Pasta Basta by Donato

Please come back. We miss you.

Oh no! I didn’t know this place closed.
This was the best place for my spaghetti basilico pomodoro. You mean I have to eat at Spada or Chez Pasta now? Buca di Beppo? *sigh* Restaurant Row should be re-​named Death of Restaurants Row? Goodness, a sad day.

I’m a fan. The taste of these Italian dishes first introduced me to the fact that Italian didn’t have to be all about my Chinese mom’s homemade chunky spaghetti or frozen lasagna, chicken parmesan, or tomato-​based sauces. The pasta basta sauces are rich and decadent, and everything is cooked just so – just so you’ll love it!
The prices also cannot be beat. Well, they’re reasonable. The dining room feels a bit big and cold and heavy, but it doesn’t matter *too* much. The one thing I didn’t like was the garlic bread. I could make better at home in 5 minutes. too thin, too greasy, not enough garlic or cheese. Parking in restaurant row is cake.
All in all, I was very impressed.
And then I met a Guy who had lived in Italy and learned cooking from the Italians and my illusions about the difficulties of preparing a delicious italian meal at home were shattered. He prepared glorious food just as good as Pasta Basta with homemade flair. And it wasn’t all about the tomato sauce. He also considers it a waste to eat Italian food at a restaurant, so I haven’t been back to Pasta Basta since. Still, it was a very tasty dining experience.

Had the pasta, garlic bread, and the special.
It was okay. Don’t think i’d really go back.

Do a search on google for «pasta Basta donato» to see their regular menu online.
Good, affordable Italian food. Best caprese salad I’ve had so far. Pizza is yummy… I prefer it over their pasta (I like meat with my pasta, not just in the sauce).
The caesar salad is not worth $ 8. It is lettuce with these weird circular «crackers» that taste like CHLORINE. the dressing was tasty.
There is no wait help and yes, you have to «please» put away your dishes in a black plastic «tub» of sorts but it helps donato keep the cost of running a restaurant down, so I don’t mind.
I’m coming back. :)
This is in Restaurant Row, next to Hokulani Bake Shop and Oceans.

Pasta and mozzarella is fresh made in-​house, and the wood-​burning pizza oven is the only one in Hawaii. OK, so far so good.
Went for dinner. Wasn’t expecting the order-​at-​counter system, but that was fine.
Had a look at the day’s specials, and was told that those were highly recommended. They change daily.
Ordered a fresh mozzarella/​tomato/​basil appetizer, prosciutto & arugula pizza — both specials, as well as gnocchi Toscani. Additionally we were recommended a red wine — Raro, I think — a robust, full bodied wine. We decided on a bottle, instead of by the glass.
I guess the owner was the guy making the pizza. he showed us what the prosciutto pizza looked like, as one was ready to serve to another customer — looked amazing… nice big slices of prosciutto — looked like they came right from the ham bone… definitely not from some deli package. the topping were put on the pizza after the sauce and cheese had been in oven. That gave the pizza a nice, fresh look. I had already ordered it by then, but it validated my decision
The mozzarella appetizer came quickly, or rather, my number was called out from the counter so I could go pick it up. You can tell that the cheese is handmade — nice and stringy, but with nice creamy texture. Tomatoes and basil was in correct proportions and fresh as well. Delicious.
Shortly after, the pizza was delivered to out table, and halfway done with that came the gnocchi. Pizza crust was nice (non-​greasy) and thin, but I think the oven needs to be hotter, in order to get the bubbling of the crust that I think is only possibly in a wood oven. Overall good taste. Gnocchi wasn’t exceptional, but was perfectly tender, and meat sauce was tasty.
I was impressed with the speed of preparation, having anticipated it to be slow. I guess dinner time isn’t as hectic as lunch — there weren’t that many other people there, so kitchen wasn’t backed up.
Wine was a bit on the cold side when brought to our table, but opened up a bit while we finished it off after completing our meal. Maybe by-​the-​glass would have been closer to room temperature?
Altogether a pleasant dinner. This is not a pricey place, but total bill was probably higher than I’d anticipated, because of the wine (+$ 35).

Found this spot through Unilocal.Wanted a nice place for a lunch with my wife. Easy to find parking (free) and a very nice interior, comforting. It is a glorified plate lunch place, guam a. described it well «upscale L&L» with a Kakaako kitchen feel.
Friendly counter help. We ordered two plates and two drinks. The drinks, let me start there. Waaay too much ice and then they didn’t even fill the cup all the way to the top. Two sips for me, then they charge for refills, a downer for me. I respect places that have a refill charge, but at least fill my damn cup and use a little less ice!!!
The food was okay. Lotsa stuff in my wife’s Arrabiata that wasn’t listed– like capers, olives and cheese on everything. I had the Puttanesca, a staple of mine at Verbanos. It was spicy, but just average. The whole experience was average. Average enough not to go there. I feel for the RestRow businesses, but you gatta have a better product to drive peeps your way. Two stars from me, I have experienced better. Bravo’s, Verbanos, Paisano, Assagio and Kakaako Kitchen, to name a few.

Pasta Basta has really good food. I have tried a variety of the pizzas, a few of the pastas, but I am finding myself eating the fish panini everytime I go. The fish is fresh and the bread is ono.
The wait for food can be a little slow even when it’s not busy but its because they are making everything fresh. If this place was in a better location they would probably be two or three times as busy.

i had really high hopes for this place after reading the reviews but its so so in my book.
good ambiance but they were playing hip hop music, uncensored hip hop music, when i was there. i thought it was kind of funny. i ordered the gnocchi toscani and the house salad. the salad was alright but i wanted more «oomph» into it. the gnocchi was pretty good but a little pricey. overall it was nothing spectacular but ill try it out again with another dish.

I love this place but I’ve only tried one item! The Chicken Alfredo! It’s great ! I usually catch a dollar movie before or after, so that’s a pretty good combo.
My sister gave me a bite of her pizza and it was pretty good as well. I have to try more of the menu but I can’t get away from the alfredo!
They let you bring in your own wine for a corkerage fee. I’ve never done that but they offered it to me and I thought it would be good for serial daters.

My two friends and I went to eat dinner quite early; i.e. 5:50.
My gnocchi and my friend’s spaghetti was relatively quick, about 10 minutes. My other friend ordered lasagna. We waited and waited. After about 25 minutes, I went to the counter to ask about the lasagna. The guy there said: «Oh, the lasagna takes a lot longer.» Wish he’d said it before! After all the wait, my friend said it wasn’t worth it.
My gnocchi was pasty and sour.
Although the pizzas looked great, I think I’ll wait awhile before I return.

A-​OK sums it up. We shared the gnocchi toscani and the crudaiola. The gnocchi was wonderful texturally, but the meat ragu was too fine and sour. Also, the white truffle essence was extremely hard to detect. Extremely. My friend could not taste it at all.
The crudaiola had orecchiete (little ears pasta), chopped tomatoes, garlic, parmesan, and chopped arugula. It pretty much just tasted like salt and garlic with tomatoes and arugula. It’s hard to make a dish that features fresh tomatoes in Hawaii because the tomatoes here, yes, even the home-​grown Hamakua tomatoes, leave much to be desired.
We had to wait a long time for our pastas. If I return, I’ll try the shortribs or risotto that Joshua C. recommended.

Portabello sandwich and salad were good (gobs of boursin cheese and olive oil will do that), but for the price I was surprised the food was served in styrofoam, and by the lack of table service. It also took a surprisingly long time to get our food, considering the place was almost empty.
The place has the ambiance of a take-​out joint (which it basically is) and If you sit at one of the outdoor tables, the noise of the air conditioner is unpleasantly loud.

Really 4.5 :) My faves… the gnocchi Gorgonzola (rich and decadent, just how i love it!), risotto con funghi, the napoletana and salsiccia pizzas, and the Caesar salad. I’ve eaten here on several occasions: with my husband, with friends, and with large groups (I even threw an almost-​surprise party here in the private room) and the experience has always been pleasant. I used to bring my own wine but now that they have a wine list, I’m open to try what’s in house!
The only imperfection for me is the wait time to get your meal, but when it’s on the table I am a happy camper!

They serve gnocchi! Yay!
I’ve only had their gnocchi and I love it. It’s kind of expensive, but I’ll still pay that price to eat it. =o)

Three and a half… maybe…
So we went here for lunch the other day, and it wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as the couple of times I had dinner here. First of all, they served us in styrofoam takeout boxes with plastic utensils, even though we didn’t want it to go. We didn’t come that close to closing time, but I felt like we were being hinted at to get the hell out of there. So we stayed and ate out of our foam boxes inside the restaurant.
The salad was not the freshest– the cucumber seemed like it was on it’s way out. I love the dressing on their house salad, though. It’s basically a light vinaigrette with tons of salt and pepper («I can make this at home,» Jeremy said). Yeah, I know, but it’s good. The linguini with pesto sucked. The linguini was overcooked and there were huge pools of oil at the bottom of the foam box, and there was way too much cheese. Heavy and oily and blah. The pizza was good, but the crust was not as crispy as it was in the past. I think they let it sit and steam in the cardboard take out box while they overcooked our pasta.
So they now serve alcohol, which is nice, but even nicer was when you could bring in your own wine without having to pay any corkage or glass fee! Now corkage is three dollars PER PERSON! Which is kind of a lot. I didn’t see their wine list, though. I’m sure it’s decent.
One last thing– last time we had dinner here, our friend ordered a salad nicoise. It was missing a crucial ingredient, I can’t remember if it was the tuna or the olives, but it was not a salad nicoise…

If this review were on food alone, Pasta Basta would get a five star review from me. The only thing that took away a star is the wait time to get your meal.
The food is simply top notch and there is a wide selection of menu items. The two items I’ve had, the Penne Puttanesca and the Mediterranean Ravioli were both wonderfully cook and the flavors rich. They’re bread is pretty good too.
They’re prices vary depending on what you order. They have great meals on both sides of the $ 10 mark that are good and filling.
The wait time for your meal during lunch can be long. I’ve experienced both the busy time and slow time at this place and I felt that on both occasions the wait was unusually long.
The food is so good it will definitely keep me coming back.

Great Italian food just wish there was more of it in the styrofoam plate (kind of ghetto).
I’ve tried their lasagna, gnocchi in cream sauce, ahi panini and several more … I loved all of them but there never seems to be enough. Great quality, but small servings. The food is a little pricey for lunch, $ 11-​$ 20 depending on what you order. I’d like more bang for my buck personally.
I took a star away for slow service. Sometimes when I go in there they tell you «Just FYI, it may take 1hr to get your food.» Typically that’s the time frame, half hour to an hour to get your food. I think its because they have only two cooks for lunch time. That’s the only thing that’s a little annoying. But if you want tasty Italian food, waiting shouldn’t be an issue :)

This joint is quite enjoyable; cute interior, good food, nice staff, great value. All in all highly recommendable. I’ve been twice and me and The Boy were pleased both times.
The first time we went was the night before the big move into our apartment. We were tired from packing and needing to carbo load for the next day. I had some type of oricchete with I think sausage and spinach (this was almost a year ago so I forget the specifics) and The Boy had aglio e olio or some such thing. Both dishes were very good; pasta nice and al dente, flavorful preparations and large portions. We even took some home and ate it for breakfast! I was impressed with how nice the interior was for a walk-​up-​to-​the-​counter place and vowed to come back armed with my own B (as in BYO).
The next time was on a budget date — we BYOB’d and shared a salad and entrée before hitting the dollar theater. We ordered the house salad with local greens and gnocchi with red sauce. The salad was very tasty but the gnocchi was a bit on the salty side, however, texturally-​speaking, it was perfect — something that can easy go wrong with gnocchi. Sharing the salad and entrée were plenty for the two of us but I was feeling splurgy so I went back for some yummy-​sounding chocolate gelatto which was, alas, merely chocolate ice cream. This was quite disappointing because I have real Italian blood coursing through these veins and I was hankering for the flavor explosion that real, honest-​to-​god gelatto provides.
Apart from that faux pas, though, Pasta Basta is very good and the next time I want something other than my homemade marinara, and don’t want to drop a bunch of cash, I’ll be back.
I’m docking one star for salty gnocchi and impostor gelatto. The remaining stars go for flavor, ambiance and value. This place is great for a casual date, a big group and people with kids.

Great place to get affordable homestyle Italian. Everything’s prepared fresh, and served just right. This place is a great value for those who don’t mind picking up their food from a counter.
Loved the Chianti Braised Shortribs (special that sells out quickly) and Mushroom Risotto
They recently added a wine list: the Riparossa goes well with many of the dishes and is a bargain at $ 4 a glass. For those looking to splurge share the $ 50 bottle of Barolo imported directly from the Piedmont region of Italy. For those who prefer BYOB the corkage fee is really low.
Call ahead if you don’t want to wait for your food to cook. They also have a great party room in the back that can fit 20−30ppl and since everyone orders at the counter figuring out the bill’s really easy.
I’d rather eat here any day over Romano’s or Bravo’s, the food’s just that much better. Right after Mediterraneo and Sabrina’s this is where I’ll head for a good affordable Italian meal.