Next Door

We recently had our wedding reception at Dante and it truly could not have been a more perfect evening. We hosted around 40 guests, and the Dante Next Door space was the ideal size. There was plenty of room for dancing, guests could comfortably gather at the bar, and nobody felt cramped during dinner. We also had a space for a sweetheart table and a natural area for speeches and toast, which made the evening flow so smoothly. I can’t say enough good things about Stephanie, the event manager. You can immediately tell how passionate she is about her work and how much she genuinely cares about every event she coordinates. Communication was always easy and throughout the planning process, she asked thoughtful questions to make sure every detail was exactly right. Stephanie was also there the day of the reception acting as our coordinator and she remembered all the little details from our calls and emails. As the bride, it was such a gift to have someone handling everything so calmly and precisely so we could truly enjoy the night. Stephanie had even gone on vacation a few days before our wedding, but I never once worried that anything would fall through the cracks. Alex was incredibly thoughtful and quick to respond to my last-minute emails while Stephanie was away, which we very much appreciated. There were also several thoughtful surprises throughout the evening that made the experience even more special. One of the sweetest touches was a personal gluten-free wedding cake prepared for the groom’s mom so she could fully enjoy dessert too. That level of care and inclusivity meant so much to our family! Anyone who has been to Dante already knows how incredible the food is, and our reception was no exception. Multiple guests told us it was the best food they had ever had at a wedding. Between the impeccable service, outstanding food, and warm, welcoming atmosphere, the entire evening felt incredibly special. We toured several private dining venues before making our decision, but ultimately chose Dante because of the beautiful space and how comfortable and cared for Stephanie made us feel from our very first visit. Looking back, we truly could not have made a better choice. It was the perfect place to celebrate such an important day in our lives! Thank you Chef, Stephanie, and the entire Dante team for making our wedding reception of memorable!!

We dined at Dante’s for my wife’s birthday. This was my first time at the restaurant. My wife had been here previously prior to a major change and spoke highly of Dante’s. Atmosphere is excellent. It’s a great dinner date or professional dinner place and has that supper club and fancy atmosphere. Highly recommend reservations ahead of time. Service was alright. They do ask if you have questions and try making suggestions, but it unfortunately wasn’t timely. Perhaps that’s the style of restaurant, but we felt we had a lot of waiting. They had a solid drink menu. I found a drink I liked and stuck to it. I’m a cocktail drinker, but only 1-2 stuck out to me. So I wasn’t very adventurous. Food had a lot of flavoring and portions were appropriate. The bread and hummus combination was a little odd to me. We had a butternut squash dish, mussels, and a duck liver dish for our appetizers. The butternut squash was fantastic and really surprised me how much flavor they incorporated in that dish. Mussels aren’t my typical cup of tea but were really good with the broth they were served with. The duck liver was served with sweet potato, chocolate, and marshmallow, like a smore. Very interesting dish. I ordered steak which was excellent! My wife got grouper that she enjoyed, and my brother in law ordered pasta. He wasn’t wowed by the pasta. We tried each others dishes and agreed the steak was the best. Menu wise, I felt it had variety but also felt very limited if you’re not someone that prefers fish. It’s a unique menu with not many traditional dishes. They have unique spins to them. For someone like my brother in law who isn’t adventurous, he had a hard time choosing dishes. Dessert was mixed. We tried a coconut crème that was really good. Then we tried an earl gray ice cream dish that was rather disappointing. Overall, if you’re adventurous with food tasting, you may really enjoy Dante’s. If you’re very traditional, you may struggle finding dishes you’ll enjoy. Would I go back? Maybe. I didn’t see any items that I felt I need to come back and try. They rotate menu items, so maybe next time they’ll have different menu items.

I am disappointed with my experience at Dante’s. When I first entered for a two person reservation, the table we were shown to was very small, despite there being larger unoccupied tables. It felt uncomfortable and was a tight fit. I asked to be seated elsewhere and thankfully we were moved to a larger table. I ordered the vegan 5 course meal and the overall experience was 5/10 The first dish had warm candied sweet potato on top and cold sweet potato at the bottom. It was still enjoyable. The presentation of every dish was beautiful and well thought through. Unfortunately towards the middle of the course one of my dishes had a black piece of rubber in the food. Surprisingly this was my favorite dish of the course. My server replaced the meal swiftly. The saving grace of the course was definitely the lime infused palette cleanser and the dessert. I would not dine here again. I would recommend Cru Uncorked for a non casual and more sophisticated experience.

One of my favorite dining experiences in Cleveland! The food and wine pairing were outstanding. I can’t wait to come back to do a new chef’s tasting soon.