This is a wonderful restaurant. My wife and I have been here a few times. Each time we have tried different things and loved everything we have gotten. My wife is gluten free so she did not eat the complementary bread at the beginning but I did, and it was wonderful. All of it. She also got gluten free pasta and it is one of the best we have gotten from any restaurant or grocery store. Highly recommended. read more

Ate here last summer after heading to a tribe game, was really looking forward to stopping again! This is one of the nicest restaurants all around. The food was perfect all 3 meals and we split a pizza as well and it was one of the best I've ever had. Seriously great food and wonderful customer service!!! We'll be back at some point. read more

Just a fantastic place! Portions are very generous, staff is friendly and efficient. We had the arancini for appetizer, and the bolognese pasta and shrimp pesto palliard. Highly recommend and we will be back for sure! read more

This is a good restaurant but a bit overpriced for the food. It's very difficult to keep large quantities of handmade pasta from sticking together or becoming overcooked, and they do a pretty good job. Four stars because the arancini is that amazing. read more

I just had my wedding at Pastina. There were just under 70 guests and the staff went above and beyond to make it as stress free as possible. They were so accommodating in every way. They even put the chairs on each side of the fireplace to allow me to have an isle. It was a beautiful, intimate event. The food was great as well! I can't say enough good things about this experience. If you are planning on having a wedding on the smaller side, I would totally recommend Pastina. read more

Pastina Rustic Italian Restaurant - We got married right in front of the fireplace. the shades were down and the fireplace was on. It was perfect! - Italian Near Me - Mentor, Ohio

Decided to swing by PRI after hearing several rave reviews from the members of my book club, and let me just say that I'll have NO RESERVATIONS... about coming back! Nestled in the corner of a nondescript strip mall, this brilliant dining establishment comes out of the gate exceeding your expectations; it's far more elegant, spacious and stylish than its modestly-appointed storefront leads on. The decor doesn't venture into the ostentatious, but rather remains perfectly inviting throughout (as does the staff!). Their broad tap selection includes a rotating cast of established beers as well as a diverse selection of crafts. I opted, as I often do, for a local IPA that was busy in hops, never venturing towards precocious. Success! Now on to the grub... The smoked salmon chips immediately jumped out at me; fortunately, I caught them squarely in my platform, avoiding a potential mess. One by one, they danced a perfectly orchestrated, exotic tango along my palate before venturing south and securing a gentle but firm perch on my duodenom. The flavors that then drifted "upstream"... in the same manner that these little guys did in their previous life... were delightfully gregarious. My date opted for the Rhode Island calamari to start... and lemme just say, I challenge you to find a finer quality presentation of fried calamari in ANY venue that meets the more traditional definition of "island." *Full disclosure, I'm allergic to shellfish and didn't indulge, but this plate was apparently so good that the b*tch probably wouldn't have shared with me anyway. But I digress... that's a story for another forum. Following the generous appetizer portions, we opted to share the smashed meatball pizza as our main course... and YES, and YES, and YES. Is anyone in town making better pizza?? Come see for yourself. read more

Pastina, you are my monthly standing date night with my girl Kellie and I love you but you add hours to my workout time. Well worth it. We start with a nice glass of red recommended from the bartender followed up by the bread and dipping sauce. The apps are delicious and we are pizza/pasta/salad girls. We have had exceptional service, food and people watching on every occasion. Regarding the annoyance re: take out - I did reach out regarding catering a party at my house. I was told the same thing. This is their policy. If you don't want to wait, make this your go-to for a sit down dinner or order your take out at the bar and relax with a glass of wine for 20 minutes. Well worth the wait. read more

Had a 7:15 reservation were not seated until 8:00. Pasta came out undercooked and chewy. Meatballs were cold in middle. Waitress came back with new meatballs that were red in middle. Looked raw. Pasta issue was never addressed. Manager MaryAnn came out with an attitude. Said meals were half eaten. We told her we told server but only meatballs were addressed. On positive note the bartender was attentive and friendly. Would definitely go back for a drink at bar but not food. read more

The best Italian cusine in Lake County and some of the best in Northeast Ohio. Here you get delicious authentic Italian cuisine that leave you satisfied at the end of your meal. After four visits the service has yet to regress and has always been attentive and friendly. Fresh baked bread is standard with every entree and comes with an herb infused olive oil dip. If you want quality with no shortcuts, Pastina is the place to go! read more

Calamari came out cold. Waitress literally rolled her eyes at my family when we asked for it to be warmed. Food was not good. Everything was very salty and luke warm at best. I ordered a filet and it looked very much like a sirloin. It was terrible. Out of the six meals we ordered, only one person (the child who ate pizza) ate their meal. We didn't have anything packed to go except for the filet (aka pet food) and the pizza. We have dined here many times before. However, I wish we would have gone down the street to Molinari's instead of (literally) throwing our $220.00 in the garbage. The service was not even average. Our appetizer was served without plates or silverware. We had to flag down a different waitress to get those items. The food was delivered by staff, but our waitress never came to check on anything after delivery. One plate came out incorrect. We had to flag her down to get it fixed. She literally brought it out, put it down, and walked away without a word. This used to be our weekly family outing. Then the quality went down, so we switched venues for our family. For Mother's Day, we decided to go back to tradition. Other than the time with family (even though we really couldn't talk because of the loud band music), it was very disappointing. We will never go back again. The sign that says' "line item cook needed" outside of the restaurant should have been a warning sign to go somewhere else. read more

Pastina Rustic Italian Restaurant - Filet (beans were great though) - Italian Near Me - Mentor, Ohio

I was in last night with my wife and we sat at the bar as we typically do. I told the story we exchanged how you apologized for the previous subpar meal and offered to make it up to me. Sarah agreed to the "on the house " entrée without hesitation. I ordered the chicken piccata and it was DELICIOUS!! Please pass along to Tina so you both can be recognized for your EXCELLENT customer service. This is what keeps patrons coming back! read more

Let's start with the high points. I love the farm-to-table, rustic Italian approach this restaurant takes and was really excited to try their cuisine. The filet was quite nice and cooked to perfection . Unfortunately, the caprese salad which was described as having heirloom tomatoes and basil were lacking in both and our homemade pasta dishes were undercooked. read more

I love their food, owner and cocktail list. They run great businesses, I would have given it a 5 star except when I took my mom and grandma there for a birthday dinner they really dropped the ball service wise. I had to get up and go to the bar to get my kids drink refilled and get our own boxes. They had one server for the whole back room, I haven't been back since but since my grandma had never been and I picked to go there, I was embarrassed. read more

Incredible food! The Alfredo sauce is so good! The owner is very nice! We had a larger party and the server was wonderful! I highly recommend giving this place a try! Josh- one of the managers was very helpful! read more

I really wanted to like this place, but unfortunately, it was just "okay". The hostess stand stood empty for a couple of minutes when we first walked in so we just stood around wondering if they were going to be able to seat us. Once we were taken to a table, our waitress greeted us promptly [she was great] and we ordered a round of drinks. I head the pear-tini and it was really good. We skipped the appetizers and ordered entrees: fettuccini alfredo, bolognese, shrimp pesto something, and a kids pizza. We had to pay extra to get the shrimp on the shrimp dish instead of chicken and there were only 4-5 shrimp in the entire dish. The bolognese was supposed to have a tomato cream sauce, but I couldn't really tell because it had all soaked into the massive mound of noodles. If you're going to serve so many noodles with every dish, you should make sure they taste better. These noodles were thick/chewy and tasted like flour. Nobody finished their entree, but I still wanted to try dessert because I LOVE tiramisu. Unfortunately, it's like they forgot to add any flavor to their tiramisu. I'm not from the area, but if I was, I might not come back here for anything other than drinks. read more

I wasn't really in the mood for Italian, and the outside wasn't very impressive. On the inside, different story. Beautiful! Clean! Our food was great and unique! Their pasta was homemade and we left very full! I would definitely go back! read more

Sometimes, I just want to place a carry out to take home. So imagine my shock when I call them on 3/29/15 to place a carry out order and they tell me the following: "We don't take carryout orders over the phone. But, if you want to come in and sit at the bar, we will place one for you that way." What? Needless to say, I won't be going here ever. read more

I went here for a business dinner and it was so fun! The food was amazing. I do not usually like calamari, but theirs was perfection. I got a salad which was divine. They also have many cool drink options. I got a blackberry mule, which was one of the best drinks I've ever tasted. Will definitely have to return when I'm back in the area! read more

We chose to eat in Mentor because we had to make a 7 PM high school football game. I got several recommendations for Pastina including my grandparents who celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary there two years ago. This restaurant was great! They respected our time constraints and served us delicious dinner dishes. We enjoyed the salmon appetizer, the mushroom pasta dish and their specialty pizzas. They have a very generous kids pizza! The kids loved it! We will definitely be back with friends. And a big thing to note is that Italians eat here- that alone is a huge stamp of approval! read more

My husband and I dined at Pastina on a recent Saturday evening. It was the first time for both of us. Let me first say that the food was delicious. I ordered chicken piccatta and chose to have a vegetable side instead of the linguini. My husband ordered the grilled salmon. He also chose a vegetable side instead of the risotto. My disappointment is with the size of the portion. My chicken was no bigger than a deck of cards. My three stalks of broccolini were served on the same plate, swimming in piccatta sauce. Looking over the pictures on the reviews, I did see a picture of chicken piccatta and was surprised at the portion. Mine was literally half of that. As I said earlier, it was delicious but not worth the price. read more

Really enjoy this place - cool atmosphere, attentive service, and reasonably priced locally sourced food.

Went here again, again very nice, especially now that the outdoor patio is enclosed. Super nice, was here for my grandpas 89th birthday. The service was outstanding, and they even let us stick around after we had paid to allow for birthday cake and presents. They went above and beyond to accommodate us, Example, they continued to provided plates, silverware, napkins, etc while we were eating cake that we had brought in. This type of service is what keeps customers coming back. Only bad, and this is my own personal preference, is that I feel the prices are a little high for the area, but I can look pass that with all the positive amenities that come with going here See you again soon! read more

Thank you, Yelp, for helping us find this place! The food is SO fresh and delicious. And our server, Ashley, was amazing!

Good Food and Good Service When they first opened up it was not but as time went on and they got everything worked out I enjoy going to dinner here now. I even have recommend our German visitors to go here for night out. My son fiance threw her bridal shower here and they had the side room all ready for them on a Sunday. If you haven't been there for a while - go back and give them another try - you won't be sorry. read more

I'm not impressed with their food. Expensive and been there a few times and can't say I really enjoyed what I had..

At first glance this restaurant looks like it is no part of the strip mall and currently lives in. The design isn't done a terrific job of making it look like a completely separate establishment. They did have a front porch that they've done a good job of enclosing has a nice fire and comfy couches. Between then and were told the wait was going to be about 15 minutes which we were fine with we planned on going to the bar and waiting at the bar. I would consider this a mid-range Italian restaurant and the servers all had on a uniform of some sort. What I thought was really odd was that the bartenders were all wearing jeans and some sort of Ohio State Buckeyes top. Are particular bartender was wearing a hoodie and the entire bar staff seemed dressed rather unprofessional compared to the rest of the servers. They were attentive enough but it just struck me as odd like the busboy snuck behind the bar or something and decided to start pouring drinks. It's not a sports bar, I understand Ohio State was playing, but let's stick to our reason for being there in a serving and being professional about it. We elected to not have a full on dinner rather experimenting with some appetizers. I had the arancini which was my first experimentation with this and I thought it was actually really good! My friend had a caprese salad and it was very tasty fresh nothing to complain about. Our server was very attentive, we never really had to wait for a refill on a drink and overall I cannot give it 5 stars because I want to wait until I I am able to have a full meal. But easily it's one of the better Italian restaurants in Mentor and I will be back! read more

Pastina Rustic Italian Restaurant - Fire in the new expanded patio room - Italian Near Me - Mentor, Ohio

While the food very good, the service is not. We went two nights in a row. The first night our service was very slow. We thought maybe it was because the waitress had a lot of tables to serve. However, even our drinks took a very long time to come. Because we enjoy the food, we went back on the second night. At first everything seemed smooth. We were seated quickly and greeted by our server shortly after. However, when our pizzas came, my pizza did not come gluten free and my daughters was instead. Those had to be sent back which cost us an extra 20 mins of waiting. Then, my son and husband ordered desserts. My son never received his dessert. Our check was not compensated in anyway. And both the waitress and manager did not seem very apologetic. Both nights our meals took almost 2 hours. I don't think we will be going back anytime soon. read more

Nice hidden Italian alcove in mentor. Nice atmosphere and good service but a bit pricy for Italian read more

My wife and I stopped in on a busy Saturday night last week to give Pastina another shot. Sitting at the bar we noticed immediately that the bartenders weren't wearing those awful ear pieces! Not sure if it's a new policy or if it was a fluke but we were happy to see it and felt that we recieved better service than we ever have. Both bartenders were wonderful! We had the arancini appetizer, my wife had the split pea ravioli, and I had the ricotta cavatelli and sausage. It was all delicious and well prepared! I asked the bartender to relay to the kitchen how well they did! My update only raised my rating by a star for a few reasons. We've had three bad experiences in a row, and this is the first time it's been good, we were there on a busy night when we've only gone through the week before (maybe they just have the A team working on weekends), and maybe the ear pieces being gone is also a weekend thing. They have absolutely earned another visit, and I will again update my review afterward. read more

Decided to enjoy a "new" local spot, which we have dined at previously. Again, the standards have been met! 7:30 on a Friday night with a packed house, our wait was just under half hour! HINT: Call ahead really helps. Our party of four was seated at a booth in the bar. Since the booth easily seats 6, we had spacious room to drink, chat, eat and eat some more. The plates were fantastic and the tastes were wonderful. Did have problem with one dinner order. Salad and another side were ordered as a meal and for whatever reason, the salad was late to the table. Without any request by my wife, the server deeply apologize for the delay and comp'ted the salad! Great move by the house. Finished off our collective meals with the bad pudding. Please note: This dish was enough to share for our party of four! Not going to say much more than, "Don't be a fool! Save room and order this heavenly dessert! read more

We have eaten several times and have never been disappointed. From standard menu to daily specials everything has been amazing.

The Shrimp Scampi was phenomenal. The difference between this Italian restaurant is the fresh, homemade pasta and bread baked daily. Great atmosphere with live music added a delightful touch. Not to mention the warm brownie with espresso gelato for dessert! To DIE for... read more

Pastina Rustic Italian Restaurant - Italian Near Me - Mentor, Ohio

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Very good Italian food with fresh homemade pastas and sauces. The chicken Marsala with brown gravy was outstanding as chicken was so very tender and juicy. Dishes with the tomato sauces are excellent as well. read more

I came in on a Sunday evening about 6:30 with a friend. We were sat right away. Friendly staff, nice new decor. I didn't realize how big the place was. The bread that comes to the table is so good! Nice and light. I ordered the pastina pizza. It was so good! The sausage was awesome. I can't wait to come back and check out the patio! read more

This is one of my favorite restaurants in the area and has incredibly delicious, well-made Italian food (I highly recommend the shrimp scampi pasta)! The employees are very helpful in terms of meal recommendations and answering any questions regarding special diets/dietary restrictions. read more

Okay, but please put a steak back in the menu. Love the place, but not a whole lot for those who are diabetic.

The food is fresh and hot. The service outstanding. I would recommend this to all my friends. They make the pasta fresh at the time you order. You will like the appearance of the resturant. Enjoy read more

I come in sometimes with my wife and two kids, sometimes just with my son, who sometimes specifically requests Pastinas and he's 4 years old. Always great food, polite staff. My favorite place in NE Ohio. read more

Food was very good, had the calamari and a side salad. Good spice on the calamari. Only complaint is the towel dispenser in the men's bathroom does not work very well. read more

Worth another shot. Loved the atmosphere, our server was fantastic. Bruschetta for an appetizer was amazing, a trio of toppings. Salads were delicous, we had the house and caesar at our table and both everyone thought were good. Now for the pasta, one had bolognese which was said to be good, another Pesto Pillard, said was fantastic. Child had gluten free penne, but wish they would not have assumed she wanted a kids meal, would have liked to take leftovers home for her. Not a huge issue but in the future I will now specify that we do not want a kids meal. The hand-crafted ricotta cavatelli, was not good. The cavatelli needed to be cooked longer it was pretty hard. We let them know this. Enjoyable atmosphere and very spacious, prices are decent. read more