Trattoria da Vinci - St Paul, MN

Our organizer had made dinner reservations for about 50 at Trattoria's. To make this as easy as possible, the Pasta Bar was set up for us. Apparently the Pasta Bar is a lunchtime offering ($10.50) and does not appear on their dinner menu.

The dinner started off with a Caesar salad. Next our waitress came by and explained how the Pasta Bar worked. Start at the end with one of four sauces (Alfredo, Marinara, Spicy Marinara, and ?). The pasta bar has trays filled with over 30 different items. Tell the cook what you want. I chose Alfredo sauce, artichokes, capers, tomatoes, shrimp, seafood, spicy sausage, and bow tie pasta. The cook grabs some of each, tosses it into a skillet, and then cooks it for about 5 minutes while you wait in line.

How was it? The food was piping hot and delicious! The Alfredo sauce was just right, not too salty, not too heavy, and the ingredients were fresh and lively, making the dish seemingly light and exquisite. Every colleague I spoke with to a person was impressed with the quality of the pasta.

While it was cooking, it didn't seem like much in quantity but once the cook dumped the skillet contents into a bowl, it turned out to be a huge portion. When I started at the line, I was overwhelmed with choices and thought I would go for seconds. I could only finish about 2/3rds of the dish.

Dessert was tiramisu, which oddly came out in a Hostess Snowball configuration. The tiramisu was just an average rendition, not overly moist or intense in flavor.

If the pasta was representative of what is typically served, I would choose this place over Olive Garden in a heartbeat. I would even be willing to open up my wallet and let the moths out here.

400 Sibley St # 190
St Paul, MN 55101
(651) 222-4050