Donatelli's Italian- White Bear Lake, MN

Cuisine: Italian, Ice Cream

Restaurant Features: On-Site Parking

Location: White Bear Lake, MN

Address: 2692 East County Road E  White Bear Lake, MN 55110 651-777-9199

Links: Donatelli's Website  Google Map

Atmosphere: Donatelli's is a popular family restaurant located within a strip mall on the south end of White Bear.  The restaurant itself is long and narrow, with a main dining room and a smaller dining area used for bigger parties or on busy nights.  Along the outer walls of the dining area there are several private booths (topped with seasonal decorations), with tables in the middle of the restaurant which can easily be adjoined for larger parties.

Menu: Start off with Donatelli's famous Italian fries! Other starters include chicken strips, chicken wings, cheese curds, garlic bread, mozzarella sticks, or french fries.  Sandwich offerings include the Reuben, chicken or veal Parmesan, meatball, hot Dago, Italian sub, grilled ham & cheese, turkey club.  You can also order wrap sandwiches- chicken, steak or shrimp Caesar or BLT chicken.  There are also several burger choices.

The Pasta at Donatelli's is where its at! There are five different sauces (spicy marinara, traditional red, supreme red sauce, basic white sauce and Alfredo.  Dishes include spaghetti, rigatoni, linguine, tomato basil fettuccine, chicken cacciatore, chicken or veal Parmesan, Butternut Squash Ravioli with Asparagus & Portabellas, baked manicotti,  ravioli or mostaccioli, lasagna, stuffed shells, linguine with grilled chicken and pesto.  Pizza is also quite popular at Donatelli's, as are the pizza turnovers.

Don't forget ice cream for dessert, Donatelli's has many flavors of old fashioned ice cream, as well as malts, sundaes, chocolate cake and tiramisu.

Price guide: Appetizers $ 5-11    Sandwiches/burgers $7-10   Pasta $6-14 Pizza $5-23

What I ordered: My companion and I shared a medium thin-crust Italian Fry.  If you have never had these before, you must hurry to Donatelli's to try it!  They bake thin pizza dough topped with a light coat of garlic butter topped with mozzarella and cheddar cheese, served with a side of spicy marinara.

After deliberating over the menu, I decided to order the tortellini Alfredo (Cheese filled tortellini tossed with baby peas,portabella mushrooms, prosciutto ham & our Alfredo Sauce, topped with fresh Parmesan cheese.) I am not usually a huge fan of Alfredo sauce (too boring for me), so I took my server's suggestion and ordered the dish with the white sauce instead of Alfredo.  My mistake! I realized with the first bite that the white sauce is even more boring than the Alfredo!  The other ingredients were very good, but I had to get a side of marinara to mix into my dish to give it a little more flavor.  The garlic toast was pretty good.

My companion ordered the Donatelli Burger (Topped with pepperoni, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, and smothered with mozzarella cheese; served with a side of our red sauce. )

Service: Always friendly.  Donatellis is quite busy during the dinner hours, so you may need to wait until a table becomes available (very small lobby area).

Overall Impression: Decent Italian food at reasonable prices.  Good place to come with a group or with the kids.  Ice cream is definitely a great value!