This was my first time at this restaurant. First I will state the positive and then the negative.
1) Food was fresh, hot, smelled good and tasted GREAT.
2) The place was clean where we sat and general area.
3) Atmosphere was nice during the time we went as it was not busy. It did get progressively busier as time went on but it was clean, bright, spacious and had a Christmas tree for the season. There was a fish pond and a salt water marine tank and the fish looked taken care of.
4) Back to the food: the texture of the chicken balls were perfect. I could swear they were freshly made. If they are premade store bought: then they are the freshest I ever had. The tempura batter was soft and light, the fried taste was clean oil taste. The chicken inside was soft and pull apart and the batter itself was light and soft with a slight crunch. It was the best chicken balls I ever had. Not like other places a hard ball of dough with a small hard, dry Gagging piece of assumed chicken. This place was amazing for the chicken balls!
Now the negative:
1) I speak English with no accent and announciate everything as I am used to people assuming my brown skin means I cannot speak English as per my own personal experiences since moving here. I made sure to make eye contact, stated the name of what I wanted to order plus pointing at it, spoke at a reasonable pace, tone, loudness and smiled. Everything seemed fine.
My caucasian companions all got their orders with no issue. The waitress of local European settler decent for some odd reason got my Don's fried rice and my Don's Chow Noodle wrong.
So the entire table brought it to her attention after I tried to explain the issue as it was my food that had the issue. She some how didn't care or understand. I was handed chicken friend rice (chicken and fried egg with white rice in soya sauce) and noodles that looked the same brown dried with no sauce. I know I did not order that and my experience as a quality control agent in food manufacturing and food service industry and being of Chinese heritage - the main dishes on the table were prepared with care, authenticity and effort. The rice and chow Noodle were to match that grandeur if there is consistency in the output of the kitchen staff. I know what I was looking for, what I ordered and what my expectations were (menu said meats and vegs) and these two dishes did not have that, I am not blind or dumb, I can recognize my food and I grew up in Ontario cooking or dinning on this food. I specifically avoid chicken fried rice's because they are usually dry, gagging, horrid texture and not enjoyable for me having Au ADHD. I NEVER order it from anywhere. There was no miscommunication or customer entitlement or misconceptions. I know that I know that I know: what fried rice I want and what I ordered.
My caucasian partner then said the noodles were to have meat and veg, this is not what was ordered. So she took back the noodles and brought back one with various meats and veg and it looked AWESOME.
So I ask this waitress why does The Don's noodle look proper but my Don's rice look like chicken fried rice. It took all 3 of us telling this woman it's not the Don's fried rice. She had the nerve to try and convince us that it was, "it's all in there, it's burried underneath". Meanwhile it appeared some issues were happening as it got busier with take out, she had doubled back at one point to hand us our crispy fried wontons which the other server had already given us and this lady already took our dishes away from the crispy wontons: we just assumed this waitress had no clue about what the food looked like to their names and unable to match orders to tables or takeouts.
After thoroughly digging around the chicken fried rice to divide it among our 3 plates: we all KNOW she gave us the wrong rice
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Jeffrey W Belbin
Great food selection... nice size portions... large nice clean dining room... fast polite service... in and out in under 45 minutes during the supper hour on a Sunday. First time here... I definitely recommend 👌.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Alicia L
This was my first time at Don’s Restaurant for a takeout order. I got the sampler combo. It was really good, reasonably priced and great service too! Both waitresses were excellent, served me right away and when it was ready got me taken care of. Thank you so much! Would recommend.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
john fitzgerald
I love Don's, I think it is the best food on the island and the prices are fare and the staff are great and make you feel so welcomed the girls are great and the cooks are soing a great job if I lived in the area I would dine their every day.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Brendan MacRory
Canned mushrooms? At $20 a plate, they serve canned mushrooms?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Jerry
Fast and friendly service, always. No exotic menu choices and tasty food for quick dining. Prices are reasonable, and varied seating options for larger groups. Plenty of free parking. No complaints from me.
Parking: At front of building. Plenty of parking space with easy egress into traffic.
Wheelchair accessibility: Standard wheelchair access no trouble, and directly near entrance.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Stacie Putt
Absolutely amazing food. Incredible service. The atmosphere is very calming.
Kid-friendliness: They have a small, but decent kids menu. They allowed my son to mix it up a bit, with no added cost.
Wheelchair accessibility: The have a ramp to enter via wheel chair or walker
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Karen Butt
Fish and fries were delicious, We always have Chinese food which is delicious too but decided to try the fish .happy We did
We had an awesome family dinner for 12 people. The service was fast and always great food. Any time we come to Newfoundland we visit at least once. Bonus is we had a lot left over for lunch the next day.
Seems takeout was priority, over sit in, had ribs with my dish, just bones, no meat rice, was dried up chicken balls were fine, we were some what disappointed, our first time back since Buffalo, took out which we did enjoy.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 5
Robert McGregor
I usually take out my order but have had sit down service with Excellent food and very good service. A great family restaurant. Would recommend to others.
Restaurant is closed down.
This was my first time at this restaurant. First I will state the positive and then the negative.
1) Food was fresh, hot, smelled good and tasted GREAT.
2) The place was clean where we sat and general area.
3) Atmosphere was nice during the time we went as it was not busy. It did get progressively busier as time went on but it was clean, bright, spacious and had a Christmas tree for the season. There was a fish pond and a salt water marine tank and the fish looked taken care of.
4) Back to the food: the texture of the chicken balls were perfect. I could swear they were freshly made. If they are premade store bought: then they are the freshest I ever had. The tempura batter was soft and light, the fried taste was clean oil taste. The chicken inside was soft and pull apart and the batter itself was light and soft with a slight crunch. It was the best chicken balls I ever had. Not like other places a hard ball of dough with a small hard, dry Gagging piece of assumed chicken. This place was amazing for the chicken balls!
Now the negative:
1) I speak English with no accent and announciate everything as I am used to people assuming my brown skin means I cannot speak English as per my own personal experiences since moving here. I made sure to make eye contact, stated the name of what I wanted to order plus pointing at it, spoke at a reasonable pace, tone, loudness and smiled. Everything seemed fine.
My caucasian companions all got their orders with no issue. The waitress of local European settler decent for some odd reason got my Don's fried rice and my Don's Chow Noodle wrong.
So the entire table brought it to her attention after I tried to explain the issue as it was my food that had the issue. She some how didn't care or understand. I was handed chicken friend rice (chicken and fried egg with white rice in soya sauce) and noodles that looked the same brown dried with no sauce. I know I did not order that and my experience as a quality control agent in food manufacturing and food service industry and being of Chinese heritage - the main dishes on the table were prepared with care, authenticity and effort. The rice and chow Noodle were to match that grandeur if there is consistency in the output of the kitchen staff. I know what I was looking for, what I ordered and what my expectations were (menu said meats and vegs) and these two dishes did not have that, I am not blind or dumb, I can recognize my food and I grew up in Ontario cooking or dinning on this food. I specifically avoid chicken fried rice's because they are usually dry, gagging, horrid texture and not enjoyable for me having Au ADHD. I NEVER order it from anywhere. There was no miscommunication or customer entitlement or misconceptions. I know that I know that I know: what fried rice I want and what I ordered.
My caucasian partner then said the noodles were to have meat and veg, this is not what was ordered. So she took back the noodles and brought back one with various meats and veg and it looked AWESOME.
So I ask this waitress why does The Don's noodle look proper but my Don's rice look like chicken fried rice. It took all 3 of us telling this woman it's not the Don's fried rice. She had the nerve to try and convince us that it was, "it's all in there, it's burried underneath". Meanwhile it appeared some issues were happening as it got busier with take out, she had doubled back at one point to hand us our crispy fried wontons which the other server had already given us and this lady already took our dishes away from the crispy wontons: we just assumed this waitress had no clue about what the food looked like to their names and unable to match orders to tables or takeouts.
After thoroughly digging around the chicken fried rice to divide it among our 3 plates: we all KNOW she gave us the wrong rice
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 4
Great food selection... nice size portions... large nice clean dining room... fast polite service... in and out in under 45 minutes during the supper hour on a Sunday. First time here... I definitely recommend 👌.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This was my first time at Don’s Restaurant for a takeout order. I got the sampler combo. It was really good, reasonably priced and great service too! Both waitresses were excellent, served me right away and when it was ready got me taken care of. Thank you so much! Would recommend.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I love Don's, I think it is the best food on the island and the prices are fare and the staff are great and make you feel so welcomed the girls are great and the cooks are soing a great job if I lived in the area I would dine their every day.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Canned mushrooms? At $20 a plate, they serve canned mushrooms?
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Fast and friendly service, always. No exotic menu choices and tasty food for quick dining. Prices are reasonable, and varied seating options for larger groups. Plenty of free parking. No complaints from me.
Parking: At front of building. Plenty of parking space with easy egress into traffic.
Wheelchair accessibility: Standard wheelchair access no trouble, and directly near entrance.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Absolutely amazing food. Incredible service. The atmosphere is very calming.
Kid-friendliness: They have a small, but decent kids menu. They allowed my son to mix it up a bit, with no added cost.
Wheelchair accessibility: The have a ramp to enter via wheel chair or walker
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Fish and fries were delicious, We always have Chinese food which is delicious too but decided to try the fish .happy We did
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Dons never disappoints.....
Restaurantji Recommends
Restaurant is shut down.
We had an awesome family dinner for 12 people. The service was fast and always great food. Any time we come to Newfoundland we visit at least once. Bonus is we had a lot left over for lunch the next day.
Seems takeout was priority, over sit in, had ribs with my dish, just bones, no meat rice, was dried up chicken balls were fine, we were some what disappointed, our first time back since Buffalo, took out which we did enjoy.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 5
I usually take out my order but have had sit down service with Excellent food and very good service. A great family restaurant. Would recommend to others.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Great food, great service, lotsa room!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 5
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