell people ourselves to please stop leaning on our chairs, and still they were ushering people to the bar. At best, it was extremely noisy, irritating and an awful experience. At worst, it was a potential fire hazard. Awful.
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Jules
Thursday, September 06, 2007

cheap and cheerful, spinach & ricotta canelloni was not the best I have ever had in brighton (i got that in Il bistro around the corner!!) Waiter we had had very poor english and mumbled when he spoke, very slow service, dont go if you only have a hour to spare !!
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Jo
Thursday, August 30, 2007

My boyfriend & i tried this restuarant before we ended up in Zissi's, it was very busy & looked lovely especially with it being a warm night & tables outside. We went inside & yes it looked busy, we were greeted by a very nice gentleman to be told that we would only have to wait 15mins for a table, so we decided to wait & sit in the bar for a drink.....we started to notice a few couples around us who had arrived before us, they had already been waiting 25 mins, so we decided that we couldn't bother to wait., we would have much prefered if the guy had told us it was longer than 15 mins becuase then we could have made a decision to go or stay instead he was trying to cram people in & all this means it that we probably wouln't have had the service expected & also we would have felt rushed! Sorry donatello's but don't think i will be trying you anytime soon!
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merryn wing
Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Definitely not the best Italian in Brighton but with the sun shining and and tables outside it was ideal especially with 2 courses for 8 quid! Which turned out to be good value. The choice was very good for the main course as it included any pizza or pasta. The wine is a bit overpriced but the ice bucket is a nice touch. It's a shame some of the waiting staff are not a bit friendlier but overall they are quite helpful.
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JONIMO - View all reviews by this user
Sunday, June 24, 2007

Went here for a quiet dinner with a couple of friends on a Friday night, quite late. Ate from the set menu - 3 courses for £9. Excellent value, tasty and the wine was inexpensive too. Upstairs looked a little boisterous, but the lower ground floor was quieter and the staff were pretty accomodating.
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Justine Davidge
Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Went to Donatello's Saturday 26th may and will never go again. When most of us arrived we were told to go to the bar and wait for our table, one of the waiters then shouted at a member of our group for standing in the wrong place (nice touch) while the barman half bothered to get out drinks. We were then told to leave our drinks as they would be bought to us and were ushered upstairs to our table, that they had not finished laying. We waited for about ten mins for our drinks to come up to us but they didn't so we tried to order some more, the waiter was very rude and wanted us to order our food straight away even though we were clearly waiting for the rest of of party to arrive. I tried to explain this to him but he was really persistant in making us order our food, at this point the other member of the group arived and we had to order straight away.

The food was vile. I had Prawns and advocado, the prawns were tiny tastless obviosly frozen and probably from iceland. Three other members of the party had mussels that were tiny, filled with sand and some were served closed!! To the person who wrote the review about the mussels being fantasic I imagen that you were drunk when you ate them or you acidently put a review for another resturant under the reviews for Donatello's!

For my main course I had pizza it had the same nasty prawns on it manky anchoives etc and it was so soggy I think it had been boiled rather than baked in a pizza oven. My Sister couldn't actually eat her pasta it was so disgusting and there was something very stange about my boyfirends and brothers pasta- they couldn't decide if it was over or under done, it was just rubbish.

In a desparte measure to find something good about the place we decided to attempt the deserts. I had Rum soaked Pineapple with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream on top and several members of the group had perfritor rolls. My pinaple tasted as though the bottle of Rum had been waved at it rather that being soaked in and the ice cream was tasteless with the cream on top being lumpy. The profiter rolls were warm in the middle. This wasn't surprising considering that all the deserts were bought to the table within two mins of ordering! The best bit about dersert was relising that the spoon my brother was about to eat with had a bogey on it- the waiter chaged this but didn't apoligise.

All of this food was served whilst eating on a wonky table and being barged past by waiters shouting to each other.

I went to the toilet in this place and to do so had to walk past the mens where I inhaled a hideious smell- the kind of stench you expect from a public toilet not in a resturante.

Go to this resturante if you want vile food, incompetent serivce, dirty cutlery, no atmosphere and have no issue paying for it.
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Saturday, June 02, 2007

Some of the reviews of this place seem to have been written by people with more enthusiasm than taste buds. This has to be the most unconvincing, unenjoyable Italian restaurant in Brighton. Any other is better. It's cramped, noisy and the food is BAD.
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KS
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

I went to donatellos last saturday and I was amazed!! We were greeted at the door and made to feel extremely welcome. I had mussels to start and I can honestly say that they are the frehest and best mussles I've ever had!! my girlfriend had had a help yourself salad bar and she really enjoyed it. For mains I had a fiorentina pizza which was perfect and possibly better than the pizzas I've eaten in Italy!! Service was excellent with attentive and friendly staff.

All in all a fantastic restaurant and highly recommend it!!
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Nick Sneftu
Sunday, May 13, 2007

Visited the evening of April 28th

Please DO NOT VISIT THIS RESTAURANT. We have visited Donatello's twice but never again. The food was ok, but not anything special. No Bruchetta was offered on the menu and when we asked for what must be one of the most basic of Italian foods, we were met with a very grumpy and unhelpful responce.

When the food came parts of what was advertsied on the menu were missing, I recieved the vegetarian lasagne and my friend recieved the meat option, not very good when she was the vegetarian and had already taken her first bite!

The service was in broken English and the waitress didn't know what a Tooth pick was, and generally the staff were incredibly rude and unhelpful.

When the bill came it was not correct and had to be changed, it then came out more expensive, apparently their computer calculates the cheapest option for the customer, something not explained well, and hard to believe. We ended up paying for it just to leave sooner rather than later. It really was an aweful experience and I would hope others would not risk this restaurant and reviews like this can encourage them to change the way they run their service, and improve their customer relations.
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Steve - View all reviews by this user
Friday, May 11, 2007

Ate there last week, had booked a table but still had a 20 minute wait. Wiated 30 minutes after being seted for drinks to arrive. Waiters were all very abrupt and rude. Food was nothing special considering how long it took to come. Overall very disappionting, would not reccomend it to anyone
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Robert
Thursday, May 10, 2007