Al Dente Restaurant

We had the most wonderful experience! Annette took such good care of us, taking time to explain the menu and bring a sample. The fresh pasta was unbelievable—I’m not sure any of us have ever had Italian food this amazing. We had so much fun and were delighted to end the evening with a round of lemoncello. Will definitely be back!

Packed-in restaurant, very family-style and classic old North End style. Portions are huge and everyone has to order a dish so prepare for leftovers! Honestly one of the cheaper pasta places in the area which I appreciate, but found the flavors of the tomato sauce to be lacking. Pasta is great though, amazing texture, just needs more spice, overall solid place for dinner!

If you want the charm of old school Italian-American that is no frills and feels like a cozy hole-in-the-wall, Al Dente is where it's at. The atmosphere is so intimate with its low lighting and they treat guests like family. The pasta definitely tastes house made. The highlight is definitely the quality of their Marinara sauce that is mellow, buttery and not astringent whatsoever. Is it the best of the North End? Taste wise, it's very traditional and classic. No pizzaz, just good 'ol fashioned warm hug from your nonna kind of Italian. Which, is not a bad thing! But if you want something new, fresh, and enticing, this isn't for you. This is more of comfort food in the most sincere of ways. Very homemade and bright. Delicious!

Great reviews, figured we'd check it out. Had to wait for a table, small place. Once in, service was quick. Bread was cold and stale. Food was good, few pastas and a salad. Never saw our server again once food was brought. Overall, not bad at all.

Overall pretty mid. The seating and tables are cheap feels quite cramped in there, and the service was pretty slow even when going for an early dinner seating. Staff was a bit brisk, not rude but definitely in a rush and not interested in being asked questions. And the food was mid. Raviolis are great (lobster and pumpkin) but the red sauce based dishes were very lacking in flavor (tasted like basic grocery store sauce) and the Caesar salad is also bland. So overall it’s fine Italian but I will try other places in north end before coming back

Will not return. Visited for dinner and found it was inconsistent across different dishes and had a high price point. Service was average Calamari: 1/5 Tasteless, the marinara sauce did the heavy lifting Linguine alla Vongole: 2/5 Didn't taste authentic or close to it at all, the pasta tasted like it was simply tossed around in the sauce, not COOKED in it, also had a miserable number of clams for the price. There was too much pasta and I felt hungry very shortly afterwards Bolognese: 5/5 Probably the best dish here, it tasted amazing and the portion was very generous with a lot of meat and pasta

We made a reservation for 19:30, and arrived right on time, we were told to wait a few minutes outside. There were many people waiting outside some with reservations and others without. It took half an hour until we actually sat down Inside, so I assume the reservation only puts you first in line when you arrive, this of course Is NOT how reservations should work. The inside of the restaurant was packed (Saturday evening) and super loud, we could barely hear each other and the waitress. We ordered food and wine, pumpkin ravioli as a starter which was very good, and then our main dishes arrived and they were huge. Pretty much everyone walks out of here with a doggy bag because of the size of the dishes, too bad most of them aren't really that good. We got their house specialty gnocchi and it was like a tomato sauce soup, way too much and not good quality. We also got a chicken dish with "risotto" (actually just rice with some red pepper and cheese) on a gorgonzola cream, I could barely taste the gorgonzola in the cream Which was a big letdown. The prices are definitely high but since the dishes are huge it makes more sense I guess?

I came to this restaurant thinking it will be phenomenal from the reviews, but was extremely disappointed. First thing, the menu they have posted online is far cheaper than the actual prices listed on site. Second thing, the service is terrible, the servers are rude and unwelcoming. Third, the food was very mediocre, I don’t really understand the hype or all the 5-star reviews. The salad seemed like it was from subway, and i could make better pasta than that. I doubt it was even homemade. Lastly, both the salad and pasta dish came out to around $45!!! With the pasta being $30 and the salad $11, and of course tax and tip (despite terrible service). Overall do not recommend and would not dine here again.

Don’t waste your money. The worst experience of my life. 1. The staff is unpleasant and barely polite. 2. The place is not clean. 3. Finally, the food has nothing to do with Italian cuisine — it’s tasteless and of very poor quality. We didn’t touch our plates and sent our order back. We expressed our disappointment to the waitress, who was very rude. We still paid the full bill even though we didn’t eat anything. This place is a disgrace and in no way represents the excellence of true Italian cuisine.

I had a horrible experience at this restaurant with my 2 other friends. The service is best described as “bare minimum”. Our server was nice- she was not rude but the service in general here was lacking in many ways. We all ordered vegetarian dishes (no sign of meat in the ingredients), however my friend found chunks of meat in her pasta. All we got was a “let me see if we can remake it”. Then the server comes to us again and says “sorry we are going to remake it”. They come back with another dish with less food in it, and the pasta is watery and very oily. None of us could eat after this happened, our appetite was ruined so we packed the rest to go. Today I open up my leftovers and there is meat in MY dish as well. It’s ridiculous how lightly they take dietary restrictions, there really is no respect for certain customers. Our server did the bare minimum for us, then went and sat back down with the couple sitting next to us, chatting with them as the other lady kept eyeing our table. It was an uncomfortable environment, they barely showed remorse for making the mistake with our food and on top of that we paid full price at the end for horrendous service and even horrendous food. They made no efforts to rectify their mistake aside from giving us another dish of pasta made even worse than the first time around. I will never be visiting this place again and if you have dietary restrictions or want to be treated respectfully i would not come here. I am VERY disappointed in this restaurant.