By 
Donna’s is the latest trendy Italian restaurant in LA. In a city where old-school Italian restaurant joints abound, Donna’s is like the younger hipster version. The restaurant was opened in July by Park Hospitality proprietors Michael Francesconi and Mathew Glaser, who also opened Lowboy, Bar Flores and Wolf & Crane, all of which are in the same vicinity as Donna’s.
The atmosphere reminded me of the trendy Italian restaurants that are popping up in my hometown of Madrid: colorful wallpapers and cute ornaments that will make you feel as if you’re in a nonna’s kitchen. Enticed by the interior and the classic Italian comfort dishes, like spaghetti and meatballs, I went there during a weekday in the afternoon.
When I went to the restaurant, there were already parties waiting for their reservation. But the luxury of going by myself is that I’m usually seated right away at the bar. The inside was bustling and people seemed to enjoy the food.
Here’s what I had.
Garlic bread
When I was debating on whether or not to order it, the waitress said: “You HAVE to get it”. I also read other comments from people saying that it was life changing.
The toasty sourdough bread is topped with a generous amount of Parmesan cheese, which I didn’t like. If the bread is already good, why cover it in a giant mound of cheese?
I loved how crisp it was. The bread had some hints of garlic flavor, but in my opinion, it was very mild and not buttery at all. Because I wanted to save room for the pastas, I ate a little bit and took it to go. The next day I had it with some tomato soup. It was good, but like I said, the garlic flavor was very muted. Texture-wise, it was amazing but it lacked butter, garlic and herbs. You can get freshly made sourdough bread at other restaurants or bakeries. Nothing about this bread was so unique that made me go ”This is life-changing”.
Fusilli Alla Vodka pasta
When I eat vodka pasta, I prefer my cheese to be Parmesan as it melts better with the sauce. At Donna’s, the vodka pasta is served with a dollop of ricotta cheese on top. Was I supposed to spread the cheese all over the pasta? It didn’t bother me, but I found it odd.
Overall, the sauce was very creamy but it lacked depth. I was reading one constructive criticism from a Yelp Elite author, and this is what he said about Donna’s vodka pasta: “It arrived really al dente but eventually softened up a bit, but overall felt like it was missing something. (Definitely add parmesan cheese to this dish to give it a bit more depth)”
I had the vodka fusilli pasta again for lunch the following day and my thoughts were the same. Very creamy but lacked flavor and more punch. Also, what the Yelp reviewer said about the pasta softening up after a while is true. This however, did not happen with the spaghetti.
Spaghetti and meatballs
This dish was a huge disappointment. The noodles were perfectly al dente, but the thick red sauce lacked flavor BIG time. It felt as if someone had thrown in canned tomato sauce and mixed it with water. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the sauce was not seasoned. Even after I finished the pasta and the meatballs, I kept scooping the sauce off the plate with a spoon to see if I could get a hint of something, but nothing came through. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a pasta sauce as bland as the one I had that day. Donna’s markets themselves as a red sauce joint. This phrase refers to Italian-American restaurants known for their sauces that have been passed down from generation to generation, but that sauce was not it! I even debated on whether or not I should have asked for salt. I was about to save some of the pasta to go and have someone else taste it for me the following day to see whether or not I was being crazy, but I ended up eating all of it.
After my first bite, I already had a disappointed look on my face to eat a sauce I could have easily made better at home, and I don’t even consider myself a good cook. The meatballs were average at best and nothing about the ground beef stood out. The only redeemable element about this dish was the pasta.
A restaurant that makes excellent vodka fusilli pasta and marinara-braised meatballs with garlic bread is Jon & Vinnys. This place gets a lot of criticism and some people deem it overhyped, hipster Italian, but in my opinion, those two are their standout dishes. The meatballs are juicy, tender and packed with so much flavor, and the garlic bread is heavenly. The spicy fusilli pasta there is coated in a sauce that has a bit of a kick but isn’t overly spicy. Overall, your taste buds are hit by the crazy amount of flavor.
The pizzas are a hard pass for me, but every time I bring someone there and they try those two dishes, they’re elated by how good they are. Part of my motivation to try Donna’s was to compare these two dishes.
I shared my experience about the lack of flavor of the pastas at Donna’s with someone the day after. She said: “Maybe the chef was having a bad day?” It could be…
“Are you ready for dessert?” asked the chirpy waitress. I was not planning on having dessert, but given how the two pasta dishes were a letdown, I ordered a carrot cake to see if it could at least redeem the meal. She highly recommended the tiramisu, but I’m not a big tiramisu fan. So I opted for the carrot cake.
Carrot Cake
Third time is not always the charm. Sadly, this was another letdown.
The texture was similar to the olive oil cake by Little House Confections that was ubiquitous during quarantine in LA, or the Torta di Miele dessert from Mother Wolf. All of them have a delicate and distinctive spongy texture, but the difference is that these two are wonderfully moist. Donna’s carrot cake was dry.
It was also kind of hard to cut through with the spoon. Eating the carrot cake with the orange mascarpone helped moisten the dry texture of the carrot cake.
Although my eating experience was extremely underwhelming, I’ve seen people rave about their other dishes. For me, the presentation of the dishes was undermined by the lack of flavor and seasonings — and as a pasta enthusiast, I don’t recommend choosing Donna’s.
Was there something redeemable about Donna’s? The great customer service and the complimentary Limoncello before dessert. After dinner, on my way back to my car, I stopped at an old-school Hispanic esoteric shop, where they had all kinds of holy waters, candles and herbal remedies. I was struck by the sharp contrast after spending $90 on my meal, a classic example of gentrification.
Address: 1538 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
