Daniel's Restaurant & Catering

The service and food were great. The mussels in white wine sauce have a very unusual if not almost down right nauseating aroma to them making it slightly hard to actually eat them and enjoy their great taste. This was my first time visiting this resturant. The atmosphere was cozy, almost too cozy at the entrance. I noticed the low sanitation score, but since I was already there, I had to see what the hype was all about. Normally I would not have gone to this resturant if I had read the sanitation score and why it was low. I did not check it out before I arrived. I checked later why the score was low and was slightly disturbed since the reason the score was low was because of low food temperatures... meaning, food was not hot enough or water nozzels at the bar were dirty. I checked the last few sanitation ratings as the one before the more recent was even lower. I will not be revisiting this returant until the score is higher at least twice in a row. Pros: Great Food and Great Service Cons: History of Low Sanitation Ratings more

We have been going to Daniel's for a long time now. We are so in love with the amazing food and the timely and friendly service. It is even better now that they have begun taking reservations, we just call in a reservation and walk right in, eat and leave. It couldn't be more simple! I especially love the take-out service. I recently had a holiday get-together at my house and wanted my friends to taste the food I have been raving about for so long. I called in my order that day and picked it up on the way home. The take-out service was so quick, everything was ready for me when I got there, I arrived and left within a few minutes. Everyone was so impressed by how good everything tasted, I wanted to pretend it was my own. ha ha. I highly reccomend Daniel's as a place to eat. Pros: Amazing food, Prompt take-out service, Friendly staff more

Good food can be completey out done by LOUSEY service. Take out is a complete debocle. I ordered food at 5:15 pm and was told 30 mins. I arrived at the "take out" service area to find two other patrons waiting. I paid for my meal for the family of 4($100.00, over priced!) and waited. I waited 35 mins to receive my food. i watched 8 other patrons arrive and wait and some leave. When asked by the manager "what my order was" and that she would "check on it", she went behind the counter, answered phones and NEVER addressed me again! I heard the teenage chashier tell EVERY paying customer that he was "sooo sorry" for one mistake or another. While standing after a 30 min lead time and then standing for 15 more mins to recieve the lasagna, I watched the cooks put my order in the oven to bake it. Shouldnt that be done while I am driving to the place? That way when told 30 mins its ready when I get there? If you plan on eating this food, bring your wallet, and first born, it will cost you that and more..and if your picking up...be perpared to wait, and wait, and wait and wait and wait. LOUSEY!!! This place was rated one of the Triangles Best??? In what? Best investment Daniel and Patsy made? Its a rip off. I am always willng to pay for service but this is the worst service I have ever received. Daniel needs to revamp his take out process. it is definitely the "Worst in the Triangle" Get it right. The next write up that is done in the Triangle needs to try the take out. Pros: Food Cons: Service more

I have eaten at Daniels 5-7 times since I moved here. It has happened more than 2 of the times we tried to eat here and again this Saturday night. We did not have reservations so we called before we headed down to see what the wait was. We called and were told there was a 10 minute wait. Perfect, jump in the car and head right over from Holly Springs. Get to Daniels and it is packed. Go up to the hostess and her response is at least 45 minutes. After telling her we just called and we were told the wait was 10 minutes she asked how many in your party. Six we responded. Oh I'm sorry we wont be able to seat you until after 8pm. It was now 6:30. WOW some 10 minute wait! She then said Oh we tried to call you back after we told you it was a 10 minute wait but the # didn't work. This same exact thing happened at least 1 other time in the exact same manner. Lie about the wait, get you to drive down and hope you'll stay and buy a few drinks ate the bar. I will NOT eat here ever again. Average food but by far not the best italian in the area. Skip it unless you just have to try it once and get it out of your system and ONLY if you have a reservation. Even then you may wait 45 minutes. more

Enjoyed a nice dinner at Daniel's on the patio on a Sunday evening. The lobster ravioli with shrimp was absolutely delicious, the wine was excellent, and our waitress very prompt and friendly. I couldn't ask for anything more. Pros: Good food at reasonable prices with excellent service more

I'm still trying to figure out if the people around here have either not been exposed to good food before or have been down here so long that they have forgotten what good food tastes like because all I ever hear about is 'Daniel's this' and 'Daniel's that'. I've gone twice (wouldn't have been fair if I'd only tried them one time...even though it was uneventful, at best) and both times I have left confused and dissapointed. Confused why people constantly tout this place as having 'great food' and dissapointed that this is apparently as good as it gets around here. It's not that the food is bad or the staff is rude or the place is a dump...because it's not. It's just not that good! But I guess since I now live here, maybe in 5 years or so I will think it's 'great food' too. Or... Maybe not. ;) Pros: It's not a chain Cons: Overrated more

People were friendly. Service and food were fine (we expected more based on their great repuation - their signature pasta dish "pasta a la casa?" didn't have much flavor - though some authentic Italian dishes can be rather bland). Food prices were on par with the chain restaurants. The place could be cleaner. The Health Dept rating was only a 90.5...not a good rating as ratings go. Pros: Good takeout pizza more

Daniel's catered our wedding reception and it was by far the best catering experience that I have ever had. The food was fabulous and staged beautifully. The wait and bar staff were consciencious and made sure that our reception went incredibly smooth. We received many comments from our guests regarding the great food and beautiful set-up! Thanks so much for making our wedding reception a dream come true! Pros: Great Food, Great Service, Great Price! more

I recently was at an event Catered by Daniel?s and was not sure the catered food could live up to the dine in reputation. I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was excellent. Not only was the display nicely done and the food tasty but there were all sorts of food items not just there regular menu items?. Wish the baked brie was on the menu it was excellent Thanks for all the great food?. Pros: Great food: Catered, Take out , or in the dining room Cons: watch out for the light pole people keep crashing into the wall that protects it more

Daniel, Janet and I (Cheryl, the GM) have been debating for a few days now whether or not we wanted to post an official response concerning the unfortunate and mortifying events that took place on Friday the 29th with the party of 9 that came into our restaurant. After much deliberation, and especially in light of the fact that the negative feedback is overwhelming at this point, I would like to speak on behalf of the restaurant. First and foremost, I will not make any excuses on behalf of our former evening manager. He was with us for a very brief time, but apparently even that month or so was a bit too long. As anyone who looks at reviews prior to the 29th can see, Daniel?s has never experienced a situation even remotely resembling this one because we would never consider any customer to be inconsequential. Our customer service philosophy has always been to do whatever it takes to keep the guests happy. We try to always give at least what the customer expects, and then a little more. Under normal circumstances, we expect our managers to be able to defuse any problematic situation and we hope that they are able to be proactive, not reactive. I can?t apologize enough to the members of the reservation party who were offended by the unfortunate mishandling of the situation on that Friday, but I can speak up now and say that we do not tolerate that type of behavior from any employee, especially a manager. That is not the Daniel?s way. We have worked very hard to build a strong reputation and we will never stop striving to be better. For future reference, we welcome any direct customer feedback and can be reached by email or phone daily. Regards, Cheryl Loucks Manager Daniel's Restaurant & Catering p.s. - City search requires anyone posting to select a rating for the establishment and obviously I think we are great more

This was my first time at Daniel's Restaurant and I did not enjoy my experience. Once my party got seated, it took the waiter a long time to even get our drink orders. That was the first indication that the night was not going to be a good one. Even after our drinks did arrive, the waiter seemed almost totally inattentive. He was away so much that there was no opportunity to ask for the manager from him. We eventually did tell one of the hostesses that we did want to talk to the manager. He did not make an appearance. Once our food arrived, after waiting more than an hour, we did tell the waiter that we wanted to see the manager again. When the manger finally arrived to discuss the lack of attention we had received, he forwarded no apology and went so far as to say that it was not the hostesses job to inform him that a table wanted to see him. The entire experience would have gone a lot smoother if the manager had not seemed almost self righteous about the situation and been a little more sympathetic with the lack of service that we had gotten. Not only that, but he did nothing to make the rest of the evening go any smoother. When our bills arrived, several of them were wrong. If he had been doing his job, this would not have happened. The place was very crowded and if the attitude of this manager was any indication of how much the staff at Daniel's cares about it's customers, then I would think that they do not because the customers keep coming anyway. I for one will not be going back to Daniel's. more

I've read some of the reviews for this restaurant and some diners had good experiences and some not so good. That's typical of some restaurants, but when I take the time and spend the money to go out to a restaurant I want the experience to be good (if not great) every time, so consistency means a lot. I was with the table of 9 that have already written some reviews about our experience there. My dish was the amberjack fish special and it was very good. The salad I had before dinner was good and the appetizer (brie) was also very good. But, the service was not very good and I can understand that when, as in this case, the waiter is new or there is a situation that causes a problem (not in this case), but the reaction we received by the manager when we told him that the service was poor and very slow was very disappointing. Others at my table weren't so fortunate with their choice of dishes (one was extremely ill the following day) and others were just not terribly impressed with the quality of the food. The key to addressing the slow service when we spoke to the manager would have been for him to simply acknowledge that the waiter was new and that he might have been a little slow, to get some of the other members of the wait staff to help the waiter so we could finish the meal in a reasonable time, and to offer a few desserts for the table. As it was , we were never even asked if we wanted dessert or coffee after our main dishes. The manager was more interested in disagreeing with us and making excuses than simply working with us a little and being a little understanding. I since was told that the manager was also new at the restaurant, but if that's the case, then he needs more training. A few words of apology and a simple gesture to make up for the inconvenience would have gone a long way. There are other Italian restaurants in the Triangle that are consistently much better than Daniels and I will more likely frequent them than return to Daniels. more

This was the first time my wife and I had visited this restaurant after reading the reviews on CitySearch. I was going to just leave a review of our bad experience, but we were actually seated near the large group of 9 that posted the negative review. We got to the restaurant after them and left the restaurant shortly after they received their food. My wife couldn't really hear what was going on with the table, but she mentioned that she had noticed several interactions with the hostess and manager. We had the same waiter as the table, and the guy was was pretty slow. He didn't refill our waters either, and I had to nag him several times. The restaurant was crowded and the atmosphere was not quite the romantic setting that I was hoping for. Overall, I would say that the food quality would not be my idea of outstanding fine cuisine but rather mediocre at best. I would definitely not recommend the Seafood fra Diavlo which had chewy mussels and overcooked shrimp. My wife wasn't in love with her meal either. If you want a really classy place with some authentic cuisine, I wouldn't recommend this place. We'll be sticking with our favorite place off of Six Forks for special occasions. more

This was my first time at this restaurant and the service was extremely slow. When you are spending this kind of money on a dinner you would expect to have your glass refilled, and receive your dinner in a timely manor, but this was not the case. My husband ordered a beer when we sat down and received it about the same time dinner arrived, almost 2 hours later. The waiter did not check up on us to see if we needed anything and in fact had to be hunted down. When we went to the manager with the complaint he was uncaring and made excuses. To top if off the food was just ok. The lauzana had little to no meat. The pasta was wattery. I will not be returning to this restaurant again. Cons: poor service uncaring managment more

I have been to Daniel's many times and have always had a nice experience and great food. This past time, however, was an exception. Our waiter was extremely slow and inattentive, we were never asked if we wanted more drinks, nor were our water glasses refilled and we were there from 7:30-10pm. We did speak to the manager and this is the reason for my low rating. The manager was completely unsympathetic, and rather than making sure that we had drinks, refilled water, correct checks, and that the remainder of our visit was enjoyable, he just made up excuses....which were completely insufficient because in the meantime tables around us had come and gone, one of them was a group of 7, so our group of 9 was not the issue. At the end of the night upon speaking to the manager again his response was simply that "I have no response for you anymore" and not in a nice way. In the end, it was not about getting anything out of the restaurant or getting the waiter in trouble (he was young and probably new for the summer, it happens); all we wanted was to let the manager know that we had some concerns and have him make sure that the rest of our experience was up to what I thought were Daniel's standards. And to top it off, in the end my food was not good at all this time around; I had the calamari in spicy red sauce and was very disappointed at the small amount of calamari on the pasta. There are other Italian restaurants in the area that give you so much calamari you can barely see the pasta at first, and at comparable prices. Not to mention it did not come with the whole wheat linguine I had requested. I am hesitant to post this because I have always had a great experience at Daniel's, but now I am even more hesitant to either go there again myself or recommend this restaurant to anyone again because I was diasappointed in the food, and I do not want to support a restaurant that feels that uncaring, disinterested, and rude behavior by the manager is acceptable. more

I hate to write a good review because then everyone will go to Daniel's and I won't be able to get a table!! But I figure the word is already out, so I guess I'll put my two cents in. The interior is a bit dark for my liking and not very fancy, but the food is delicious!! They have great interesting dishes and the specials that I have had were excellent. One evening I asked the waitress about the sauce that was served on one of the dinner specials - it seemed like it might be too strong. She went off to the kitchen, only to return with a bit of the sauce that the chef made up for me to taste!! (it was made fresh for each diner) I absolutey LOVED it. The breadsticks aren't that great, but everything else I've had were excellent, as were the deserts. It can get crowded, so be careful when you go. I highly recommend it. Pros: Great food, decent service, fair prices, Cons: looks a bit haggard from the outside. too dark inside more

I was pleasantly surprised to find Daniel?s restaurant in Apex. I dined there on a Tuesday night, and the first good sign was that many tables were full. If it is this busy on a weeknight I would guess reservations are necessary over the weekend. We asked for a table outside, in a little patio area with tables, umbrellas, a fountain and flowering plants. Our server was very friendly and gave us recommendations upon learning this was our first visit. The wine list is very extensive, including many wines by the glass. After ordering drinks we quickly got a basket of warm slices of focaccia, not served with plain old olive oil but rather a bowl of warm marinara for dipping. I ordered Lobster Ravioli which was excellent, the best part being the cream sauce which was bursting with flavor. I also got to taste a Veal Cannoli dish which was equally good. Everything was very rich and decadent, the menu is heavy on pastas and pizza. Not a place for dieters, but definitely a place for good food when you want to be spoiled. Prices were very reasonable as well. I can see this restaurant becoming a regular for me when I want good Italian. Pros: flavorful rich food, reasonable prices, great wine list, family owned Cons: none more

Depending on when you go you may need reservations. It will be worth your wait! Great lobster ravioli. Pros: great food Cons: expensive more

Friends of ours are Daniel's nuts, so somebody thinks this place is great. With that said, made the drive from N. Raleigh and quite frankly could not understand what the big deal was. The atmosphere was family oriented, seemed a bit outdated (this was awhile back, sorry if there have been updates), loud and bustling. The menu was huge, lots of choices but almost too many if that's possible. Pricey for a family-style restaurant. DEFINITELY not romantic, skip this if you're looking for chic, trendy or quiet and romantic. Didn't try the pizza, if they have great pizza I can find great pizza in tons of places without driving to Apex (The Point at Five Points is great)... pasta I had was average, nothing earth shattering. I have only been once mind you, but this was my first impression. If it were in my neighborhood I might give it a second shot, but not worth a drive. If you're in Apex and want somewhere to take the kids for pizza, probably a reasonably good choice. more

This is probably the only Italian restaurant in town that has a family owned feel and flavor to their menu. The food is prepared perfectly and is more than fairly priced. Service is great and the management genuinely cares that you have a great dining experience. Try it this weekend! They also have great lunch with no wait. Pros: Great Fresh Homemade Tasting Italian Food Cons: Sometimes ya gotta wait.... more