Dominic’s Trattoria

Hidden gem. Great minestrone and pastas! Above and beyond service from the valet to the waiters.

we made a reservation for 7 family members for christmas eve via open table a few weeks ago. we confirmed the reservation on ¹²⁄₂₃ with the restaurant (they called me). on christmas eve 40 minutes before the reservation the restaurant canceled the reservation via open table. i called the restaurant and they said someone called 2 days ago to cancel the reservation. doesn’t make a lot of sense right? since they called me yesterday to confirm. i spoke with the owner and she was rude and didn’t care about the inconvenience or that there was a mistake. she was much more interested in proving that she was right, and didn’t care at all about the inconvenience for our family on christmas eve. so, we decided to enjoy christmas eve dinner at another restaurant that was very accommodating to our situation. never, ever going to eat at dominic’s restaurants again and will make sure to tell other business leaders in the city to avoid this heartless restaurant.

I have been here a handful of times now because my boss loves it for whatever reason, but I really can’t get into this restaurant. The food is okay but not great, and it’s overpriced. It also just seems like there are only a few elderly people that frequent the venue, and it feels musty and stale to me. If you’re looking for a fun, intimate Italian dinner, I really encourage you to keep looking.

We recently had dinner here with family. A wonderful meal, great service and the ambiance was perfect. Will return again when visiting St. Louis area!

Dominic’s Trattoria was the perfect venue to have my mother’s 85^th birthday celebration. Both Jackie and Maria made our evening so perfect. We had reserved a private area in the restaurant and it was perfect. Our food was delicious. Thank you.

We had a family birthday celebration at Dominic’s trattoria, and I couldn’t be happier with the restaurant. We had great service, wonderful food, and a very pleasant time. You really do get what you pay for and more. This is going to be our place now!

We came to this place at 6:00 on a Saturday evening. Although we didn’t have a reservation, we called on the way and were able to be seated immediately. The hostess made a point of accommodating my toddler from the start, which always scores points with me. The service here is definitely on par — my water glass was never empty, dishes came out in a timely manner, and all of the servers were very pleasant.
We ordered the toasted ravioli to start, and the kitchen even made my son handmade mozzarella sticks off-​menu at his request. We split a Caesar salad, which was good but a little heavy on the dressing for my taste. Main courses were chicken parmesan and the veal picatta. Both dishes were solid, though neither came with a side of pasta — surprising for an Italian restaurant. There were some vegetables served on the side (three carrots and some green beans), but be prepared to add at least $ 6 to your dish if you want to add pasta or a potato.
All in all, this place was nice. The ambiance is definitely more upscale, but we weren’t the only people with a small kid there. It was enjoyable, but certainly not worth the $ 135 plus tip that we ended up paying. If possible, I would give this place 3.5 starts — 3 stars for the food, and 4 stars for the service. Because the staff was so good to our son, I went with 4 instead of 3 overall. This place will be on the list of establishments I won’t intentionally go back to, but wouldn’t be opposed if my party wanted to go.

The other reviewers are spot on. I was probably the youngest dining last night at 50. The service was very good. Our server Rachel had only been there a week and was doing a fine job. The DR manager was doing an equally fine job of directing Rachel and others when needed. Rachel was attractive, sweet and very attentive. My water glass was never empty, the pace was perfect as our party was the talkative type.
The bread basket and tapenade were enjoyable. The tapenade is the smooth variety, very flavorful. There is olive oil on the table as well.
I orded a spinach salad, lightly dressed with lots of goodies I enjoy. Recommended.
3 of us ordered the Halibut special. Excellent in every way. Served with a lemon white wine buerre blanc and capers, roasted potatoes, haricot verts and carrots, all perfectly prepared. My wife and her uncle ordered the lobster pasta special, neither left anything behind.
Maybe the menu is a tad old school, but when the quality is this good, there is no need whatsoever to reinvent the wheel. I felt the price was precisely in line with the quality. I would go back in a heartbeat.

Pretty solid meal for Italian American. Menu contains the basics which is usually how I order during a first visit to a restaurant.

The 4 star average is spot on. We’ve been to the more upscale Hill Dominic’s a couple of times, but didn’t want to travel quite so far this last time.
The bad first — the décor of the restaurant & bathrooms is somewhat outdated, and the menu isn’t terribly exciting, but Mr. Beth and I are kinda into old-​timey places like this (provided that the food is worthwhile). The average age of the patrons on a Saturday night was about 67.
The good? This is old school Italian. No, you aren’t going to find anything mind-​blowing here, other than a terrific pasta dish & great service. The have a nice bread basket served with a FANTASTIC olive tapenade, which is such a nice change from butter or olive oil. We skipped appetizers, but for my salad I chose the cauliflower salad (which wasn’t on the online menu). It was absolutely phenomenal. The waitress said it right — «if you like cauliflower at all, I strongly recommend it». No lettuce, it contained cauliflower, bell peppers, walnuts, celery & tasty. Lots & lots of tasty. Mr. Beth’s Caesar was pretty good, though the lettuce was somewhat pale & with lots of romaine spines (or hearts, whatever they’re called).
I had the Linguine Pesce, which had clams, mussels, calamari, bay scallops & shrimp. It was super rich & buttery and just damn good. Mr. Beth had the lobster tail pasta but added alfredo sauce to give it some additional kick. Both were very pleasing.
The service at Dominic’s has always been fabulous & this was no exception. I’m totally a sucker for having crumbs scraped off my table (yeah, I’m easy).
Anyway, if you want some good old fashioned Italian that costs a pretty good chunk of change, go here :) It’s worth it.

If you are interested in having a holiday party here — don’t! Especially avoiding dealing with the manager who just lost out on a 14 top.

We were invited to a private party here and had an excellent experience! Everything was expertly prepared and presented and the service was polished and attentive. The only negative for some might be that this restaurant attracts a much older crowd. It’s not the hippest place in town but the if you’re looking for a quality Italian meal, this is a great choice!

Dominic’s was a wonderful dining experience! Everyone was friendly and extremely attentive. The food was served hot and was very flavorful. The portions were abundant. My family had private seating for a birthday celebration, so we had a great view of the street and the comfort of celebrating like a family in our own space. We all enjoyed our dishes from the appetizers (toasted ravioli, calamari, olive spread) to the salads (spinach, caprese, and caesar) to the entrees!

I have heard about this place so finally when I got to try it, I felt like it was a lot more different than I expected. First of all, I checked out their website to see what type of attire they expect and it said dressy so I figured I might as well do that, just in case. I was glad I did because when I got there, the people coming in for dinner were fairly dressy. The waitstaff were really nice, attentive, and helpful in every way. I had the calamari fritti to start with, followed by tomato alla caprese salad, and finally some linguini clams with white wine sauce. Everything was delicious and prepared just right. For dessert, I had the tiramisu which was also excellent and flavorful.
The entire dinner from start to finish was excellent!

We went for lunch. I didn’t even know this place was here. .. it’s been here 10 years. Oh, well — I know now, AND they’ve got private parking! Score in Clayton!
We got a table for four, with just two of us. .. something I do so appreciate. We had our coats, our purses, all of which had their own ZIP codes! Good room.
This is a white linen place, although I did notice a more casual seating of tables in the bar area.
There were a lot of businessmen lunching here. And two large groups in private rooms.
We got water and just stuck with that. Then the bread with black olive tapenade. Absolutely divine. The Italian bread was toasted just right with perfect crunch. The tapenade was oh so tasty!
My dining partner has been here numerous times, so I asked her for a recommendation. She absolutely adores the chicken parmesan, and she recommended the lobster ravioli.
The chicken parmesan was a large piece of chicken perfectly topped with tomato sauce and cheese, then broiled. It came with a couple large potato wedges (grilled?) and a vegetable combination of green beans and carrots. It looked delicious!
I did get the lobster ravioli, and it was really good. Triangle-​shaped raviolis in a rich brandy crème sauce. There were some peas and other vegetable additions, such as onion, artichoke and tomato. Plentiful serving.
We both had to-​go vessels.
Service was attentive. Waters filled before they were empty.

I need to preface this with the personal preference that I detest Italian food in the US; there is always too many noodles, too much cheese, too tomato-​y, just too much everything, all the darn time! Dominic’s however served some really solid food on our recent stop here for dinner.
The smoked fish appetizer was some of the best I ever had! Both the trout and the salmon were fresh, with the right amount of smokiness. Our entrees were tasty as well; my scampi came with big shrimp that were seasoned and cooked perfectly. We got the crème brûlée for dessert. It may have sat for a tad too long as the inside, once I cracked the surface, was not as warm as it should be, but the flavor was legit.
On top of that, these folks really know how to give good service. As someone had mentioned, the pause in between courses was timed very appropriately, much better than any other «fine dining» joints in this town. Service was efficient and non-​intrusive.
Overall, it was a great dining experience. Admittedly this is not the kind of restaurant I usually hit up, as I found he décor a bit dated and the menu options somewhat uninspiring (call it old school I guess), but I’m happy that we tried it out.

Fantastic service – time between courses was not rushed, plates weren’t pulled out from under our noses the moment a fork was laid down. We both had fish, no pasta of any kind, very nicely done with great grilled veggies and potatoes. Very good mushroom soup began the meal, a broth based rather than cream, but everything else was traditional. Can’t speak to classic Italian dishes.
Must mention – the valet gentleman was awesome!
Also, on this Friday night saw no diners under the age of 50 other than my daughter …

Great service! Awesome chicken parm and toasted rav. The comforts of Boston’s Italian scene that we cant’ get in San Francisco. It was great to have this experience!

The dress code is Smart Casual to Dressy in the evening but Casual for Lunch. Many people arriving appeared to be regulars and were greeted as such as they entered; I think I heard the Hostess ask «Would you like your regular table today?» White tablecloths, wine glasses on the table, and attentive servers.
I had the Chicken Fettucine Alfredo (see picture), and it was exactly what I was looking for! Creamy perfection and definitely NOT skimpy on the chicken. (See picture.)

We recently had a very good late Italian dinner here. Dominic’s on the Hill is formal and legendary and this is it’s casual, less pretentious brother. Food was very good, but not quite great. Pastas were good, but a bit less flavorful than the Hill restaurants or Paul Manno’s. Salad was good. Wines were above average, but not cheap. Clayton location is great! That said, it’s in an awkward location in a condo building and attracts and older crowd. Our service was average. She disappeared for a period of time, and we flagged down a bus boy who tried to help us. I would recommend this as a very solid, medium formal, medium priced Italian. Atmosphere was rather quiet when we were there. No bar scene at all, but a good sized bar if you need to wait for a table. A bit too nice for young kids. Could be a good romantic dinner spot also.