Cheesecake Factory Pasta Da Vinci: Price & Calories (2026)
The most consistently praised pasta on the menu is also the quiet one: Cheesecake Factory Pasta Da Vinci, $25.50 to $28.95 at dinner, 1,540 calories, 1,050 at lunch. It is the quiet one on the pasta menu: no spice, no crust, no spectacle, just sauteed chicken, mushrooms and onions in a Madeira wine sauce tossed with rigatoni. Our pasta page calls it the most consistently praised pasta on the menu, ahead of the flashier options, and the reviews back that up: Chicken Madeira and Louisiana Chicken Pasta get cited more often, but Da Vinci rates highest when people actually rank what they ate. Fifty location menus set the dinner range, and the calories are the brand's published numbers.
What is Pasta Da Vinci?
Sauteed Chicken, Mushrooms and Onions in a Delicious Madeira Wine Sauce Tossed with Rigatoni Pasta. That is the current official description, and its restraint is the point. The sauce is the dish: Madeira wine reduced into something rich and a little sweet, coating sauteed chicken, mushrooms and onions that were cooked in it rather than sauced at the end. The mushrooms bring the earthy depth, the onions bring a soft sweetness, and the rigatoni holds the sauce in its ridges the way a smooth pasta would not. There is no cream sauce competing with it, no spice layer on top, no cheese crust. If you like your pasta to taste like its sauce rather than its toppings, this is the order.
How much does Pasta Da Vinci cost?
Dinner pricing runs $25.50 to $28.95, the median is $26.95 across 50 location menus, and every city in the sample lands somewhere inside that spread. Fresh official menus land all through that range: $25.50 at Salt Lake City, Murray, Whitehall and Woodlands, $25.95 at Liberty Center and Walden Galleria, $26.95 at Los Cerritos, Orlando and Irvine, and $28.50 at Chevy Chase. One billing note before you order: the menu price is for the dish as described, with its sauteed chicken. Adding extra protein on top costs more, and the add-on price is not printed on the menu, so ask before you order if you want to double up rather than assuming it is included. Before you order, check this week's promo codes too, since a deal running right now can change what the meal actually costs.
| Source | Price |
|---|---|
| 50 official location menus, dinner (range) | $25.50–$28.95 |
| 50-store median, dinner | $26.95 |
| Lunch selection (section price, not Da Vinci-specific) | $17.95–$19.95 typical |
| Extra protein add-on | Additional charge, ask your server |
Which portion makes sense: dinner or lunch?
Dinner is the full plate at 1,540 calories; lunch is the smaller portion at 1,050 calories, a gap of 490 calories for the same dish. Lunch-sized portions are available until 5:00 PM, and the lunch portion is the honest way to try this dish if the dinner plate sounds too heavy: same sauce, same chicken, same mushrooms and onions, less of everything. The full side-by-side from the official Summer 2026 nutrition guide:
| Nutrient | Dinner | Lunch |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 1,540 | 1,050 |
| Calories from fat | 750 | 520 |
| Total fat | 83g | 57g |
| Saturated fat | 36g | 23g |
| Trans fat | 2g | 1.5g |
| Cholesterol | 260mg | 170mg |
| Sodium | 2,380mg | 1,540mg |
| Carbohydrates | 129g | 85g |
| Fiber | 10g | 8g |
| Sugar | 20g | 10g |
| Protein | 71g | 48g |
Read the sodium line before you pick: 2,380mg at dinner is the number that stands out, and the lunch portion cuts it to 1,540mg along with the calories. Protein stays strong either way, 71g at dinner and 48g at lunch, which is why even the smaller portion still eats like a real meal rather than a tasting. One caution on lunch pricing: the lunch selection is priced as a section, not per dish, so this page publishes no Da Vinci-specific lunch price. The lunch calories above are the verified figure; the lunch price at your restaurant is whatever the lunch selection costs there. If you want to compare before you order, the nutrition numbers for every pasta are listed the same way.
Pasta Da Vinci vs Chicken Madeira: which Madeira dish?
They share a sauce family, not a plate, and that is the confusion to clear up first. Both are built on Madeira wine sauce, but one is a pasta and the other is an entree, and they eat nothing alike. Da Vinci tosses its chicken, mushrooms and onions through the sauce with rigatoni. Chicken Madeira keeps its chicken breast whole, tops it with asparagus and mozzarella, covers it in a mushroom Madeira sauce, and serves it with mashed potatoes instead of pasta. If you want pasta, order Da Vinci. If you want the chicken as the centerpiece with potatoes on the side, order Madeira. The sauce will taste familiar either way; the meal will not. For the Madeira entree in full, see our Chicken Madeira post.
| Pasta Da Vinci | Chicken Madeira | |
|---|---|---|
| Plate | Pasta, tossed | Entree, plated |
| Sauce | Madeira wine sauce | Mushroom Madeira sauce |
| Served with | Rigatoni | Mashed potatoes, asparagus, mozzarella |
| Dinner calories | 1,540 | 1,300 |
| Dinner price | $25.50–$28.95 | $25.95–$29.95 |
Pasta Da Vinci vs Louisiana Chicken Pasta: savory or spicy?
They differ in sauce, chicken, and heat, and heat is the fastest way to choose between them. Da Vinci is savory and rich without spice: sauteed chicken in Madeira wine sauce, mushrooms and onions, rigatoni, 1,540 calories at dinner. Louisiana Chicken Pasta is the spicy one: parmesan-crusted chicken in a spicy New Orleans sauce with peppers, 2,270 calories at dinner and 1,380 at lunch. So the question is not which pasta is better in the abstract. If you want heat and crunch, Louisiana wins and Da Vinci will taste quiet to you. If you want the sauce itself to carry the dish and you do not want to fight spice through it, Da Vinci is the pick. Note the chicken too: sauteed in Da Vinci, parmesan-crusted in Louisiana, which is part of why Louisiana runs 730 calories heavier at dinner.
Penne or rigatoni: which shape will you get?
Rigatoni, on current menus. Older menus listed this dish with penne, and older listings still floating around online say penne, which is why you will see both names attached to the same dish. The current official menus list rigatoni, and this page follows the current menus. The change matters for how the dish eats: rigatoni is wider with ridges, so it holds the Madeira sauce better than smooth penne does. If your restaurant still serves it with penne, you are getting the older version of the same dish, not a different one, and the calories on this page still describe the dish as the guide lists it.
Is Pasta Da Vinci gluten-free?
No as served, because the rigatoni is wheat pasta. That is the whole answer for the dish as it comes out of the kitchen. What is also true, per the pasta guide, is that gluten-free penne is available as a substitute on most pasta dishes, so a gluten-free version is a conversation with your server, not a separate menu item. Ask whether the kitchen can make this dish with the substitute, and confirm the sauce preparation as well, since a sauce made alongside wheat pasta is a cross-contact question only your server can answer for that kitchen. For dairy, the same rule applies: the Madeira sauce is creamy, so confirm with your server if milk is a concern.
Pasta Da Vinci: answers before you order
Dinner is $25.50 to $28.95, with a $26.95 median across 50 location menus, and lunch runs 1,050 calories for the smaller plate.
Dinner runs 1,540 calories; the lunch-sized plate runs 1,050, a 490-calorie lighter order.
Sauteed chicken, mushrooms and onions in a delicious Madeira wine sauce tossed with rigatoni pasta. That is the current official description.
They share the Madeira sauce family but are different plates. Pasta Da Vinci is sauteed chicken, mushrooms and onions in Madeira wine sauce tossed with rigatoni, at 1,540 calories. Chicken Madeira is sauteed chicken breast with asparagus and mozzarella in mushroom Madeira sauce, served with mashed potatoes, at 1,300 calories.
They are different sauces and different chicken. Pasta Da Vinci is sauteed chicken in a savory Madeira wine sauce, at 1,540 calories, and it is not spicy. Louisiana Chicken Pasta is parmesan-crusted chicken in a spicy New Orleans sauce, at 2,270 calories for dinner.
Yes, in a lunch-sized portion until 5:00 PM, at 1,050 calories. Lunch pricing is set for the whole lunch selection, not per dish, so no Da Vinci-specific lunch price is published here.
No as served, because the rigatoni is wheat pasta. Our pasta guide notes gluten-free penne is available as a substitute on most pasta dishes, so confirm with your server.
Should you order Pasta Da Vinci?
The best-reviewed pasta on the menu is not the most famous one, and that is the point: savory over spicy, a rich sauce over a crust or a topping, and a lunch portion that is a real option, 490 fewer calories at a price set by the lunch selection. Louisiana is the spicy pasta, and Da Vinci tastes quiet next to it, so look elsewhere when heat is what you want, and look elsewhere when gluten-free is a must and the kitchen cannot do the substitute. If the Madeira sauce itself is what you want but pasta is not, the Chicken Madeira entree is the same sauce family on a different plate.