Trattoria da Nonna Clara — Restaurant in Lucca

We found ourselves looking for an early evening dinner after a long walk all around the walls and town of Lucca. We saw this place ad the seats/tables outside and thought that this looked like the ideal place for our evening. Unfortunately the staff were still preparing the tables and told us that they would open 30 minutes later. So we asked for a table and waited on one of the benches in the Piazza until they opened formally. The place filled up quickly showing how popular it was.

We were mainly served by an oriental looking lady with excellent English. In fact all the waiting staff spoke good English. Two of our party of 4 had the ravioli, one, the lasagne and I had the belly pork. I washed down my food with a glass of nice, chilled white wine. The three ladies with me then went on to desserts including some cheese cake ai frutti di bosco. All the food was delicious.

For the most part of our meal we could see a lady in the window of this restaurant preparing home made pasta. Very authentic.

Throughout our meal we were very well looked after. We left with a bill close to €130 which included a cover charge of...

Situated in a gorgeous piazza, our group of three enjoyed a sumptuous outdoor dining experience. It was a busy Saturday evening, so we were glad that we had booked an outdoor table earlier in the day, as many other tourists were turned away. The staff were efficient but run off their feet, so ordering and food arrival was slow.

The Tuscan wine selection was excellent, and the accompanied map of the local DOC helped orientate our selections. We ended up with a gorgeous Montepulciano Sangiovese blend.

We decided on pasta starters, all made with homemade pasta, which we had seen the chef making in the window while walking past that afternoon. Our selections of truffle tagliatelle, pici all'aglione (semolina pasta with tomato and garlic), and pappardelle with wild boar ragù were perfectly balanced and great examples of traditional local cuisine.

We finished by sharing a 1kg Bistecca alla Fiorentina and an insalata di burrata e pomodori, which were perfect. If you're looking for a slow, relaxing dinner with wine and conversation, this is the...

I think this is the only restaurant that I revisited during my 2 week trip to Italy. We were in Lucca for a wedding and both times showed up with over 10 people. The staff was always quick and happy to accommodate us. I understand that serving a large group presents additional challenges that the same number of people split into small groups do not, but they rolled through the punches with a smile, never missing a dish or letting a wine glass run dry. With such large groups, I got to sample a lot of the menu off of my friend's plates and all of it tasted excellent! We had visited the Cinque Terre before our second visit so I had with me a bottle of special dessert wine they only make in that area. The restaurant not only was ok with us drinking our own wine, but opened the bottle and brought out little aperitif glasses for us. My friend Jack happened to walk by the restaurant the next day and they had put the wine bottle in their window with a little flower sticking out of it. Screw the Olive Garden, when you're at Nonna Clara's...