Il Dolce Pizzeria

Dining experience was fabulous both in quality of food and service. Very friendly & attentive service. Ordered short rib ravioli, both ravioli & short rib melted in mouth. Fresh herb cream sauce was excellent. My husband ordered four cheese pizza, which does not come with marinara so we ordered a side of marinara which was best I’ve ever tasted,…fresh and made to order. Meatball starter was very moist and served in the fab marinara. Caprese salad was excellent as well. The restaurant is a bit pricy but really well worth for the quality. Friendly, warm, family atmosphere.

I have been eating at this place since they opened, I think it’s way over priced, what upset me last time was when I asked for parmigiana cheese for our $ 25 pizza, the waiter who by the way was not friendly at all brought the cheap parmigiana cheese u get when u order Pizza Hut of dominos, unacceptable I hope the owner will listen to the comments and change, if every other review says it’s over priced, at least run specials for some items.

Amazing neapolitan pizza, pasta, salads, and a great wine and cocktail selection. I’ve been here twice and have tried a few different things on the menu and everything was delicious, customer service was perfect, this is a spot for a date night or family dinner !

Agree with the comments regarding the food. It’s tasty, but ridiculously overpriced. Would have loved to try a pasta dish, but the crazy prices caused us to settle for splitting a salad and pizza. Beet salad was good, but the pizza was a little soggy. And if you’re gonna charge me 14 bucks for a glass of house Sangiovese, at least have the decency to fill the glass! The couple next to us, literally one foot from us and also first timers, we’re also complaining about the prices. Probably won’t be back.

The food is good but insanely overpriced, even for this area!
One of us ordered spaghetti with plain red sauce (she’s vegan) and they charged us 22 $ for it.
17 $ for a bruschetta? I mean nothing justifies those prices. Not the food, not the service, not the ambiance (paper napkins… Nuff said)
Nothing wrong with the food but just not worth the money

My favorite Italian spot in OC! Definitely date night material.

My partner and I Eat at il dolce at least once a week for a little over a year with never having a bad meal, the prosciutto and arugula pizza is to die for, we are obsessed with the fried cheese and prosciutto appetizer. Their Caesar salad is always fresh and is always topped with just the right amount of their homemade Caesar dressing. I could go on about their amazing menu since in the time that we’ve been there we’ve probably had everything twice. They have many things to Drink. I especially like their specialty coffees and their shaved iced Italian coffee dessert drinks. Dessert is always a surprise. The chef’s wife is the pastry chef and she knows what she’s doing she definitely brings a sparkle to every dessert. So one week a month for over a year and not one complaint, I really suggest anyone who has had what they call «a bad experience at this place» take a deep breath and try it again. It’s family-​owned and operated, great conversationalists. they’ve always got my order right. Every time with with unbeatable service. That’s all I really have to say. This place seriously is a slice of Italy. The only place I’ve tasted pizza crust that good was when I spent a month in Italy. And I recommend this place to everyone I know. OK that’s my rant, I’m off to dinner… You’ll never guess where.

The pizza was incredible, honestly the best in orange county. The staff are friendly, and the speed of service is unbeatable. Definitely a favorite spot for my wife and I!

A great, small, family owned Italian restaurant in the heart of Costa Mesa. Good food, good ambience and reasonable prices for the quality of food you get. Must try at least once. You can tell the family puts passion into their business!

We heard about this place from a friend and decided to give it a try for lunch. We weren’t disappointed! The pasta was so good and fresh. Had a pizza too which was delicious — very comparable to some fabulous restaurants we’ve been to in Italy. We will definitely be back! By chance it’s also located on the same parking lot as our favorite bakery — Cinderella Cakes so dessert is close by

Wow, the dough was very flavorful, highly recommended. The apple tart with ice cream very delicious.

Best pizza in Orange County. Roberto and his family are in there every cooking up great food and service!

We had takeout from here once that was awful– the pizza wasn’t cooked all the way so there was uncooked mozzarella on it. We had to throw it in the oven which kind of makes you mad when you’ve paid that much for pizza takeout. Gave it another try after my sister kept insisting it was amazing and ate there– we LOVED it. Got the pesto gnocchi (heaven) and a pepperoni pizza and Caesar. The gnocchi was fresh and I usually get tired of pesto fast but not this one. As long as you dine in, you’re good.

Il dolce is quality food at its finest from celebrities to your common folks this food is amazing straight to the point and full of flavor. I would recommend coming again at least once a week. It is one of a kind and I wouldn’t lie about it if I did not experience my many stops here at this restaurant. Gracias Roberto Por su hospitilidad, humildad, respeto y su pasion por cocinar comida muy buena para toda le gente.

Went there bc heard that it was one of the best pizza places in all of OC. Definitely not. We got the pesto pizza and added chicken. The chicken I believe was $ 6 additional and there was barely any chicken on there. It was cut into very thin slices of chicken and very few, so to me it wasn’t worth it at all. I work at an Italian restaurant and it’s only $ 2.95 for chicken and way larger pieces. The pizza was very dry so we asked the server if we could get more pesto sauce and he replied no because the chef makes it when ordered just for the pizza. So we asked can we just get a side of red sauce and he said yeah but it’s $ 3 for a side of red sauce!
Overall the bill was well over $ 30 with no bread before the pizza or anything, just the pizza and no drinks. We definitely will not be going back.

The salsicca pizza was without flavor. The quinoa salad also very blan. The server would not bring chile oil for pizza to the table… It’s a house rule! So you cannot adjust to your personal taste. Prices are high! The skirt steak is small and $ 38! This is not an expensive cut, like NY steak or rib eye…
I won’t return…

This is about a 3.75 star affair.
The staff are quite friendly and fairly attentive. They ignored drink refills until our meal was nearly over but excluding that, the service was pretty good.
SALAMI SALAD (insalata della casa) — petite rectangular shaped thinly cut pieces of salami (not nearly enough); a few half slices of olive; a vinegar/​oil dressing was essentially absent… barely tasted anything; fresh greens; I would call this a «poor man’s antipasto salad» and it wasn’t worth the cost
QUATTRO FORMAGGI PIZZA — nice waft of smelly cheese; nice visual with clumps of ricotta cheese on top; our crust has less burn marks on the crust than that of others on nearby tables and likely due to this is soft vs. crisp… I don’t mind that though as the crust is delicious and not doughy, just soft and very tasty; the cheeses taste fresh; this pizza may be 2^nd best only to Pizzeria Mozza in the OC
SPAGHETTI CARBONARA — cheesy, creamy, aldente and delicious; haven’t had this dish in ages but will add it back to my list
CANNOLO pastry — medium sized; visually it looks pretty but I’m not sure about appetizing; perfectly chopped orange peel is stuffed in one end and pistachios are stuffed in the other; we are told the cheese is ricotta but my «eyeball test» tells me otherwise as it is super smooth in texture and tastes closer to whipped cream or a not-​so-​tasty crème fraîche; there is a HUGE sniff and taste of cinnamon which I hate (bummer); there is an odd taste in the shell but can’t place it; this was a serious disappointment and it «blows doors» in regards to authenticity and taste… yuck; the only authentic thing is that it wasn’t very sweet and had traditional items stuffed in each end; for $ 8.50 this was highway robbery; this was essentially a «faux» cannolo which was very commercialized but lacked authenticity
NOTE: I’ve been eating canoli pastries since I was 10 years old and have eaten hundreds and hundreds of different renditions of this Italiano pastry. Also, I’ve created my own cannolo recipe about 14 years ago and when time permits I make them myself for friends and family.
CREME BRULEE — odd dark butter color to the custard inside (appearance was that of margarine container left open on the counter for hours); custard wasn’t cool or firm; nice crunchy shell; odd taste in the custard, something that doesn’t belong there but don’t think it was just the lack of vanilla bean; this was edible for sure but not anywhere near spectacular
PANNA COTTA — visually pretty; great texture; nice vanilla taste with berries; this was outstanding and the best dessert of the night; it rivals some of the best we’ve had and we’ve eaten countless versions and even made them ourselves
All in all, this venue is pretty good but some items just seriously missed the mark.

Cute location across from triangle square, glass walls so it’s almost like your outside! Almost.
Me and my boyf come here about once a month, the pizza is really fresh and authentic. My usual pizza is the asparago pizza. It has about 5 thick asparagus peices with a fried egg on top. It’s really good and kinda different. I also sometimes get the Gorgonzola pizza and I ask them to put arugula on top and they don’t have an issue with that and it’s really yummy!
My boyfriend gets the gnocchi in sorrentino sauce every time. The gnocchi is perfectly done but I personally don’t like the sauce. Wayyyy to acidic.
Beware the caesar salad has a TON of dressing on it, eep! Maybe it was a one time thing but I haven’t ordered it again to find out.
And you HAVE to get the apple tart or the blueberry pizza. The chef’s wife makes all the desserts in house. The crust is so light and flakey I just love it. No matter how much we eat or how full we are we can never say no to it!
This place is good, go give it a try!

The service was not good even before being seating. There is a 18% gratuity applied to the check of a party 6 or more. There are no reservations. They are very strict when it comes to celebrations. Owners and workers do come off rude. We were not given the specials menu until we were making orders from the regular menu.
They do offer a gluten-​free penne, but not gluten-​free pizza crust. I ordered the chicken piccata. It was a bit salty, but still the best chicken piccata that I have ever had!
The food plus the bad service gives the restaurant 3 stars. I would not recommend this place if you’re looking for a nice place to enjoy dinner. Would I recommend it after a day spent the beach and you want to grab a bite to eat at a pricy pizzeria? Sure, why not.

3.5 stars.
It’s kind of pricey to eat here with pasta dishes ranging from $ 15 — $ 24 and pizzas ranging from $ 15 — $ 25. But the ingredients are top notch. The pastas are made in-​house with ingredients like white and black truffles, delectable bolognase, and parmesan. The pizza we tried was topped with a fried egg which once punctured oozed a luscious yolk atop a pizza that was craving richness. Dinner was delicious shared with friends. This is definitely a place to go with a group so that you can share. Portions are small for the price.