We finally decided to try this restaurant, which is near our home and also our friends' home. We were glad we made reservations, as the restaurant was full that Friday night. We were seated at a table for four. Dalton's has booths, banquettes, and tables in the middle and at the ends of the restaurant. It is a comfortable restaurant that, even when full, the noise level was reasonable, allowing us to converse with our friends. We split an appetizer of stuffed scallops wrapped on bacon, which was melt-in-your mouth tender, flavorful and wrapped in nice, crispy bacon. We then ordered entrees. All dinners include a side salad of farm fresh greens and veggies dressed in a vinaigrette dressing. We enjoyed our entrees, all of which were well-prepared and delicious. I especially enjoyed my special of short ribs served with a creamy risotto and garnished with Brussels sprouts. Dalton's features a wine list with plenty of good choices of wines by the glass. My Montepulciano paired perfectly with my short ribs. Despite the restaurant being crowded, service was still friendly, helpful, professional, and didn't miss a beat. We will be back!

Awesome Italian food. Everything we had was great. Really like the glassed in kitchen, and restaurant was clean and nice.

Had the $41 NY Strip and it was honestly as good as most $100 filet mignons I've had. Our server, Tara was amazing. We're coming back for sure and will order the same thing. Super for steak.

Food is always consistently amazing.. and if you want converse, laugh, and meet other couples? Sit at the bar! It won't disappoint!

Like it very much. Food is delicious and service is great. Wait staff is so nice. Restaurant is updated and clean. I give it 5 stars

We just randomly went looking for a nice restaurant and stumbled upon this place. The ambiance is relaxing and not too fancy. The service was great but some of the workers were short with us. Food is next level.

Just beyond hidden kitchen on route 80 in North Branford, Connecticut, this delightful restaurant is one where, unless you were looking for it, you will miss it. We came here to have a mid afternoon lunch/early dinner, and had heard good things about the place. The wine and cocktail list is extensive, everything from wine to Mojito to beer and specialty coffees, we shared a mango Mojito, which was delicious and had a lot of great flavor. We could see the kitchen through the glass window from where we were sitting and could see all the action happening, which was a lot of fun and entertaining at the same time. we shared two appetizers, the first being the crabcake in a light sauce and top of capers. This delicious concoction had fresh lump crab meat, and was fried very lightly, to the point where we could taste the crab meat and not the oil. Absolutely delicious and I wish there were more on the plate for us to enjoy because this could have been a full meal rather than an appetizer. Our second appetizer was a blackened seafood combination, which had one jumbo shrimp, one bay scallop and one large piece of calamari. This was sitting in what I could best describe as a pasta, fagiolo broth and cannellini beans, very delicious, but I wish that they had given a little bit more seafood instead of one piece of each. Very freshly tasting and very filling. We received two salads with a homemade balsamic glaze dressing, and then we had our main course which was pasta Bolognese made with papperdelle and it was so large we were able to split it in half, and we still had enough to take home for a full serving of dinner. Flavors were very good and not overwhelming, the pasta was al dente, and the sauce was flavorful. Excellent use of spice and very fresh. My only concern is the prices. Each of the appetizers were $20 apiece, but for $20 for crabcake I would've liked to have seen a second crabcake on the plate, and the seafood combination to have more than one shrimp, one scallop, and one piece of calamari. The pasta was perfectly priced based upon my description above. We skipped dessert as we were quite full, but the list looked very extensive and included classics such as crème brûlée, peanut butter, pie and chocolate lava cake. Next time we go here. We will definitely indulge in at least one dessert. Bravo!

I had lunch at Daltons again today food outstanding ,Marco our server/ bar fabulous and the lichen guys so funny. Amazing afternoon.

TLDR: Food was great - a hidden gem - but wish we had the same service as everyone else. Would go again! Went here for my moms birthday recently. The restaurant is small and off the beaten path a bit, but the food is great! We made early Sunday reservations, but it was quiet enough that we wouldn't have had a problem. It definitely got busier as the evening went on. I would highly recommend the pane cotto appetizer the calamari was just ok. We had the pork and hot peppers, bolognese pasta, and the sword fish. Everyone enjoyed their food and most of us had plenty of leftovers for another meal or two! The reason for 4 stars comes with the service. As I said, we were there early (330 reservations on a Sunday ) so it was quiet with just one waiter and two tables. As the evening went on, more wait staff arrived. That's when we noticed the other wait staff bringing out bread to the new tables and reading off the specials. We eventually asked for bead - they have a great spread!! - but it was too late for the specials as we had already ordered. This wouldn't keep me from going back but I'd definitely be sure to take more notice of the specials and such.

I am giving Dalton's 3 stars, a somewhat wobbly 3 stars...Because, my friends, I eat out for the food and the food needs to be GOOD GOOD. The place itself is nice. Comfortable, warm atmosphere. Nice bar, good sized space. Service was Meh. Look, I am restaurant owner/worker and I am ALWAYS rooting for my fellow service workers. That being said...we were sat by the hostess, who also gave us our menus. Our table was set and waiting for us with water glasses already filled. And then we had no contact from waitstaff, for a while. Eventually our waiter came over and told us the specials and I ordered us a sampling of appetizers. First issue with Dalton's is there are not very many choices if you don't eat beef, pork or poultry (which I do not). I had to read the entire menu and plan my meal and ask for some special accommodations to try some things because this menu is VERY meat centric. I don't think there were any vegetarian entrees (forget vegan!). For our appetizers I ordered Buffalo Cauliflower, Chilled Seafood Salad, Panecotta, Eggplant Rollatini and Fried Calamari. Let's start with the Buffalo Cauliflower. I. Love. Buffalo Cauliflower. This was, honestly, terrible. They should not have served it: Burnt, Greasy, almost no Buffalo flavor. Eggplant Rollatini: Pretty good. Decent flavors. Problem was it was room temperature at best when it arrived at our table. Borderline cold. Chilled Seafood Salad: ODDLY ginormous "Calamari" rings. As in I was afraid to eat them. I tried scallop, clams, mussels. All of which were completely devoid of any kind of seasoning. They were all fresh and cooked properly. But lacked even salt. They were, however, sitting on a bed of very tasty, well dressed/seasoned Arugula salad. Fried Calamari. Dalton's serves their calamari with Sriracha Mayo AND Marinara OR Napolitan style. We ordered it with the Marinara and no Sriracha Mayo. We got it WITH Sriracha Mayo and no Marinara. So took a few minutes to fix that and get the Marinara. Again, GINORMOUS Calamari rings and, no tentacles. I've never seen that before. Where you get fried calamari and all it is is rings, no tentacles. That made me very suspicious. I did eat a few pieces. They tasted good, like actual calamari. Cooked perfectly, nice and tender, well seasoned. HOWEVER. The Marinara. OMG. Terrible. Inedible. We all tried it. My mother (first generation Napolitan) said no one should eat it. Now here is The Actual Thing. If you are an "Italian Restaurant"?? And, most especially, you are claiming to be an Italian Restaurant in the Neapolitan style?? Your Marinara had better SLAP. Dalton's Marinara is, bluntly, terrible. The only actually good appetizer was the Pannecotta: nice and hot and full of beans and escarole and tasty. Very nice. Good for dipping the very good bread we got at the table into as well. We pressed on!! And ordered our entrees. We then waited about an hour to actually get our entrees. Everyone got a salad as part of our entree course. I don't think anyone finished it. I personally didn't like it because it was heavy on the spinach and I dislike raw spinach. Dressing was okay. Overall: Meh. Entrees were WAY BETTER than anything we had for appetizers. Which is how Dalton's redeemed itself to the "3" rating you see here. I ordered the Shrimp Florentine, which is served with spinach and mashed potatoes. However! They also had Gnocchi with a truffle Vodka Sauce and Sausage on the menu. I asked if I could get the Shrimp Florentine, no mashed potatoes and a side of the Gnocchi instead, no sausage. 2 SNAPS to Dalton's that our waiter said that was no problem and they could do that for me. Taking 1 snap away because when my entree arrived (an hour later) I did, in fact, have a side of gnocchi instead of mashed potatoes, but that gnocchi was completely naked. But, I was easily able to get a side of the Truffle Vodka Sauce. Entrees were hot and well seasoned and delicious. The Shrimp Florentine were LOVELY. I would definitely eat them again. Gnocchi were light and fluffy and the truffle vodka sauce was very tasty. I can heartily recommend these two things. The spinach that came with my Shrimp Florentine, on the other hand, lacked any kind of seasoning, including salt. I gave it to my father. I then ordered the Chocolate Mousse for dessert. Very mediocre. Weak chocolate flavor, not great texture.. Would not eat it again. I would not choose to come back, but at least I know there are a few things I can order and enjoy at Dalton's if we do wind up back here. Not sure I would try anymore of their appetizers though...