DaVinci’s Cafe

Bad airport dining at its finest. Do yourself a favor and skip this.
My husband and I were rolling through the Tampa airport and had about half an hour before our plane boarded. There was just enough time to grab a quick bite, run through the souvenir shop and hopefully grab a Starbucks before getting on the plane. This place was right in front of where we came out from the security checkpoint and looked promising enough. Panini sandwiches sounded like a good match for the looking for a quick bite problem. I scanned the menu, told my hubby what to get me and ran to find a bathroom. I was stunned when I returned that he had barely moved in line. This place is NOT fast. Upon arriving at our table, he had my requested French Dip panini. It looked promising enough. Nice and big, a little oily on the outside but crunchy. It seemed ok. I opened the waxed paper wrapping and took a bite. The bread crunched delightfully but was only tepid in temperature. The beef inside actually had good flavor but my sandwich was almost cold in the middle. And then, I dipped into the big cup of au jus and was stunned to find that it was STONE COLD. Who serves a French dip with cold au jus? Like they must keep these in the fridge and just plop one on the tray when some poor slob orders a French dip. In addition, I spent a good amount of my sandwich-​eating time trying to decide if the woman had smeared a completely gutbusting amount of mayo on my sandwich, or if there was some kind of cheese spread on it. After eating the whole thing, I still couldn’t decide what it was. I think after careful thought that it was mayo. I LOVE mayo. Most people watch me make a sandwich and are aghast at how much mayo there is on it. But this was excessive even for me. AND, who the heck puts mayo on a French dip?
So to sum up – overpriced (but hey it’s the airport), lukewarm to stone cold food, sandwiches that don’t even make sense and are sloppily made (a gallon of mayo on the side, please), slow and generally totally unsatisfying. Definitely skip. I was most disappointed when we walked about 50 feet down to our gate and I discovered there is a lovely little Bruegger’s-esque bagel shop down at the end of the terminal. I would have so much preferred to spend my money there. Next time I will know.

I walked into this Café and there was nobody in line at 10am in the morning on a Saturday (today). I politely asked Adriana who was the only lady by the food line, that I’d like to have a meatball panini. She said they were out of meatball and immediately turn around and started doing her cleaning and organizing the food trays etc. After 30 secs I ordered again and said then how about chicken panini? Do you still have it?
She purposely ignored me. And I stood there for another 2 minutes while she’s right in front of me. seemed busying minding her own work. Finally, not knowing why I was standing there silently waiting for, I asked, ma’am are you still open? (because it doesn’t seem like she has any interest to help a customer who stands right in front of her) She turned to me with a very impatient tone and fierce look, «I told you to wait, just wait» I was very surprised to receive the response. So I stood there for another min.
A man, potentially her manager came out of the kitchen, and they started talking in Spanish which I don’t understand. The man gestured in the convo seemed like he was asking her to calm down.
Until another lady came out of the kitchen and seemed surprised to see a customer not being helped.
That other lady asked Adriana and then turned to me and told me «she said you need to wait 20 mins for the meatball panini»
I then explained I already asked if I can order a chicken panini instead. at that point I had enough wait and attitude. Consider my flight is boarding soon. Even tho my gate was not far from it. So I said never mind I don’t wait it anymore and left the Café. Very poor customer service.

Why 4 stars? Because it’s quick, convenient, and tasty.
— — —
I mean, what else do we look for at the airport? Especially when you’re not on a long layover, and just need to grab something that could even possibly be eaten on the plane.
This terminal doesn’t have a plethora of options for food that’s hearty, but also quick. You have pastries at Starbucks, or sit down restaurants like the Columbia, which makes DaVinci’s a perfect in-​between.
I had an egg sandwich with prosciutto, cheese, and added in cucumber. It was absolutely perfect. Each bite had the perfect amount of each ingredient.
The employees were far from fluent in English, but they definitely understood everything that they needed to. When I asked for cucumbers, she pointed to them to confirm that cucumber in English, is indeed that green veggie cut into spheres :)
Next time I’m flying out of Terminal A, I’ll definitely be returning for the same little treat!

The older lady that would serve the food would not speak English to us. We asked for a box and just kept pointing. She then spoke English to her friend. It would of been fine if she was a little bit more nicer. We thanked her for giving us our pizza and she made eye contact and didn’t even say yore welcome. (suppose to be working with the customers)

The sandwich was okay, despite the fact I forgot to eat it on the plane (in my defense, I was intently watching «X-​Men: First Class»). So well done, and whatnot.

Liz here– Took Delta back to NY and had a lot of time to kill before our flight. Ben & I were hungry trying to decide between DaVinci and the Bacardi place next door and decided on DaVinci– not the best decision. They had panini sandwiches, pizza, and some soggy looking pasta. We chose a slice of pizza-​the margarita pizza-​which is normally pizza sauce with rounds of mozzarella and basil– very yummy but here the margarita was a regular cheese pizza that was only big enough for one person and cost $ 7. We also bought a bottle of coke which i can understand is marked up even at the airport but this was ridiculous– it was $ 2.83– i could have bought 2 two liter bottles when its on sale for that price. anyway we were still hungry and got a pretzel also at the hot dog place nearby and it was pretty good– wont be eating at davinci’s again-​will try the other stuff at the hot dog stand next time, but on second thought-we’ll try to take jet blue in the future who’s terminal doesnt serve as yucky food as airside E does. As for the panini-didn’t get it, but based on the other review– looks like its a frozen sandwich that’s stuck into a panini press-​not very appetizing.

Having a light lunch and lots of time to kill before my plane, I spotted DaVinci’s Café as I was strolling toward my gate. A bunch of Italian names adorned their billboard menu so I decided to give it a try. Pizza was too heavy and greasy as I scanned the glistening square slices under the heat lamps. Then I perused the sandwiches list… Frontegra Chicken… shredded chicken with onions, tomato, basil mayonnaise. Perfect. «I’ll take one of those…»
Uggggh. What a mistake. The help pulled out a sandwich out of the freezer, sliced it in half and threw it in the microwave for 1 minute. Then they proceeded to put it in a panini press for about 3 mintues. Out it came placed on a black styrofoam plate, covered in a wax paper bag and handed to me. I better eat it now or it will be this gooey mess in an hour.
The center was cold. I tasted the basil and onions, the chicken was clearly overcooked and boiled. It was rather tasteless. The panini press was probably set to low to save energy but the bread was not toasted… just warm.
If you are in the Tampa Airport and see this place… just keep on walking by… not even worth a second glance especially $ 8.
2 stars because the sandwich should have been heated properly… that really isnt that hard…

DaVinci’s offers sandwiches, pizza, and a few other items. I’ve gotten a piece of pizza here the last three times I’ve flown back home from Tampa.
They don’t offer a wide range of pizza types — I think 3 different types is the most I’ve seen. I’ve gotten the sausage and pepperoni all 3 times. They give you one slice when you order — but it is of mammoth size — it’s about the size of an entire medium pizza. Entirely to much pizza for me — they throw the slice in the oven to make sure it’s hot, then they pull it out and cut into six sections.
They have Parmesan cheese and dried red pepper to add to the pizza.
The deli sandwiches are pre-​made and awaiting perusal in a frig along with salads and cold bottled drinks. They also offer hot Panini sandwiches.
I was absolutely stuffed after eating an order of pizza here for dinner at my last visit.
DaVinci’s can be reached through HMS Host: (813) 396‑3977, Ext-​555.