• Cuori di Carciofo Fantasia (artichoke and cheese dip) $5.95 (shared)
• Linguine di Mare al Cartoccio $18.95
• Profiteroles $5.95 (shared)

It was the most entertaining wedding I have been to in awhile.

It turns out we could not get reservations until 8:00 pm because there was a wedding party taking up half the restaurant. This did make the place a little loud, but we had lots of free entertainment the entire meal. We did have the table almost right next to the guitar player, so that helped increase the noise level. (The table right next to the guitar player was sat twice, both times the couple asking to please be moved to a different table.

The artichoke dip was not the best I have had and wasn't even good enough for me to really fight Steve much for it. The bread and butter was actually very good so I was fine without it. My pasta dish was better than the typical linguine with seafood. It had a fun presentation being cooked in parchment paper and then served by dramatically being dumped into the plate. The seafood was already shelled and in the sauce so this is the perfect version of this dish for those who hate getting messy taking the seafood out of the shells or those who do not like being reminded that the seafood actually came from shells. I happen to be of the opinion that if is cooked in the shell it has a better flavor, but this dish really seemed to capture all the great taste of the seafood, while not overcooking the seafood or the linguine. Pretty amazing accomplishment. The dessert was not that great, but I really like ice cream in my Profiteroles better than cream, so that could have been part of it.

Overall, I think it was a good place, I probably would not go back as there are other better Italian restaurants around.

• Capellini alla Checca $13.45

I can’t say we had a great meal at Trattoria Da Vinci, but it was one of the strangest in our years of reviewing. This particular Saturday night, the restaurant decided to rent out half of the restaurant to a wedding party. That doubled the normal noise in the space, which has high ceilings and no natural barrier to separate a wedding party from other patrons. So we got to sit next to a funky guitar player who was o.k. until he started playing Santana and the whole thing turned surreal. It’s the kind of memory that you will never forget and wish that you had an open bar so that you never knew what was going on in the first place. But I don’t blame the apologetic father of the bride, I blame the restaurant management for not taking an all-or-nothing rental approach and for not explaining over the phone what was going on. When I made reservations, the hostess just said that there would only be non-smoking available that night. Assuming it was a holiday party and we wanted non-smoking anyway, we made the reservations. I would have left had we had children and spent time and money on a babysitter to go out on the town.

I have been to Trattoria Da Vinci for lunch twice before and was satisfied both times. I’ve enjoyed the pasta bar, and the pasta dish for the entrée this night was equally good. I would have preferred spicier sausage, but the angel hair pasta and sauce were excellent. I can safely recommend this for lunch in Downtown St. Paul.

But I can’t recommend the appetizer or dessert, which were bland and below par, respectively. The appetizer was surprisingly bland for an artichoke dip, especially at an Italian restaurant. Even though it was billed as a five-cheese dip, the cheese was also nondescript. The foccacia strips were on the stale side and nothing special. The appetizer was served with four celery stalks that looked like an afterthought as much as a cost-cutting measure. The profiteroles also seemed stale, but certainly lacked the uumph to impress. The accompanying whipped cream fell short of ice cream that is normally served with profiteroles. The chocolate topping was average at best.

If it bears summarizing, go to Trattoria Da Vinci for lunch and skip the app and dessert.