Dantes Bistro Bar & Grill

Went for dinner on Valentine’s Day. This time we had the Scampi Adriatico ($ 16) — plenty of large shrimp and excellent taste and the Frutti di Mare ($ 18) — a nice seafood dish with 3 large shrimp, a half dozen muscles, a good portion of baby clams and some calamari. Both were excellent. A coupe of comments — if you want more bread for dipping, they charge for it. I asked about having the dishes with linguini instead of spaghetti and it would be an additional $ 2. Prices have increased here pretty much across the board. The house side salad has gone from $ 3 to $ 4 — that a hefty 33% increase. Many of the entrees have gone up a buck or two, House wine is steep — we paid $ 6.50 for a glass of Chardonnay! The restaurant was pretty busy and we waited 40 minutes for our dinners to arrive. Still, all things considered the food is great and the prices for entrees are reasonable.

My friend went here yesterday for her birthday with 2 sisters. After they paid the 150 dollar bill they were told to leave to make room for a reservation. Rude!

I came here on a Friday evening around 6, and had a short wait. The waitstaff was slow and after we finished eating it took longer then expected to get the check. The food however was delicious. We had fresh bread with dipping sauce as we sat down which we had to force ourselves to stop eating. I got the Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino with homemade pasta. It was fantastic. All the ingredients tasted fresh and it definitely made up for slow service.

It’s a shame this place gets so much business. I’ve heard it was way better in the past when the owner (Dante) was actually there. He lives in Italy now. Service is clueless, food is awful, but there’s not much else in Barrington so it thrives. Save your money

I really wanted to love this place. The atmosphere is amazing, it’s a very quaint set up with a beautiful interior and romantic lighting. They did have a good number of specials that all sounded interesting. I ended up getting the chicken piccata. The chicken was chewy and I could barely taste the lemon in the sauce. We waited quite some time for our food. Our waiter was not very attentive and then he forgot the sundae that was supposed to go with my sons meal. I may give it another shot at some point but none of us were impressed with our meals or service

The last time i will ever go to dantes Restaurant i ordered salmon i asked the waiter if i could get vegs with my salmon he said that vegs come with it so i ordered it when i got my meal it didnt have vegs with the meal it had some kind of gougy rice that was yukky an the salmon was raw the waiter never came to the table to ask how our meal was at all when he brought us our check there were my husband an my self an another couple he put everyones meal on one check he never asked us when we ordered do u want two or one check an we told him to give us two checks he said i dont know how to do that what the hell not a good waiter at all he was an older man .dont think i will ever go back there.

I’ve been to Dante’s a few times and it’s always been a good experience — great food and good service. I stopped in last night for dinner and it was packed and crazy. I expected service might slow down, or they may be a wait, whatever — but I sat at the bar and the bartender was hustling like crazy to get drinks to everyone extremely quickly. I was impressed with the fact that I never had to wait for everything — not to give my order, or for a drink refill, or even to pay my tab. Clearly a hard worker who knows her stuff. The few other times I’ve been, it’s been quiet. Service has been good but i wasn’t moved to review until last night.
One star off because their brunch isn’t as great as their dinner. Very limited menu and a lot of bakery-​type items. I’m sure they’re delicious but I prefer a savory breakfast and those options are limited. With so many brunch options in Portsmouth and Dover, I wouldn’t recommend this place for brunch. Lunch and dinner though — great stuff.

What a great find! My fiancé, mom, daughter, and I, stopped for lunch during a little in state road trip. I won’t bore you with the details, but, I’ll just say that we had an awesome meal and great experience. Even my daughter, who is a picky eater, ate her whole meal and wanted more. A first! The only negative comment I have is this: When we got there, a gentleman was playing some soothing music on his guitar. That lasted for the first 30 minutes we were there. When he was done playing, a loop of the same songs played over and over again. I think we heard «Baby It’s Cold Outside» 4 times during our visit. My little one commented on how often we were hearing the same songs. Kind of a strange song choice for the beginning of the spring season. It wasn’t a big deal, but, big enough for me to comment on it. It certainly didn’t affect our meal. Food was great and our waitress was awesome. We aren’t in the Barrington area often, but, if we find ourselves there again, we will definitely go back to Dantes!

When ever I go there I get a stomach ache,
I order different things every time! my brother in law is from Italy and he said that you guys spelt stuff wrong on the menu! But I highly recommend the lava cake!

Nice to find an Italian restaurant that offers 3 levels of spice. #3 for me! Perfect. Ian was very attentive. First visit. Will be back.

The last two times my husband and I have visited this restaurant the service has been slow. I understand if they were swamped or short staffed but this hadn’t been the case. Both times we sat up at the bar and there were a total of four of us bellied up. Tonight we thought we’d give them one more shot. We asked to sit in the lounge because there were 4 – 5 empty tables. They told us it would be 15 – 20 minutes to get sat. So we went to sit up at the bar where there were three people and a dog sitting. That’s right a dog had its own barstool. Outcome being there were not two barstools together. The food here is exceptional so I recommend ordering out. If you find yourself waiting for a dog to getup from the barstool, make your way across the road and ask for a pumpkin martini — best one you’ll find in the area.

Had a great lunch there today, we are on vacation. We were pleasantly surprised by how good the food was. Kids meals included a sundae. Appetizer was awesome with fresh mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes. Kids had pasta with meatballs. Meatballs were just ok. Lasagna was awesome as was the creamy pesto. I’d come back if we lived locally. Our server Trent was lovely, totally accommodated the kids and our special orders!

Great local Italian food. Very romantic restaurant. The tables are setup to give each party privacy. The lighting is perfect for a romantic dinner. I just had the medium-​rare Filet Mignon last night and it was perfectly cooked. The food was artfully place on the plate. I posted a picture of my dinner. My bf didn’t care for the topping on the filet mignon but I liked it. He did like the steak though.

First class service and fantastic food. Dante’s is consistent with both.
The specials are always the way to go. Try the flatbread or ravioli special.

Went out for the night with friends and family and had an awesome time
All of the food was great and styled very different. Fun environment & friendly staff, the only thing I would change is to change the names of the food to American so it is easier to decide.

Esh… first and last time at Dante’s. It is called Dante’s for a reason this place was a freaking inferno… My entire family was seriously sweating… crack a window!
The people were nice enough, but the food was seriously lack luster. We decided to try it out because we were tired of chain restaurants… but sadly we came to regret our decision.
The pizza crust was thin and just plain odd… Like a cracker rather than a crust?
My linguini was super bland; however, I must say that the meat balls were really good.
Disappointing :-(Want to support local, but Dante’s is making it tough.

Over worked pasta, appetizer and entrees arrived at the same time, so our meals were cold by the time we finished our appetizer. There was a dog in the dining room? I dunno, not returning, I know that.

This place is amazing! We had the calamari and escargot for an appetizer and they were very very good! I had the fresh linguini carbonara and it was terrific! I had an Italian friend of mine, not make it as good as they did. My boyfriend has the spaghetti bolognese and he said it was Very tasty! We are very big on supporting local business and this was a great find in Barrington NH!

I love the food here. The service is awesome. Dante, the owner, is often in the restaurant and is excellent to speak with.
I eat lunch here about once every other week; and dinner fairly often and is ALWAYS excellent.
Excellent food, excellent even in comparison to Dover/​Portsmouth resteraunts and highly worth the drive.
Highly recommended.

I’m always satisfied when I dine here. Dante’s turns out very respectable Italian cuisine at affordable prices. I chose the AGLIO, OLIO e PEPERONCINO with sausage and freshly made linguine. The pasta was cooked perfect (and I’m very fussy about my pasta), and the seasoning was spot on.
My only suggestion is that it might be time for a makeover in the dining room. It seems a little dated, cluttered and dark inside. Just decluttering the walls, adding a fresh coat of paint, new flooring and lighter window treatments would make a huge difference.
Overall I greatly enjoy the food here, and will be happily returning again soon!