Our Story

Honoring Chef DaVinci

Honoring Chef DaVinci
As a young adult in the 1970's, Eissa moved to Lago Di Como, Italy. While there, he fell in love with the Italian way of life and started a job as a dishwasher for a pizza shop. The Chef at the pizza shop, DaVinci, became a mentor to Eissa and taught him how to do everything by hand, focusing on quality ingredients and using traditional Italian recipes passed down from generation to generation.

From Italy to America

From Italy to America
Years later, Eissa following his heart, moved to America for short-lived love. After about 5 years living in the states, going to college, and getting an engineering job, he was asked to make the move to California, where he eventually met his wife. It was here that he would go on to open his first restaurant honoring DaVinci's memory!

The Original Three

The Original Three
Eissa's wife's family owned Greek diners throughout California and inspired him to open a restaurant of his own, using the same recipes he was taught from his time in Italy. With that, in 1982, DaVinci's Pizza Cafe was born. He opened three prominent locations in very high traffic areas: One next to the Golden Gate Theater, one in Oakland CA and another in San Leandro. After running them for over 30 years, Eissa made the decision to retire.

Feeding the Fire

Feeding the Fire
Eissa moved on to retirement in Texas to be closer to his family and grandchildren. Over the last two years, while he and his wife have been enjoying quality time together, the fire was still burning in Eissa's heart for continuing out his life's work - serving the community with quality Italian recipes. Together they made the decision to open a New DaVinci's Pizza Cafe and share the best pizza, pasta and more with the Sugar Land community!