Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Boston

I rarely leave less than stellar reviews but…

Reservation booked over phone for 3:45pm (initially 3:15 but adjusted an hour beforehand). Any important notes for your reservation? Oh yes - graduation dinner. Definitely worthy of remark in the reservation notes, please and thank you sir. Arrived at 3:45 sharp and told to wait while they got our table outside ready. Almost half an hour passes. Notice quite a few empty tables scattered about outdoors (bare but with tablecloths on them), so a little surprising that it takes 30 minutes to get one "ready", but no trouble.

Hostess eventually emerges and walks our party of five to our table. Get the distinct impression that she is as unsure of where she is going as we are - seems to survey oddly about while walking, slowing down in very fascinating intervals. We arrive at her chosen location. It is - you may have guessed, but equally likely may have not - completely bare, with a tablecloth on it. Suddenly confused at what getting a table "ready" entails at this establishment, if the grand process of readying a table encompasses…doing nothing. Being seated 30 minutes prior suddenly seems a distinct possibility - we’d sat ourselves at an identically bare table whilst eagerly anticipating our "ready" one. But the weather is great, everyone in good spirits, so again - no trouble.

Waiter shows up 15 minutes later - fifteen yes, not five. Drink orders are taken. Drinks follow another 15 minutes later. At some point in these 30 minutes, some bread and butter is dropped off with side plates for four (we are a party of five). All except one has a few specks and/or spots on them. Not the most comforting of observations during covid times, but most at our table are vaccinated, so, no trouble.

Up to this point, no flatware & napkins have been provided. Requested this from one of the bussers. 10 minutes later, Still no flatware. Stared sadly at the bread getting cold. Eventually spotted and flagged down our waiter. Finally some flatware! Opened up the napkin - more spot and stains. But after 30 minutes of waiting for an empty table to be readied, another 15 of staring at our "ready" yet still curiously bare table, and another 10 of forlornly gazing at our bread & butter, we who were once napkinless now have napkins. All in all, a very promising development. Still no trouble.

Table is rather rickety. This is mentioned and quite promptly fixed. Appetizer orders are taken, appetizers follow soon after. Appetizers are amazing - every single one deserving five stars. Appetizers ordered: Burrata, tuna tartare, buffalo chicken spring rolls, meatballs and pork sausage. Get them. All if you can.

Main courses soon follow. Not nearly as amazing. Make a note if ever to return to only order appetizers.

Drop of rain lands on unsuspecting member of our reservation party’s head. Cue concerned glances towards the sky. Manager is hovering nearby, requested to move to a table under the awning, in case of inclement weather. Refused, too many reservations. Understandable and of course, no trouble.

More drinks arrive, and eventually the bill. Realize while signing that no additional parties arrived to an under awning table, and no action was taken on reservation order notes (a little surprise dessert for the graduant perhaps). Disappointing for a restaurant of such ‘calibre'. Shake head slightly at overall service so ill-befitting of delicious appetizers. Make mental note of three stars. And to write...

This past weekend a friend group of mine ate at Davio’s for dinner and to say it was one of the worst dining experiences we’ve had in Boston is an understatement. I understand everyone is short staffed, and weekends are particularly busy now, but the service was pretty abysmal.

It started off with us being sat at a table for 6 when we actually had 7 people in our party. Not a big deal to reset the table, but just minor details were missed.

We then sat and we’re not waited on for 15-20 minutes. Again, not a huge deal since I know they were swamped, but when our waiter did come he introduced himself and left again. We really wanted to order drinks, but had to wait another 5 minutes until he came back. Our group ordered drinks and then it took another 20-25 minutes to get them. My husband had ordered a half bottle of wine, but was told they were out of it. When he tried to order a full bottle to split with people he was told no because those other people needed to finish their first drinks before it could be brought to the table. Now, I don’t know if this is a Davio’s rule, but I have never heard of any restaurant doing this before. We were all super confused by this and the waiter didn’t really give any additional details other than the rest of the group had drinks. My husband was backed into ordering a single glass before the bottle could be brought, which seems counterintuitive if you’re looking to reduce the amount of alcohol served. When the waiter could finally bring the bottle over he left it on the table for 10 minutes, before we got so frustrated we had to ask the maître d’ to open it. He immediately opened and poured it for us, all while our waiter was no where to be found. Our waiter finally came mid-pouring and had nothing to say to us.

Our group also ordered a few spring roll appetizers, which were messed up as well. One of the wrong types was sent out instead, which was corrected when we pointed it out. Again, not a huge issue, but after the drink fiasco it was a little annoying.

When dinner was brought out, plates were laid down at the wrong seats which happens, but again was frustrating after all previous events. One of the sides was incorrect and no serving utensils were brought over for them. We were so done with everything at that point we didn’t even bring up the problems, because we had already been there for close to 2 hours and had another reservation we needed to make.

The check was all messed up when we finally did get it. Part of the group ordered martinis twice (same order each time) and the prices were different. The wrong appetizer was on the bill, along with the correct ones, which was also slightly frustrating. When we discussed it with the waiter he did give an explanation for everything and fixed it, but all-in-all it was infuriating. We assumed we received poor service due to our party size (over 6 people there’s an automatic gratuity) and our age (early 30’s), but that’s entirely speculation. No other groups around us appeared to have issues though.

As always, the food was really good, but for what we paid the service was not worth it. Probably will not be back again, seeing as there are way nicer steakhouses and seafood restaurants in the Seaport that are similarly priced with...

I'm a little late with posting this review because I was trying to leave it alone, but it has been bothering me, so I feel the need to voice my concerns. My husband made reservations for us on 2/17/24 @ 9pm. We arrived at 8:45pm, there were a bunch of people waiting by the door either to check in, or waiting to be seated. We checked in and was told it would be about a 15-20 minute wait. As we waited, we noticed many of the people that were already there being seated. So, we figured we would be called soon. After everyone was seated, we proceeded to wait to be seated. At this point, it was about 9:30pm, my husband checked with the hostess to see how much longer, again, they said another 10-15 minutes. So, we continued to wait as another couple walked in, went to the desk, and stood along the wall to be called. Shortly after, the hostess walked over and said she would bring us to be seated. Once we arrived to the table, it was not ready. It had not been cleaned from the previous use. So. she asked us to walk back with her to the front, we did and this when I became confused. As we stood there waiting for our table, they took another couple and seated them. Then the couple that came in way after us was seated. Please make it make sense! They called us to a table that wasn't ready, so instead of them seating us at one of the other tables, they proceeded to seat two couples before us. I'm sorry, but why weren't we seated? When I asked the hostess about our table, she said they were waiting for it to be cleaned. After about 50 minutes of waiting in total and the way we were treated, we decided to leave the restaurant. We were both very upset, felt like we were disrespected, and not valued as paying customers. I understand it was busy, but the way we were treated was totally unacceptable. Our Valentine's day dinner was ruined because of this establishment and how they pick and chooses who to seat when they see fitted. Also, what is the point in making reservations if they are not honored?? Very...