Di Vino Rosso — Restaurant in Columbia

Went here with my girlfriend for our anniversary; overall it was pretty good, but there were some pretty big problems that we encountered during our dining experience.

My girlfriend has a serious allergy to carrots. We asked our waiter if there were any carrots in the bolognese, as there traditionally is. He went and asked the kitchen and, to our surprise, told us that he confirmed that there weren’t any carrots in the sauce. Luckily, my girlfriend didn’t eat more than maybe a bite of her dinner, as we had had an appetizer before our main course, and took her meal to go. Today, the day after our dinner, we went to reheat the pasta and found tons of carrots in it. Had she eaten one of them while we were at the restaurant it would have been a serious problem. Luckily we were able to see them and avoid any sort of emergency. This was not only dangerous, but disappointing for a dinner that was $200 all in all.

My second gripe is that the food was under-salted. Obviously this isn’t nearly as big of a deal as the allergy thing, but still disappointing considering the price point. I have seen a few reviews calling the food bland, but I would argue that the food is very flavorful; it just doesn’t have enough salt. For the price point that the food is sold at, I would hope that it could at least be appropriately salted. No salt at the tables either, which is understandable in a fine dining setting, but the lack of salt definitely tarnished the dining experience for sure.

Outside of those two issues, however, the meal was good. The wine selection was truly amazing and the drinks that we had were great. Our appetizer and the fresh bread and oil were great. The meals, despite being under-salted and nearly killing my girlfriend, were high quality and would have been amazing with a little bit of salt. The service was great and our waiter was attentive. And finally, the atmosphere was great, if a bit loud at times, and perfect for a special event such as a nice anniversary dinner

Would I recommend this place? Not after our recent experience.

Do I see the vision and think there is room for improvement? Definitely.

Would we go back? Possibly, but probably not.

EDIT: So, the owner (or whoever responded to this review) is trying to gaslight me.

If your bolognese doesn’t have carrots in it, then it’s not really a bolognese. But that’s besides the point. I SAW THE CARROTS AND MY GIRLFRIEND HAD AN ALLERGIC REACTION TO IT! I’ve been cooking, and more importantly eating, for my entire life. I know the difference between a tomato and a carrot. What I saw in our leftovers were roughly diced carrots; xylem, pholem, and all.

Is there a chance that the wrong sauce was put onto our dish? Possibly. But in that case, we told you about a food allergy and y’all somehow managed to put the only sauce (apparently) that you guys have that uses carrots in it; the exact food that she is allergic to.

Call it what you want; negligence, poor service, attempted murder, but it doesn’t matter. I would not recommend this place if you have a...

None of our food had any wow factor - charcuterie board, Veal chop, and the spaghetti. My salad, the bread served and my vegetables served with my Veal were the best tasting things. The salad and charcuterie board took 20 minutes to come out. I had to ask for a refill on my iced tea. The Divino salad had great flavor but was wet and wilty. The charcuterie board meats really did not have much flavor at all and were all finely shaved dried meats with a very gamey, overall aged taste. The sauces and the bread were the best parts. The Veal Chop came out raw, not rare, raw. It took me 5 minutes to flag the manager as no one checked in on us. When I showed the cut part to the manager and he saw the fleshy meat and asked, “so you want us to cook it more?” The 5 bites before that were all fat that was very difficult to cut. After another 15 minutes it came back and was much better but despite being breaded and topped with cheese and a candied meat, still lacked great flavor. The spaghetti was too salty. We waited another 10 minutes to have our plates cleared. The waiter asked if my Veal was better and I said it was but it really should not been served that “rare” in the first place. He said that is how they do it there at 125 degrees. First of all 145 should be a minimum for serving certain meats like veal but he didn’t even ask me how I wanted it cooked??? And he recommended it over the Special! Shouldn’t you have mentioned that you serve your Veal chop “sushi style” raw? Very disappointing experience for a place that has been recommended in the past. Slow service, average food, and no one asked how everything was and it wasn’t that busy. This place has definitely not what...

We really enjoyed our dining experience while celebrating our anniversary. Our waiter was attentive and personable. He was so good that several times he refilled our water or replaced silverware without us even noticing! It was nice to see a business run so efficiently. All the waitstaff seemed to help each other and seemed to have a good time and enjoy themselves which is not something you see often anymore.

The atmosphere was nice and the tables are spaced so that you don’t feel like you are on top of each other. And the big, comfy chairs with a back pillow was such a nice touch and made it feel inviting to just sit, relax, and take your time with each course. It can get a bit noisy due to tile floors and high ceilings, but it didn’t detract from the experience.

All of the above are great, but the food is what you will come back for. Each dish had a unique twist that made it different from every other restaurant. I ordered the chicken parmesan and even something as basic as that was beyond basic here. We got the cheese board and that tomato bacon jam was amazing! Our salads and entrees were so flavorful and the presentation was nice. We took home leftovers so we could partake in dessert as well. After reading the reviews, I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have the carrot cake tonight, but all the more reason to come back again! The cheesecake and tiramisu were both delicious…and the cappuccinos were expertly prepared!

Oh and the valet service provided is an appreciated touch and makes the night that much better not having to worry about Vista parking.

We will be back and try other items and would like to go on a piano...