La Lucciola Bistro — Restaurant in Melbourne

Arguably one of the worst meals I’ve had. Came for lunch with my girlfriend. Ordered one bolognese, one Sicilian fettuccine and a salad. The waiter/chef, who had dirt under his finger nails, brought our cutlery over and placed it down by the part you eat from, disgusting. The water glasses we were given were dirty, as were the glasses served with our San Pellegrino.

The food was bad, like real bad. My 15 year experience in the industry led me to beleive that the sausage listed on the menu would have been a ragu of sausage meat - being in a “authentic home style Italian restaurant” - hence the reason I ordered it. Boy was I wrong. The Sicilian pasta consisted of overcooked fettuccine with zero texture, 8/9 pieces of fried cumberland sausage with the skin still on and 6 unpitted olives. It was shocking. So so far from what a good bowl of pasta actually is that i’m not sure i’d even call it Italian food. There was absolutely no Italian flavours present at all, no garlic, no basil, no pork and fennel sausage, no olive oil and not an ounce of seasoning in it. Just pasta, bland tomato sauce (uncooked tinned tomatoes I think), breakfast sausages and unpitted olives. It felt like the kind of meal you might get at a hospital cafeteria.

Maybe I was jumping to conclusions after reading the reviews online that this would be an authentic Italian experience. Maybe the chef has recently left? I’m not sure. It was bad though, I didn’t eat anything. They did ask me if I wanted to swap dishes but after being completely underwhelmed by their first attempt at a bowl of pasta I thought it safer to not.

After the pasta was served we had to remind them that we ordered a salad which they quickly went to fetch. Never in my life have I seen anything like what came out. Never. The salad was undressed leaves, diced tomato and the weirdest greyest, gloopiest, smelliest wetness I’ve ever seen. It smelt off and we quickly decided upon it arriving at the table that neither of us would eat it. When my girlfriend mentioned that there was something wrong with the salad the waiter came round and poked and prodded at what he was able to identify as potato salad in front of us as if to convince us that this is the way it should be.

I could sit and list all the things that went wrong whilst making the potato salad but i’m not going to bother. What I will say is that if that salad left one of my kitchens then the person responsible would be looking for another job. Utterly atrocious.

I hate to be so damning of a restaurant during a review as I know how tough these times are and have been post covid but this truly was a terrible meal from start to finish. I haven’t even rated the food as I feel a 1 star would...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Local Favourite

La Lucciola has become a real favourite for our family — we’ve just started coming here and always have a great experience. It’s a cosy, welcoming spot on Chapel Street, and the kind of place you feel comfortable in straight away.

The food is consistently great. I always go for the gnocchi quattro stagioni — it’s rich, full of flavour, and cooked perfectly every time. The homemade tiramisu is also a must — light, creamy, and fluffy. Everything feels fresh and made with care.

One of the things we love most is the atmosphere. It’s relaxed and friendly, and you’re always greeted with a warm welcome. Rosa, Tim, and Simon are such lovely people — they really make the place feel special and take the time to get to know their customers. The staff are also friendly, attentive and helpful.

The portions are generous, the pasta is always full of flavour, and every dish feels thoughtfully prepared. It’s a great spot for a meal — whether you’re with family or just in the mood for a comforting plate of pasta.

Overall, we just really enjoy coming here. It’s become one of those places we always look forward to visiting — great food, great people, and a...

This was me and my boyfriends favourite restaurant. I’m going overseas tomorrow and we wanted to have our last dinner there before I go. He called and made a booking. They said they were booked out and could only fit us in at 9 o’clock. We got there at 9 to the restaurant being packed up and closed. The chef was still there and came to talk to us. He said that the girls had told him about our booking but they decided to close up any way and leave before we got there. Because the booking was so late all the other restaurants in the area were closing up and we had nowhere to go for dinner and we ended up having to get kebabs. Completely ruined our last night together. Really really disappointed. Hopefully the owner sees this and can get some better more respectful staff. The least they could have done was calls us and tell us they were closing early. Honestly no excuses. This was not a miscommunication. They knew, the chef knew and they decided to just leave early anyway. So...