Italian restaurants on Long Island, especially the south shore are plentiful but good ones are hard to find. Recently, I had the opportunity to sample DeVinci’s in Island Park and I can tell you that it was a surprisingly pleasant find. Here is my restaurant review of Island Park’s DeVinci’s:
Last Saturday night, my husband and I were asked to join two friends at DeVinci’s in Island Park. I had passed by the restaurant but always thought it was jus a pizzaria.
Entering the restaurant, we were greeted by an extremely friendly hostess who told us to take a seat at the bar. Within moments, we were seated in a booth in the back of the restaurant.
We were a little concerned because there were two big parties there, but we were able to hear our party and the noise level didn’t bother us one bit. Every single table was taken and there was a line at the bar to get in. (If you want a reservation on a Saturday night, I would suggest a reservation.)
We ordered a bottle of wine and a couple of different appetizers and four entrees. We shared the baked clams and the artichoke hearts. They were fresh and delicious.
My husband and I shared two — Shrimp Oreganata and Veal Sorrentino. They came with a choice of a house salad, caesar salad, pasta or potato and vegetable. I had the salad, my husband had the potato and vegetable. His vegetables came out julienned, steamed and extremely fresh. Both the shrimp and the veal tasted fresh with a little more sauce than I would have liked but the sauce was very tasty. The portions were extremely large and we couldn’t even finish both meals.
The wine list wasn’t huge but had a nice variety of European and Californian wines that were reasonably priced. I think the most expensive bottle was in the $40’s, which is pretty inexpensive.
After the meal, we were stuffed so we didn’t order dessert but when we heard the birthday song being sung to a 85 year old woman who looked 65, we joined in with the celebration. The birthday girl offered us a piece of white on white birthday cake that I couldn’t refuse.
That Monday, my husband and I went back to try out some other entrees. This time I chose the Chicken Romano with pasta (oil and garlic, which is a $3 up charge) and he ordered the Veal Francese with spaghetti with white clam sauce (also a slight up charge). They were both superb. I even brought my Chicken Romano home to have the next day and truly enjoyed it. The chicken has a breading on it and is baked with eggplant and mozzarella cheese in a pink sauce. I still am thinking about how delicious it was!
This time, we tried the dessert — a slice of Tiramisu, which was large enough for two! I had a small taste. It was incredible. If I wasn’t so full, I would have also tried the cannoli or the cheese cake but a little taste of tiramisu was delightful.
The place is a little slice of heaven in Island Park, which is situated between Oceanside and Long Beach. The prices were very reasonable and it was definitely worth the trip! I just can’t believe that I never knew it existed before this past weekend! But now I have another favorite restaurant that I can add to my go to list!
