Some restaurants you visit. Da Maria, you fall into. And you stay until the lights go down and the music comes up.
I visited Da Maria on Friday the 15th of May for the launch of Say Less, a brand new Friday night format in collaboration with a collective of DJs known for shaping dancefloors across Bali and beyond. For May, the lineup featured Robb Rocks and Vybz Intel, joined by Princeton and Sonia Flower. It's a mix of international influence and local depth, from high-energy, genre-spanning sets to groove-led house and UK garage. But before any of that, there was dinner. And the dinner alone was worth the night.
Da Maria has been one of Seminyak's most reliable constants since 2016. Date-night spot, celebration dinner, late-night magnet, even a wedding venue. And earlier this year, they properly changed their menu for the first time in nine years. Not a seasonal tweak. A full shift. Led by Executive Chef Lorenzo De Petris, the menu now reads more Mediterranean than strictly Italian, with touches that wander toward Spain and the Middle East while staying rooted in Da Maria's DNA. The Say Less launch was my first time experiencing it.
Walking in
From the street, the entrance is low-key. Simple. Just that signature Da Maria baby blue and white, tucked into Seminyak without any fuss. And then you step inside, and everything flips.
The first thing you meet is the bar area, and it's such a contrast to the simple exterior. It's warm, this orange hue from the lights, and there's just bartenders making cocktails everywhere. I found my friends here, a bunch of familiar Bali faces and people I'd get to know for the first time that night. You could see people at the bar side, sitting down or standing up, catching up with their friends with their margaritas in their hands. I grabbed one too. For a good thirty minutes it was just that: soft laughter in the room, the easy work of catching up and getting to know people before dinner even began.
The interiors do a lot of this work quietly. Those 1960s Amalfi geometries, designed by Roman architects Lazzarini Pickering, make you feel like you've slipped into a Mediterranean garden that somehow also belongs to Bali.
Then our dinner table was ready, and it was really warm inside. A long table with a sofa, the room dimly lit with that same orange glow. It was so comfy to sit down and just catch up. The room was filling up really quick, and it really did feel like a restaurant in full swing: open kitchen concept, you could see the chefs busy at work, plates streaming out, music in the background but mostly just chatter and laughter.
The food
One by one the antipasti came to our table: green garlic schiacciata, mortadella Bologna, burrata with wood-roasted tomatoes, and the grassfed beef tartare. The burrata with the tomato was really nice, really refreshing. But my favourite, easily, was the grassfed beef tartare. There's a yolk sitting on top, and just popping it, letting it run over the tartare, it was really satisfying. A small, perfect ritual.
And then it was just this loop of catching up, talking, getting to know people, and then scooping some food into your mouth, sipping the margarita, drinking some ice cold water, and continuing the conversation. That's the rhythm of dinner at Da Maria. It doesn't rush you.
Then the pastas and secondi: ziti rigati with Angus bolognese, lamb skewers, and the sides. The smoked beetroot with balsamic, radicchio, and baked ricotta. Baby romaine with saffron, white balsamic, tangerine, and hazelnut.
The lamb skewers were giving this Mediterranean vibe. I felt like I was eating kofta, like Middle Eastern kebab. Rosemary, lemon, really really nice. You can feel the menu's new direction here. Still Italian at its core, but wider, bolder, more confident.
But the sleeper hit was the smoked beetroot salad. I'm still thinking about it. The beet itself tastes acidic, but sweet, but also savoury. And the beetroot looks like a dessert, but it tastes like potato. Like sweet potato. It's neutral, but it still has its bite, its crispness. It still has its snap. And it's really, really good. Genuinely one of the most unique things I ate all night.
The tableside martini
Somewhere between courses, Luca, the bar manager, arrived at our table with his roller cart, all his bar tools in tow. Someone had ordered me the tableside martini experience, and suddenly the whole thing was being built right in front of me. Just for me. I was feeling really special. I felt like the birthday girl even though it was not my birthday. It was fun. It was really, really fun.
"We're combining vodka or gin, your choice, with some aromas that we make here at Da Maria. A lemon aroma, a seaside-inspired aroma, an herbal one. You choose your aroma, and basically your martini becomes unique, custom-made for you, from the bar to the table." Luca Marcolin, Bar Manager, Da Maria
Luca was the sweetest person ever. The martini itself was strong. Properly strong, at least for me, especially compared to the margaritas. But if you like that, you should get it. It was really, really nice.
We closed with the chocolate tiramisu, and it was just perfect. It was not really heavy. It was light, refreshing, sweet but not too sweet, creamy. It felt like the perfect end for the meal.
When dinner becomes Say Less
By the time we were done eating, it was 10pm. And this is the part that genuinely fascinated me.
Before 10, Da Maria is a restaurant. Busy kitchen, full tables, laughter and chatter over the music, every seat taken. That night it was really full. But then they start clearing out the tables and the chairs, and all the people move in front of the DJ, and it turns into a dance floor. They tweak the lighting slightly, dimming it so slowly that you don't even realise it's now dark inside. You don't even catch the moment the restaurant becomes a club.
And that's when Say Less took over. The DJs brought a completely different energy to the space, and it worked, because everyone was already full, already been drinking, already done their pre-game. The floor filled fast. People dressed up really nicely, dolled up, dancing, drinking. It was a good vibe. It was a really good vibe.
That transition from dinner to dance floor is what makes Da Maria different. It's that rare night that carries you cleanly from the table into the small hours without ever feeling like two separate events. And with Say Less now anchoring Fridays, there's a real reason to start your weekend here.
It was a really nice way to end the week, especially on a Friday night. And the staff were all amazing. I talk about Luca, but I met a lot of the team, and they were all so lively, just catering to you the whole night.
It was just a really, really lovely night. I'll be back. And next time, I already know which salad I'm ordering.
Da Maria invited Nadila from Supper Social for the Say Less launch dinner on 15 May 2026. All opinions expressed in this article are Nadila's own and were not influenced by Da Maria or any affiliated parties.
