La Cucina Ristorante — Restaurant in Guelph

I had dinner here Aug 24th 2022. The food was good and the drinks were cold it was almost perfect. At a fine dining restaurant I expect if I order a second Caesar drink that it would be garnished the same way the first was.Not here. Charcoal Steakhouse each drink is garnished the same and same is true for the Keg. We were served bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. There were 5 of us and three tables were pushed together. One set of oil and vinegar. They didn't ask if anyone wanted butter nor did they bring any. The appitizers came muscles, Caprese salad and soup. I have had many authentic Italian meals there was never a shortage of bread except here. The muscles were not served with any bread and you were not provided a spoon. Epic fail for a fine dining restaurant how do you eat the broth? It was Wednesday their pasta day. Our mains arrive steak, sea bass, black pasta and antipasto board. Everything was hot and right. However, the black pasta looked dull and lifeless. Restaurants make huge coin off pasta dishes so you would think some fresh herbs to garnish and a bit of color would not take away that much of the profit. The black pasta was not nicely separated it was a big ball in the centre of the bowl it had clams which have no color and cream sauce again no color. It was cooked more than el Donte. If you cannot get pasta cooked properly at an Italian fine dining restaurant on their pasta night it's a fail. The antipasto board the meats were not nicely arranged it was as if they were simply dropped on the board. Steak was cooked beautiful. Sea bass was amazing. It was a great night there were a few misses to make it exceptional. I am being picky ....for a fine dining Italian restaurant - they should...

My wife and I have recently moved to the Guelph area (Puslinch) and have been on a mission to find our “spots” to dine. La Cucina came up in a Google search for us as a pizza nite was in order. I wasn’t interested in a chain I wanted an experience.. well La Cucina you provided 💯!. This cozy , authentic Italian restaurant gave us what we were looking for. Upon entering the Host Michael greeted us with some fun banter and informed us that even though we didn’t have a reservation he could accommodate us (thankfully). For future reference we recommend reservations especially at a peak time like Friday dinner hour. After being seated our server Maddie gave us the complete lowdown on the menu and pleasantly gave her recommendations. A meat and cheese board to share followed by a stone fired meat lover’s pizza. Our food was timely, well portioned and served with a smile ! We enjoyed an Old Fashion cocktail with our starter followed by a bottle of Chianti Riserva. Have to say the wine selection is extensive and the atmosphere begged the bottle as we enjoyed our time well past our meal. Whoever the Owner’s are you have nailed it ! Can’t say enough about this gem in the heart of the restaurant district of downtown Guelph. We will be back and Maddie yes it will be on a Tuesday for...

We had our 27 person wedding at La Cucina Ristorante in May 2024, and we had an amazing time across the board! Maria set up our menu, allowed us to make some modifications, and took care of us 100% of the way through - it was so easy! All our guests were raving about the food, the drinks, and the service. We had done some decorating in advance that day to add flowers and some center pieces, but the place is already quite beautiful and classy at it is. We were lucky that it was warm enough by mid-May for the upper-level patio to be opened where we had a cocktail hour with a bar set up outside. I had total access to the sound system to control audio outside and inside and could easily time everything perfectly by myself -- we had our first dance on the patio and changed the playlist to go with whatever "phase" of the night we were in. After a chill time outside, we moved inside for dinner. The apps, main courses, dessert, and service were all superb. Maria and her staff were there the whole time to make sure everything ran smoothly. Everything was perfecto and we, the couple, and our guests, could not be any happier!!! We are still talking about how great our wedding day was. Thank you Maria and team for making this so special and beautiful for us. You are the best...