Lucca

We’ve lived within walking distance of Lucca for almost 8 years and finally tried it on Saturday night 1÷23÷16. I was shocked that we couldn’t get a reservation at 6 (it’s a pizza place, right?), and we opted for 5:45pm.
This place was hopping from the time we got there, and there’s a reason. The service was outstanding – Aundre, our waiter was friendly and knowledgeable about the menu and the bar selection. I was impressed with the discussion he had with one of our party regarding the differences between two of the red wines.
Three of us had pasta dishes, my husband had the osso bucco special. Everything was fabulous and perfectly prepared. The portions were just right (though so delicious, I could have kept eating forever.) We were so stuffed, we declined dessert, yet were comped an absolutely ridiculously delicious butterscotch «puddina» which I could have taken a bath in.
I can’t wait to go back and try their pizza!

Really excellent, sincere food — neighborhood Italian plus plus, contemporary, and very reasonable prices. Fast, friendly service. Kids meals are excellent (and really good value). Brussel sprouts amazing. Great thin wood-​fired pizza, nice pastas, good desserts. Definitely will come again. A real gem.

My boyfriend and I ate at Lucca to celebrate our 12-​year anniversary on Friday evening. Upon arrival, we were greeted by an entirely unpleasant hostess. Seriously, she needs to find another job. She never smiled (mostly she scowled). She never made eye contact. She rushed to our table and dumped the menus while I was still near the door hanging my coat, scarf and umbrella, leaving my boyfriend and me to wander back to our table by ourselves. She didn’t bother to check if our table was satisfactory, which it wasn’t. Because our reservation was early (5:00 pm), the restaurant was still mostly empty, but rather than seating us in the warm, convivial section of the restaurant at the front, she sat us in the back room in a dark, cold corner when there were lots of tables available elsewhere. We asked to be moved, and again, she didn’t bother to accompany us to our new table.
Fortunately, the rest of our dinner experience at Lucca was top notch. I ordered the beet salad as an appetizer. Our server (Derek?) suggested cod fritters as an appetizer even though they weren’t on the menu. Great suggestion! The fritters were crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, not at all greasy, and came atop a perfect aoli (I think it had red peppers in it). The beet salad was light, delicate and super fresh with a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds. Yum!
Our entrees were well prepared. I had the Maccheroni ai Funghi and my beau had the Tagliatelle Bolognese. Both pastas were well prepared and tasty.
Dessert was a scrumptious poached pear served over a pastry bed with chocolate and caramel sauce (like the fritters, it’s not always on the menu hence suggested by our server).
After we got past the surly hostess, the rest of our service was quite good. Derek was warm, friendly, helpful, and gave us just the right amount of attention. Even the busser was extra nice. The price was very moderate, too.
I’d have given Lucca four stars were it not for the hostess. I hope that management sees this and gets rid of her. Lucca is far too nice a restaurant for her to be greeting your customers.

Outstanding service and delicious food (we ordered the chicken, pork tenderloin, fusilli, 2 kids’ meals and a pizza). Even the kids’ carrots were tasty! They were very accommodating for our kids. Great neighborhood joint, we will come back again.

Andre is the best waiter ever! My husband, children, and I love him! Oh, and the food is great too, of course.

One star for the two pizzas we ordered «to go».
My advice, if you order for pickup, open the cardboard box before you pay and before you leave the restaurant. We arrived home to find burnt, paper thin crust that stuck to to the box. I actually wished we had gone to Papa Murphy’s. It was that bad.

Found this beautiful place by chance… Italian food with a modern flare… beautiful wood burning stove… organic ingredients and everything is fresh and from scratch… Waiter’s name was Shaun and was very attentive and helpful with any questions I had… my new favorite place…

Eh, it wasn’t bad. Honestly, La Buca is better with cozier ambience, comparable food and better prices, although they don’t have wood-​fire pizza, which wasn’t the highpoint anyway. Service, eh, no complaints. House Made pasta, very good (note that not all their pasta is made in-​house). Nothing to write home about. Not bad.

The bruschetta was good. Loved the cherry tomatoes and chèvre on it.
The pizza was a wood fired thin crust. We ordered arrabitta but it wasn’t spicy enough. The sauce was meh, something you find at any regular pizza chain. Was really disappointed with it .
Service is a little slow.
Btw, they don’t do pastas for brunch/​lunch; just dinner.

I’ve been to this restaurant a few times now and it’s always been an AMAZING experience. Our favorite server is Aundre! He has the best suggestions and makes me feel at home. Usually fancy Italian restaurants feel snobby but Aundre made us feel classy and also as though we were family. I recommend sitting in his section. I’ve never had any food I didn’t like there. I recommend asking for Aundre’s section because he knows his wine and also is t afraid to tell you what he thinks you would like! This is a good place to go on a date or if you’re taking your parents out for fancy dinner! Favorite Italian in portland! 5 stars!

Food and salad was very good, our waitress was super nice. The beet salad was incredible and the pizzas were really tasty

Very disappointed in just about everything.
Friday at 6:30PM. It was about ¹⁄₃ to ½ full of customers — so not crowded. They were very staffed up – many many buzzing around.
When we weren’t quite ready with our drink order, the waiter said he’d come back. Yep… about 10 minutes later. (Our menus were on the table — hey guys, did you learn in waiter school — that’s a ‘signal’ — WE’RE READY TO ORDER! — LIKE 10 MINUTES AGO).
When he came back he asked, ‘do you know what drinks you want?‘
Huh!?! How about, I not only know what drinks I want, but my dinner should just about already be here.
So I asked if it was o.k. if I ordered our drinks AND dinner now. (of course it was… he agreed).
Just one drink — a Mojito. (Nothing more refreshing on a hot August day.). Except when it arrived — it was a bad Mojito. Sour. and bad. Next time I’ll just leave my $ 8 to a better cause, and just have the ice water.
Bad Mojito should have telegraphed the upcoming Bad Mojo.
We had ordered a pizza and the something-​or-​other brick cooked ½ chicken for $ 17.50.
Hmmmm…took a really long time for that to get to our table.
When it did… the pizza was barely warm… and most certainly ‘soggy’. Lift a piece of this thin crust pizza and it went completely limp — 100%. All the little toppings got to fall off. And my enjoyment of my dinner out went just as limp. All my satisfaction — already dashed with that slow service — bad bad drink (ick…I can still taste its distaste in my mouth now — 2 days later) — and now we’ve slid one more notch down.
So…my wife’s brick chicken. She said it smelled like fuel (but I couldn’t get that out of it).
I thought it tasted ‘o.k.’ (not great). It wasn’t dry. She thought it was very below average — especially considering the $ 17.50 we got to hand over for it. (oh my!)
I thought the salad that came with her chicken had good dressing. She said the tomatoes we get at Fred Meyer are of better quality. And she was appalled by the big chunks of soggy bread that made up about ¹⁄₃ of the salad. I thought they were ‘ok’ — like big soggy croutons — but they did not appeal at all to her.
I ran out of water about ½ way thru the meal. HEY… where’s somemore water. I tried to get someones attention (I should be enjoying my meal — but… too busy trying to find someone to look at me — and — I’m not ‘enjoyning’ my soggy pizza anyway. Nobody would.)
Finally the guy sees I’m ‘dry’ — but it’s still about 2 full minutes before he comes back with the pitcher of ice water. OMG. Stop this, you people. You’re in the food service/​hospitality industry. There’s a ton of you employees and only a handful of customers. We are a very nice looking couple, dressed nicely, came in very polite and eager. What makes you want to do this to us??? Bad food. Bad service. Bad drink. We did nothing to you. And we have to hand over a bunch of money!
O.k. — now we’re done. About as many wait-​staff as there are customers. So… where’s someone to take our plates (we want to get out of here — we are not experiencing satisfaction at all) — and bring us our check.
I have eaten out too many times and places in my life (my job has me in hotels and restaurants about 100 – 150 nights a year — for about 25 years — I’ve got a little ‘exposure’ to restaurants.)
So, I do a ‘trick’ I occasionally employ. I take out my credit card — and hold it prominentely — so when they pick up the dirty plates, they will clearly see — «I am ready to pay» (some smart waiters and waitresses will even ask to take my card at that moment — and I always say, ‘yes’).
So we wait and wait. Finally someone picks up our dishes and asks if we want dessert. (yeah, right, you’ve blown everything else — do I think an overpriced dessert will do the trick?)
But they don’t take my card. So we wait and wait for the check. My card in hand — ‘telling’ them — ‘I AM READY TO PAY!!!‘
But we don’t see a ‘person’ drop off the check — just a hand from behind drops it on the table and departs. OMG! Please. Employ some courtesy and common sense. Please!
Finally, about 5 minutes later — they came back to get the check with my credit card.
And 5 minutes after that — they brought it back to me.
Please note — I am a good tipper. There have been times where I have gotten such good service that I tell my waitress — ½ way thru the meal, «I’m going to give you a good tip.»
And I do!
What do you think I did here. I think they should have comp’d me – and tipped ME.
Want a good meal. Italian. Try Amalifi’s up the street. Or DiNicola’s on Powell. A couple of places on Alberta. — Lucca — fuh-​gettaboutit!
Heck, my friend took me to Olive Garden a couple night’s later. Fantastic! My pasta and meatballs. That salad was the best. My friend got the Chicken Marsala — his wife the Shrimp and Chicken Carbonara. All top. And the service — it was packed and our service was most excellent.

The times I have been to Lucca I’ve come away feeling very meh, which is basically Unilocal’s definition of a 2 star rating. The food is decent, but not great. The portions are small and the food is overpriced for what you get.
The atmosphere is very family friendly, and each time I have visited there have been tables full of large families and groups. This creates a friendly environment, but isn’t perfect for a romantic evening.
For my money, there are many better Italian options in the Portland area.

This place has been «bookmarked» on Unilocal to try for quite awhile now since we drive by it all the time. Yesterday we decided to check it out for lunch. The menu for lunch consisted of salads, sammies and pizzas. I opted for an amazing tomato, mozzarella, basil with pancetta sammie on house-​made focaccia. The focaccia was so soft and complimented the ingredients so well. Overall one of the best sammies I’ve had in a VERY long time. So good I ate it too fast to take a photo. All the ingredients were so fresh and flavorful. My husband got the pesto chicken salad and before I could ask him how it was, it was already gone. I had a side salad with my big sammie and just when I thought I was too stuffed to eat the salad, I took one bit and tasted farm to table fresh. You know when you bite into a tomato and it tastes like it came from your own garden? Yeah, the whole salad was that good and I’m not going to lie, I’m a total salad snob b/​c I do have a big garden at home and I’m making salads all the time.
So overall, this has been one of my favorite lunch spots we’ve hit since we moved here last summer. The service was great and attentive and the food was delish. We’ll definitely be back.

Fantastic evening with my father-​in-​law! Just went out for a quick Sunday night meal, and it was lovely. Service was top notch and the food was spot-​on, elegant and tasty, inducing both laughter and conversation. We had a lovely time and it was great to share a meal that was just family and because we were hungry and too tired to cook.
Love this place!

Checked out this beautiful Italian restaurant with friend visiting from Europe after church on Sunday. Was really looking forward to eating some delicious pasta but we were still half an hour early till the lunch menu was going to start being served. I wish Unilocal had shown us that they’re still serving brunch or else I would have gone else where.
Nevertheless, the meal was good — I got an omelette with artichoke in it.
The service was very slow and dragged out, we were waiting a while before someone even took our order, then we ordered toast but our server forgot to bring it out so we got that on the house but still ended up waiting a while before she even noticed it was time to pick up our check.
Would I come back? Probably not if I had a choice but with a company of friends, I’ll go.

I come here when I want or crave one thing;
The Margharita Pizza ! It’s truly one of if not the best in Portland. Sauce is perfect, Basil is fresh, crust is thin and has a nice texture.
A glass of wine… I say yes please.
If you just came here and ordered said pizza,
Glass/​Bottle of wine and shared a salad, I promise
You will absolutely love it.
Perfect date night spot.

Super cute restaurant in our neighborhood. I love the décor and location, unfortunately, their menu is small and isn’t traditional Italian fare.
There are a few pizza options, a few pasta options and a few meat options. I ordered the spaghetti, which came with the typical vermicelli noodles, but it was tossed with mushrooms, spinach and other ingredients — no sauce. It was boring.
And the weird thing is that the pasta portions were small, the pizza was small. I came with my SO and he ate his pasta dish, some of mine and half of a pizza and was still hungry.
Strangely, their dessert portions of the tiramisu is absolutely gargantuan. If I come back here I’m coming solely for dessert. Best deal on the menu.

Not always a family friendly place for people with mobile children
I like this restaurant, and recommend it to people without kids or to people with kids that sit throughout the whole meal. But then, most restaurants are family friendly if you have a child that seats throughout the whole meal. I do not recommend it for people with mobile kids, at least while the owner is there.
Despite of my reservations regarding my last experience here, I like the food and the staff is just wonderful. I am just writing the review as a heads up for people with kids like mine.
–
I write this review with a heavy heart. Lucca is often praised in Portland parenting groups as a very child friendly place. That’s why I first went there. Since my toddler does not seat throughout the whole meal, I was thrilled to find a place with good food and a tolerance for kids like mine.
Our first several visits were wonderful. Although the food is on the pricier side for us, enjoying a tasty meal at a place where the staff was so wonderful to our active son was worth it. I loved it so much that recommended it to many friends and acquaintances with children.
We visited Lucca with our son last week. The beginning of the meal was wonderful. The food was really good and the staff was, as usual, wonderful to my kid. They smiled at him, cooed at him, made him laugh, etc. Someone from the kitchen even came to say hi saying that she wanted to see the cute toddler that was walking about the restaurant.
When we arrived several families were there, but eventually we were the only group with children (at about noon). My son was walking about the place yet we always had eyes on him and made sure he was not running on in areas of heavy traffic (i.e. by the kitchen entrance).
At some point a server dropped something near the bar. This happened far from my son and my son was not involved at all. In fact, at the specific moment when the following events took place, my son was hanging out by the hostess table. The lovely and kind hostess had just been cooing at him and he was enchanted with her.
That’s when a woman approached me to tell me that my son was putting servers in danger by running about the place (He was not running! He had done that earlier, before she showed, and I followed him to make sure that everything was OK, and redirected him). She said that servers had trays and that he was putting them in danger. I did not like her tone and thought it was just a nosy person, so I just said OK. She kept going, so I asked whether she worked there. She replied that she was the owner.
I did not like her tone at all. Basically, the only option that she gave me was to leave without finishing my meal. She did not say that, but I bet you she would not have been pleased had I strapped the toddler in the high chair and had he started screaming. Needless to say, I packed as fast as possible, without finishing my food and left.
I am not an unreasonable person. Had she approached the situation differently, I would have not left with such a sour taste in my mouth. Also, I have been to the same restaurant when it has been full with families, some with kids walking about, and have never seen other parents get lectured on safety. What I have seen is gracious servers, who are used to the situation, carefully avoiding the little ones and interacting playfully with them. That’s why it has a family friendly reputation! That is why I kept coming back!
I left feeling less trampled thanks to the very kind member of their amazing staff who apologized and asked me to return. That person was sweet and kind. The staff is the only reason why I like the place now (well, and the food that the cooks make).
I do not know that I will be back. I like the food, and, again, the staff is wonderful, but I feel uncomfortable giving part of my money to the owner. Maybe I will call to make sure that she is not there next time? I am not sure.
Also, I get that not every place is for kids, and that is why we are very careful in selecting where we take our son at this stage. Unfortunately, it seems that Lucca is not for us, at least not when the owner is there.

My parents are visiting from out of town, and so I always try my best to impress them and take them somewhere new: enter Lucca.
I had never actually been here before! I’ve driven by several times and have always heard good things, so tonight was the night. There was a small wait (we were quoted 45 mins, but it was more like 10!) but that’s to be expected on a busy Friday night, so A+ to the FOH staff for having a really nice flow.
The food was excellent. My dad hasn’t stopped talking about the pork and beans e ordered 5 hours ago and he’s an incredibly picky eater. Servers were friendly and kept the water flowing, so I don’t have any complaints!
I’ll definitely be back.