Da Vinci's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Hickory

I have been to Da Vinci a total of 3 times; during my first visit I attended this restaurant at night and was provided exceptional service. The next couple times I went during lunch time hours and the service was terrible! Both waitresses had attitude and were short-tempered. During my last visit I went on my birthday with my boyfriend, aside from breakfast at home this was the only food we ate all day! Later that night the both of us had severe food poisoning! We were both so drained by the next day from being up all night we had to call out of work. I called the manager and told him what happened and despite firstly apologizing he called me a liar and was certain I did not get it from his restaurant. After explaining to him his food was all we ate other than some cream cheese bagels and fresh fruit, he then offered a gift card (not a refund) for me to pick up. When I showed up to this restaurant the following day (which is an hour drive for me) the manager on duty said he did not have the "authority" to issue refunds, that I would have to come back to speak to the owner. I explained how far I lived and he still refused to call and get permission from his boss.. What restaurant doesn't allow their managers to give refunds/deal with poor customer service?? None that I've worked at! After telling my boyfriend what happened he insisted he handle it from there.. Each time he called this place over the course of TWO WEEKS the owner was never in and this "manager" continued to give bogus excuses! Finally as we were just about to give up, we called one last time & the manager said Tony was out for the next week sick but his wife would be in around dinner time and he could talk to her. So when we called back later that night, guess who answered? The crappy "manager on duty".. upon asking for Tony's wife he said, "This is Tony, what do you need." ..BUSTED! The owner had the same voice of the man we had been talking to over the phone, & thus had been avoiding us for TWO WEEKS! Are you kidding me?! At this point, he knew he was caught and consistently apologized and offered to send us a check in the mail. Despite receiving the check and to our surprise it not bouncing, I will NEVER visit this establishment again, for a personally owned business they do a TERRIBLE job at keeping consistent customers like ourselves happy. Not to mention he did admit to being sick so that was not a lie, he said he had been working there with the FLU! Seeing how that's a health code violation, I hope nobody else has...

Starting from the parking lot you will see the prominent patio with outside seating. To the left of the patio is the more subtle entrance for dine in patrons and to the right is the entrance for to go orders. Walking in the left you will be greeted by friendly and courteous host staff who will direct you to a table. Currently covid-19 regulations are in effect so seating is limited. At the table it is clean and comfortable. Lighting is low but not dark just cozy. Your server may bring or ask if you would like bread with a dish of oil and balsamic which is par for the course. They offer a wine list and full bar as well as other beverage options you would expect. I had the crab cake appetizer. This is good for one hungry or two regular diners because there are two crab cakes. They are well plated and served with lemon, romaine lettuce, and a creamy sauce. The crab cakes individually are delicious with plenty of crab and a modest firmness. The sauce deliciously compliments the crab and I quickly found myself with more crab than sauce which is my only complaint about this dish. The lemon as always pairs well with seafood if your palate enjoys the flavor. The real surprise of this dish is how well the romaine adds some texture to the crab. One mouthful of the crab, sauce, romaine, and lemon juice is amazing. Next I ordered the ravioli rockefeller. This dish was beautiful. My whole meal was instagram worthy. The temperature was perfect. Hot but I was able to dig in without fear of burning my mouth. The portion was as I expected. A hungry diner will probably be able to finish without filling uncomfortably full, but most will probably be able to take home some leftovers if they choose. The taste was incredible and the raviolis themselves were perfect. Excellent texture with enough stuffing to impart the rich lobster flavor. The sauce was divine and paired with the shrimp and vegetables was delicious. This is a great place to try italian food that you know and love as well as stepping outside of your comfort zone to experience a new dish. The menu can be intimidating unless you're very familiar with italian cuisine. I would suggest looking at the menu beforehand so you can google any questions you might have, but also don't let that discourage you because the food is excellent. I could see this as a great spot to take a date or go for a family meal. I will definitely be coming back when I need to satisfy my...

I've heard wonderful things about Da Vinci's Italian Restaurant, so I decided to give it a try. Knowing that a place like this would likely be packed for dinner, I went during an "odd hour" (3:00 PM). I was correct--there was only one other couple inside when I arrived, so it was far from busy.

To start, our waiter--Alexis--left a lot to be desired. Not only was he exceptionally aloof, but he was rather inattentive and could not answer questions about the food. I asked if a certain menu item was vegetarian, and he couldn't answer. He also didn't offer to ask someone; I had to either check my phone quickly or directly ask someone else to confirm. Following this, my dish did not come with angel hair pasta, while the person with me ordered the "meat version" of the same dish, and his did come with angel hair pasta. That seemed a bit odd to me, so I asked if that was intentional, and Alexis just shrugged and walked away. I recognize that he doesn't dictate the menu (and having the pasta truly isn't that big of a deal), but there was no customer service displayed at all--not even a statement like, "Oh, I'm sorry. It doesn't come with angel hair pasta." No acknowledgement, no verbal feedback. Nothing.

In addition to poor knowledge of the menu and an extremely uninviting personality, Alexis unceremoniously delivered our food and took an extraordinarily long time to refill drinks and even pick up the check after leaving it at our table for us to put the card in. We waited for a little over 15 minutes for him to come back--and again, it was NOT busy when we were there. A generous tip was still left in spite of his poor display of customer service skills, but I would definitely not want to be seated in any section serviced by Alexis again.

Outside of the poor service received, I will say that the food was very good. The bread was warm and fluffy, both of our ordered dishes were visually appealing (as well as delicious), and the servings are generous. The menu is a teeny bit pricey, but this is a venue that would be great for first dates or celebrating something special with a group of friends. I really did like it and would absolutely go back, but I would most certainly request a different waiter for sure. It weighed down the experience immensely, but the food made up for the poor...