Solid Italian dish and wine options. Excellent garlic bread. Great chicken parm. Relatively small lasagna with an herby taste. A bit noisy (music).
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Garlic Bread, Chicken Parmesan, Red Cabernet Sauvignon 'IL Rospo ' Montesecondo Tuscany Italy 2020
Sam E.
If you're looking for that classic, old school family-style Italian dinner in LA, Donna's is the way to go. They have a lot of the classics like pasta Ragu, chicken Parmesan, spaghetti and meatballs, veal picatta, etc. But they also bring a new age flare to some dishes like the lasagna Rollatini (think lasagna but instead of horizontal layers you get tight pinwheels of meaty, salty, cheesy goodness!) and fussili a la vodka with whipped ricotta. The restaurant itself does remind me of a Brooklyn-based Italian mom & pop restaurant with a checkerboard floor. It's a pretty small venue which is probably why it's so hard to get a reservation (you gotta book 1 - 2 weeks in advance at 10 AM on Rezy). This does make for a more intimate dining experience which is nice. We started with the garlic bread. Oh my god this was the best garlic bread I have ever had. The outer crust was so crisp and crunchy. Covered in parmigiano cheese. The inside was perfectly fluffy and so garlicky and buttery. I could not stop eating this bread I was genuinely considering ordering a second. Next we got the Caesar salad which was divine. Perfectly dressed with a fresh dressing and again served with tons of parmigiano. As a group of 3, we got 3 entrees in addition to those starters to share. We chose the chicken Parmesan, the lasagna Rollatini, and the pork ragu. The chicken parm was crunchy on the outside and loaded with cheese. The lasagna was fantastic, my only critique was that it was a pretty small dish but one bite of it was very rich. The pasta sheets were thin, arranged in pretty vertical pinwheels, and there was lots of meaty sauce in between all the layers. The pasta ragu was so good. Perfectly cooked al dente pasta topped with a rich pork ragu sauce. The service was great, our waiter was very friendly and attentive. My only critique was the dessert. The carrot cake was not moist and had a very citrusy flavor which was not what I was expecting. And the cannolis tasted stale. I would skip dessert but otherwise, enjoy a fantastic dinner at Donna's!
Georgia S.
I read the reviews before I came, claiming the food is "salty" but I have to disagree... maybe y'all aren't used to flavorful food!!? I'm from the South maybe that's why haha! Every single dish was superb and came hot and delicious. Nice spritz for my drink. Calamari - can't go wrong but this one was cooked perfectly. The garlic bread is sourdough - LOVE - and perfectly crispy crust and fluffy inside - beyond amazing. The only thing I wish is that it came with something to dip in. Luckily, I had the squid ink aioli and marinara left over from the calamari. My lasagna was so unique - almost like a lasagna dumpling dish. The top of the noodle was slightly charred and the meat inside was tender, sauce was wonderful. The desserts were really yummy. The tiramisu was great, not normally a big fan but I liked the chocolate flavor in this one. The carrot cake was made with almond flour which I adore and love the dense moist texture it gives. Cheryl, our server, was absolutely darling and sweet. The ambience of the restaurant was chic yet relaxed and cozy. The area the restaurant is located in has other popping bars nearby you can go to after or before.
Delaney M.
Garlic bread and Caesar salad were great! Vodka pasta was eh, but service was so good! Adorable decor!
Scout Z.
Really good Italian American food in the most beautiful charming spot. Staff is really nice and we had great service. The pasta and chicken were the stars. I personally would skip the overpriced bread but it's good to dip in sauces.
Diana B.
I'm not sure if the reservation time (9:30pm as that was the only time available due to reservations being hard to come by) impacted the quality of the food but I share this just to keep in mind when reading this review because we went with high hopes due to the hype of "how good it is" and were severely disappointed. We ordered the garlic bread and Caesar salad to start as Tik Tok and other reviews raved about it. The garlic bread was hard and salty, the Caesar salad was drenched in dressing and had a strong lemon taste which I wasn't a fan of. Slightly disappointed with our starters, we still had hopes that the main food would be better. Wrong lol We ordered the popular fusilli allá vodka, lasagna rollatini, patata, and chicken Parmesan. Fusilli allá vodka: the first bite was good but I agree with another review that the more you eat it the saltier it gets which turns you off from eating more. Lasagna rollatini: not only was it burnt but the meat flavor was overwhelming to the point it made you not know what kind of meat(s) you were eating and it was extremely salty. I didn't even finish my first bite because I hated it. Even Target's Rao frozen lasagna is better than this. Patata: I thought you couldn't mess up potatoes, wrong again lol. The potatoes were super dry and some had a burnt flavor. Chicken Parmesan: This one was the most disappointing for me. The outer parts were decent but once you bit into the middle the texture of the chicken felt rubbery and fake which made me feel nauseous. The decor and service are 10/10 but food is not. None of my friends and I liked any of it. We left so disappointed and feeling so gross because of how salty it was. I truly was disappointed and utterly confused why this place is hyped up for being "so good". I won't be going back and won't be recommending it and the hype was definitely NOT worth it.
Michelle D.
We loved Donna's! Super cute restaurant with really good cocktails. We had the delicious garlic bread and also the chicken parm and lasagna for dinner. Everything was delicious. We finished off the night with the Tuscan carrot cake for dessert and really enjoyed it as well.
Jake Boggs
I would would definitely recommend Donnas. The Meatballs and Veal Picatta were Great. They don't strive to be a particularly innovative Italian place but rather do some classocs very well. The atmosphere is comfortable and the staff are amazing. Everyone was welcoming and helpful which makes the entire experience feel warm and fun. The only downsides to me were the cannoli plate and the small wine list, but every other aspect was on point and I'll gladly be back for more. Another knockout from Parks hospitality
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Veal Picatta
Will Beyer
Wow! What a nice restaurant. Atmosphere is amazing, food is top level. Sat at the bar, got lucky that there was a spot. Reservations here go fast I've heard.
Rebecca G.
This was our second time at Donna's -- we couldn't wait to come back. The chicken Parmesan is AMAZING, one of the best we've ever had and also highly recommend the fusilli alla vodka -- it's very rich & flavorful. The espresso martinis are delicious and pair well with the entire meal. We LOVED the tiramisu the first time around, but the second time it was very salty -- we're hoping it was just the one batch & want to go back to confirm. Not to mention, we got a flat tire on our way there & the staff was very accommodative in pushing back the reservation a few hours so we could make it.
My partner and I walk around this part of town and go out to eat quite often. We noticed Donna's a while back and tried to go, but learned of how popular it was. We had stopped in twice previously and were quoted 2 hour wait times and left, so we decided to go right at 5 on a Monday night and see if we could get in (making reservations 2 weeks in advance isn't really our thing). We got seated right away, which was exciting. I had already seen the inside, so I knew it was super cute already, which it is. The ambiance feels like a fancy, but kitschy Italian Grandma's house. Our server was great the whole time. Gave recommendations, our water was refilled, cleared plates off the small table, was very nice. Food came out very fast. I was surprised to see very little vegetarian food (no, I didn't look at the menu after all my previous attempts to visit -- or at any reviews either). No vegan food other than some of the sides. Just one salad and the only "green" in it was fennel, just one appetizer -- garlic bread, just one main entree (mushroom risotto), one pasta (fusilli with vodka sauce), and nearly all the sides were vegetarian (which all sounded good to me). This made ordering pretty easy for us, so we got all of those dishes I mentioned and one side (broccolini - which they allowed us to remove the anchovies from). We also got two dirty martinis. How was it? Well, I've got to say disappointing. The olives in the small martinis tasted kind of sweet. We both love olives and couldn't eat them. The garlic bread looked cool, but it was kind of burnt and dry and hard and definitely needed red sauce for dipping (which we did order). The sauce side wasn't big enough and really not that amazing. The risotto was probably the best item we ordered -- although I don't generally prefer risotto, so I don't have much to compare it to. The fusilli was a small, but rich portion with ricotta on top. It was super salty and that's all I really noticed about it, so I wouldn't really recommend it. The broccolini side was salty and pretty boring -- the server did say she would recommend the kale instead since we would be removing the anchovies and we didn't listen. We decided to pass on dessert and the complementary house made limoncello was a very nice touch. That's about it. I really wanted to love it more, but for a dinner on the pricier side, I want to love it and have more than one choice of things to order (it's not too expensive compared to other places if you love the food, but that wasn't the case for me).
Alison B.
Supper was fantastic! (Went here Sunday Night w/ 3 of the girlies. Felt like someone's grandma was cooking in the back.) Service was great, ambiance was romantic; low lights, candles. Had the most tasty garlic & herb bread, an amazing Cesar salad, we had the chicken parm, spicy fusilli and ragú to share. It was all happening so fast; got on the train to flavor-town and loved every stop. Company was amazing my friend mad the reservation here but it seemed very popular not a single empty table. I really enjoyed my espresso and tiramisu at the end. (Even though I was completely full- there must be dessert!)
Chase G.
I was shocked to find the food here was not very good. Given the popularity through tiktok, I couldn't wait to try this restaurant and after nailing a resy. Unfortunately, aside from the ambiance being very cute and cozy, the popular dishes (chicken Parmesan, spicy vodka pasta, and garlic bread) weren't great and the quality was poor. The ingredients did not taste fresh and the chicken Parmesan was actually inedible. I kept using the flash on my phone to check if it had been cooked through as it was very tough and rubbery and could not eat it. I'm not sure if this was an off night for them but I was surprised to say the least. If you're looking for a better experience, I would recommend Jon and Vinny's as the menu is similar and is a staple for me. Hopefully the restaurant can note some of this and improve. The restaurant itself was really cute and inviting.
Diana M.
My husband and I didn't have reservations, but the restaurant said they welcomed walk ups, we arrived about 830, and Kate was so amazing, she told us she would put us on a waitlist, 30 mins later we were sitting at our table. Best Host ever! Our server Mike, was enchanting! He made Our night delightful. The ambiance was truly infectious, with a rustic Italian feel, perfect lighting, and best of all not overly loud. The food, from the moment we walked in I wanted to try their food it smelled divine. We started with the Cesar Salad, the dressing was flavorful and not to overpowering. My husband had the clam linguine, he loved the chili oil , perfectly spicy. I had the spaghetti and meatballs, the meatballs were seasoned just right and the red sauce was quite sweet and aromatic! We will be back to try the bread! Thank you for a fabulous meal!
Melanie T.
Hard to get a reservation but they are pretty good about seating walk ins. If you're ok with standing in line 30-45 min before open, this would be your best bet. The food is great here. The chicken parm did have a little too much mozzarella for my liking but if you enjoy mozzarella you would enjoy the dish. The meatball appetizer was so soft and the sauce was great. Everything tasted great and the service was good.
Solid Italian dish and wine options. Excellent garlic bread. Great chicken parm. Relatively small lasagna with an herby taste. A bit noisy (music).
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Garlic Bread, Chicken Parmesan, Red Cabernet Sauvignon 'IL Rospo ' Montesecondo Tuscany Italy 2020
If you're looking for that classic, old school family-style Italian dinner in LA, Donna's is the way to go. They have a lot of the classics like pasta Ragu, chicken Parmesan, spaghetti and meatballs, veal picatta, etc. But they also bring a new age flare to some dishes like the lasagna Rollatini (think lasagna but instead of horizontal layers you get tight pinwheels of meaty, salty, cheesy goodness!) and fussili a la vodka with whipped ricotta. The restaurant itself does remind me of a Brooklyn-based Italian mom & pop restaurant with a checkerboard floor. It's a pretty small venue which is probably why it's so hard to get a reservation (you gotta book 1 - 2 weeks in advance at 10 AM on Rezy). This does make for a more intimate dining experience which is nice. We started with the garlic bread. Oh my god this was the best garlic bread I have ever had. The outer crust was so crisp and crunchy. Covered in parmigiano cheese. The inside was perfectly fluffy and so garlicky and buttery. I could not stop eating this bread I was genuinely considering ordering a second. Next we got the Caesar salad which was divine. Perfectly dressed with a fresh dressing and again served with tons of parmigiano. As a group of 3, we got 3 entrees in addition to those starters to share. We chose the chicken Parmesan, the lasagna Rollatini, and the pork ragu. The chicken parm was crunchy on the outside and loaded with cheese. The lasagna was fantastic, my only critique was that it was a pretty small dish but one bite of it was very rich. The pasta sheets were thin, arranged in pretty vertical pinwheels, and there was lots of meaty sauce in between all the layers. The pasta ragu was so good. Perfectly cooked al dente pasta topped with a rich pork ragu sauce. The service was great, our waiter was very friendly and attentive. My only critique was the dessert. The carrot cake was not moist and had a very citrusy flavor which was not what I was expecting. And the cannolis tasted stale. I would skip dessert but otherwise, enjoy a fantastic dinner at Donna's!
I read the reviews before I came, claiming the food is "salty" but I have to disagree... maybe y'all aren't used to flavorful food!!? I'm from the South maybe that's why haha! Every single dish was superb and came hot and delicious. Nice spritz for my drink. Calamari - can't go wrong but this one was cooked perfectly. The garlic bread is sourdough - LOVE - and perfectly crispy crust and fluffy inside - beyond amazing. The only thing I wish is that it came with something to dip in. Luckily, I had the squid ink aioli and marinara left over from the calamari. My lasagna was so unique - almost like a lasagna dumpling dish. The top of the noodle was slightly charred and the meat inside was tender, sauce was wonderful. The desserts were really yummy. The tiramisu was great, not normally a big fan but I liked the chocolate flavor in this one. The carrot cake was made with almond flour which I adore and love the dense moist texture it gives. Cheryl, our server, was absolutely darling and sweet. The ambience of the restaurant was chic yet relaxed and cozy. The area the restaurant is located in has other popping bars nearby you can go to after or before.
Garlic bread and Caesar salad were great! Vodka pasta was eh, but service was so good! Adorable decor!
Really good Italian American food in the most beautiful charming spot. Staff is really nice and we had great service. The pasta and chicken were the stars. I personally would skip the overpriced bread but it's good to dip in sauces.
I'm not sure if the reservation time (9:30pm as that was the only time available due to reservations being hard to come by) impacted the quality of the food but I share this just to keep in mind when reading this review because we went with high hopes due to the hype of "how good it is" and were severely disappointed. We ordered the garlic bread and Caesar salad to start as Tik Tok and other reviews raved about it. The garlic bread was hard and salty, the Caesar salad was drenched in dressing and had a strong lemon taste which I wasn't a fan of. Slightly disappointed with our starters, we still had hopes that the main food would be better. Wrong lol We ordered the popular fusilli allá vodka, lasagna rollatini, patata, and chicken Parmesan. Fusilli allá vodka: the first bite was good but I agree with another review that the more you eat it the saltier it gets which turns you off from eating more. Lasagna rollatini: not only was it burnt but the meat flavor was overwhelming to the point it made you not know what kind of meat(s) you were eating and it was extremely salty. I didn't even finish my first bite because I hated it. Even Target's Rao frozen lasagna is better than this. Patata: I thought you couldn't mess up potatoes, wrong again lol. The potatoes were super dry and some had a burnt flavor. Chicken Parmesan: This one was the most disappointing for me. The outer parts were decent but once you bit into the middle the texture of the chicken felt rubbery and fake which made me feel nauseous. The decor and service are 10/10 but food is not. None of my friends and I liked any of it. We left so disappointed and feeling so gross because of how salty it was. I truly was disappointed and utterly confused why this place is hyped up for being "so good". I won't be going back and won't be recommending it and the hype was definitely NOT worth it.
We loved Donna's! Super cute restaurant with really good cocktails. We had the delicious garlic bread and also the chicken parm and lasagna for dinner. Everything was delicious. We finished off the night with the Tuscan carrot cake for dessert and really enjoyed it as well.
I would would definitely recommend Donnas. The Meatballs and Veal Picatta were Great. They don't strive to be a particularly innovative Italian place but rather do some classocs very well. The atmosphere is comfortable and the staff are amazing. Everyone was welcoming and helpful which makes the entire experience feel warm and fun. The only downsides to me were the cannoli plate and the small wine list, but every other aspect was on point and I'll gladly be back for more. Another knockout from Parks hospitality
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Veal Picatta
Wow! What a nice restaurant. Atmosphere is amazing, food is top level. Sat at the bar, got lucky that there was a spot. Reservations here go fast I've heard.
This was our second time at Donna's -- we couldn't wait to come back. The chicken Parmesan is AMAZING, one of the best we've ever had and also highly recommend the fusilli alla vodka -- it's very rich & flavorful. The espresso martinis are delicious and pair well with the entire meal. We LOVED the tiramisu the first time around, but the second time it was very salty -- we're hoping it was just the one batch & want to go back to confirm. Not to mention, we got a flat tire on our way there & the staff was very accommodative in pushing back the reservation a few hours so we could make it.
Restaurantji Recommends
My partner and I walk around this part of town and go out to eat quite often. We noticed Donna's a while back and tried to go, but learned of how popular it was. We had stopped in twice previously and were quoted 2 hour wait times and left, so we decided to go right at 5 on a Monday night and see if we could get in (making reservations 2 weeks in advance isn't really our thing). We got seated right away, which was exciting. I had already seen the inside, so I knew it was super cute already, which it is. The ambiance feels like a fancy, but kitschy Italian Grandma's house. Our server was great the whole time. Gave recommendations, our water was refilled, cleared plates off the small table, was very nice. Food came out very fast. I was surprised to see very little vegetarian food (no, I didn't look at the menu after all my previous attempts to visit -- or at any reviews either). No vegan food other than some of the sides. Just one salad and the only "green" in it was fennel, just one appetizer -- garlic bread, just one main entree (mushroom risotto), one pasta (fusilli with vodka sauce), and nearly all the sides were vegetarian (which all sounded good to me). This made ordering pretty easy for us, so we got all of those dishes I mentioned and one side (broccolini - which they allowed us to remove the anchovies from). We also got two dirty martinis. How was it? Well, I've got to say disappointing. The olives in the small martinis tasted kind of sweet. We both love olives and couldn't eat them. The garlic bread looked cool, but it was kind of burnt and dry and hard and definitely needed red sauce for dipping (which we did order). The sauce side wasn't big enough and really not that amazing. The risotto was probably the best item we ordered -- although I don't generally prefer risotto, so I don't have much to compare it to. The fusilli was a small, but rich portion with ricotta on top. It was super salty and that's all I really noticed about it, so I wouldn't really recommend it. The broccolini side was salty and pretty boring -- the server did say she would recommend the kale instead since we would be removing the anchovies and we didn't listen. We decided to pass on dessert and the complementary house made limoncello was a very nice touch. That's about it. I really wanted to love it more, but for a dinner on the pricier side, I want to love it and have more than one choice of things to order (it's not too expensive compared to other places if you love the food, but that wasn't the case for me).
Supper was fantastic! (Went here Sunday Night w/ 3 of the girlies. Felt like someone's grandma was cooking in the back.) Service was great, ambiance was romantic; low lights, candles. Had the most tasty garlic & herb bread, an amazing Cesar salad, we had the chicken parm, spicy fusilli and ragú to share. It was all happening so fast; got on the train to flavor-town and loved every stop. Company was amazing my friend mad the reservation here but it seemed very popular not a single empty table. I really enjoyed my espresso and tiramisu at the end. (Even though I was completely full- there must be dessert!)
I was shocked to find the food here was not very good. Given the popularity through tiktok, I couldn't wait to try this restaurant and after nailing a resy. Unfortunately, aside from the ambiance being very cute and cozy, the popular dishes (chicken Parmesan, spicy vodka pasta, and garlic bread) weren't great and the quality was poor. The ingredients did not taste fresh and the chicken Parmesan was actually inedible. I kept using the flash on my phone to check if it had been cooked through as it was very tough and rubbery and could not eat it. I'm not sure if this was an off night for them but I was surprised to say the least. If you're looking for a better experience, I would recommend Jon and Vinny's as the menu is similar and is a staple for me. Hopefully the restaurant can note some of this and improve. The restaurant itself was really cute and inviting.
My husband and I didn't have reservations, but the restaurant said they welcomed walk ups, we arrived about 830, and Kate was so amazing, she told us she would put us on a waitlist, 30 mins later we were sitting at our table. Best Host ever! Our server Mike, was enchanting! He made Our night delightful. The ambiance was truly infectious, with a rustic Italian feel, perfect lighting, and best of all not overly loud. The food, from the moment we walked in I wanted to try their food it smelled divine. We started with the Cesar Salad, the dressing was flavorful and not to overpowering. My husband had the clam linguine, he loved the chili oil , perfectly spicy. I had the spaghetti and meatballs, the meatballs were seasoned just right and the red sauce was quite sweet and aromatic! We will be back to try the bread! Thank you for a fabulous meal!
Hard to get a reservation but they are pretty good about seating walk ins. If you're ok with standing in line 30-45 min before open, this would be your best bet. The food is great here. The chicken parm did have a little too much mozzarella for my liking but if you enjoy mozzarella you would enjoy the dish. The meatball appetizer was so soft and the sauce was great. Everything tasted great and the service was good.