Davanti Enoteca Little Italy — Restaurant in San Diego

On Sunday the 28th of April, a friend and I visited Little Italy for Art Walk. After strolling for a while, we were ready for lunch. As you know, the choices in your neighborhood are many. We chose Davati Enoteca, having never been there. [We are fairly new to San Diego.]

We were seated at one of the tables at the end of the bar [I'm guessing around 11:45-noon]. It was not so busy but soon would be. We waited for what seemed a long time before a waiter arrived; if she told us her name, I do not remember. I ordered a Virgin Mary and my friend ordered a coffee, which arrived but my cocktail did not.

The waiter returned to ask if we were ready to order something to eat; my friend was hungry, so we did. He chose Eggs Benedict and I chose the meatballs. By now I am really feeling ready to build my Virgin Mary at your Bloody Mary bar, so I asked the bartender if I might have a glass and he told me our waiter would bring it. Hmmm...that's what I thought.

About then, my meatballs arrived but no Benedict for my friend. Our waiter passed by, and my friend inquired about his Benedict and was told it would be out soon; so he suggested that the meatballs be kept warm in the kitchen until his order was ready. The waiter said she could not do that because the kitchen was small. I think the looks on the faces of my friend and me suggested she change her mind, so she took the meatballs away.

The bartender must have overheard this exchange, because he came around to our table with a glass and ice and a little water and escorted me to the Bloody Mary bar, highlighting some of the options for garnishing my drink.

When I returned to our table, our orders were just arriving. I don't know about you but I like a cocktail, or two, before I have lunch. Alas, not today. Your waiter missed an opportunity to upsell as, had things flowed differently, I would likely have had a second Virgin Mary.

Needless to say, with the exception of the helpful bartender, our experience was seriously lacking.

A couple of days later, I decided to call and speak to a manager. I was only able to leave a message, as when you call the options do not include actually speaking to a person, which only added to my annoyance.

The general manager did call me and left a voicemail message, then followed that up with an email message. After missing each other's calls, I chose to put in an email message to the general manager what I wrote above.

End of conversation. No further word from general manager.

So when in Little Italy in San Diego with its many options for a drinks and lunch or dinner or just drinks, Davanti Enoteca should...

My girlfriend and I came to Davanti for the first time last night, and we had a very disappointing, confusing, and regretful experience with Megan as our waitress.

We came in about 1.5 hours before close on a Wednesday. As we ordered (within 10 minutes of sitting down), Megan acknowledged the restaurant had a brand new ordering system and they hadn’t been trained on it. We joked that we’d make it simple by only ordering water and two entrees. Pasta and pizza. After about 30 minutes with only water on our table, Megan came by and said “just waiting on your drinks.” And we laughed and replied “not tonight for us, just the entrées.” She asked us to remind her what we ordered, which we did. 10 minutes later the manager (I guess?) came by, looked at the water on the table, and asked us if we needed anything. To which I replied more firmly, “Just our dinner please.” At this point, all the other tables sat after us had gotten their food, but neither Megan nor the manager(?) seemed to realize it. The entire time we were super friendly and understanding and Megan at one point even acknowledged our patience.

15 minutes later, after now ordering over an hour ago, Megan comes by and said the orders never made it in and we could, “Wait for them to make it now, or…..” and trailed off essentially implying we could leave the restaurant. This attempted solution blew my mind. But I calmly replied, “we’ll wait for the food.” When Megan brought out the pasta literally 8 minutes later (meaning…was the chicken pre-cooked??), she said, “The two meals are on us. Totally free We’re so sorry you’ve had to wait this long.” My pizza comes out 10 minutes later (it was great by the way).

Then, the weirdest thing happened. Literally 12 minutes (I’ve got a running timer at this point) after Megan told us the meal was free, she brings out the check. With both dishes on it. I looked at her very confused and said, “We waited 1.5 hours for our food, you just told me the” and she interrupted and goes, “I told you the pizza was free? If you heard me say that, I said it.” At this point, I’m legitimately concerned for this girl because now we’re her only table, and two things either happened. She either literally forgot she told us our meal was free 10 minutes after she said it. Or, her management told her she wasn’t allowed to comp our meal. I was so confused and concerned that actually paid for the pizza and tipped her 18%.

One of two things need happen:

1.) The restaurant gets her the helps she needs

2.) She leaves a place that hangs her out to dry (which she alluded to minutes after...

My husband and I used to be huge fans of the Davanti Enoteca on Taylor St. in Chicago when we lived there. The food was always on point - flavorful, fresh, filling.

I was shocked at how different this experience was for us. We were so excited when we discovered there was a Davanti in San Diego. We wanted to take our kids and introduce them to a restaurant mom and dad had so many date nights at in Chicago before they came along! We even passed so many other incredible looking restaurants in Little Italy to come here which made it even worse when we left disappointed.

The only thing I am thankful for is that the kids liked their spaghetti, but honestly I think they were so hungry from playing on the beach that day they would have eaten any kind of pasta.

My husband and I ordered all of our old favorites - focaccia de recco, fried roman artichokes, truffle egg toast, cacio e pepe, and rigatoni alla vodka.

The only thing that still slightly held up to memory was the focaccia de recco. Everything else was either ill-prepared, flavorless, or the flavor was off. The fried artichokes tasted like they had been fried in old oil and tasted very fishy. The truffle egg toast came out unseasoned and the egg was still nearly raw. The rigatoni alla vodka was overcooked and the pasta was mushy and the sauce flavorless. I didn't even both trying my husband's cacio at this point as I was too upset and had lost my appetite. He didn't seem to enjoy it because he ate a quarter of it and asked for the bill.

I wish this wouldn't be my last memory of Davanti, but it is. I'll try my hardest to remember the days in Chicago when we used to go...