Caffe Da Vinci

Nice food and service at reasonable prices. Very pleasant staff who did not rush us even though it was getting very late as we dined and we were the last group out. Helped us take some pictures for our group, and just a nice atmosphere.

We had some groupon/​travelzoo deal and it still wasn’t worth it. Food was horrible and drenched in sauce/​oil. Service wasn’t bad, it was just odd. It just seemed like everyone was either new or didn’t quite know what they were doing.

I work in Bay Harbour and lunch options are very limited so when I heard Café Da Vinci was starting a lunch special/​buffet I had to try it. Basically for around $ 10 you get the buffet with a chicken, fish, a pasta, a soup, salad and bread. Either you get takeout and fill up different boxes, or you have the choice of dining in. The lunch is pretty good, very repetitive but better then most selections around town.

Horrendous experience. We used our voucher from Travel Zoo and I honestly think that because we used it and didn’t pay «full price», we received the oldest food and poor service. Service was extremely slow (only one waitress attending like nine tables), food was mediocre (Caprese salad was nothing out of this world; hubby’s carpaccio had way too much dressing; my veal was chewy; hubby’s filet mignon was order medium rare and came out medium well; lava cake was overcooked). The waitress felt bad for how poorly our meals were prepared and offered us a glass of wine which when the bill came, we were charged for. We asked to speak to the owner and he refused to come out. He sent the waitress instead and just looked at us from behind the window. We were charged a full 18% service charge for a meal we didn’t even enjoy. We packed up the meat in a doggy bag for our dog and the meat was so bad, she didn’t even eat the entire meal we served her. Go somewhere else for Italian. This place sucks!

Wow! This place is horrendous! I’ve said it a few times in different reviews. The difference between a great restaurant and a terrible one can be the way that management/​ownership handles problems. So besides the fact that the food was incredibly bad and the service was atrocious, it was really ownership that put the nail in the coffin on this review. First the service, there were two people attending the entire restaurant. Our waitress was nice, but she was in way over her head. Everything, the bread, the wine, the appetizers and the entrees came out so slow. My wife ordered the caprese salad and I had the beef carpacio for apps. They took like half an hour. The wine took about 15 min. By the time the entrees came out, the appetizers and bread had settled in my stomach and I wasn’t hungry anymore. Maybe it was a good thing, because the dishes were pretty much inedible. I ordered the filet mignon with foi gras, MEDIUM RARE! I can never understand how restaurants attempting to be recognized as one of a higher caliber can consistently fail to prepare correctly, what is usually their featured or most expensive dish, the Filet Mignon. MEDIUM RARE!!! Not a little medium and mostly medium WELL. I could hardly find any pink in my steak. I mentioned it to the waitress and she apologized and offered to get me a new one, but at this point, we had already been there for an hour, I really wasn’t hungry and I wasn’t prepared to wait another half hour for another steak while I watched my wife eat her dish. Speaking of which, veal is supposed to be extremely tender. This veal was so chewy that it was more reminiscent of Elk. We also mentioned this to our waitress and she did offer to exchange it for something else, but again, we had waited long enough. And as I mentioned, despite the effort to «take it back» on both dishes, you gotta prepare these things correctly in the first place. You have to staff your restaurant so that people aren’t waiting forever for their order. If your dishes are a disaster and your service is so slow that the customer doesn’t want to go through more waiting, then do something else. After a little while, our waitress comes and tells us, «I’m so sorry you did not enjoy your meals, can I get you a glass of wine.» I didn’t really want one, it was the end of our dinner, I assumed that she was offering it as a gesture, considering how she posed the question. I said, sure. I took a few sips out of it and left it, then started on the dessert which actually came out quickly. When I asked for the bill, our waitress said that the owner was preparing it. I thought that maybe he was going to give us a break on the bill for all the crap. NOPE.
We had gone in with a travelzoo voucher. The voucher was $ 60 and we were to receive two glasses of wine, two appetizers, two entrees and a dessert for that price. We have done a few travelzoo vouchers and they have all been fantastic deals. In the end, we almost always tip 20% on what would have been the full amount. In this case, I was not prepared to do that. The food and service both being as bad as they were. However, the «owner preparing the bill» did not mean that he was trying to accommodate us, it meant he was preparing a $ 150 bill and adding 18% gratuity automatically to the full amount. Something that was not stated on the voucher. He also charged us for the wine. When the waitress came back, I went to tell her something and she cut me off and said, the owner is going to come out to your table and we apologize for your bad experience. I thought, ok, let’s see what he has to say. We waited 10 more minutes and finally the waitress comes back with the credit card and the receipt. We were sitting outside and could see the owner standing inside by the window, looking straight at us, but he didn’t have the, I don’t know, courage, balls, whatever, to come out and say a damn word to us. I didn’t complain about the amount. I just paid it. In total, between what we paid for the voucher and what we were billed it came out to $ 100. The worst $ 100 I’ve ever spent. The worst value I’ve experienced in a long time. Not that it was expensive because that was a lot for $ 100, but it was a lot of crap and a very frustrating experience. For $ 100 (no vouchers), I can think of at least 5 or 6 Italian restaurants where you can have a fantastic experience.
We left about ¾ of the filet and ¾ of the veal. When the waitress removed out plates, of course, apologizing for the fact that we did not enjoy our dinner, I told her to please pack everything up in a doggy bag because even though it wasn’t good enough for us, I’m sure our dog would enjoy it. That about sums up how I feel about the food. Good enough for my dog… maybe… I hope she likes it.

So I decided to try this place after not only getting free samples when they dropped off some at the office, but also had a living social special.
The lasagna is one of their best known dishes. Also tried the calamari which was tasty, light, and most important. not oily.
The veal parmigana was very tasty. The portions are plentiful, so make sure your hungry!
Service was excellent and very attentive.
Valet parking or metered parking available.

I had gone to Da Vinci’s once, about a billion years ago and vowed never to return. It has, however, changed ownership so off I went and I’m glad I did.
The service was really good and friendly. One of the waiters recognized my sister from having waited on her at another restaurant in 2009. That’s pretty amazing, if you ask me.
I ordered a pasta special that had lots of veggies in it. Can’t remember the name or all the details because it was a whirlwind trip to Miami and I was still a little out of it from my plane ride but not out enough to know it was good food. The bread (ever so important!) was very good as well.
My sister order the Risotto ai Frutti di Mare which she loved and my mom order a Pasta e Fagiole which she liked as well as an Eggplant parm (it was in the appetizers) which she did not like at all. When she told the waiter that she did not like it he was visibly upset at the fact that a customer was not happy and really tried to make it up to her with more food which my mom (very hard headedly) did not accept. It was taken out of the bill in the end.
I would most definitely go back. Matter of fact I would go back right now since I’m starving but I’m currently back in NH.

Reopened after renovation, CDV deserves investigation! Food is good and reasonable and the red wine is actually chilled to the proper temperature. What’s new is the bar and lounge area. It’s very cool. The full-​bar was redesigned with beautiful marble for easier dining there. Stop in for a bite and a beverage. Meet the staff and management to learn more about upcoming events and lounge activities.

This is a very nice restaurant where what seems upscale with that Italian family feel. Seriously, we felt like we were in a really nice restaurant in Italy. We should know, we recently came back from Italy.
The waitress was surprisingly quick and ready to take our orders. We were expecting the staff to take their time since they do that in Italy. Italians love to sit and enjoy their food.
We ordered the Sacchetti and Vitello Terra de Mare. The sacchetti was incredible. Nice white creamy procini sauce with ravioli stuffed with truffle was dreamy. They used real procini mushrooms which was a treat. The veal was very tender and pesto sauce flavorful and fresh.
This place left a really good impression on us. This is by no means your «traditional» Italian family style food… the flavors are more complex and the chef seems to take more thought and care with his food.

I do not believe the good reviews about this place. Well, I guess they have never had real Italian food in their lives, even less have been to Italy.
I was «warned» by the waiter they had the «best Italian food in town». Wow. Poor soul.
Well, he had no idea of any wines in his wine list, he could not recommend a single one and when asked about two specific choices he didn’t know the difference between them.
The food was the worse I’ve had in Miami. I was hoping it would at least be decent «American-​Italian» food but they wish they had that. The carpaccio was not even cut thin enough as you are supposed to eat a carpaccio. The mustard sauce that came with it was a joke. The mussels were so old, the shells were breaking apart. They were so dried that we couldn’t even chew them. It felt like chewing gum. They were obviously over cooked if not pre made and reheated. I did not want an entrée after all this but my boyfriend had already order the «veal della madonna». Not only it was not veal (but palomilla steak) but it was not «lighted breaded» as the menu said. It was triple breaded. It was supposed to come with a salad of radicchio, arugula and something else on top but they «forgot» and we had to ask for it. When it arrived, the dressing had so much rosemary in it (which didn’t say anywhere) that it was inedible. What a waste of time and money. There are many other Italian restaurants in Miami area that would satisfy even the pickiest palates compared to this joke of a restaurant.
If you want real Italian food, do yourself a favor and go to Fratelli Milano, Fratelli La Bufala, Cantina 27 or if you can afford it, Il Gabbiano.
No wonder Café Da Vinci is always empty. I can’t believe they’re still open. But hey, it only takes one time to realize how sad and bad a place can be.

Good Pastas at good prices; the rest appear expensive to me.

A review can be a bit biased when you make great memories in a place. This place was Caffe Da Vinci, however, I must say the food and the service were spot on.
This place has a quaint feel of an Italian café we truly enjoyed the food; and the drinks were good enough to make everything look and feel better.
Definitely worth the trip to the Bay Harbor Islands.

Wonderful food, nice ambiance. This was our first time here and it was for a wedding dinner, the wedding was very small — so they blocked off the area next to the bar for us.
First of all the owner came to say hello and as us how everything was — he greeted us with a handshake and a nice introduction. The drinks at the bar were good, with enough liquor to make them nice, no skimping on the Vodka!
Food wise, it was delicious Italian. Simple yet complex. We had various choices — Mine were: Spinach salad with strawberries and vinaigrette (forgot the name) and Parmesan slices. Delish!
Main dish, Fillet Mignon with a peppercorn sauce, also delish, it brought a side of pasta with marinara sauce that was perfect. The sauce was obviously home made, tangy and spicy.
My hubby ordered the beef carpaccio and the grilled Mahi Mahi (I tasted both and found them to be very delicious as well)
Service was wonderful and attentive, and the décor was fantastic — artwork prints of Da Vinci (of course) all over. Being a HUGE Da Vinci admirer, it was a treat!
It was a perfect spot to enjoy a nice celebration with good friends! Thank goodness for the good Vodka Tonics as I was Best (Wo)man and had to make a toast!
CHEERS!

Nice Italian spot. I like the menu. Certainly if you live in the area you should eat here. Also a good business lunch spot

This is by far one of the best Italian restaurants in town. So nice, so well decorated such a great atmosphere. I have been here for more than 7 years now, and I always come back for more… You just can’t go wrong here.