Off for 3 weeks from 7th December to India; hope the mess this site is in is cleared up by the time ...
Off for 3 weeks from 7th December to India; hope the mess this site is in is cleared up by the time I get back & that the number of cheats & churners will have decreased. Season's greetings to you all. xx
Member since:10.10.2002
Reviews:294
Members who trust:279
Donatello - a restaurant I would never have really thought about going to had I not been on a hen weekend organised by a company who booked us "hens" into Donatello for what they described as a 2 course meal included as part of our package.
Of the seven of us who went to dine there, none had eaten there before and we arrived about 15 minutes later than we were due. We were not made to feel like naughty school kids for being late (as has happened to me when out with groups of diners before and various circumstances have caused us to be slightly late - with a snooty comment such as "we are extremely busy and other diners are waiting for tables"). Anyway the waitress showed us to our table which was on the first floor or was it? We walked in from street level and were escorted upstairs but looking out of windows we were still on street level! I found this very clever and very curious! The restaurant seemed to be full booked - every table seemed to be occupied but our waiter was over with us within moments of the waitress seating us and explained that our 3 course meal was already paid for and anything extra we wanted we could select from the menu. Our waiter was very friendly and efficient from the moment we met him and this did not change throughout the evening.
The 3 course meal that we were advised to choose from included a starter which included: a garlic mushroom dish, prawn cocktail,
minestrone soup or a mixed salad, a main course which allowed us to choose a pizza or pasta of our choice and a choice of dessert from the menu. There were a few exceptions such as having to pay extra for a dessert of fresh strawberries or the Coppas desserts, but apart from that pretty much everything was available on the 3 course menu which costs £8.95 on most days but £10.95 on Saturdays.
Our group asked for a few bowls of olives to pick at whilst we waited for our mixture of starters and were pleasantly surprised to see how large the olive portions were. We thought we would be waiting for ages for our drinks and starters to be brought over as the restaurant seemed to be full to capacity as well as the tables outside the restaurants seeming to be all occupied as well but we needn't have worried. Our dedicated waiter brought over our drinks quickly and correctly, happily gave us a couple of jugs of tap water and ice and within minutes our starters arrived too. I was most impressed with my prawn cocktail - the best I've had in several years that I can remember! My friends who had the soup or the garlic mushrooms were very happy with their choices too. We ordered a few bottles of the house wine which was about £11 a bottle and we had no complaints about its quality at all, it was good enough that we went through 3 bottles of it quite easily during our meal. One of our group was driving so didn't have alcohol and another stuck to spirits so 3 bottles of wine between 5 of us might be considered a lot but considering we were on a hen weekend, it might be considered quite tame too!
When our main courses arrived we were all very surprised to see how generous the portion sizes were. I was rather stunned to see how much was on my plate - I had ordered the Alla Carbonara and it was fabulous, except there was so much of it, I couldn't empty my plate. I really just HAD to leave some space for dessert! Everyone in our group was delighted with their main course and for once, I was so happy with my food that I didn't sit there and eye everyone else's food with envy (as I end up doing quite often when visiting a restaurant for the first time) wishing I had ordered theirs dish instead of my own!
What I did notice about Donatello was that the level of noise from other tables wasn't intrusive. I have been to restaurants where the sound level is almost unbearable at times and it's impossible to hear what your fellow dinners at your table are saying - this was not the case with Donatello. Even though each table was occupied, it seemed as if people were chatting to each other in dulcet tones and it was a very pleasant atmosphere indeed!
We ordered the desserts and again found these to be of excellent quality. I ordered an apple tart and it was heavenly! Everyone else was really envious of my choice as the tart was so light and fluffy it looked irresistible to others and yes, it was as delicious as it looked! My friends had a variety of desserts from the menu such as ice cream, lemon sorbet and chocolate cake which also looked lovely but the portion really was huge!
When we asked for the bill it was brought over promptly and the total was about £170 less £76.65 for 7 of the 3 course meals. A service charge of about £15 had been included but we had no issue with this at all as the service had been exemplary. We were so pleased with the service that we left an additional cash tip separately for our waiter as he just couldn't have done more to make our dining experience more enjoyable.
On our floor there were toilets (not sure if there were toilets on the lower floor) but there were 5 or 6 cubicles and I noticed that they were spacious and clean and each cubicle had its own sink and hand drying facilities. Outside of the cubicles there was a large wall mirror for you to make sure your lipstick wasn't smudged and pat down any creases in your clothes! I do not believe the toilet facilities are disabled friendly though as I did not see a ramp to gain access to these toilets but as I did not check to see if there were separate toilets on the lower floor I can't say for sure.
If I had any complaints about Donatello it would be that it was extremely warm when we first sat down and I would not have even mentioned this had my friends not also said the same thing as I am one of those people who is always somewhat warmer than everyone else. It wasn't an issue for long as the air conditioning was either turned on or turned up before we had a chance to mention this to our waiter.
All in all I would strongly recommend Donatello to anyone visiting Brighton for the weekend or a longer stay and wanting to dine out. The food couldn't be faulted and nor could the service - which is extremely rare these days. And what fabulous value - 3 courses for £10.95! Why if we had ordered those dishes individually it could have cost in excess of £20 so the deal is an absolute bargain.
I suggest you give Donatello a try if you're in the area and maybe have a look at their website which includes photos of this lovely restaurant: http://www.donatello.co.uk/index.stm
Donatello is located at 1-3 Brighton Place, Brighton, BN1 1HJ, telephone: 01273 775477.
As you may have guessed from the name of the restaurant and the menu items I've quoted Donatello is an Italian restaurant…
Pictures of Donatello, Brighton
My dessert!
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