Santa Lucia Pizza — Restaurant in Winnipeg

I'm very disappointed over our recent dining experience at Santa Lucia St Mary’s location. I attempted to reach out to upper management and did not receive a response from them regarding the horrible treatment we received on March 28/22. I would NOT recommend dining in here since the service is abysmal and management does not seem to care about the customers experience about their service.

I was looking forward to returning to this establishment on March 28, 2022 to celebrate my late granny’s birthday with my family. This was our first family get together since covid started and it was also the first birthday that has passed since our granny’s death late last year.

We had a reservation on March 28, 2022 at 6pm, originally for 20 people, but 3 people were sick and did not attend. Our party of 17 people were seated and were told 2 servers (Austin and a girl with blonde long hair) would be taking care of us. It took 30 minutes for our servers to take drink orders at our table after we were seated and even longer to get our drinks to us. It also took a considerable amount of time for the servers to return to our table to take our appetizer and meal orders. I understand we were a larger party, but it also took the kitchen a long time to get our appetizers out. When the appetizers were delivered, the servers plopped them on our tables and the servers left without providing plates or napkins for us to share the appetizers. The servers repeatedly did not return to our table to check in, to provide refills, or to see if we needed anything. I had to get up and find one of the servers to ask for plates and napkins. She returned with 6 plates at first and I immediately asked for more plates given we were a party of 17. The server returned with 4 more plates after that, which did not provide one to each of the 17 people in our party for appetizers. When our meals were delivered, two takeout orders were requested at this time in preparation for them being ready for the time of the bill being paid. Overall, the food quality was great, however 1 meal was wrong (lamb was served instead of chicken). Throughout the duration of our dinner, we were trying (and failing) to get our servers attention. The servers repeatedly did not return to our table to check in, to provide refills, to provide take out boxes to package up our leftovers or to see if we needed anything unless we physically got up from our table to seek them out. We had to seek them out again for more takeout boxes and to order dessert. At this time, we asked Austin for our bill, 20 minutes went by, and no one returned. We flagged down the blonde female server for our bills and to go orders since Austin had not returned. Another 30 minutes went by and no one returned. I sought out the shift supervisor to expressed our concerns and requested the bill and to go orders. The shift supervisor seemed unbothered, brushed off my concerns with how our experience was going that evening, and walked past me. It took another 30 minutes to get our bills after this, making the total time from requesting the bills and to go orders over an hour. They also packaged our to go orders together when the to go orders were part of different bills and would not be taken to the same household afterwards. We were at this establishment from 6pm to 9:15pm. The establishment was not busy throughout the duration of that monday evening. The service we experienced was horrible and offensive. It also is disheartening to know that when there is large party with a 15% gratuity automatically added that our party felt the service was subpar given that the staff knew this gratuity was already included. The bills for all our orders totaled over $600 (approx.) which results in a gratuity total of $90 alone. Overall, it soured our evening that was supposed to be a celebration of our loved one’s life. Again I would not recommend dining in at...

A Mixed Bag with a Strong Finish

We recently visited Santa Lucia Pizza with a party of nine—my parents, my wife, our three kids, two friends, and myself. Our plan was to arrive around 5:30 PM, with my parents getting there early to secure a table and place our order so the food would be ready by the time the rest of us arrived. Unfortunately, the visit got off to a rocky start.

Upon arriving early, my parents requested a table for our full party. However, they were told by a female manager that, due to company policy, they could not be seated until everyone had arrived. While we understand that some restaurants operate this way, the situation could have been handled more professionally. The restaurant was far from full at the time, yet my parents were made to wait for more than 10 minutes with no accommodation or courtesy extended.

When we did arrive, my dad was still speaking with the same manager, who responded to his concerns with a rude tone and dismissive attitude. Instead of offering an understanding ear or solution, she made a pointed comment about how this situation could have been avoided if we had made a reservation—essentially placing blame on my father. As someone who has worked in the service industry for years, I found this incredibly unprofessional.

To make matters worse, when I went to the host stand to ask whether gratuity would be automatically included for our large group, I overheard this same manager speaking about my dad to the hostess—clearly referencing him in a less-than-respectful tone. That kind of behavior is absolutely not what you expect from someone in a management position, especially in hospitality.

Thankfully, the experience took a turn for the better once we were seated. Our server, Carly, was a breath of fresh air—warm, bubbly, attentive, and professional throughout. She took the time to ensure all our needs were met and brought a sense of ease to the table, especially after the rocky start.

A special shout-out goes to Danic, a male manager who came out personally after we informed Carly that my wife has celiac disease. He reassured us that her meal would be carefully prepared and took time to explain the steps the kitchen would take to ensure her safety. His personal attention and thoughtful approach were greatly appreciated and went a long way in restoring our confidence in the restaurant.

I called later in the evening just to let Danic know he and Carlly did a wonderful job but was was first met with the female manager who again shared a very aggressive and short tone with me. Once I talked with Danic he was so personable and grateful for the call.

In the end, while the beginning of our evening was marked by disappointment and frustration due to the behavior of one staff member, the dining experience itself—thanks to Carly and Danic—was very positive. The food was great, and the service (once we were seated) was excellent.

Final Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆ (3/5 stars) Santa Lucia Pizza has potential and some standout staff members, but their customer service—especially from management—needs improvement. A more respectful and empathetic approach from all team members would have made this a...

Owner Please Respond Where do I begin. My birthday party was planned at Santa Lucia St Mary's because I knew right away it had been a while since I had their pizza and I wanted it for my birthday party. We had got there and everything was going all right until we had ordered and our food took a long time to come out. The appetizers took quite a long time to come out and then the food came out after that. My friend had ordered are strawberry margarita which had come with salt around the rim instead of sugar. This was immediately sent back and asked for another one, it came again the same way. As you can imagine that's not a very good sip to take from a sugar drink with a salted rim. The lady had taking our order and my daughter went to speak to management to let them know that we were waiting quite a long time. My elderly mother was getting very hungry and needed to eat, just like the rest of us. I asked if we could maybe have some sort of bread or something to tide her over. They ended up bringing out some of the appetizers and most of the pizzas but still not my mother's dinner. The wages came and put on the table the parmesan cheese and the I guess extra spices that are in that jar well those jars were disgustingly dirty, full of handprints food on the side of the jar and on the top. I literally did not want to touch it to give it back to the server. We had garlic bread come to the table but we weren't sure whose it was. Was it for the salads or was it for the chicken dinner or the pasta we weren't sure at all. We had a boat nine people at our table and two children. We were told when we received our bills or I guess after some of us had already paid that there was an 18% tip automatically applied to our bill because we had more than 10 people in our party. For one I understand a large party is difficult to manage sometimes however I tip in regards to service not because of the size of party I'm with. That tip also reflects the type of service that I've received. The lady that served us wasn't horrible, but it wasn't anything special. Especially with the mistakes with the drinks and the food taking so long. I ordered a Pepsi refill and I asked for lots of ice I didn't get that much ice but when I did receive my pop the glass was warm so which then in turn made the Pepsi warm and probably the ice melted. It just seemed like it was one after the other after the other there was so many glasses and things on the table that weren't being picked up we had to ask them to please remove some items from the table so that we could have room for food. In regards to the pizza it definitely was not what I remembered. This was the best pizza that I have ever tasted in my life, my favorite pizza ever, but not this time. I'm just really disappointed at the whole experience. I did not want to complain because it was my birthday party but after thinking about it now and all the things that went wrong and people weren't happy with their meals and they were just starving and wanted to eat. Definitely will not...