La Dolce Vita

Excellent
Try the mussels in white sauce for sure. Staff was friendly, attentive and competent. We cook all of our meals all week and saved this restaurant visit for our last treat!

The best food we had all week at OBX! Atmosphere is clean, Italian & beautiful! Service was excellent & the food was incredibly good! We had mozz sticks, Caesar salads, Chicken Alfredo, BBQ pizza, Seafood Fra Diablo, crab & shrimp pasta, grilled shrimp… ALL DELICIOUS! This will be our go-​to spot from now on!

We had dinner while on vacation this year. I have never had a more delicious meal in my life. I had the Veal Parm and it was incredible. This wasn’t a frozen patty, I had a bone in veal chop that was breaded and cooked perfect. The sauce was again the best I have ever had. This will be a new stop for us when visiting Corolla. The service was really good. We sat outside and it started to rain, they brought us in and made sure we where comfortable.

As far as dining goes in the OBX this is a ⁵⁄₅. Took my parents here for dinner. Great atmosphere and a nice departure from the beach style eat-​in dining. We ordered 2 baked ziti’s w/​o ricotta, which is not easy to find, and lobster ravioli. All were great and fresh. Drinks were good. The bread was fresh. The menu had a nice selection of salads and the salad of the day sounded very appetizing, we just weren’t hungry enough to try it. We did go in the off season so that may have made the experience better.

Great job tonight. We ordered apps, salads, main course and desserts to go…
We had the Bruschetta app., While the tomatoes and basil were fresh as was the shaved parm cheese, there wasn’t enough of the balsamic glaze, which left it a bit on the dry side, I wouldn’t order it again. I had the lasagna with a meatball on the side. The portion was HUGH and very, very tasty. My wife had the eggplant, which came with a side of penne pasta. Very nice, she enjoyed it. I had a caeser salad to start which was also fresh and delicious. Or server, Louis, did a great job, timing everything perfectly from start to finish.
This wasn’t our first visit, it won’t be our lasr.

We’ll be sure to return next time we’re in the obx. Great tasting food, lovely atmosphere… relaxing.

Excellent food and service! I had the bone in veal Parmesan, my wife had the crab and shrimp penne in vodka sauce. Both excellent! Parmesan was huge! Very attentive service from the waiter and owners. It is off season, so it was not crowded. I am sure it is harder to get a table on season, but it is worth it! It’s going on our «regular» list of places to eat on the outer banks.

Pretty good food, it smells amazing in the restaurant when you first walk in. Mmmm, the smell of Italian homemade cooking… umm yum! Beautiful restaurant, and the back deck is such a nice spot to eat dinner and watch the sunset. Lovely place!

Did the cook leave early for the summer? What a disappointment The chicken saltimbocca was terrible. The rest of the food was average at best. What hurts more is everything is expensive (and we are use to New York prices). My recommendation: go somewhere else. We wish we did.

One of the best Italian restaurants i’ve ever visited! But be aware that it is small and waits can easily run over an hour. Call ahead to get on their wait list and they’ll call you when your table is ready (ours took about an hour on a Saturday night). Highly highly recommend… um…everything! Dinner highlights were lasagna, meatballs, and seafood diablo. The crab/​asparagus soup and Cesar salad were excellent, and they have a nice assortment of Italian wines. We probably should have stayed for desert but we went nearby for ice cream instead. Wonderful friendly server as well.

Went with my grandparents for their 50^th anniversary. Hawks a party of 20 and even though they don’t allow reservations they let us take the entire back patio. The veal parmigiana was to die for. Excellent beer selection and great wait staff.

Huge portions of average. A single entrée could feed 2. The red sauce was sweet which is not our thing. Didn’t care for the «New Fashioned» — totally undrinkable and the fumes coming off it were toxic, but the white sangria was tasty and a good size. Our server was friendly, cheerful and helpful.

Excellent Italian food, huge portions and fair prices. My family has eaten here 3 times because its so good. Service has always been outstanding too.

FABULOUS !!! We did a «call ahead» since they don’t take reservations. The place is quaint and decorated so cute! I had the clams blanco. It was beyond tasty and full of flavor. Clams were moist and fresh. Others had spaghetti and meatballs, pizza and lasagna. I couldn’t leave without trying a cannoli. I didn’t have enough room to eat it so took it to go. Holy moly! Thought we were in NYC !

Strong Italian play in the outer banks. I ordered the vodka penne seafood and spiced it up. Only downfall was the cubed tomatoes could have used a little seasoning and the penne could have been homemade. Other than that, perfect dinner. Just do it. This place is gold.

Food was not bad but for the price I would spend your money elsewere. Pasta with crab and shrimp was $ 27. This did not include anything but pasta. We were supposed to receive bread however the waitress never brought it. In regards to the service, we asked for drinks a little before our dinner was served. The drinks did not come by the time our food arrived. I told the waitress to please cancel my beer if it had not been poured. (it took 29 minutes) I do not remember her exact reponse however I know she answered a little rudely in my opinion. After we received our food, she offered everyone a refill on their water conveniently skipping myself. Maybe this was a coincidence, and she did not realize, however I’m thinking it was because I canceled my beer.
The food was good do not get me wrong, however for the service and the prices I will not return.

3.5 stars. If I hadn’t had such a phenomenal Penne a la Vodka previously at Dolce in Charlotte, I probably would have given La Dolce Vita another star. And while the food and service are very good, La Dolce Vita just doesn’t compare to my favorite place.
We started with Caesar salads, which were very lightly dressed and served with croutons and shaved Parmesan. Every table gets a loaf of homemade bread and a bowl of pesto. That was my favorite part of the meal, actually. The top was crusty, and the inside was soft and moist, and it was delicious.
For our entrees, we had the Shrimp and Crab Penne a la Vodka (me) and the Seafood Diablo (my husband). The meals came too quickly – before we had even finished our salads, and I’m always disappointed when that happens. While the portions were large and were made with fresh ingredients, neither entrée had a memorable flavor. The crab on my dish was scarce and of the shredded variety — there was no lump crabmeat here. The shrimp were very large, however, and the penne was done nicely al dente.
We had a nice meal there, but it was pricey, and I’m not sure I would return.

Service was good.
My first choice… The veal wasn’t available. My second choice seafood pasta was just ok.
My girlfriend loved her arriabata but wasn’t as spicy as hoped.
Probably the best choice for Italian in Corolla.
Went back again and had the veal park… disappointing because my expectations were high. It was just ok.
I let my review at a 4 but 3.5 is probably more accurate. Service is very hit and miss. Waitress the second time was miserable but pasted on a smile when she thought we were looking.
Will go back when in the mood for Italian with the expectation of solid food but not spectacular.

We were searching for a casual, yet somewhat elegant, restaurant to host a large group (six of us) and we found it at La Dolce Vita. No styrafoam plates or plastic utensils here… you get the good stuff! Fancy entrees, an extensive selection of fine wines and specialty cocktails… they even have gluten free pasta!
The service was phenomenal. I thought that we just hit the jackpot with our lovely waitress who was cheery, helpful and knew the menu inside and out. But I overheard other tables receiving the same service from their servers and realized that the staff really go above and beyond to be friendly and accommodating.
Additionally, the service is fast. They are efficient and precise. We received our drinks, appetizers and entrees very quickly.
The food was described by our informative server with fancy adjectives that made your mouth water… hot house tomatoes, assortment of specialty cheeses, fresh herbs, layered with mozzarella — those kinds of things. When our dishes arrived, however, I was slightly disappointed. My clam with spaghetti entrée that sounded so great was somewhat flavorless. The clams were fresh, for sure, and my friends did have a really tasty stuffed manicotti with really yummy fennel sausage. But, the assortment of italian cheeses with olives was a little slim on portion size. And the prices of the specials were pretty high ($ 25 for the clam and manicotti dishes, for example.) They do serve some really nice crusty bread with a pesto olive oil dipping sauce that is delicious.
Overall, a really nice place for the area. We had a great time and enjoyed the stylish atmosphere compared to most of the casual «beachy» places. It was nice to get a little dressed up for a night out.
La Dolce Vita, however, is not just an elegant adult restaurant… they were also happily catering large families and children with ease and friendly smiles.
Thumbs up!

I took a bite. I closed my eyes. The longest first bite of food I’ve taken in my life. Really, my meal could have ended right there.
Loved the fried green tomato caprese.
Amazing balsamic here. The only better balsamic I’ve had was 100 years old.
As an added plus, a nearby restaurant said they had a 45-​minute wait for a table. La Dolce Vita had a 2-​minutes wait.