Opera night and a great meal!!! If you haven't been to Opera Night....you must go!! It is the perfect romantic date, or night out with friends. You will be amazed by the talent of the performers while enjoying a delicious pre-fix Italian dinner. Bravo to La Dolce Vita!
Faith
Girls night out. Wanted to go to a different venue the usual in !ittle Italy. Was not disappointed. There was the usual Italian menu gnocchi, spaghetti ect but also some different foods Appitizers. A polenta dishe in a cream sauce with zucchini slices, aurugala salad and a Tomatoe onion salad that reminded me of my mom's. Fresh red and yellow tomatoes with red onion and olive oil vinaigrette. Delicious. Rolls were great. Had to order more for dipping in tomatoe salad 3 people ordered gnocchi with meatballs The neat ball was super sized and very tasty. Gnocchi was just right. I had veal piccata with risotto, my daughter had Chicken Marsala and my daughter in law had the beef short rib which just melted in your mouth. Terry the owner brought a sampling of a bow tie pasta dish. At the endo of the meal, we were served a fruit plate. Was not disappointed. Very yummy.
George
Excellent experience. Great atmosphere. Food was excellent. Terry's personal touch completes the Little Italy - Cleveland experience!
rod
Food was great and a good value. Liked the ambience and thought the overall experience was very good. A few service mistakes were rectified and didn't diminish the evening. Place was packed on a holiday Saturday night.
Cathy
Service was extremely slow. Our server was pleasant but never checked on us for long periods of time. My husband's Caprese salad was excellent but the rest of our apps & main courses were bland. This is our first time at an Italian restaurant where we were disappointed in the food.
Halle
Food is always great. We were there on a summer Saturday night so all of Little Italy was very busy. I had a lobster linguine special which was terrific. We shared a salad and the house dressing (a balsamic) was very good. Love the pasta that the owner walks around and greats you with and the complimentary fruit and cannoli cream after dinner. The owner approached us several times to make sure everything was good.
Helping others
WHAT A HUGE MISTAKE EATING HERE - DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AS WE DID. A bunch of my buddies came here during Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy 2025. What an Enormous mistake. The food was way overpriced and just so-so. The waitress came over and took our order and someone else delivered it. We never saw the waitress ever again. She never came over and asked how our meals were and we had a request which was never fulfilled because we paid first plus a generous tip. We should never have left her anything. When I say overpriced, the meals are so small you'd have to eat at least 5 or six for a regular meal lunch/dinner. What are these owners thinking and why are they ripping people off? I don't like making reviews like this, but this place deserves nothing. Zero. I have been around the world and eaten at hundreds of restaurants and never have had a meal as bad as this establishment. And that is saying a lot. I can't believe they're still in business. They won't be for very long, though. To it to whom it may concern. As they say, YOU GET WHAT YOU GET AND DON'T THROW A FIT.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Susan Helmuth
Terry and the staff here are amazing! You won’t leave hungry! Eggplant parm!! THE BEST EVER! Tomato salad!! No one makes it like Terry!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Tack
Had a wonder dinner a La Dolce Vita Terry Tarantino was a wonderful host after many years his food is as good as it gets ! Dinner consisted of Fresh Calamari garlic sauce ( not Fried ) we then had a Caprise salad , the main dinner was a delicious meat sauce with rigatoni , but the topper Terry would bring us little samples straight from his kitchen that were Italian morsels various pastas and sauce each one was better that the first , are server was a young of 30 was half Italian and was extremely knowledgeable of the menu! When the waitress brought us the check she gave us a sampling of fresk fruit and cannoli!
Bravo !
Emmaline
We had an amazing time, the food was amazing but the hospitality was exceptional! Would travel back to Cleveland just to dine here again and would recommend it to anyone I know who is visiting!!!
Awesome experience as always! Fair warning it's pretty warm in the restaurant when it's hot outside. Besides that really great food and service!
Joe
Based on our 7:15 reservation, we were seated outside, and a busboy immediately brought us water and bread. We then sat for 25 minutes, and no server arrived. I made the hostess aware, but she did not apologize. Then we waited another twenty minutes, and still no server. I went back to the hostess to tell her, but she again did not apologize and said that she would have someone right out. Our waiter finally showed up and did not apologize for the delay, but he was attentive the rest of our time there, and the food was good. Please let your staff know to get help when needed, and show more empathy for customers who spend $130 for dinner at your restaurant. Thank you.
Wendy
Service was awful. No one came to help us except the water boy for 30 min. When the server finally got to us, no apology was given. Once our food was served, never saw the waiter again. Took another 30 min to get the check and get settled because we had to finally flag him down. With that said, food was delicious and well worth the price.
Ruth Coleman
Awesome food Great time was had
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Elizabeth Thomas
first time here and it was excellent across the board, food service and atmosphere, plus it is wheelchair accessible (although the restroom is not wheelchair accessible) would recommend.
Opera night and a great meal!!! If you haven't been to Opera Night....you must go!! It is the perfect romantic date, or night out with friends. You will be amazed by the talent of the performers while enjoying a delicious pre-fix Italian dinner. Bravo to La Dolce Vita!
Girls night out. Wanted to go to a different venue the usual in !ittle Italy. Was not disappointed. There was the usual Italian menu gnocchi, spaghetti ect but also some different foods Appitizers. A polenta dishe in a cream sauce with zucchini slices, aurugala salad and a Tomatoe onion salad that reminded me of my mom's. Fresh red and yellow tomatoes with red onion and olive oil vinaigrette. Delicious. Rolls were great. Had to order more for dipping in tomatoe salad 3 people ordered gnocchi with meatballs The neat ball was super sized and very tasty. Gnocchi was just right. I had veal piccata with risotto, my daughter had Chicken Marsala and my daughter in law had the beef short rib which just melted in your mouth. Terry the owner brought a sampling of a bow tie pasta dish. At the endo of the meal, we were served a fruit plate. Was not disappointed. Very yummy.
Excellent experience. Great atmosphere. Food was excellent. Terry's personal touch completes the Little Italy - Cleveland experience!
Food was great and a good value. Liked the ambience and thought the overall experience was very good. A few service mistakes were rectified and didn't diminish the evening. Place was packed on a holiday Saturday night.
Service was extremely slow. Our server was pleasant but never checked on us for long periods of time. My husband's Caprese salad was excellent but the rest of our apps & main courses were bland. This is our first time at an Italian restaurant where we were disappointed in the food.
Food is always great. We were there on a summer Saturday night so all of Little Italy was very busy. I had a lobster linguine special which was terrific. We shared a salad and the house dressing (a balsamic) was very good. Love the pasta that the owner walks around and greats you with and the complimentary fruit and cannoli cream after dinner. The owner approached us several times to make sure everything was good.
WHAT A HUGE MISTAKE EATING HERE - DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AS WE DID.
A bunch of my buddies came here during Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy 2025. What an Enormous mistake. The food was way overpriced and just so-so. The waitress came over and took our order and someone else delivered it. We never saw the waitress ever again. She never came over and asked how our meals were and we had a request which was never fulfilled because we paid first plus a generous tip. We should never have left her anything. When I say overpriced, the meals are so small you'd have to eat at least 5 or six for a regular meal lunch/dinner. What are these owners thinking and why are they ripping people off? I don't like making reviews like this, but this place deserves nothing. Zero.
I have been around the world and eaten at hundreds of restaurants and never have had a meal as bad as this establishment. And that is saying a lot. I can't believe they're still in business. They won't be for very long, though.
To it to whom it may concern.
As they say, YOU GET WHAT YOU GET AND DON'T THROW A FIT.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 1
Terry and the staff here are amazing! You won’t leave hungry!
Eggplant parm!! THE BEST EVER!
Tomato salad!! No one makes it like Terry!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Had a wonder dinner a La Dolce Vita Terry Tarantino was a wonderful host after many years his food is as good as it gets ! Dinner consisted of Fresh Calamari garlic sauce ( not Fried ) we then had a Caprise salad , the main dinner was a delicious meat sauce with rigatoni , but the topper Terry would bring us little samples straight from his kitchen that were Italian morsels various pastas and sauce each one was better that the first , are server was a young of 30 was half Italian and was extremely knowledgeable of the menu! When the waitress brought us the check she gave us a sampling of fresk fruit and cannoli!
Bravo !
We had an amazing time, the food was amazing but the hospitality was exceptional! Would travel back to Cleveland just to dine here again and would recommend it to anyone I know who is visiting!!!
Restaurantji Recommends
Awesome experience as always! Fair warning it's pretty warm in the restaurant when it's hot outside. Besides that really great food and service!
Based on our 7:15 reservation, we were seated outside, and a busboy immediately brought us water and bread. We then sat for 25 minutes, and no server arrived. I made the hostess aware, but she did not apologize. Then we waited another twenty minutes, and still no server. I went back to the hostess to tell her, but she again did not apologize and said that she would have someone right out. Our waiter finally showed up and did not apologize for the delay, but he was attentive the rest of our time there, and the food was good. Please let your staff know to get help when needed, and show more empathy for customers who spend $130 for dinner at your restaurant. Thank you.
Service was awful. No one came to help us except the water boy for 30 min. When the server finally got to us, no apology was given. Once our food was served, never saw the waiter again. Took another 30 min to get the check and get settled because we had to finally flag him down. With that said, food was delicious and well worth the price.
Awesome food
Great time was had
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
first time here and it was excellent across the board, food service and atmosphere, plus it is wheelchair accessible (although the restroom is not wheelchair accessible) would recommend.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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