Da Vinci's by the Sea — Restaurant in Ocean City

Four stars!? Really!? Truly overrated. Ordered garlic bread, which was on the Appetizer menu, but wanted it with melted mozzarella cheese; they wouldn’t do it. 😱 Waitress said many people have asked for it that way, but the chef vehemently refuses each time. Wait! What!? Garlic bread is on the menu and they melt cheese on many other menu items and they wouldn’t do it. 🤦🏻‍♀️ WTH!? If that many people request it, why not offer it? Duh 🙄. It’s a no-brainer! My son and I decided to split an order of lasagna that came with a salad and bread. Melisa, our waitress, said she’d have to charge us an additional $10 if my son ate any of the salad, which he’d already expressed no interest in, but she was unaware of that. She made no mention of an additional $7.95 charge with unlimited salad and bread for either one of us. WTH!? Their menu made NO MENTION of an additional charge for splitting a meal. Their lasagna was made with provolone cheese…provolone cheese!!! Who does that? 🤷🏼‍♀️ I said instead of provolone on the lasagna we wanted it with mozzarella cheese. She said she’d have to ask the chef. At that point, she’d already poked the bear (me, Mama Bear) and there was no going back. I said to tell the chef if it’s not made with mozzarella we’re paying for my iced tea and leaving the restaurant. They can keep their ravioli appetizer the waitress had just brought to our table and put it where the sun doesn’t shine! It was a complete nightmare. The food was overpriced and nothing at all to write home about. My unsweetened iced tea was $3.25 and my son’s girlfriend ordered a seltzer and was charged $3.95, the price of a soda. WTH!? 🤯 The linguini in her dish was so over cooked it broke in half when twirled onto her fork. On a positive note, the crab ravioli appetizer was quite flavorful and delicious. The plain garlic bread appetizer ($6.00,) which SHOULD’VE had melted mozzarella on it, was tasty and plentiful. One could definitely see the waitress was just mindlessly following the chef’s orders, but plopped (1) bowl of salad and 4 slices of bread at our table, when we clearly ordered 2 entrees and should’ve received (2) salads. She never refilled our salad or bread. 😩 The KIDS menu offered adults the option of ordering from it, but stipulated an additional $7.95 would be charged for the exact same children’s portion size with unlimited salad and bread. It dawned on me later that we were dealing with a chef who seemed quite temperamental and thought way too highly of his/her cooking skills. The limited menu was on the “front-side-only” of a paper placemat, whereas their alcohol menu took up the entire other side of the menu. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Only 2 desserts were offered (cannoli at $4.00 and a pitiful piece of tiramisu at $7.00!) This place was a huge disappointment and doesn’t bode well for Ocean...

I gave this a total middle of the road 3 stars because it is mediocre. In discussing this review before leaving it, we decided that Italian food really depends on where you come from. Based on other reviews, we really expected to be wow’ed and anticipated a delightful mean. But we originate from NJ, have spent our lives eating in Italian kitchens, enjoy Little Italy and have had the best. Sadly, this is the rest. Solidly mediocre cooked by badly trained chefs and served by badly trained children unprepared for fine dining. We overlooked the paper napkin but it was foreshadowing what was to come. We were given a small plate of ceasar salad, and from the lack of flavor it was apparent that no anchovy paste was used in the dressing. The bread was reputed to be house baked, but was soft, without crust and cake like. The “butter” (if it was butter) was mixed with some sort of herbs but was very bland and lacked flavor. We got the shrimp appetizer. The shrimp were of nice size , cooked properly (not rubbery) with visible chunks of garlic but was rather bland. I expected so much more but I could hardly taste the garlic. Husband liked the lemony flavor. Husband got the gypsy shrimp pasta which had good flavor because of the sauce. I got the eggplant. The sauces were acceptable (possibly the best part of the meal) and the eggplant was mostly crisp even though cut thick and piled high. It was quite edible. The pasta was made in house which was nice. We originally agreed it was high mediocre but then the place totally blew dessert and we had to knock it down some. Firstly, no espresso. Say what? How does an Italian joint not have espresso?? Moving on, my cannoli arrived about 5 minutes before my coffee and I was doled out with only two plastic creamers for a big mug. Why no cream jug? How uncivilized and declasse! Why do I have to beg for more cream? Ugh. Then I discovered my cannoli was devoid of ricotta for 1-1/2 inches in the center. Ugh. When I asked for my leftovers to be wrapped, I was presented with a box and a plastic bag to package it myself. All in all, it was no better than a high end pizza parlor at higher end prices ($78 plus tip for 2 without cocktails). I won’t waste my time ever coming again. Sadly, this restaurant is just...

We arrived at opening. Our server seemed immediately disappointed that we didn’t want to order from the bar. We know that soft drinks and alcohol are big money makers but we generally prefer water. It doesn’t mean that we are cheap; it just means we want WATER!

Our reasonably priced meal came with a shared salad and bread (very generous considering the price of the meal). However, the salad was already dressed with something akin the wet mayo and was gross.

As it was slow, the cook came out of the kitchen and began chatting loudly with the bartender. Each contributed to conversations that should have been held in private and at the least more quietly. The topics were sickening to those trying to eat and the conversation only stopped when the crowd picked up.

One of the more benign conversations was when the bartender knowingly prepared a mixed drink incorrectly for a table out of earshot and then told the server to tell them it was a new recipe because she was out of whatever ingredient was supposed to go into the drink.

“Crass” is the best word I can think of to describe the bartender who I almost asked to keep her voice down.

Our server was awkward and went missing for awhile. A pleasant woman topped off or waters several times.

We ordered the ravioli and spaghetti with garlic and oil. The ravioli was delicate with a meatless ragu-style sauce that was rich with flavor. The spaghetti was angel-hair I think and was bland and flavorless. There were only a few pieces of garlic and overall the dish was lacking. Luckily, salt, pepper and Parmesan was on the table and I was able to make the dish palatable.

To be fair (and optimistic), I think it might have been possible to have a totally different experience here. Or hotel neighbors had eaten here the night before and loved it. And, the quality of the ravioli and sauce speak to a higher potential.

Hopefully the owners of the establishment see this review...