Don Luciano Café Masterton — Restaurant in Masterton

Don Luciano Café – A Masterton Gem

Don Luciano Café is, without a doubt, the best café in town. The coffee is consistently high quality, and the staff are not only professional and friendly, but clearly passionate and knowledgeable about what they do.

Being just a short walk from my workplace, I find myself visiting regularly in the mornings. While the pricing is on the higher side—for example, an iced latte sits around $8 compared to the $6 standard elsewhere—the difference in quality is immediately noticeable and well worth the extra cost. The portion sizes may appear modest at first glance, but they offer a well-balanced and satisfying amount.

A special mention must go to the lady behind the counter, who is an absolute standout. Even during the busy morning rush around 8 a.m., she handles the flow of customers with calmness, kindness, and genuine interest in how your day is going. Her warm service adds something truly special to the overall experience.

This café remains my go-to spot while working in Masterton, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for quality coffee, great service, and a consistently...

Glad to see that my recession is still the most up-to-date one.

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We had a very unsatisfying lunch experience at Don Luciano after many of our preferred lunch dishes (spaghetti with meat ball and bagel) were not available anymore, which the servant did not tell us upfront as we had to find out by ourselves.

In the end we had to switch to penne all‘arrabbiata and here the penne were very hard and it seems that they were not cooked properly. I assume that one original dish has been already a penne all‘arrabbiata that the noodles of the two additional ones, because of unavailability of other dishes, were just put in the same boiling water as the first ones. As all dishes were served at the same time, the penne for all dishes were mostly still very hard.

For a dish cost of 20$ this was really a disappointing...

Don Luciano's is a gem of the Wairarapa café scene.

The food is great and the menu provides a great range of options. The breakfast and brunch menu is particularly accommodating if you are vegetarian as items can be served with or without meat. I have enjoyed every dish I have tried here, the meals are flavourful and satisfying. The menu presents a range of dishes from South and Central America to the Southern United States.

I really enjoy the coffee here, it is made to a really high standard. Next time I visit I will probably buy some of the Gracias coffee beans that the roast and sell.

The service was really friendly and the staff were helpful in answering any questions we had. It can get busy here, particularly for brunch.

When friends come to Masterton, Don Luciano's is always on my list of...