“I love Da Vinci—especially their hazelnut and gianduia. (Don’t go there very often, but it’s always been good.)”

“Not big on Da Vinci, have stopped going there. Texture of gelato is greasy and slick, and it’s overly, overly sweet.”

Time out. Da Vinci is actually a pretty classy place with good artwork, furnishings that are a cut above café standard, and gelati that are piped in sensuous swirls into showcase containers like so many Amsterdam call girls on display. To be polite. And it’s equally hard to choose. We assume. The textural issue may have something to do with flavor selected, as the chocolatey gianduia is admittedly slicker than the pistachio—though neither strikes us as being cloying in the extreme. Dessert cakes, on the other hand, look better than they taste, with a sliced tiramisù falling into the usual too-polite, neither-soaked-in-espresso-nor-chocolately-enough trap. The “Nutella!” desset crêpe, however unoriginal it may be, is exemplary largely in its simplicity.

Panini help round out the menu, and a panino with bresaola and mozzarella is not singular in its execution: too little toasting, too much dried oregano, unrewarding bread. So we suggest a Segafredo espresso and one of the less-lecherous-looking gelati—maybe the straight hazelnut. Not just because it’s a personal favorite, of course.