Every town in Ireland has its institutions; Da Vinci’s in Leixlip is defiantly one of them. Over the years this restaurant has thrived attracting droves of customers from the local area. The question is why? As a people we are, in theory becoming far more discerning about what food we will and will not accept. This emerging food culture obviously hasn’t translated well to north Kildare.
I went to Da Vinci’s on a Saturday night. The place was packed; literally, people filed both dining areas and the reception area. The sheer volume of people meant the atmosphere wasn’t great, noise rather than conversation. By all means the place does a roaring trade. For me the menu set the night up badly. It was loaded with “authentic” Italian regional favourites from Cajun chicken wings to chicken tika pizza.
We opted to share and went for what we though as safe options; Margarita and Roma pizzas with sides of bruchetta, deep fried brie (also not very Italian) and the infamous Cajun wings. I can safely say we were disappointed by every single one of these dishes. The bruchetta was almost completely devoid of tomatoes and the bread was distinctly un-Italian and most defiantly not home made. To be honest I doubt that anything we got was home made. The sauces with our sides were most defiantly bought in, as were the pizza toppings and I think the pizza bases. The wings were bland the brie was still encased in its skin and the pizza bases were soggy.
To be honest this very low, low, low quality food, paired with a poor atmosphere and an argument with our waiter, then the manager over wine meant that really our night was spoiled.
Will not be going back.
http://www.davincis.ie/
