Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Newton

This was one of the best dining experiences I've had in a long, long time. Went there last night with my sister for a nice, heart-to-heart visit and (we hoped) a decent dinner. It was.....PERFECT. Ambience could not have been better. Elegant, classy. Love the location, up high, with huge walls of glass and very high ceilings, with interesting (modern but tasteful) light fixtures. Lighting soft but not useless. Love the white linens on the tables and my sister noticed the cutlery and glassware were shiny and spotless (seems like a minimum requirement, but in many restaurants the dishwasher has left spots). One of my criteria of a classy establishment is "real" dessert spoons for the dessert (those in the know appreciate what I'm talking about).

Our waiter, Rob, bore a bright, sunny smile and was readily available, cheerful (but not cloyingly so), helpful with suggestions -- that perfect combination of attentive but not hovering! My restaurant "reviews" always start with a 10 and then deduct for any dissatisfactions. I'll give a spoiler and tell you this experience wound up with a 9.99, and that was only because Rob said three times "they're addictive" when we complimented the popovers. No one ever said a waiter has to have a great command of English, but 3 was 1 time too many with the same comment (for my taste). Speaking of popovers, it's a wonderful added "perk" with a restaurant meal, but of course the popover has to be well made to count! The ones we had were DIVINE -- not a scintilla of uncooked dough -- crispy....AND when I asked if the recipe contained cheese, Rob replied, "I believe there are 4 kinds of cheese used." Impressive! (And by the way, he was correct. They ARE addictive, and I could've made a meal of only popovers!)

My sis and I both decided on the Tasting Menu and it was impeccable, unassailable. The arugula salad/goat cheese salad was enhanced with the subtlest, most delightful dressing -- I detected hints of pepper and citrus. I asked for my salmon to be "well" cooked, and when Rob said, "I'll make sure the chef doesn't make it dry," I said, "I will NOT complain about its being dry; I WILL complain if it's underdone." When my salmon arrived on its bed of pureed squash and the most delicate of haricots vert (unpretentiously called "green beans" on the menu), it was.....PERFECT, with a fabulous crispy outside and a thoroughly cooked, but NOT hard or dry, inside. Rob returned after my first few bites to get assurances that I was happy with it, and I confirmed that it was fabulous. My dessert of pumpkin pie would have been nice enough, but with the maple syrup ice cream, it was spectacular (I was floored when he told us that their ice cream is made in-house!), and paired beautifully (as did the whole dinner) with the Italian soave my sister chose for us (it was one of the ones that support the needy, sponsored by the NFL -- marked in the wine list with a football icon). Oh, I URGE you to try this restaurant -- and the parking's not bad either. I am grateful to Davio's for coming through for me. My sister knows great restaurants (she's a Manhattanite) and was as charmed and happy as I was. And no, I have no "skin in the game," I know no one at Davio's. It's going to be my new go-to place, though,...

We looked forward to trying this location of Davios having enjoyed the one at Foxboro several times before, plus this location being only a few blocks from our house. It's a bit confusing to walk in: you take escalators up to the movie level (and in fact the online map of this new mall area refers the restaurant entry to a site on the map called "Showcase Cinemas") then you make a sharp turn to the right for the restaurant (if you keep walking and talking you end up in the bar area cum entrance for the movies). The restaurant has several rooms for private parties/meetings, booths, a large bar, then in the outer area near Route 9 has linen-clothed tables set with large wine and water goblets in areas which can be divided up with room dividers for more private parties. It's a nice environment which is similar to the sophistication of the Foxboro location. The food didn't turn out quite as good: we ordered chicken parm spring rolls out of curiosity. They were three spring rolls about as long as your index finger cut into halves and submerged in a generic red sauce. While the sauce was hot, the inside of the first two halves we tried was cold despite a hot exterior, we nibbled on a third...stone cold and finally sent the appetizer back. My wife ordered the prosciutto panini which came with fries--the panini was lukewarm and limp to pick up with content falling out (not much sign of the robiola cheese holding it together), the fries were hot to the touch but the potato inside was raw and stone cold. My tagliatelle bolognese though was some of the best I've ever had, plus it was hot! The wine choices were good and service on the whole was good..except the bill came with the appetizer we sent back on it. I mentioned to the waiter I'd prefer not to pay for that order, and he agreed saying he meant to take it off. Considering we were one of four table in the place for lunch at the time and there was other waiters, I couldn't excuse his mistake despite how attentive he was at the table. The meal was over $120 for two with wine, tip and not particularly worth it. Clearly the pasta prep is done well, but the grilled and fried options seem either prepared ahead of time and reheated inexpertly, or are just prepared quickly and sloppily. Plus two tables away were parents and two cute kids...cute but still kids so we had tears, wails, pee-pee conversations etc. We went through that ourselves but if we're going to have a nice lunch out for two at $120 I'd greatly prefer to dine without it all. We've never seen the Foxboro location be a generic "family/children" spot and it didn't seem as tho' this place is set up to be, but given the movie location perhaps it will be a de facto one. Just something to think about when you look for a "quick meal" vs. "special dining", and "good value for money" vs. "not worth it".

We might go back to try out the movies with the food delivered to the seat for the novelty of it all, but probably would avoid coming back to...

First of all, the only reason I am not giving this a zero star review is because the food was superb. Starting with the good; we ordered two appetizers, both of which were lovely (highly recommend the Philly Cheesesteak Roll and Calamari). Moving onto entres all of them were served hot and prepared correctly in accordance to our order, which unfortunately is a rarity these days. For desert we ordered the Strawberry Shortcake and Creme Brûlée Cheesecake which tastes as good as it sounds. After we finished desert is when things went south. Earlier in the meal I had thought I saw something run across the floor under our table and I was told it is nothing to worry about. Lo and behold the table next to us stood up and pointed saying there was a mouse. Sure enough, it was scurrying around the dining room floor. This is absolutely revolting. We told staff about it who did nothing at all. Our waiter sent over the manager to speak with us about it and made things worse. He voluntarily disclosed that “we have pest control here every day” something that is unacceptable especially as he said this has happened for the PAST 10 YEARS. Don’t worry though if everyday is not enough for the pest control to be there “every month they come and drill the walls because the mice burrow into them” EVERY MONTH! SERIOUSLY! How can a “fine dining” restaurant have a mice infestation for the past 10 years? Their answer is “the movie theatre next door attracts mice”. How is this not a health code violation? Why do you continue to operate a restaurant at this location? If I am paying upwards of $100 per person I expect better. Saving the best part for last when the manager came over we expected him to comp our deserts or at least something basic to make us feel validated and that he cared, but he offered that if we wanted to order another desert it would be on the house. Asking for the bill, I expected at least one item would be taken off. To my surprise NOTHING WAS! Never come to this restaurant unless you want a $500 bill with a side of mice droppings.

I included a video of our furry...