Donnini's Ristorante Pizzeria

Donnini’s Ristorante Pizzeria

Address: The Marina @ The Pier, Cairns, Queensland 4870, Australia.
Ph +61740511133 and Fax: +61740316532

Also
320 Lygon Street, Carlton, Melbourne, Victoria 3053,
Ph +61393473128 and Fax: +61393478963

Summary Information

Name: Donnini’s Ristorante Pizzeria
Cuisine Type: Italian
Licensed: Full bar and extensive wine list
BYO: No
Price Range: $20-$40+
Parking: There is ample parking outside and under the Pier
Disabled Access: Yes
Deals: None known
Dress Code: Casual
Family Friendly: Yes, but no children present when we visited.
Smoking: Yes
Overall Rating 8 out of 10
Food: 7 out of 10
Drinks: 9 out of 10
Service: 9 out of 10
Ambience: 8 out of 10
Value for Money: 8 out of 10
Recommended: Yes. Overall the best Italian restaurant in town.

Review

Donnini’s is located at Cairns ‘premiere’ location, the vastly hyped Pier complex located on the headland near the centre of town, and directly opposite the tourist pool centre in town. Donnini’s is on the seaward side of the Pier with marina and sea views from the restaurant and deck area, a supremely good location, and about as good as you could get in Cairns. This is the Cairns branch of a Melbourne based restaurant and brings with it professionalism and service that is sadly lacking in some of the other venues around Cairns. We have yet to isolate a reason for the poor service in this town. The most popular theory so far is that most of the service industry relies on touring backpackers for labour. They have no interest in the success or otherwise of the venue as they only here for a short, and usually good time. Donnini’s is a welcome change from the usual mediocre or downright poor service. We were shown to our table and generally served superbly throughout by knowledgeable and polite staff during our visit for lunch on a Sunday afternoon overlooking the sea.

In our opinion it is no coincidence that this restaurant has a sister site in Melbourne. The professionalism, attention to detail, and knowledge of the industry has given Donnini’s the edge in Cairns over other local restaurants. We haven’t yet had the chance to check out the Melbourne version, however if we ever make it to Carlton we will certainly look it up and give it a shot to ad to this site and see how it compares with its Far North cousin!

Ambience

The outfit of the restaurant was plain and not overstated. The furniture was comfortable, modern, and functional. Nothing remarkable but in keeping with a sophisticated but unpretentious modern restaurant. The outfit is essentially same for dining inside as the outside tables. We were seated promptly and drinks were offered immediately, the ubiquitous free water which is appreciated very much outside in the Cairns summer. We were outside and there was no mood music, which was a nice change from the muzak played in most joints around town as if that will keep you happy.

Wine List and Menu

We were presented with a wine list, and I have to say it is the kind of wine list that shows a lot of thought. Rather than an abundance of wine in a misguided attempt to try and have everything that punters might like, this wine list was of a manageable size and clearly thought had gone into the wines included on the list. They not only matched the menu very well, there was something of good quality for everyone without being overly priced. A great start, and of course there was also a list of other beverages available including Italian beer which was nice to see.

We were also presented with a menu and there was also a specials list that accompanied it. The specials were an excellent accompaniment to the main menu and offered some dishes that were just clear deviations from the main menu and gave us a good choice. We asked the waitress what her recommendation was from the kitchen and were advised that the pizzas were especially good. We were a little skeptical at first, however the recommendation once given must be accepted and so one of our number ordered the pizza of their choice, being the Meditteraneo. The rest of us eventually settled for the Seafood Carbonara and the extra large scallops wrapped in salmon on top of a green salad (entree size).

Food

We opted for a foccacia bread as a starter as we were taking our time with the menu. When the bread arrived we were impressed. Sometimes you get the simple bread without too many toppings and herbs on it and it just tastes fantastic. Donnini’s, as we found, specialise in this type of Italian food. It seems to me that Italian food is best when done simply, and Donnini’s do this well. The foccacia bread was divine and an excellent warm up for what was to come.

Our mains arrived along with the second wine and other drinks for the afternoon and we got straight into it. The Seafood Marinara was good, however our guest felt that it was missing something. Fresh cheese was available and added to the meal before tasting, and was black pepper from the enormous pepper grinders that seem to be around in every eating house of any substance these days. We weren’t able to put our finger on what was missing from the marinara, and make no mistake it was good, but it just seemed that it needed a little something else to round out the flavours that the chef was trying to marry up in the dish.

The pizza lived up to its recommendation, and the bread was an ideal indication of what was to come. It had been simply done, and cooked in a wood fired oven for that great taste that the wood fired oven can only impart to the pizza. It was simple and superb, ideal for anchovy lovers which we are. A small amount of tomato as a base sauce for the pizza, a moderate amount of cheese, olives and anchovies spread over the pizza, but not in such a way as to become overpowering of the subtle flavours in the bread base. Fantastic, and we could see why this was recommended.

The extra large scallops wrapped in Atlantic salmon on green salad were from the specials menu, and sounded great. The scallops were nice, but not fresh I would suggest. The Atlantic salmon had clearly been cooked at the same time as the scallops wrapped around the outside which lead to it being too well done fort my liking. It was nice, but tended to lose that oily texture and taste that is so great about salmon, especially when mixed with scallops. I would recommend that if this dish is to be taken in future, the scallops should be cooked on the skewer and the salmon added only at the last minute to infuse the flavour, while minimizing the ill effects of over cooking the fish. In spite of that, it was nice and a good size for an entrée, however it accounts for the lower than average score in the food section that we would have otherwise given Donnini’s.

On this occasion we also sampled a desert which was a coconut and lime crème caramel. This sounded fantastic, and the presentation was wonderful. However, the flavour of lime and coconut was understated in the desert and overpowered by the sauce that came with it. It was still nice, but not quite the tropical variation of the dish that we were looking for. The consistency of the crème caramel was perhaps a bit too firm and the colouring of the sauce made it look a little more like a crème brulee. However, it was a nice finish to the lunch and we were possibly being a bit picky. The rest of the desert menu was superb and we’d suggest trying one of the other deserts if you do chose to visit Donnini’s.

Price

The cost of dining at Donnini’s was at the upper end of the scale in terms of Cairns. However, we felt that we got value for money. $90 for four people was pretty good with a couple of wines into the bargain. There was room in the menu to go much higher in cost than that with such things as seafood platters and so on, however we were not so inclined on this occasion.

Internet Presence

Donnini’s does not maintain any web presence that we were aware of. In addition it does not seem to have any e-mail facilities at all in terms of booking or making enquiries. We stand to be corrected on this point, however in the information age we prefer restaurants that you are able to get a feel for online before you actually go, and better yet consider menus and wine lists before actually being there to ascertain what they are like.

Recommendation:

We were impressed with Donnini’s. We would recommend it without hesitation, and with the exception of the comments about the scallops and salmon, our food was superb and we had a wonderful afternoon at this restaurant. The ambience in terms of the location, view, and the professionalism of the staff and quality food would make it pretty difficult not to have a good time here. 8 out of 10 overall, our highest so far!