Review Dantes - Browns Bay

We have not visited Dante's for over a year but are SO glad we decided to try it again. Decor is fresh and cosy and the food was delicious. We had the Cannelloni and a Pizza with a Tiramisu for desert. All exceeded expectations. Looking forward to trying more of the menu.

We had the Margherita pizza and the prosciutto and I would highly recommend both, the pizza base was perfect with a great flavour and texture. I will definitely be coming back here again.

The Calamari starter was ok but the pork belly and spaghetti dish was great. Nice atmosphere, service great with friendly staff. I'd go back there again!

First time here. As a confirmed lover of pizza and most things Italian I have to say that Dante's is a real delight. Traditional wood fired pizza, simple, tasty, quality ingredients. Superb. Management and staff were excellent, friendly service and knowledgeable regarding the food and wine. They clearly love what they do and it shows. Dante's has a great vibe to it and we will certainly be going again and again to try out the extensive menu. A real fun night out, well done!

Dante’s is fantastic! We go there regularly & are never disappointed. The pizza is delicious, completely authentic, we can’t get enough of it! & the staff are amazing as well, so kind, attentive & friendly, always warm and inviting, which is why we will continue to come back to Dante’s Browns Bay xxx

Pizza is very good. There is a different menu on weekends where prices are higher. Have not seen the queue or many visitors to do prices higher. Up to $25 is reasonable price. In any case 5 starts for the best pizza in Auckland

Really impressed with Dantes Brown's Bay...we've loved their pizzas way back from their Huipai days and I was thrilled to see they were opening up more locations and one in Browns Bay! Rang up to place an order for pickup, within 15 minutes it was all ready to go...staff were all super friendly and lovely and the pizza was as amazing as I remember...tried the arancini balls too and they were delicious! Hoping to come back soon to dine in and try other things on the menu, looks amazing!!!

We ate dinner last night, the pasta was delicious, tasty and exactly Italian dishes. Dessert also very good. The chef Carmen sweet and gentle. We'll absolutely come back.

Thank you to all the staff for making my daughter's 15th birthday dinner a wonderful experience. So kind of you to have served the birthday cake we brought and we appreciate the special birthday serenade by your staff. Great pizza, wonderful staff and first class coustomer service.

We had a lovely night out at Dantes. Great food, seriously amazing pizza. Everything hand made from scratch. Best pizza I've had. I fully fully recommend coming here for a wonderful dinning experience.

Absolutely enjoyed every mouthful ...the staff were so attentive and lovely!!

Best Italian for miles, but wait there's more: you must try the beef ribs! They are massive and absolutely beautiful. The first time I have seen hubby unable to finish. If you havent been before Dantes is also right on the beach with outside seating on sunny days overlooking Browns Bay beach. I great place to have a spumante or Peroni over lunch.

Real Italian pizza with sourdough base and yummy traditional toppings. Excellent service. It's great to have this place in Browns Bay. Highly recommended!

What lovely warm, personable service. Delicious pizza. Outdoor area looking at the beach and playground. Fantastic addition to our local restaurants. They deserve to be much busier than they are.

Best pizza in Auckland! The service from the lady working there was phenomenal. Highly recommend it for the service and food quality.

What a fantastic go to place for freshly cooked, top quality Italian food. Everything - from the pastas, pizzas and desserts is cooked with distinct, exotic flavours and a delight to enjoy. The new management is fantastic at welcoming customers and making them feel comfortable. The ambiance is also top notch. This is a gem in browns Bay. We ended up coming back for more the day after too! Thank you for a great experience 😊

This casual pizza place ticks all the boxes for us. Great food, great service, great atmosphere. Dantes' pizzas are second to none. We are always warmly welcomed and well looked after. I enjoy the pizza Caprioccia while my partner enjoys the Paninis: 5 menu combos to choose from. You can virtually take a walk through Venice while you are there which is captivating. Takapuna branch just as good.

Superb hosts and good conversation, gorgeous view by the ocean in Browns Bay. The food is also every time excellent.

Really good pizza and pasta but please get a plain kids cheese pizza or the menu.

We ordered Dante’s pizza on uber eats last night from the Browns Bay Dantes and it was very disappointing. <br/>We ordered the squid rings on a bed of greens, the arancini balls, and the crispy golden fries with feta. The arancini balls were good, but There were about 5 pieces of squid on 3 sad looking salad leafs, the fries were certainly golden and floury and tasteless. <br/>Wouldn’t order from them again, and definitely wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Lvl 3 lockdown, no worries Dante's got my back. First time there, obviously getting it takeaway. Loved the pizza, the bases had all the wood fire taste. Stole some of my partners pasta, we end up halfing each main. Salad isn't usually my jam but the dressing was smooth and taste. Loved all the food. The team were great in person and over the phone. Looking forward to next time.<br/>Sorry about the photo, we ate it and then liked it so much, the review was an after thought. :)

My partner and I ordered takeaway tonight (due to covid19). We were very happy with the service across the phone and the food was great. We ordered a pizza, pasta, arancini and a salad and all were up to expectation. Thanks for the lovely food we will be ordering again soon.

Great location on the waterfront. Indoor or outdoor. The BEST fried bread ever. The dough is left for a couple of days meaning the gluten does not affect those who are intolerant. One of the owners even played the violin with beautiful Italian music.

Best Italian in NZ, pizza is Devine it will take you straight to Italy, the pasta is the freshest We’ve ever had and bursts with flavor (amazing specials of the day) and we had a selection of starters which were all Devine, the calamari is to die for. Beautiful selection of Italian wines. A must try

Impromptu visit, never been before and was a little weary, however everything was absolutely perfect, well cooked and delicious! Will definitely come here again, pizza, pasta, beer, really good restaurant! 10 out of 10<br/>

Damn don't come here. Came here last night with high hopes because I've been to the Takapuna and Ponsonby Dante's and had lovely meals. My family and I walk in and there is a huge tv playing swedish music which is super odd because it's an Italian restaurant and in the Takapuna and Ponsonby restaurants they play Italian music and you feel like you're in Europe. The TV was super tacky playing music videos of girls in bikini's not Italian restaurant vibes at all, gave me pub vibes ew. Anyway we got seated and my parents and brothers ordered drinks and that was all good, then we ordered garlic bread to start which was so bloody good was absolutely devine! Then time for main meals...My brother ordered Calamari for his main which came with my mums Risotto, 7 ish mins went by and then my meal, my dads and my other brothers meal came, this was not okay because we came to eat as a family not for half of us to watch the other half eat. i got the Conproscutto Pizza which is always my go to at the Takapuna Dante's which yes okay was full of flavour and delish but the middle was very doughy and should've been cooked more but whatever. My brother also got the same pizza as me and it was also doughy in the middle :( , my dad got medium steak and when it came it was literally raw!!! omg no wonder there was only us and one other table in the restaurant. My dad sent his steak back to be cooked and they brought it back on a side plate with none of the balsamic dressing or salad or potatoes, just chucked the meat onto a plate so it was just THE MEAT none of the other stuff that it comes with. The calamari and risotto were good so my mum and brother said. The waitress never came to clear our plates or to check up if our meals were any good so service wasn't the best. The audience was not good with that tacky music and huge tv, very unnecessary, the toilets were rank. Defiently won't be back. Only gave 2 stars because the garlic bread was so good.

Amazing food. Awesome atmosphere. Friendly staff. Definitely recommend. Worth trying. Price is for what you get of nice food and great service. Pizza dough is amazing and different from anywhere else

The first time we ate here we thought the pizzas were pretty good but after the third visit we have had second thoughts about this restaurant. The service was slow and not very attentive. We sat just by the open kitchen, so we could see boxea of dry pasta on the shelves - not something you’d want to see in an Italian restaurant (charging these prices)! We ordered a side of roast potatoes - what a rip off!! Certainly won’t be returning.

Disappointing and overpriced food, we won’t be back. We ordered a mushroom pizza, cannelloni, fries and two raspberry & lemonades. $59 total. The raspberry & lemonades were weak. The waitress told us afterwards that it is because they were made from Italian lemonade, we tasted more lemon than raspberry, weird. The huge amount of ice in the tiny glass probably didn’t help. The pizza was small for $24, and we couldn’t taste much of anything, almost flavourless. The cannelloni was supposed to have sundried tomatoes in it... a distinctive flavour. Nope, I had two bites and gave up on the cannelloni. And the fries.... well they were fries. But the tomato sauce came out in the same bowl as the aioli.... why would you do that? We asked for some sauce separately, and were given a tiny amount. Sauce is so cheap, why would you be stingy with it when it makes your customers happy? Overall, we felt ripped off. It wasn’t BAD food, it was just.... boring. We ate it because we had paid for it and were hungry, not because it was delicious. At the end the hostess asked us if everything was ok. When we told her we had expected a bit more flavour, she said “it’s Italian food, we don’t do much flavour”. Umm..... say what? Italian food has simple ingredients for sure, but they must be quality ingredients cooked well, and a clever use of herbs & garlic. Then it is DELICIOUS. If not, it will taste like Dante’s, boring. Very unimpressed.

Came here for dinner last night with the family and we all left full & happy. The owner was in at the time and he was so friendly and made a lot of conversation. This is the biggest Dantes Pizzeria in Auckland. For drinks my brother and I got a fruity mocktail which was nice but mine had a bug in it but they apologised and got me a new one. To eat my parents got the caprese skewers to start with and they liked how fresh they were. Then we got the 'con proscuitto' pizza that we always get and it was amazing like always. My Dad got the 'diavola' pizza which he thought was a little spicy but he liked it. My brother and I shared the 'tagliatelle bolognese' and it was so good, the pasta was so nice and fresh and the bolognese sauce was super tasty. My Mum got the 'risotto porcini' and she liked it but wished the sauce was a little creamier. For dessert I got the tiramisu and it came slopped on the plate so presentation wasn't good but it still tasted really nice. My brother got a 'chocolate cake' which was the special of the day and it was really dry. Overall we had a really nice time and most of the food was really good and we all left full  & satisfied. 100% recommend :))

The staff were very friendly and welcoming.<br/>In our group of 8 we had a variety of food and drinks and when it was served it came straight to the right people. It was awesome.<br/>The food was really good and filling. We got a mix of sides and pizzas and everything tasted amazing. I'm excited to come back to dry the nutella calzone when I have more room😍

Went here for my brothers birthday last night. Was hugely disappointed. We ordered ribs ( which was only 2 ribs on the plate with a bit of salad on the side and some average dressing) and that was nearly $30 !!!!! The ribs were tough and overcooked. My brother and father ended up not eating them. The 'garden' salad was literally cut up lettuce with a tiny bit of balsamic on it and that cost $8 !!!<br/>I ordered the salmon risotto which was only warm and had very little flavour to it. I didn't finish that.<br/>My mum went for a pasta dish and the portion size for $26 was again, SO disappointing. <br/><br/>This place is VERY pricey and for what the portions were, was SO disappointing. <br/>They took the ribs off the final price when we complained.<br/><br/>Overall, not a place we would go back to again.<br/><br/>Choose another restaurant.

| Spaghetti Pomodoro |<br/>-<br/>The dish had very tangy sour flavors from the tomato. It's quite light, a great pasta dish that doesn't leave you feeling bloated. Reasonable dinner price for a pasta $20 and located in the beautiful Queens Rise

Great Dante’s pizza - traditional, thin and great ingredients. Nice outside area and overlooking the beach and park. what is there not to like!

Pizza very average and expensive as is the rib eye fillet of beef which was disappointing to say the least , so much so that I left the whole meal uneaten <br/>But still paid $36 for the privilege

Nice staff expensive food and drinks. Risotto which stated fresh that day seafood had that mix bag from the supermarket with tiny mussels...not fresh. Pizza's around the table looked good and had good responses. Some plates were good, some were not.

We had arancini balls and a pizza and four glasses of wine.  Be had wine by the glass and you received a reasonable wine pour.  Arancini balls were nice, pizza was ok but could have been cooked a bit more.  We felt it was a bit expensive for what we had with the wine at $16 a glass.  Staff are nice and friendly and good service.

the service and cocktails are wonderful but the food is disappointing. I have been twice, first time i had the salmon risotto, not good and had to search to find tiny bits of salmon. the pizzas looked good though so I went back on another occasion and was disappointed again. my friend who is vegan asked if she could have no cheese but swap cheese for olives and was charged an extra $5 .......i would have thought the cheese would have been more expensive than the olives! sadly i wont be going back. so disappointing

our waiting staff were wonderful and friendly. the food was slightly disappointing and small portions for the pasta and risotto, left hungry. the wine was expensive at $16.00 per glass. the atmosphere and decor were great.

Inside looked great, however, the food was overpriced and not good at all. ordered the chicken parmigiana and for $27 it was not worth it. it came out looking like it was dumped on the plate, the sauce was bland, and the cheese had not been melted properly. The chicken itself was very tough and hard to cut even though they gave me a steak knife. The vegetables it came with were coated in pepper. It was not pleasant at all. We wanted to order wine but $16 for a glass of wine seemed like a rip off. The staff were also offish and seemed annoyed to be there even though it was quiet. will not be back again as the food was awful and the staff weren’t friendly. I normally hate to cause conflict and say anything bad about a place but the whole experience was terrible.

If you want to grab a pizza and a drink this place is great. The rest of the food very average, and after having to ask for the dessert menu when we got the profiteroles they were frozen solid.