Rastrelli's - Clinton, Iowa

Diana O.

Rastrell’s is a cozy Italian restaurant. We were quickly greeted with friendly staff and were seated. There was no wait but the restaurant was busy just after 5:00 pm. The menu has several entrees of Italian cuisine. They also have a salad bar. It was clean with a vintage vibe. Our waitress was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their menu items. We ordered the Wild Mushroom Ravioli and Chicken Carbonara along with salad bar. Both entrees were fabulous. The Wild Mushroom Ravioli had an outstanding flavor.
I have never had anything like it. Prices were very reasonable and had leftovers to take home. Definitely recommend this place.

Lori S.

Love the atmosphere the waitress didn't come back to see if everything was OK or to clear dirty plates. We had a reservations for a large party. Food, well I've had better but you do get a good amount of food for the price. Love the bread at the table yummy! My daughter loved the beef ravioli, my sister enjoyed her steak, dad said his catfish was good could have gotten the large order instead of the small order of catfish.

Charles A. N.

Room for improvement! We had dinner at 750, Saturday night.

Service: our waitress was very friendly and only a few days at the restaurant. She did a great job.

Salad bar: not so famous any more… the carrots were dry, Broccoli was warm and had a heavy smell, tomatoes had a couple of mold tomatoes.

Olive oil on the table: probably the worst olive oil I ever had. I have no idea what brand that is but it is not extra virgin olive oil. If I was allowed, all of it would be in the trash!

Main dish: I had the pesto chicken gnocchi. The sauce was ok, gnocchi great and chicken over cooked, dry.

Table bread: really good… until I dipped it in the olive oil!

Desert: cheese cake was great!

Decor: it is clearly time to remove that very dirty green carpet and replace it…

Unfortunately, this is NOT the great Italian restaurant mentioned in the back of their menu, created by their mom and dad… this clearly has lost its quality and charm… but it can always be improved and brought back to life!

enc T.

Attended business dinner. Food were very good.

Jennifer worked very hard from 7 AM! She was attending all tables by herself. Thank you for all your service and friendliness.

Restaurant should give her special bonus.

Tammy S.

There are several entrances, we didn't know about the side entrance so we parked on the street and went in the front. We were there kind of early for dinner so they were not busy at all, however they sat us in a small room up a couple steps next to a very loud family. I understand putting the customers close make it easy on the servers however it made for a very unpleasant dining experience for us. That family asked to be seated on ground level to avoid the older lady with a cane having to navigate the steps but the hostess told them loud enough for us to hear the 2 steps should be ok for her to go up.
The restaurant was decorated beautifully and appeared clean. They had a sign up with the soup of the day however that soup was not available the server said they ran out of that earlier.
Our server was very nice but not attentive at all. I asked about their wine options to which she said she was sorry she was not old enough to serve alcohol so she was ask a coworker but nerver had anyone come talk to us about it. Our daughter ordered an appitizer and a soup but they were brought out after our meals were served. The dirty salad, bread plates and empty bread basket sat on our table the whole time we ate our entrees.
The salad bar was very nice with a wide variety from fruits and vegetables to prepared salads. There was a friendly lady making sure it was kept clean, fresh and full. I would have felt better had she been masked and had on gloves but that was not how she was. I understand masks are not mandatory in Iowa however with Covid being on the rise masks for servers would be a good idea, however none of them wore them.
The pasta was very fresh and cooked perfectly, it was fresh hot and very balanced. The soup was warm and ok. The cheese sticks were fresh and house made they were very good, they were hot and had a nice cheese pull, the marinara they were served with was very good and paired well. The chicken was house made, it was hot and crunchy but the crust was very salty. The mashed potatoes and gravy were not good at all, they both appeared to be your average instant so I would suggest maybe sticking to the Italian dishes.

Mary A. F.

Slow service, excellent salad bar, higher price, ordered Italian sampler, unpleasant amount of sauce so much so filled small soup bowl w excessive sauce, couldn't see what it covered. Won't be back.

Brooke P.

Placed an order for pick up...when we got there to pick it up, I used the restroom... met the two sweetest ladies I've ever met as we had a conversation about how awfully pour the restroom was. I won't describe to you what was in one of the toilets, I will just tell you it was unusable. When we told the front end staff about the condition of the bathroom, they were well aware that one of the toilets wouldn't flush. I would highly suggest closing that one and putting a sign on it letting customers know they can't use that. Picked up our dinner and when we got home, realized the Alfredo had very hard, uncooked chunks in it. We presumed they were onions but come to find out the manager advised us that he made it himself and advised that those were chunks of garlic. When we told them our pizza was also incorrect, the manager was extremely rude...offended that we even dared to speak up. He made sure to tell me several times that he was the general manager, as that should have been impressed me when honestly, his behavior and argumentative demeanor honestly are what will deter us from ever wanting to eat here again. We will stick to Vitali's as the owners there are so kind, friendly and have a clean facility to enjoy.

John P.

I called for a pickup order, but couldn't find any prices on the website, so I mentioned that to the young-sounding man who answered the phone. He said in a snarky tone, "How about you tell me what you want, and I'll tell you how much it is?" I replied, rather confused at this turn of attitude with, "Oookaaayy..." and was about to tell him what I wanted to order when he suddenly hung up on me. I waited a minute or so to call back, as I was a bit upset, and when he answered again I said, "I think there was some sort of miscommunication-" and he interrupted me with, "No, I hung up on you" with a smug tone. I explained how I had not been rude to him, and was confused by his sudden snarky response, and he transferred the call to the kitchen where I made my order. The kitchen then transferred me to the front desk to pay.

When the pizza was picked up, it had a bunch of burned patches around the edges and underside, and the sausage tasted odd, like the recipe had been changed.

I will never spend another dime on Rastrelli's again.