Our Friday night visit will be the last. Not sure where to start but in summary.......bad service, poor menu offerings, cafeteria quality food for unworthy price. No thank you, read more

Pleasantly surprised by this place. My family of 5 decided to visit on Mother's Day. At first they told us that we would have to wait over an hour. But then they called and said there was a cancellation and they could seat us right away. We ordered 3 kids meals of chicken parm. And 2 bowls of the chicken and broccoli fettuccine. Every thing was so yummy. And I love that most of their ingredients come from Ohio! Only complaint is that they don't offer bread with your meal. But I've seen other reviews that said they loved the bread so maybe we just didn't get any because it was a holiday and they were busy? The service was excellent as well. Our server was very friendly and he took the time to talk to our children which I appreciated. We will definitely return. read more

A little bit pricey but overall good food. Sometimes they get quite busy so plan accordingly.

I've been here a few times since my last review. Although I still don't order take out from here we like to eat at the bar. Also, the room by the fireplace is nice. But I don't like the boxy dining area beside the bar. I do like the open kitchen. The conversation I have with my wife before we go is something like this: "Do you want 5 lbs of pretty good fettuccine alfredo from Zappitelli's or do you want a reasonable portion of really good fettuccine alfredo from Pastina?" The homemade pasta here usually tips the scales. I had the tenderloin ragu last time and it was also good. I want to try the mushroom entree next time.. But really just penne and meatballs is all you need here. And get a pizza to take home. Service was very good as well. read more

This place has always been good to me. I have been there about a dozen times and always good service and food. My only complaint is that they have removed the Carbonara from their menu. In my opinion it was the best pasta dish they had. Overall a great place for great food. read more

All I gotta say is this place was BANGING!! When my girlfriend and I went from visiting President Garfield's Estate. I had the Short Rib Ravioli and she had the Chicken Parmigiana. She thought it was really saucy, cheesy, and moist. The short rib was amazing and so tender along with the mushroom ravioli as well. I was very surprised on how well it tasted. It was very good. I'm telling you guys hit this place up! read more

Very busy on weekends. Ambience is great. Food was good but not exceptional. Pasta was a bit undercooked. Serving staff were excellent. Recommended. read more

Drove past the restaurant and decided to try it out. Excellent food and service. The calamari is great. Love the spicy sauce and Wasabi mayo. The marinara sauce and bread is so good. We bought a pint of it when our waiter said they sell it to customers. Pasta bolognese is so good. Very good restaurant. Like the farm to table and local product concept. The pasta is worth the money for fresh made pasta. We will be back for more. read more

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

Been here many times. Love the food. This last time we went was outstanding. Not just the food but the service. Our server was Joe P. and he was by far the most helpful, knowledgeable wait staff person we have had the pleasure of meeting. Not just in this restaurant, but any other we've patronized in the last few years. We will definitely be back. read more

Delicious italian food with a great ambiance/atmosphere. I would definitely recommend trying this place. We came on a Friday night and had to wait 45 minutes for a table. While waiting they gave us 4 complimentary pieces of pizza. It was delicious! read more

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Our favorite restaurant to dine at in Mentor is Pastina. Food is always great. Service is exceptional , and nightly specials in addition to the regular menu offers rustic Italian dishes for everyone. Our 10 year old loves and requests Pastina. The homemade pasta and tiramisu can't be beat!! Often they add a specialty cocktail on their daily specials menu. read more

Little disappointed. Food was alright, service was horrible. We had to ask for bread multiple times. Our waitress never brought us a refill on water. Edited star rating after chef responded to my first experience. I hope these guys stick around. read more

If you want burnt food that is the equivalent of amateur hour at the Apollo, go here. Third rate chefs that shouldn't be allowed to cook for others. Go somewhere else and let these third rate chefs burn their food. read more

We went there a few days ago with my mom and grandma. We all got pasta dishes: Pastina Bolognese, Pesto Paillard, and Linguine Marinara. Every one of them was delicious. Then, we had tiramisu for dessert, which also was very good. The server was nice and attentive too. BUT, we all had DIARRHEA later on for quite a long time. I don't think I'm willing to come back or recommend someone this place. It ruined the entire experience. read more

Had the chicken Marsala and it was great. The service was on point and pretty nice decor. Parm frites appetizer was surprisingly good. Surprising because I didn't really expect much from what is essentially a plate of fries but couldn't get enough of the damn things. Would have liked some bread and butter,especially in an Italian place but none to be found. Menu is pretty standard so if you're looking for creativity you may be disappointed. Wife had ravioli and she liked it, but ravioli is ravioli. We will definitely go back when we're out that way. read more

I appreciate your reply but like most people I order and plan to pick up right away. If I am delayed it's on me then. I will stand by my original opinion. No other restaurant shares your concerns. Ive ordered pasta and many other things from all over and never had a problem. read more

F*** Me.... This was delicious and some of the best Italian food I've had in a while that didn't come from my kitchen. On time with their order, hot when I got home, delicious in every bite. I'm writing this review in a food coma. Pizza is great, pasta is great, can't say enough... this will be our go to from now on. read more

Amazing service and wonderful homemade pastas. Wine selection is pretty damn good as well

I took my mother and my brother here, and we were all very impressed! For an appetizer we got the Arancini. This is a must get, it was absolutely fantastic! You get three large rice balls, easily enough for us. All of our entrees came with either soup or house salad, but unfortunately they were all out of soup. Salads were nothing special. The homemade italian was good, but a little sweet. For an entree, my mother got the mahi mahi, my brother linguine marinara with meatballs, and I got the butternut squash ravioli. Portions on all of these were quite large! Both the ravioli and the linguine are homemade and were fantastic. The squash ravioli was amazing itself! I got sausage on the side, and it was great! The fish had some troubles though. While absolutely delicious, the topping on it was very cold, as in pulled out of the fridge and put on. This made the parts of the fish that had the topping on it just as cold. So in the end 1/2 was perfect, and half was very cold. This was just added in, as it was a paper insert in the menu. We mentioned to them and hopefully it will be fixed in the future, cause it's a shame cause everything else about it was great. For desert we had their homemade tiramisu. We tried to get bread pudding as well, but they were out of that as well. That said, the tiramisu was great! The atmosphere is nice. Not as casual as something like olive garden, but not as fancy as a higher end restaurant. The furniture felt a little cheap. In the end, without alcohol, expect to spend $25-$30 per person. We will be going back for sure! read more

It's funny how we always thought we had to go to Little Italy for authentic Italian! Now we have Pastina right in our backyard; it really is delightful! The food was fabulous: I enjoyed a handmade Mushroom ravioli and my husband ordered a traditional pasta dish and loved it. The service was sensational; we were blessed with a server who was right on the ball. We have already spoken about our next visit to Pastina and look forward to bringing all our friends here! We were so pleasantly surprised by the ambience inside because the exterior is very generic. Hopefully, they will stay here for a long, long time ... look out Brio! read more

The food was very good! I had Melissa as a server and She did an awesome job! It was my first time there and She was very knowledgeable of the menu, and always had a smile on her face. I highly suggest asking for her table. It will be worth your wait. read more

We decided to dine on the outdoor patio on a Saturday night. The hostesses were smiling and helpful from the moment we walked In the door. The ambiance is lovely with hanging baskets of flowers, a warm fireplace and a cozy atmosphere. Our server Sara was friendly and accommodating. When we asked her for recommendations she was full of ideas and enthusiasm. We dined on the stuffed peppers, Capricossa pizza and much more. Everything was amazing and flavorful. We had a sparkling rosé was the perfect finish to a summer night. The sweet blond bartender popped our champagne with phenomenal flair. Our overall experience was outstanding. This place is a hidden gem in Lake County. read more

Super food and service. Fireplace inside and patio. For high end dinner$ and a more grown up atmosphere expect inconsiderate people with 2 day old babies crying and screaming kids seated in the bar area. read more

The first time I ate here last summer I was blown away by how good everything was. Since then it has gone completely down hill each time. The last (and final) time I ate here, the food literally looked as if it was thrown on a plate and served. The pasta dinner I ordered came with a ball of noodles, sauce on half and cold chicken. The service was seriously lacking. For the price it was not worth it by any means. I was severely let down and can say that I will not be going back. read more

Hands down the best Italian restaurant in Mentor or even Lake County. Fresh homemade pasta made daily is my biggest weakness. I just love this place. read more

First off I'd like to say, the decor, BEAUTIFUL. Every detail into the design was wonderful. But I was there to eat. I ordered the shrimp scampi. A little pricy but it's "authentic" right? It didn't come with salad which was a little odd. And 3$ to add one on? Whatever. The bread, we got 4 pieces with marinara? No butter? Whatever. When I got my meal I was expecting large portions because of the price. No. I got a very normal sized meal with only 4 pieces of shrimp. 4?? Overall it was good just not what I expected. Nevertheless a lot of people love eating here I just had my expectations to high. read more

Dinner. 5:30pmish. Ordered the Pastina Bolognese with a side salad first. What a meal. The salad was ok...the balsamic was a tad too acidic for my taste. Anyhow...the bolognese absolutely hit it out of the park. Not many Italian restaurants in he US actually come close to real Italian food (spent most of my summers until my early twenties visiting/living with family in northern Italy (my mom was from Genova, my dad worked for TWA)....so I KNOW good Italian food (especially pesto and focaccia!). What a fabulous dish. Homemade fettuccine noodles perfectly cooked (I refuse to use the "al dente" adjective). Fantastic meaty sauce. Fantastic flavour profile. For dessert I talked myself into the tiramisu despite being stuffed and totally content to leave with the taste bud memory of the bolognese. Well...the tiramisu was good but it amazing...almost brought the rating down a star. For sure would've deducted a half star if I could do that here. It wasn't bad. But very stiff and dense (and somewhat dry) and very heavy as a result. Didn't get the impression the lady fingers were soaked in coffee/rum. Just barely if so. Also the piece was just HUGE. They should sell two sizes. Anyhow....again, it was good. Very good flavor but tiramisu is as much about the texture. Was just the stiffness that made it not excellent. But still gonna stick with five stars because of the bolognese. read more

The reason I am giving this restaurant such a low score is not based on poor service, decor etc., it's for another completely unacceptable and horrific reason. Everything seemed pretty kosher with Pastina Rustica, food tasted great, everyone was friendly, my girlfriends and I had an over all good experience..that is until we discovered what we did in our take home box. Both of us ordered the special for the night which happened to be the Monk fish. I finished my dinner at the restaurant but she had some left overs. The next day she decided to reheat the remainder of her food and was horrified to find a worm INSIDE HER FISH. I am so disgusted. From further investigation it turns out to be a Round worm which if gone unnoticed can lead so some nasty complications. We are both so freaked out now, we had to order parasite testing kits to make sure we did not ingest any. How is this acceptable?! How did this pass?' This was no small worm. Please be careful and cautious when ordering the fish, I've NEVER had an issue like this so I'm assuming where ever they are sourcing their fish may not be up to par. Please see the picture of what we pulled out of their monk fish. I will never return. read more

Pastina Rustic Italian Restaurant - Round worm pulled out from the Monk Fish - Italian Near Me - Mentor, Ohio

OVERPRICED !! Food was not worth the price. That being said I eat out almost daily and spend this much without hesitation. I travel all over eating at dining establishments. I had heard from others that this place had good food but this night I did not get good food. I started with Bruschetta, Wings, and caprese salad. the salad was made with grape tomatoes. it was not terrible but not as good as most places I have tried and its a staple for me. the wings were good but barely cooked. the bruschetta was ok but the toast was not so toasty and had less of a crunchiness do to excessive oil, also every one was covered with a thick creamy cheese. For my entrée I chose the chicken Milanese, my chicken finally came out and it was dry and barely room temp. I told my server when she asked if everything was ok her solution was she could send it back to the kitchen ...not can we make another one for you. so I declined fearing what they would try to do since it was already dry and chewy. I hoped they would do something in good faith but failed to do so. I Did not eat anymore of my food at this point and hoped maybe I could salvage it at home. I decided to go ahead and try the tiramisu hoping they would just wipe that off the bill as that is textbook restaurant 101..."offer free dessert" . well no such luck and nothing done to the check. our server as were the other servers were preoccupied with cleaning up and not so much on top notch service. it wasn't terrible just not as good as it could have been. the décor was nice and it was clean. There was live music by one man and his guitar so we asked to be seated in the dining area rather than the bar area as it was kind of loud. Could it have been a good meal...yes maybe on another night when more attention was paid to the details. would I recommend....well I would let them know its overpriced for the quality I received. would I go back....undecided. we will see how the respond to my review.(if at all) I almost forgot... the tiramisu was good but not anywhere near $8 good. our bill for two people was $85 only one dessert and they had the same entrée as I did. they did not care for the wings or the bruschetta I shared. read more

The food was discusting! My chicken piccata was sitting in a gross bowl of water and was completely flavorless! My husband had pasta, and the sauce is gross, acidic, and tastes like jar sauce! The best thing there was the steak a friend of ours got! It's an Italian restaurant! The Italian food should be amazing, but we'll NEVER GO BACK! Very disappointing! The only good thing was our server! She was great! read more

My wife and I decided to celebrate our 6 year wedding anniversary by going out to Pastina. My father gave us a $50 gift card because we had mentioned we wanted to try the place out. I made reservation around 6pm for a 7:15 check in no issues. We walk in and were greeted right away. We sat down and almost instantly were greeted by our waiter who was very knowledgeable about the restaurant's menu as well as very polite and friendly. We got waters as we browsed the menu. I stuck with water as a healthy drink my wife opted to enjoy a strawberry and basil margarita. She enjoyed it and said it was VERY strong. She does not drink much now a days so she was tipsy by the end lol. We decided to order two APPS I chose the Rhode island calamari in a very tasty sweet/hot sauce topped with a drizzle of wasabi mayo. My wife decided on the caprase salad. While we waited for our APPS we were served nice homemade bread and a AMAZING marinara dipping sauce. The dipping sauce honestly was the first amazing taste of the night we both raved about it. Our apps came and we both smashed them while having good conversation and I might add a meal with out our kids which does not come often. We placed our entrée orders. We went with a chicken parm and homemade linguini pasta for my wife and I was tied up on 4 different dishes two being a ravioli dish one being chicken picata and the other being the restaurant's butchers cut nightly special. Again our waiter being really friendly helped me narrow down my choice to two different entrees and I went with the butchers cut which was a braised short rib on top on creamy polenta with some roasted veggies as well as some natural auju. Our bill came to roughly $73 which is not cheap how ever I feel we got good quality food and even great portions. This place will only be for special occasions as we aren't high rollers. We had a GC as stated earlier so we decided to get the app's if we did not have that we would of just got the entrée. The inside is beautiful. Oh one last thing there was a lady walking around with a bottle of homemade red wine. I guess the cheese maker for the restaurant makes it so she was offering tastings was a nice little surprise even though I don't really like wine. read more

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My husband and I wanted a nice dinner and had not been to Pastina since they first opened. We were some what disappointed in the experience. The waitress we had was not very caring that we were there. She took a long time just to drop off our waters. We understand that restaurants get busy but it was a little ridiculous on the amount of time she took. We each ordered an alcoholic beverage and not once did she ask if we wanted another one. The only time she checked on us was right when the food was dropped off and that was it. As for the food, we both got pasta dishes and for both of us the food was too salty. I drank almost three glasses of water because of it. Over all the experience was not what we expected for all the hype about the restaurant. Not sure if we will go back. read more

Great atmosphere. Food is good but not over the top. Good homemade noodles but didn't like sauce.

Before I say anything else, let me say the staff and service were more than adequate, very friendly and quick. That is unfortunately where any praise for this restaurant ends. I order the linguine marinara with sausage and meatballs and a soprasata pizza, and I could not have been more disappointed with the food. The pasta was over cooked, and the sauce was bland and almost non-existent, the meatballs were overly dense and under-seasoned. In fact everything was just distinctly under-seasoned. The sausage was decent, though that hardly made up for the rest of it. As for the pizza, this is going to sound like a joke but it isn't, I fed a sizeable portion of it to my dog just so it wouldn't go to waste. The crust was of an odd consistency, it had an almost pancake like spongie quality that I found off-putting, and again the sauce was extremely bland. The menu said it came with arugula, which is cool, I like arugula and it's something I'm familiar with on pizza from working in a high end Italian restaurant myself in the past. I was expecting maybe a small dressed salad on top of a finished pizza, but what I got was a giant pile of plain greens that had been on the pizza when it when in the oven, therefore making the whole thing a soggy mess topped with nasty wilted mush. I did take it to go, so maybe that didn't help matters, but Italian food usually travels well, and I wasn't going very far. I honestly don't think I'll give them a second chance, because if you can botch linguine marinara as an Italian restaurant, you probably don't belong to be in business. I'm sorry to anyone who works there, but I gotta tell it like it is on this one. I'm actually really disappointed, I had been anticipating a chance to try this place for months. read more

Absolutely one of the best restaurants I have been to. Food tastes so fresh, and the bread they offer free is wonderful , kinda expensive but for the freshness and taste very worth it. We went there without reservations on a Saturday night and only waited 30 minutes, I wish I could remember our waitress name because this women was great, never did we go without a drink or didn't even wait to order. Will definitely be back and would recommend to anyone. read more

Glorified "Olive Garden." White Clam dish was so soupy, it could have been mistaken as pho. The "house" dressing was straight from a bottle. The meat in the stuffed peppers was mushy. Only decent dish was our calamari. Will never return. read more

Went to pastina when it first opened and I couldn't believe how great the food, service, and atmosphere was. Went back recently to try their summer menu with another couple and we will not be returning. Muscles were served like warm. Butchers cut pork chop was dry and hard to cut. Penne pasta was served under cooked - like they were chewy and barley had any sauce. Egg plant appetizer was enough for one how are you supposed to share ? Running out of food happens but please say that when clients sit down not when they order it and then you tell clients you are out of that item because someone didn't make them today? People can look past medium quality food if service is excellent.. I give it a 2 star and really wish it went back towards the way it was when it first opened read more

Great food (homemade!), great people, great atmosphere . 11/10 recommend. I recommend the chocolate gelato and the chicken Alfredo. Of course, don't leave without a cannoli! read more

Excellent every time! The different beer and wine lists make interesting choices. The salads are always fresh and the pasta is to die for!

My wife and I had been watching this restaurant for quite a while. It seemed to be consistently busy so we thought it would be a good place for a date night meal. We were so unpleasantly surprised. The restaurant comes off as a high end restaurant with prices around $20/person. The service was OK. My wife and I ordered different entrees so that we could sample two different items. Both came with salads. The salads arrived and we thought that given the pricing the service would be staged to that we could finish the salad before the entrees arrived. It didn't happened that way. We only finished half the salad. My wife's entrée was acceptable. Not great but OK. Certainly not worth the price. My entrée, ravioli, was NOT acceptable in any respect. It arrived cold. The ravioli was undercooked and the tomato sauce tasted like it came from a can. Overall, this meal was VERY disappointing. Had we been at a family diner and paid $5/person this might have been OK. But not here. The manager did agree to not charge us for my meal. It is not likely that we will go back to this restaurant or any of the other restaurants of this owner. read more