Ristorante Da Vinci

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Six Decades on Bishop Street

Ristorante Da Vinci opened in 1960 and has spent more than six decades earning its place as one of the most respected and influential Italian restaurants in Montréal. The address — a handsome three-story Victorian greystone on Bishop Street — sets the tone before guests even step inside: a building from the 19th century that carries its age with quiet confidence, ten minutes' walk from the city's major hotels and just around the corner from the Centre Bell.

That longevity is no accident. Gambero Rosso, the authoritative Italian food guide, has recognised Da Vinci with a Fork distinction, a mark that carries particular weight for an Italian restaurant operating outside Italy.

The People Behind the Room

Two figures define the character of the restaurant today. Vincenzo Amodeo — co-owner and Director of Operations, originally from southern Italy — is described simply as "un italiano vero." Over the years he has built a wall of fame from the portraits of celebrities who have passed through, yet he greets a first-time visitor with the same ease he extends to a regular of twenty years. His particular skill is reading what a guest wants, sometimes producing dishes that never appear on the printed menu.

Lavi Mainuddin, Owner and General Manager, brings close to two decades at Da Vinci alongside a background in public relations and a precise, almost scholarly attention to ingredients and their origins — the kind of host who makes you fall in love with a dish before it arrives at the table.

In the kitchen, executive chef and co-owner Renato Ferrante leads the culinary brigade with a firm commitment to cooking from scratch, using what the restaurant calls only the finest ingredients prepared with the highest regard for technique.

Italian Cuisine, Multi-Regional in Scope

The menu draws from across Italy rather than anchoring itself to a single region. Each plate is made to order, and the wine list — personally curated by Vincenzo Amodeo from the four corners of Italy and beyond — is long enough to satisfy a serious connoisseur without becoming intimidating. Signature cocktails and champagnes round out the cellar offering.

The room itself is elegantly appointed, and the service is pitched to match: attentive without being stiff, warm without being casual. It is the kind of Italian cuisine that feels equally right for a business lunch, a pre-theatre dinner, or a private celebration in one of the restaurant's dedicated event spaces.

A Room for Every Occasion

Da Vinci has learned, over more than four decades of continuous operation, to accommodate the full range of what a great restaurant can be asked to do — a working lunch between colleagues, a birthday dinner among friends, an elaborate private event. Italian hospitality and elegance, the restaurant puts it plainly, without pretension.