Looking for a great place to fall in love? Check out Donatoni’s, located on the Big Island within the Hilton Waikoloa Resort. Long a favorite for vacationers and major celebrities alike, here is a first-class establishment that with successfully blends a gorgeous tropical setting with a delightful Old World atmosphere.
Indoors, four beautiful dining rooms feature graceful yet oh-so-comfortable European interior décor (and walls covered with photos of actors and singers who have visited the restaurant again and again). Outdoors, tables on the lanai overlook a charming man-made lagoon. If you don’t fall in love with your dining companion, you definitely will succumb to the charms of the tiny bar, the attentive staff, and the kind of food (produced by a true Italian-born chef) that makes you want to sit and talk for hours over a bottle or two of good red wine.
The Big Island is known for its slow pace, wide-open spaces and healing environment. But at Donatoni’s one always feels like their right in the heart of a city in Italy. Well, almost.
“Chef Vince used to come out of the kitchen in the beginning, when we first opened, and talk to everyone who came to the dining room,” says Executive Chef for the resort, Ken Omiya. “People loved him. Women loved him- - they’d come back in the kitchen and be thanking him over and over for the food” he says, laughing.
And the food, the first time you taste it, really will be memorable enough to make you want to go back in the kitchen and embrace the chef.
In the early days, you simply couldn’t get a seat at Donatoni’s. “We’d do 350 – 400 dinners a night and we could have done more,” says Omiya.
Many years, and a couple of great Italian chefs later, Donatoni’s is still as magical, still as memorable.
There’s comfort in Italian food – and one of the attractions of Donatoni’s is that they understand that people have certain expectations of a fine dining Italian restaurant.
“We get so many requests for dishes that aren’t on the menu,” says Omiya. “Like Chicken Alfredo. It’s not one of our dishes, but if someone is on vacation and they come into a beautiful restaurant like this and they want to eat Chicken Alfredo – then that’s what we’re going to make for them.”
The chefs listen so attentively to what guests want that the menu is going through yet another change. “We’re re -establishing some of the most popular dishes,” explains Omiya, “Bringing back to the menu dishes like ossobuco because that’s what people want to eat.”
If you can, get there before the crowd (yes, it’s still hard to get a table) and take a seat at the small bar. Or ask for one of the outside tables, where you’ll catch the changing colors of the sky at sunset, and you can sit overlooking the water, that becomes -- after a glass of prosecco or champagne -- like a lake in Italy.
Order the Crostini Con Pomodoro, Ruchetta E Tonno Curato if you want to see how masterfully the chefs at Donatoni’s mix some little Italy with a taste of Hawai`i. Cured Hawaiian ahi sits atop crisp crostini, with locally grown tomatoes and bitter arugula providing contrast and color. There’s a great Insalata Di Cesare, served with parmesan croutons that proves Omiya's point when he says “American’s want what they think is Italian food, more than they really want Italian food.” And the Insalata Tiepida D’Antra is a gorgeous mix of island grown baby greens with slow roasted duck breast, apples and apricots finished with a pomegranate vinaigrette.
And while the accommodating chefs are willing to pop into the kitchen and create any “American Italian” dish – within reason -- you can’t go wrong sticking with some of the most popular dishes on the menu. The simply done Penne Con Quattro Formaggi, Speck E Porcini is a multi flavored mixture of smoked prosciutto and porcini mushrooms with a white sauce made from four cheeses, and the Bigoli Con Aragosta has sautéed lobster with roasted red pepper, cream and caper sauce. There’s an excellent Ossobuco Con Cren; a veal shank braised in the traditional way and then topped with fresh grated horseradish that is really delightful, and the list of rich, robust dishes including filet mignon wrapped with smoked proscuitto and topped with foie gras; roasted lamb loin, and marinated rib eye served with a gorgonzola sauce makes it tough to choose just one entree.
Big Island resorts offer unequalled fine dining, but there is something irresistible about the Mediterranean feel of Donatoni’s. With a fine glass of wine in hand and the sun setting in the distance, it’s easy to imagine that you are sitting waiting for a gondola to arrive, rather than one of the resort’s motorized boats, to take you slowly back to your room. By the time you leave, you’ll have an excellent idea what Italian Aloha feels (and tastes) like!
