My husband and I had dinner here several weeks ago. We were reminiscing about the meal this evening and I thought I would post a review. We each had an appetizer and a main course. My appetizer was asparagus wrapped in puff pastry and it was exquisite. My husband had a caprese salad that was good but not magnificent. Both of our appetizers were interesting pasta dishes prepared lovingly and served beautifully. The server was attentive and friendly, and the owner came out to speak with us. The entire experience was absolutely delightful and we cannot wait to return and try some other dishes. read more

On the food front, Al Dente is a solid 4, maybe 4 and a half. But it's the service that bumps it up, they really earned that 5th star! We arrived on a Saturday night with no reservation, but luckily a table was to be had for the 5 of us. Our friendly waiter David suggested we have a selection of Italian cured meats to start - these were delicious (though perhaps the serving was a little mean for the price). Onto mains, I rather predictable ordered lasagna (which was very good), and the rest of us chose largely from that day's specials, ranging from sea bass to sformato (a sort of Italian soufflé). All tasty, and I'd happily return. But like I said, it's the service that made our evening. David and his colleagues were beyond friendly, putting up with our very poor attempts to speak Italian, and generally just being delightful hosts. And a shot of limoncello sealed the deal! Oh, and did I mention that if you check in you get 10% off? Even better! Al Dente is a very good local restaurant, and pleasingly authentic. It's perhaps out of the way, but it's very near our flat, so I foresee us returning in the not too distant future. read more

This is a genuine authentic Italian restaurant - I'm half Italian and have been on the search for the ultimate lasagne. And I've found it! Alright I'll agree it's not the best situated restaurant in terms of the city centre but any bus goes down past Easter Road that is the 26,1,35,44,34,19 so it's not bad to get to. Food is fantastic, service is very friendly - staff were well up for chatting with you and making sure you have a nice experience. Like I said, it's authentic. If you want pizza go somewhere else! This restaurant embellishes the traditional Italian taste - which actually contains a lot of sea food. It upsets me when people give it a bad review because there's too much seafood - that is what Italians eat! The name of the restaurant is reflected in the food - proper al dente pasta, so good, you'll go home and halve the time you take to cool you're own pasta. Love the place, am disappointed that I've only just discovered it before I leave Edinburgh :( Hope this review was helpful, you will enjoy it. I'd definitely recommend the lasagne! If you're visiting and not familiar with the area grab a taxi from the centre of town, it'll only be £6 tops. read more

Small, intimate and friendly, Al Dente offers really good quality Italian dishes. Their cappelletti in brodo was one of the standout dishes from our 2011 restaurant visits. Overall, we said: "we were well impressed with Al Dente. We thought their food was really good, with a strong emphasis on keeping things simple and letting the flavours sing." read more

This is a cosy Italian restaurant with a lovely waiter who introduced us to some Italian off the beaten track specialities - an incredible red wine from the vicinity of lac Garda. The food itself is delicious however the mains are rather small. I had the fish which was amazing but the roast vegetables were scarce. Again the flavours were great though (still a bit peckish) The deserts were average - should just of had more of their lovely wine. Would have given this 3.5 for the food but definitely a 4.5 for service. read more

I've lived on Easter Road for five years and can't believe I've never visited Al Dente before this week. This is a really wonderful restaurant, with great staff who serve up some of the best Italian food I have tasted outside of Italy. Authentic! My friends and I enjoyed antipasti, paste & dolci courses and drank the house red wine, everything was beautifully presented & tasted delicious. I ate baked figs (Fichi al forno), a seafood pasta dish (Paccheri al Branzino) and Profiteroles al cioccolato for dessert. I actually can't wait to work my way through every single thing on the menu now and bump up my rating to 5* in the process. Great for food with friends, or a cosy meal for two. Highly recommended! read more

This place was amazing! It's clear that they have a passion for food. Glad I stumbled into here while on holiday from the USA. It was slow getting our food because they had to cook everything to order, but the quality of the meal was perfect. The service was spot on as well. read more

Al Dente has been on my 'to do' list for a while based on a friend's recommendation but one of the biggest put-offs for me is where it's situated - it's just so far off the beaten track for my liking and unless you live local, it's a pain to get to. On a Saturday night, I like to go for dinner near where I intend to drink and Easter Rd bars just aren't my scene - am I being snobby? Yes.. Yes I am. Back to the restaurant - I wasn't as impressed as I expected bearing in mind the other reviews I read on yelp. My pet hate (I have a few!) is when booking a table over the phone and the person you're speaking to implies they are completely fully booked but they can squeeze you in - at 6.15!! After internally 'harrumphing' at this antisocial time I hastily accepted the table, just feeling grateful I managed to get a table. So.....you can imagine my annoyance when the restaurant was empty - literally! It was a bit cringe-worthy having a whispered conversation with my date in an empty restaurant with an overly attentive waiter who had nothing else to do. I apologised to my date more than once with " I promise...they told me they were full!!" I felt slightly conned especially when we were immediately ushered to the table by the window, in what I thought was an attempt to bring in passing custom. The restaurant started to fill up around 8pm, so they clearly did have other bookings for the evening, but not between 6.15 and 8pm. Food-wise, it was nice but not entirely memorable - the menu is very small and typical of authentic Italy with Antipasti, Pasta, Secondi and Dolce options. I had the Asparagus and Ricotta filo parcels to start which were quite nice, but as a non fish eater (yes, I know!) there wasn't a lot else on the menu I could or wanted to eat. I then went for the Lasagna which based on a previous review that stated "the best lasagna I've ever tasted" was a bit disappointing. Yeah I enjoyed it, but was it the best? No. Would I have rated this restaurant a bit higher if the ambiance had been different, my expectations were not set so high from outset and it wasn't empty? Probably. 'Meh' pretty much sums my overall experience. read more

We went here on the recommendation of the two other reviews on Yelp, and were pleased. The place is very small, but perfectly decorated. The staff are friendly and communicative. My friends all loved what they had, but I wasn't so keen on the baked cod; it was rather flavorless. One friend had the figs for a starter and she loved them. Another had lasagna, and said that it was the best lasagna she's ever had in her life. I'd say that this place is worth the trip. Plus, they got very high ratings on another website that it used a lot in the UK. read more

Had an excellent meal at Al Dente tonight. Went in with a friend and had three courses with bottle of wine. Using the Tastecard offer this came to an impressive £40! Service was excellent. One waiter for a small number of tables gave a cosy atmosphere and there was no pressure at all to leave, which I hate. The food was delicious, perhaps slightly smaller portions than I would have liked. I was starving tonight though and not at all hungry now so I may have been just greedy. Parma ham wrapped figs/carpaccio of haddock Lamb ragu/rabbit medallion Profiteroles/ricotta and dark choc tart All so tasty, beautifully cooked Ended up staying way longer than expected and had a lovely chat with the owner/waiter at the end. Will definitely be coming back! :o) read more

Went to this tiny eaterie for Saturday lunch. It is on the site of the old Tinnelli restaurant on Easter Road, which I always meant to go to but never did. It had advertised a set lunch Tuesday to Saturday(£7.95 I think) previously but this is now only available Monday to Friday. Nonetheless, having heard from friends that it was worthy of a visit we decided to try it out. We were welcomed by the proprietor Graziano Spano who hailes from Bari on Italys Adriatic coast. A limited number of tables are available so if your heart is set I would book ahead. The style is modern italian. Cooked by the Chef Stefan, from Rimini & the food did not disappoint. I started with Smoked Salmon which was a special (£5.50 for a fairly large serving)& came with rocket, parmesan & garlic bread. Graeme had the soup of the day(£2.95), Cream of pea & ham, which also came with a slice of garlic bread. It looked great so I had to have a taste. Wonderful!! We both opted for the Lasagne de Pesce for our second course, sheets of lasagne pasta with a scallops king prawn & mushroom sauce. Fantastico! At £7.20 we didn't expect this to be a huge portion, so took the descision to order a mixed salad to share also. Glad we did as this rounded it off nicely. This was washed down with a bottle of the very respectable house white, and a bottle of still water. The bill came to around £43.00 The service was great, Graziano was assisted by a rather nervous wine waiter from Naples, who settled into his role as the service went on. We think it must have been his first day. The space is small & cosy, the kitchen tiny & the food brilliant. I would urge you to try it out. read more

We know Graziano from the old days and when we found out he had opened his own place we headed right along. It was just before Christmas 2008. The place is small but cosy and the food was fab. Had garlie bread to start from the fixed menu and chicken stuffed with sage for main - it was so delicious and i've not got a sage craving! Graziano and Stefan were very hospitable and made us feel very welcome, it was nice to be able to see into the kitchen as our food was being prepared. If you're looking for a Real Italian and want to be pampered - go to Al Dente - its fab!!! read more

Cannot think of any aspect of this restaurant that would make me go back. The chairs are uncomfortable, the service the slowest I have ever encountered and the food very meagre in portion size and quality. There was nothing much to eat, not even bread. It was doubtful if any of the dishes were authentic and were greatly overpriced. A few bits of pasta with very little else is hardly worth £13 or more. I could have rustled up something tasty in half the time for less than £2. The main problem is that at a restaurant you expect to receive food but there is practically none at this establishment. read more

Very small, but the food is fantastic. Owner is very involved and takes great care of his customers. The deserts were out of this world - Limoncello raspberry Tiramisu Wow read more

Small, friendly restaurant. Try the figs in parma ham as a starter and the sea bass as a main. Also excellent stuffed pasta. Very good wine at reasonable prices. Well worth a trip down Easter Road! read more

used a groupon voucher, which i dont know was a factor but the service was unwelcoming also the food was run of the mill italian fair.

Ist time dinner at al dente with my wife for Valentine's day phoned 2 book a table to be told luckily had 1 table left for 6.30. When we arrived we showen 2 our table stuck away in the corner and giving the set menu something they forgot to tell me when I booked the table. The waiter brought us wot we thought was a complimentary glass of bubbly each or so we thought until we got our bill. Not been a fish eater my choices where limited with 3 starter's I been fish and 2 fish mains so starters we opted for the ravioli and soup and mains my wife for the monk fish and me for the loin of pork served with blue cheese not been a lover of blue cheese I opted not 2 have it. So the starter's came soup quite nice but under seasoned and the ravioli was far from being al dente the only flavoursome part of it was the sage butter sauce. Mains not much better the pork was served with roast veg (a few slithers of red onion and courgette) and a potato flan im still wondering where the flan cane into it not sure if it was mash or boiled potatoes the pork to me was rather dry to We choose the strawberry tir masuo for dessert witch was a complete let down it was more like a cream sponge with half a chopped strawberry on top with a swoosh of chocolate sauce and strawberry coulis. Finished with what I would say was the worst brandy coffee that I've had in any restaurant I've been in. Disappointment is an understatement especially when the bill came and found out we were charged for the bubbly we never ordered. read more