Mia Dona

[Nathan]

the menu nods more toward Italy though.

same very reasonable prices.

same competent, simple cooking with well-thought-out dishes.

if it was in my hood I'd eat here all the time. it's not and it's not quite ambitious enough to warrant the trip.

[Pan]

Where is it? Anything else you'd like to say about the food?

[oakapple]

The comparison to Kefi surprises me. Kefi is super casual—no reservations, credit cards not accepted. I think Dona is at least one level up from that (or is meant to be).

[Nathan]

yeah, it is a bit more formal. prices and the culinary style are similar...I'd say that it's more the FOH that's different.

[pups224]

Had dinner here last week. Ditto the other comments. Kefi with a bit more sophistication. Very good apps, fish and desert. The food is not fussed with and is good quality. The back room is quiter. The service was very good. The waitress said that they are still tweaking the menu.

If Mia Dona was in my neighborhood, I would eat here often. I have to keep in mind when I'm at the movies or such.

[oakapple]

The similarity to Kefi is tenuous at best, especially in that one is Greek and the other Italian.

[BryanZ]

I must say, for my purposes last night Mia Dona fit the bill perfectly. I dined with a group of seven others with relatively simple tastes. The menu reads identifiably Italian but the Greek flourishes--creative uses of olives, capers, their respective brines, feta and other Greek cheeses--were enough to keep me interested. I also really liked the pitchers of beer. Good for a festive, group meal.

The cooking here won't win any awards, and this isn't a two-star restaurant in my book. Instead, it's a strong one-star place, and I think its customers would be better off going in with those kind of expectations. Its soulful, hearty food and offers the same kind of experience. Our server was very good at judging the dynamic of our group and quickly dropped any formal pretense with us. Again, this seemed more natural and our meal was for the better because of it.

I had the octopus--very meaty if a little bit overwhelmed by all the olives on the plate--and the mixed grill of quail, lamb, and pork--simple, but a nice plate of food. Also tried the gnudi; a pasta with tomatoes, basil and cheese; the branzino, the scallop with blueberry starter, the flank steak. Overall, I found the food to be quite consistent across the menu, both in philosophy and execution. Pastas ordered as mains tended to be a bit soggy, probably because they were finished before the meat mains were done.

All in all, no complaints. At less than $50 per person with a good amount of beer, I can't complain. I'd definitely come back if I was in the area.

[oakapple]

The cooking here won't win any awards, and this isn't a two-star restaurant in my book.

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A number of us visited about 6–8 weeks ago, and it was unanimous that the quality had declined after the opening months. I remember several "wow" dishes that made the two-star rating defensible, at least in BruniLand, but by the time we re-visited none of those dishes were available, and nothing that replaced them was as memorable.

[BryanZ]

Yeah, I had heard reports taht quality had slipped some. I'd put my meal at somewhere between Otto and Lupa, with a price to match.

[weinoo]

Yeah, I had heard reports taht quality had slipped some.  I'd put my meal at somewhere between Otto and Lupa, with a price to match.

←

My feeling, after a rather large meal here, was that both Lupa and Otto are better, by a rather large magnitude, at what they do.