Dinner for Two
Donatello, Brighton
One thing I will miss most once Mr.Boyfriend and I return back in our suburban house will be the opportunity to just go out and simply walk into a random place and have dinner. Because, you know, if we decide we want to have dinner we can't simply take a short walk and be somewhere, we need to either drive or cycle there. Yes, the great pleasures of living in the city outskirts, there is nothing to do but sit in the garden and stare in the sky (which is definitely something I dearly miss in the city flat).
Last night we decided that we don't feel like cooking dinner and decided to use our last Sunday in town by treating ourselves with dinner. Yes, we love food and we are not afraid to say it! We decided to take a walk around the South Lanes and to choose a place as we go. After maybe 5 minutes of roaming around the small streets we came across Brighton's own Donatello. The Italian restaurant is quite famous around town and you can see it's advertising almost anywhere. Oh, they are also the sponsors of University of Sussex Squash Team, that both Mr.Boyfriend and I support.
The place was crowded even on Sunday evening, almost all tables were full with giggling, munching companies. A good sign, if you ask me! Looking at the menu we decided to go for the 3 Course Menu For 9.95 deal, which sounded as a good value for the money.
For starters Mr.Boyfriend and I chose to have Prawn Cocktail and Funghi Trifolati - mushrooms cooked in butter, garlic and parsley. To be honest I was expecting a bit more from the starters, both in terms of quality and quantity. Not that they were bad, no, not at all, I just expected a tad more than that. The food wasn't just looking quite presentable. I felt like I'm eating in a small forgotten by the gods place in some tiny village, not in one of the most popular places in Brighton. Nevermind.
For main course we decided to eat pizza, since both of us have been talking about eating pizza but never came around making it ourselves. Mr.Boyfriend chose Donatello while I decided to go for my favourite one - Funghi e Proscuitto. Both pizzas were thin and crispy, exactly to Mr.Boyfriend's liking but not to mine. I like a nice, thick pizza where I can actually taste the taste of the dough. However it was a pleasant surprise to see that they were stone-baked. I always prefer the nutty smoky taste of stone-baked pizza over the mainstream one of oven-baked. The pizzas were huge in terms of size, but unfortunately they were rather scarce on the topping of the pizza. If it wasn't for the stone-baking this pizzas would've been a complete disgrace.
Choosing desserts was very easy. Mr.Boyfriend knew since we sat in an Italian restaurant that he wants a Tiramisu, and I usually go for the chocolate cake - Torta al Tartufo. The tiramisu was soggy and the cream tasted a bit strangely, the dessert chef definitely added a tad too much brandy in this batch. My cake was fresh and light and this is all I can say about it. Nothing memorable, maybe only the really light chocolate cream in which consisted half of the cake.
Because we were celebrating the everyday life, we decided to order a bottle of red wine. Since I'm the one that's more into wine, Mr.Boyfriend left me to choose. I chose a Sicilian Merlot from Cusumano vineyard, it's price-tag saying 13.95. It was semi-full bodied wine with spicy tobacco and oatly taste.Strong in taste, especially on the tannin side, it was not bad of a choice.
The worst part about Donatello is the feeling you get from there - like you are on a conveyor line or in a high-budget canteen. There is nothing personal about the place, nothing that makes it stand out. Everything is so generic that it gets annoying.
Oh, and I must mention, we had the rudest of waitresses. She always looked bored and out-of-touch, like we were just wasting air in the rooms. She wasn't interested in giving recommendation, accommodating us, being polite or even saying "Hello" and "Goodbye". As someone who's currently working in the same business as her, I know that I would've get fired the second someone catches a glimpse of me acting like this. Attitude problems at their finest!
Overall Grade: 4/10
Will I go back? I don't think so. Brighton is a town where there is a place to eat for everyone's budget and taste. Donatello is just not worth for what it offers.
For starters Mr.Boyfriend and I chose to have Prawn Cocktail and Funghi Trifolati - mushrooms cooked in butter, garlic and parsley. To be honest I was expecting a bit more from the starters, both in terms of quality and quantity. Not that they were bad, no, not at all, I just expected a tad more than that. The food wasn't just looking quite presentable. I felt like I'm eating in a small forgotten by the gods place in some tiny village, not in one of the most popular places in Brighton. Nevermind.
For main course we decided to eat pizza, since both of us have been talking about eating pizza but never came around making it ourselves. Mr.Boyfriend chose Donatello while I decided to go for my favourite one - Funghi e Proscuitto. Both pizzas were thin and crispy, exactly to Mr.Boyfriend's liking but not to mine. I like a nice, thick pizza where I can actually taste the taste of the dough. However it was a pleasant surprise to see that they were stone-baked. I always prefer the nutty smoky taste of stone-baked pizza over the mainstream one of oven-baked. The pizzas were huge in terms of size, but unfortunately they were rather scarce on the topping of the pizza. If it wasn't for the stone-baking this pizzas would've been a complete disgrace.
Choosing desserts was very easy. Mr.Boyfriend knew since we sat in an Italian restaurant that he wants a Tiramisu, and I usually go for the chocolate cake - Torta al Tartufo. The tiramisu was soggy and the cream tasted a bit strangely, the dessert chef definitely added a tad too much brandy in this batch. My cake was fresh and light and this is all I can say about it. Nothing memorable, maybe only the really light chocolate cream in which consisted half of the cake.
Because we were celebrating the everyday life, we decided to order a bottle of red wine. Since I'm the one that's more into wine, Mr.Boyfriend left me to choose. I chose a Sicilian Merlot from Cusumano vineyard, it's price-tag saying 13.95. It was semi-full bodied wine with spicy tobacco and oatly taste.Strong in taste, especially on the tannin side, it was not bad of a choice.
The worst part about Donatello is the feeling you get from there - like you are on a conveyor line or in a high-budget canteen. There is nothing personal about the place, nothing that makes it stand out. Everything is so generic that it gets annoying.
Oh, and I must mention, we had the rudest of waitresses. She always looked bored and out-of-touch, like we were just wasting air in the rooms. She wasn't interested in giving recommendation, accommodating us, being polite or even saying "Hello" and "Goodbye". As someone who's currently working in the same business as her, I know that I would've get fired the second someone catches a glimpse of me acting like this. Attitude problems at their finest!
Food: 5/10
Service: 310
Interior: 4/10
Location: 6/10
Pricing: 4/10
Overall Grade: 4/10
Will I go back? I don't think so. Brighton is a town where there is a place to eat for everyone's budget and taste. Donatello is just not worth for what it offers.
You can't get lost if you don't know where you're going...
